Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Mechthild of Magdeburg, also Mechtild NULL

German Beguine Medieval Mystic, Author of "The Flowing LIght of Divinity"

"I have seen a place – its name is Eternal Hatred. It is built in the deepest abyss of the stones of mortal sin. Pride was the first stone – this was seen in Lucifer."

"A fish cannot drown in water, A bird does not fall in air. In the fire of creation, God doesn't vanish: The fire brightens. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature; How could I resist my nature, That lives for oneness with God?"

"I cannot dance O Lord, unless Thou lead me. If Thou wilt that I leap joyfully Then must Thou Thyself first dance and sing! Then will I leap for love From love to knowledge, From knowledge to fruition, From fruition to beyond all human sense There will I remain And circle evermore."

"I, God, am your playmate! I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways for I have chosen you. Beloved child, come swiftly to Me for I am truly in you."

"God’s eternal love dwells in 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."

"God has given all creatures the desire to seek and foster their own nature"

"The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love. "

"Lord, you are my lover, my longing, my flowing stream, my sun, and i am your reflection. The day of my spiritual awakening was the day i saw— and knew I saw— all things in god and god in all things. Love your fellow beings— for they are all tabernacles of God. Of all that God has shown me, i can speak just the smallest word, not more than a honeybee takes on her foot from an overspilling jar. In the fire of creation, gold does not vanish, the fire brightens. Each creature God made must live in its own true nature, how could I resist my nature, that lives for oneness with God? The Holy Spirit is our harpist; all strings which are touched in love, must sound. I cannot dance, lord, 
unless you lead me. If you want me to leap with abandon, you must intone the song. Then I shall leap into love, from love into knowledge, from knowledge into enjoyment, and from enjoyment 
beyond all human sensations. There i want to remain, yet want also to circle higher still. I who am divine am truly in you. I can never be sundered from you: however far we be parted, never can we be separated. I am in you and you are in me. We could not be any closer. We two are fused into one, poured into a single mold. Thus, unwearied, we shall remain forever. I, god, am your playmate! I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways for i have chosen you. Beloved child, come swiftly to me for I am truly in you. Then I shall leap into love. How should one live? Live welcoming to all. When are we like god? I will tell you. In so far as we love compassion and practice it steadfastly, to that extent do we resemble the heavenly creator who practices these things ceaselessly in us. I who am Divine am truly in you. I can never be sundered from you: however far we be parted, never can we be separated. I am in you and you are in me. We could not be any closer. We two are fused into one, poured into a single mold. Thus, unwearied, we shall remain forever. O you pouring God in your gift! O you flowing God in your love! O you burning God in your desire! O you melting God in the union with your beloved! O you resting God on my breasts! Without you I cannot exist. Do not fear your death. For when that moment arrives, I will draw my breath and your soul will come to me like a needle to a magnet."

"Ah, merciful God! What hast Thou seen in me? Thou knowest I am a fool, a sinner, a poor creature both in study and soul. Such things as these Thou shouldst have shown to the wise."

"Compassion means seeing your friend and your enemy in equal need, and helping both equally. It demands that you seek and find the stranger, the broken, the prisoner, and comfort him and offer her your help. Herein lies the holy compassion of God that causes the devil much distress."

"Ah, dear divine Love, ever embrace my soul, for it would murder me beyond all pain if I were to be separated from you! Ah, Love, let me now not grow cold, my actions are all dead when I do not feel you. O Love, you cause sweet pain and distress; you give the true children of God instruction and consolation. O Fetter of love, your tender hand is strong. It binds both young and old. O Love, you make large burdens light, and to you small sins seem heavy. You serve without reward ministering to all creatures. Ah, sweet divine Love, whenever I sleep too long and miss good things, be so kind and awaken me, and sing to me, Lady, your song with which you touch the soul like a sweet chord of strings. Ah, Lady Love, throw me beneath you. I would gladly suffer defeat. If you would only take my life, that would be, Lady, all my solace. Alas, generous divine Love, you pamper me too much. This shall be my constant complaint. Love, your most elegant greeting has filled my spirit. Love, your most pure sufferings make me live without sin. Love, your constant devotion has brought me to such sweet distress. O divine Love, how can I be patient in your absence if you want to be estranged from me? Love, it is a blissful, heavenly exhilaration that your absence is so pleasant for me. O wondrous Love, ever blessed is he indeed, whom you instruct. That is his most blissful humility, that, Lady, he asks you to leave him. Ah, Love, how few do you find who seek you with all their might in all things, and with constant effort enjoy you and who in the pangs of love bid you that you flee from them. But there are many who call out to you with their mouths and turn from you in their actions. Love, your leaving and coming are equally welcome to the well-ordered soul. Love, you have worked that great miracle that God has performed with us in heartfelt love. Love, your most refined purity standing like a lovely reflection of the chaste soul in God?s presence creates in the breast of virgins hot pangs of desire for Jesus their Love. Those who love intensely and are virgins, these are the maidens of the Seraphim. Love, your holy mercy causes the devils much suffering. Love, your sweet peace fosters calm minds and a pure life. Love, your holy fulfillment makes spirits free in voluntary poverty. Love, your true perfection does not easily complain about misfortune or hardship."

