Hello, fellow pilgrims. What perfect timing this day is. The sun is shining so brightly that even the trees are celebrating. All of the rain we’ve received recently sure makes me appreciate bright and sunshiny days like this. Interestingly, today is the day of commemoration for Mechtild of Magdeburg, a thirteenth century mystic and poet. Mechtild was a Beguine. In case you’ve never heard of Beguines before, Beguines were a women who lived in community with one another and committed themselves to prayer, charity, and poverty. While they were not monastic, they were self-sufficient. They worked in the world and lived in small groups of homes call “beguinages”. There, they could rely on one another and live independently without taking formal (and permanent) vows. These women were devoted, and independent. Mechtild became a Beguine at the age of 12 when she had a vision of God as a “flowing light…of love”. She wrote many poems and prayers about her love for God and God’s love for all of us. By the time she passed away, she had written seven volumes of poetry, prose, and prayers—all focused on love. That series is called The Flowing Light of Divinity. Here are two of her poems:
How God Answers the Soul
by Mechthild of Magdeburg
It is my nature that makes me love you often,
For I am love itself.
It is my longing that makes me love you intensely,
For I yearn to be loved from the heart.
It is my eternity that makes me love you long,
For I have no end.
God Speaks to the Soul
by Mechthild of Magdeburg
God speaks to the soul
And God said to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And where the desires of two come together
There, love is perfected.
Mechtild loved God deeply, and it is apparent in her writings. My she serve as inspiration for our expression love, toward God and one another.
You are beautiful, and you are beloved.
Angela+