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004 - The Angel's Greeting · Meister Eckharts Sermons First English Translation

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  Speaker 1: Sermon three of Meister Eckhart's sermons, translated by Claudefield. This
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Eric Metzler.
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  Speaker 1: The Angels greeting Saint Luke one twenty eight, Hail thou
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  Speaker 1: that art highly favored among women. The Lord is with THEE.
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  Speaker 1: Here there are three things to understand, the first the
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  Speaker 1: modesty of the angel, the second that he thought himself
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  Speaker 1: unworthy to accost the Mother of God. The third that
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  Speaker 1: he not only addressed her, but to the great multitude
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  Speaker 1: of souls who long after God. I affirm that had
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  Speaker 1: the Virgin not first born God spiritually, he would never
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  Speaker 1: have been born from her in bodily fashion. A certain
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  Speaker 1: woman said to Christ, blessed is the wo that bear THEE,
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  Speaker 1: to which Christ answered, nay, Rather, blessed are they that
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  Speaker 1: hear the word of God and keep it. It is
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  Speaker 1: more worthy of God that he be born spiritually of
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  Speaker 1: every pure and virgin soul than that he be born
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  Speaker 1: of Mary. Hereby we should understand that humanity is, so
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  Speaker 1: to speak, the Son of God born from all eternity.
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  Speaker 1: The Father produced all creatures and me among them, and
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  Speaker 1: I issued forth from him with all creatures, And yet
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  Speaker 1: I abide in the Father. Just as the word which
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  Speaker 1: I now speak is conceived and spoken forth by me,
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  Speaker 1: and you all receive it. Yet none the less it
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  Speaker 1: abides in me. Thus I and all creatures abide in
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  Speaker 1: the Father. Hereto I adjoin a parable. There were a
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  Speaker 1: certain man and wife. The woman, by act extent, lost
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  Speaker 1: an eye and was sorely troubled. Thereat her husband then
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  Speaker 1: said to her wife, why are you troubled? She answered,
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  Speaker 1: it is not the loss of my eye that troubles me,
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  Speaker 1: but the thought that you may love me less on
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  Speaker 1: account of that loss. He said, I love you all
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  Speaker 1: the same. Not long after that, he put one of
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  Speaker 1: his own eyes out and came to his wife and said, wife,
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  Speaker 1: that you may believe I love you. I have made
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  Speaker 1: myself like you. I too, now have only one eye.
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  Speaker 1: So men could hardly believe that God loved them till
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  Speaker 1: God put one of his eyes out. That is, took
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  Speaker 1: upon himself human nature and was made man. Just as
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  Speaker 1: fire infuses its essence and clearness into the dry wood,
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  Speaker 1: so has God done with man. He has created the
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  Speaker 1: human soul and infused his glory into it. And yet
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  Speaker 1: in his own essence has remained unchangeable. If you ask
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  Speaker 1: me whether, seeing that my spiritual birth is out of time,
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  Speaker 1: whether I am an eternal son, I answer yes and no.
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  Speaker 1: In the everlasting foreknowledge of God, I slumbered like a
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  Speaker 1: word unspoken. He hath brought me forth his son, in
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  Speaker 1: the image of his eternal fatherhood, that I also should
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  Speaker 1: be a father and bring forth him. It is as
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  Speaker 1: if one stood before a high mountain and cried, art
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  Speaker 1: thou there? The echoes comes back, Art thou there. If
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  Speaker 1: one cries, come out, the echo answers come out again.
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  Speaker 1: If I am in a higher place and say to
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  Speaker 1: some one come up hither, that might be difficult for him.
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  Speaker 1: But if I say, sit down, that would be easy.
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  Speaker 1: Thus God dealeth with us. When man humbles himself, God
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  Speaker 1: cannot restrain his mercy. He must come down and pour
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  Speaker 1: his grace into the humble man. And he gives himself
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  Speaker 1: most of all, and all at once, to the least
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  Speaker 1: of all. It is essential to God to give, for
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  Speaker 1: his essence is his goodness, and his goodness is his love.
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  Speaker 1: Love is the root of all joy and sorrow. Slavish
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  Speaker 1: fear of God is to be put away. The right
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  Speaker 1: fear is the fear of losing God. If the earth
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  Speaker 1: flee downward from Heaven, it finds Heaven beneath it. If
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  Speaker 1: it flee upward, it comes again to Heaven. The earth
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  Speaker 1: cannot flee from Heaven. Whether it flee up or down,
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  Speaker 1: The Heaven rains its influence upon it, and stay its
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  Speaker 1: impress upon it, and makes it fruitful, whether it be
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  Speaker 1: willing or not. Thus doth God with men, whoever thinketh
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  Speaker 1: to escape him, flies into his bosom. For every corner
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  Speaker 1: is open to him. God brings forth his son in thee.
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  Speaker 1: Whether thou likest it or not, whether thou sleepest or wakest,
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  Speaker 1: God worketh his own will. That man is unaware of
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  Speaker 1: it is man's fault, for his taste is so spoilt
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  Speaker 1: by feeding on earthly things that he cannot relish God's love.
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  Speaker 1: If we had love to God, we should relish God
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  Speaker 1: and all his works. We should receive all things from
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  Speaker 1: God and work the same works as He worketh. God
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  Speaker 1: created the soul after the image of his highest perfection.
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  Speaker 1: He issued forth from the treasure house of the Everlasting Fatherhood,
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  Speaker 1: in which he had rested from all eternity. Then the
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  Speaker 1: sun opened the tent of his everlasting glory, and came
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  Speaker 1: forth from his high place to fetch his bride, whom
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  Speaker 1: the Father had espoused to him from all eternity, back
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  Speaker 1: to the heaven from which she came. Therefore he came forth,
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  Speaker 1: rejoicing as a bridegroom, and suffered the pangs of love.
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  Speaker 1: Then he returned to his secret chamber in the silence
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  Speaker 1: and stillness of the Everlasting Fatherhood. As he came forth
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  Speaker 1: from the Highest, So he returned to the Highest with
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  Speaker 1: his bride and revealed to her the hidden treasures of
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  Speaker 1: his Godhead. The first beginning is for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: the last end. God himself doth not rest because he
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  Speaker 1: is the beginning, but because He is the end and
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  Speaker 1: goal of all creation. This end and is concealed in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness of the Everlasting Godhead, and is unknown and
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  Speaker 1: never was known, and never will be known. God himself
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  Speaker 1: remains unknown. The light of the Everlasting Father shineth in darkness,
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  Speaker 1: and the darkness comprehended it not. May the truth of
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  Speaker 1: which we have spoken lead us to the truth Amen.
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  Speaker 1: End of Sermon three, recording by Eric Metzler, Albuquerque, New Mexico.