"God does not deny Himself to anyone."

"Effortlessly, love flows from God into man, like a bird who rivers the air without moving her wings. Thus we move in his world one in body and soul, though outwardly separate in form. As the source strikes the note, humanity sings -- the Holy Spirit is our harpist, and all strings which are touched in love must sound."

"God has enough of all things, only to touch the soul is never enough for God."

"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. How the soul speaks to the soul - Lord, you are my lover, my longing, my flowing stream, my sun, and I am your reflection. How God answers the soul - 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."

"Good Sabbath - Lord, I bring you my treasure. It is larger than the mountains, broader than the world, deeper than the sea, higher than the clouds, more lovely than the sun, more manifold than the stars; it weighs more than the whole earth. Oh you, image of My godhead, made splendid by My humanity, adorned with My Holy Spirit- what is your treasure called? Lord, it is called my heart?s desire. I have withdrawn it from the world, preserved it in myself, and denied it to all creatures. But I can bear it no further. Lord. Where shall I lay it?"

"God?s Absence - Ah blessed absence of God, how lovingly I am bound to you! You strengthen my will in its pain and make dear to me the long hard wait in my poor body. The nearer I come to you, the more wonderfully and abundantly God comes upon me. In pride, alas, I can easily lose you, but in the depths of pure humility, O Lord, I cannot fall away from you. For the deeper I fall, the sweeter you taste."

"God is all in all."

"God is not only fatherly, God is also mother who lifts her loved child from the ground to her knee. The Trinity is like a mother's cloak wherein the child finds a home and lays its head on the maternal breast."

"Great and overflowing is the love of God, that never standeth still, but floweth on forever and without ceasing, with no labor or effort, but freely and fully, so that our little vessel is full and over-full. If we do not stop the channel by our self-will it will never slacken in its flowing, but the gift of God will ever make our cup to run over."

"Greetings to you, living God. You are mine before all things. I am endlessly glad that I can speak to you without guile. When my enemies pursue me, I flee to your arms where I can complain about my suffering while you incline yourself to me. You well know how you can pluck the strings of my soul. Ah, begin at once that you may be ever blessed. I am a low-born bride; and yet you are my lawful husband. I shall ever rejoice about this. Remember how well you can caress the pure soul on your lap and do it, Lord, to me now, even though I am not worthy of you. Ah, Lord, draw me up to you. Then I shall be pure and radiant. If you abandon me to myself, I shall remain dark and sluggish. Thus does God answer: I respond to your greeting with such a heavenly flood: Were I to give myself to you in all my power, you would not preserve your human life. You well know I must hold back my might and hide my splendor to let you remain in earthly misery until all my sweetness rises up to the heights of eternal glory, and my strings shall play sweetly for you in tune with the true value of your patient love. Still, before I begin, I want to tune my heavenly strings in your soul, so that you might persevere even longer. For well-born brides and noble knights must undergo a long and intensive preparation at great cost."

"Humanity is forever united to God."

"How should one live? Live welcoming to all."

"I rejoice that I love the One Who loves me, and I pray that I may love Him without measure and without ceasing."

"I do not know how to write nor can I, unless I see with the eyes of my soul and hear with the ears of my eternal spirit and feel in all the parts of my body the power of the Holy Spirit."

"I was warned against writing this book. People said: If one did not watch out, it could be burned. So I did as I used to do as a child. When I was sad, I always had to pray? At once God revealed himself to my joyless soul, held this book in his right hand and said: 'My dear One, do not be overly troubled. No one can burn the truth.'"

