German Mystics of the Middle Ages
from various sources
What is Mysticism?
Mysticism is about oneness with
God or
divinization. Mystics are the great giants of the
spiritual life who have a profound desire of unity with
God. The
mystical soul surrenders
its will to
God's Will, transcending
our sensate world. They advance
into Saint John of the Cross’ darkness where
they experience God, not by words or idea, but in
pure love.
 What kind
of person seeks after God?
What is
the personality of the one who spends a good part of their life pursuing an experience of
the Transcendent?
"The mystics, to give them their short familiar name,
are men and women who insist that they know for certain the presence and activity of that
which they call the Love of God."
Although God calls us all to
Mystical Union, most of us will never achieve
it
on this side of the grave. Still, the Paschal Mystery is what
Christian Spirituality is all about.
The Paschal Mystery, is the
death,
resurrection and
ascension of
Our Lord into
glory. The
Paschal Mystery is the
central mystery
of the Christian Faith, celebrated at the
Easter Triduum with a
sublime and
unique solemnity.
We die to self and
come to
new life in Christ, not once, but continually. The end of that process is our
Mystical Union with God.
Great German Mystics of the Middle Ages
To most English-speaking readers the "Imitation of Christ" is the
representative of mediaeval German Mysticism. In reality, however, this beautiful little
treatise belongs to a period when that movement had nearly spent itself. Thomas à Kempis
was only a semi-mystic. He tones down the most characteristic doctrines of the great
Dominican mystic, Meister Eckhart, who is the great original thinker of the German
Mystical School. To find German Mysticism at its strongest and to understand its growth we
must retrace our steps as far as the great awakening of the
thirteenth
century -- the age of chivalry in religion -- the age of Saint Louis, of Saints
Francis and Dominic, of Saint Bonaventura and lastly, Saint Thomas Aquinas. It was a vast
revival, bearing fruit in a new ardor of pity and charity, as well as in a healthy freedom
of thought.
 Perhaps
a word of warning may, without impertinence, be inserted here. Readers of mystical works
are sometimes exposed to the same danger
that unprofessional students of medical treatises experience; they feel that they
themselves have all the symptoms which they find in the books they read. We know how
illusory that feeling can be, and how much
imaginary misery is thereby generated.
Now it is just as easy, and just as dangerous,
to become a mystique imaginaire as as
malade imaginaire. Every spiritual director knows the type.
If we find ourselves carried away by such flights of
mystique imaginaire,
it does not follow that we are
mystics or possessed of any special mystical aptitude, or
even spiritually advanced in any notable degree. It only shows, or at least it need only
show, that we are susceptible to spirituals conveyed in sublime and telling language.
Father Joseph Bolland, S.J.
"The Ladder of Divine Ascent"
[The Church Militant (lower left)
and the Church Triumphant (upper left and the Angels) assist souls against
Satan in their Divine Ascent to
Jesus, Head of the
Mystical Body and
His
Blessed Mother.
Mystics, as 'guides-to-holiness', assist in the Divine Ascent of the souls of the Church
Militant.]
It is, after all, as 'guides-to-holiness'
that these Mystics are chiefly important to us. This aspect of their life's work can never
be out of date, for the deeper currents of human nature change but little; the language of
the heart is readily understood everywhere and at all times. Therefore these writings are
as pertinent and meaningful today, as they were in the 13th and 14th
Century.
Sermons and Treatises
Meister Johannes Eckart (1260 - 1327)
The Attractive Power of God
The Nearness of the Kingdom
True Hearing
The Angel's Greeting
The Self-Communication of God
Sanctification
Outward and Inward Morality
Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293 - 1381)
The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage
(Still in Publication)
Blessed Henry Suso (1295 - 1366)
The Little
Book of Eternal Wisdom (Still in
Publication)
Friar Johannes Tauler (1300 - 1361)
Sermon I -
How men may learn
to know their infirmities
Sermon
II - Grains of Wheat
Brother Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471)
The Imitation of Christ
(Still in
Publication)
Anonymous
Theologia Germanica
(Less than easy reading! For the more advanced student of mysticism.)
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