What had I hoped? That I would have visions, I suppose.

October 3, 2023

I’m taking a class called Martyrs, Monks, and Mystics. We have a reading assignment each week and we submit a written response summarizing the reading and how it impacted us. This week’s was particularly impactful so I am sharing it here.

I reference “the daily office”. It is a spiritual practice I’ve adopted for this class where I read from a liturgical text four times a day. This is the book I’m using: The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime.

###

Mechthild of Magdeburg
Selections from The Flowing Light of the Godhead

There are several characters for which Mechthild uses different names. I’m a bit confused on some of them, but I understood the Bridegroom, the Young Lover, and Lord to be Jesus. At times, both Mary and Mechthild were the Bride of Christ or the Wife of God or the Godhead. “Queen” encompassed Love and Soul. There was also conversation between Mechthild’s Senses, I assume her physical self, and her Soul. This is not a complete list of characters, but I must confess, trying to decipher which names represented which entities kind of wore me out. So, instead of focusing on that, I focused on the rhythm of the piece.