"In pride I so easily lost Thee -- but now the more deeply I sink the more sweetly I drink of Thee!"

"Lord, since Thou hast taken from me all that I had of Thee, yet of Thy grace leave me the gift which every dog has by nature: that of being true to Thee in my distress, when I am deprived of all consolation. This I desire more fervently than Thy heavenly Kingdom!"

"I was created in love. For that reason nothing can express my beauty nor liberate me save love alone."

"If I Was A Learned Man - I was warned against writing this book. People said: If one did not watch out, it could be burned. So I did as I used to do as a child. When I was sad, I always had to pray. I bowed to my Lover and said: ?Alas, Lord, now I am saddened all because of your honor. If I am going to receive no comfort from you now, then you led me astray, because you are the one who told me to write it.? At once God revealed himself to my joyless soul, held this book in his right hand, and said: ?My dear one, do not be overly troubled, no one can burn the truth? The words symbolize my marvelous Godhead. It flows continuously into your soul from my divine mouth. The sound of the words is a sign of my living spirit and through it achieves genuine truth. Now examine all these words? how admirably do they proclaim my personal secrets! So have no doubts about yourself.? ?Ah, Lord, if I were a learned religious man, and if you had performed this unique miracle using him, you would receive everlasting honor for it. But how is one supposed to believe that you have built a golden house on filthy ooze? Lord, earthly wisdom will not be able to find you there.?"

"Love rules over all."

"Love without knowledge is darkness to the wise soul. Knowledge without pleasure no better than hell?s pain. Pleasure without death the wise soul never ceases to deplore."

"Now hear, my Beloved: listen with spiritual ears. Thus do the nine choirs sing: We praise you, Lord, that you sought us in your humility. We praise you, Lord, that you have kept us in your mercy. We praise you, Lord, that you have glorified us in your humiliation. We praise you, Lord, that you have provided for us in your generosity. We praise you, Lord, that you have arranged us in rank in your wisdom. We praise you, Lord, that you have shielded us with your might. We praise you, Lord, that you have sanctified us with your nobility. We praise you, Lord, that you have instructed us in your intimacy. We praise you, Lord, that you have elevated us in your love."

"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water."

"O God! You are so generous in pouring out Your gifts! You are so flowing in Your love!"

"O you pouring God in your gift! O you flowing God in your love! O you burning God in your desire! O you melting God in the union with your beloved! O you resting God on my breasts! Without you I cannot exist."

"Of the Voices of the Godhead - O soaring eagle! Darling lamb! O glowing spark! Set me on fire! How long must I endure this thirst? One hour is already too long; a day is as a thousand years When Thou art absent! Should this continue for eight days I would rather go down to Hell -- (Where indeed I already am!) Than that God should hide Himself from the loving soul; for that were anguish greater than human death, Pain beyond all pain. The nightingale must ever sing because its nature is love; whoso would take that from it would bring it death. Ah! Mighty Lord! Look on my need! Then the Holy Spirit spoke to the soul -- "Come, noble maid! Prepare thyself, the Lover comes!" Startled but inwardly rejoicing she said: "Welcome, faithful messenger, Would that it were ever so! I am so evil and so faithless that I can find no peace of mind Apart from my Love. The moment it seems that I cool but a little from love of Him, Then am I in deep distress and can do nothing but seek for Him lamenting." Then the messenger spoke: "Thou must purify thyself, Sprinkle the dust with water, scatter flowers in thy room." And the exiled soul replied: "When I purify, I blush, When I sprinkle, I weep, When I pray, then must I hope, When I gather flowers, I love. When my Lord comes I am beside myself for their cometh with Him such sweet melody that all carnal desire dieth within me: And His sweet music puts far from me All sorrow of heart. The mighty voice of the Godhead Has spoken to me in powerful words Which I have received With the dull hearing of my misery -- A light of utmost splendor Glows on the eyes of my soul Therein have I seen the inexpressible ordering Of all things, and recognized God's unspeakable glory -- That incomprehensible wonder -- The tender caress between God and the soul, The sufficiency in the Highest, Discipline and understanding, Realization with withdrawal, According to the power of the senses, The unmingled joy of union, The living love of Eternity As it now is and evermore shall be." Then were seen four rays of light which shot forth all at once from the noble crossbow of the Trinity from the Divine Throne through the nine Choirs. There none is so poor nor so rich that he is not met by Love; the rays of the Godhead illuminate him with inconceivable light; the humanity of the Son greets him in brotherly love; The Holy Spirit flows through him with the miraculous creative power Of everlasting joy! The undivided Godhead welcomes him with the glory of His Divine Countenance and fills him with the blessedness Of His life-giving breath. Love flows from God to man without effort As a bird glides through the air Without moving its wings -- Thus they go whithersoever they will United in body and soul Yet in their form separate -- As the Godhead strikes the note Humanity sings, The Holy Spirit is the harpist and all the strings must sound Which are strung in love. There was also seen that sublime vessel in which Christ dwelt nine months on earth in soul and body, as it ever shall remain only without the great glory which at the last day the heavenly Father will give to all the bodies of the redeemed. This our Lady must also lack so long as the earth floats above the sea."

