Chotard Doll
Dear Friends,
Mechtild of Magdeburg, 13th Century German mystic and poet, was one of many medieval women who chose to take vows and live in a communal lay order of Beguines. As such, women were able to choose an alternative to marriage or the enclosure of a convent, as well as freedom from official Church supervision.
Her visitations from the Holy Spirit began at age twelve, and enabled her to see “all things in God and God in all things.” Her seven-volume, The Flowing Light of the Godhead, written in German and translated into Latin, circulated for some years, then disappeared. It was rediscovered in the 19th Century in a Swiss monastery, and became a spiritual classic, still available at bookstores.
Her poetry expresses a longing for mystical union with the divine, as we see in this brief poem:
God speaks to the Soul
And God says to the soul:
I desired you before the world began.
I desire you now
As you desire me.
And when the desires of two come together
There love is perfected.
from Beguine Spirituality (Crossroads Publishing Co, 1989)
For more about her poetry, click here.
More information about Mechtild is available here:
Faithfully,
—Chotard