"One day I saw with the eyes of my eternity in bliss and without effort, a stone. It tasted sweet, like heavenly herbs."

"The Desert Has Many Teachings - In the desert, turn toward emptiness, fleeing the self. Stand alone, ask no one?s help, and your being will quiet, free from the bondage of things. Those who cling to the world, endeavor to free them; those who are free, praise. Care for the sick, but live alone, happy to drink from the waters of sorrow, to kindle Love?s fire with the twigs of a simple life. Thus you will live in the desert."

"That prayer has great power which a person makes with all his might. It makes a sour heart sweet, a sad heart merry, a poor heart rich, a foolish heart wise, a timid heart brave, a sick heart well, a blind heart full of sight, a cold heart ardent. It draws down the great God into the little heart; it drives the hungry soul up into the fullness of God; it brings together two lovers, God and the soul, in a wondrous place where they speak much of love."

"The devil also offers his spirit to those who in hatred and proud desire are ready for the worst. Such know not that love leads to all good, they become poor from hatred and the fury of the devil, so that it becomes impossible they should ever again find or follow the love of God. True love praises God constantly; longing love gives the pure heart sweet sorrow; seeking love belongs to itself alone; understanding love loves all in common; enlightening love is mingled and sadness; selfless love bears fruit without effort; it functions so quietly that the body knows nothing of it. Clear love is still, in God alone, seeing that both have one will and there is no creature so noble that it can hinder them. This is written by Knowledge out of the everlasting book. Gold is often heavily flecked by copper, just as falseness and vain honor blot out virtue from the human soul. The ignoble soul to whom passing things are so dear that it never trembled before Love. Never heard God speak lovingly in it -- alas! To such this life is darkness!"

"The soul is fashioned in the likeness of God."

"The highest mountains on earth cannot receive the revelations of my favors because the course of my Holy Spirit flows by nature downhill."

"Then my soul cried: "Where art thou now, O Constancy? Bid true Faith to come to me!" And the heavenly Father spoke to the soul: "Remember what thou dist see and experience when there was nothing between Me and thee!" Then spoke the Son: "Remember what thy body has suffered for My pain." And the Holy Spirit said: "Remember what thou hast written!" Then both soul and body answered with the true faith of Constancy: "As I have praised and loved, enjoyed and known, thus will I go unchanged from here!"

"What I desire, the soul itself will surely find; I will not be utterly withdrawn from it; it must lay itself trustfully in My Divine arms. There will I delight Myself with it; for that reason did I give Myself into its power, even as a Child, Poor, naked, despised, and at last in Death; that it alone may be?if it will?my nearest and dearest companion. And it shall evermore soar and delight soul and body in My Holy Trinity, immersed as a fish in the sea."

"Then shall I leap into love - I cannot dance, Lord, unless you lead me. If you want me to leap with abandon, you must intone the song. Then I shall leap into love, from love into knowledge, from knowledge into enjoyment, and from enjoyment beyond all human sensations. There I want to remain, yet want also to circle higher still."

"Thus shall you speak to each of your brothers in the deep humility of your pure heart: 'Alas, my dear fellow, I, though unworthy of anything good, am your servant in all the ways I can be and not your master. Unfortunately, however, I have authority over you and send you forth with the heartfelt love of God. The difficulty of your task moves me deeply, and yet I make the decisions. I rejoice in the sublime honor the heavenly Father has prepared for you."

"There is nothing so wise, nor so holy, nor so beautiful, nor so strong, nor so perfect as love."

"Where two lovers come secretly together they must often part, without parting."