Chapter 56
THE FOURTEENTH SHOWING
at the same time, when I might not, in spite of the friendly proposition of my reason, look up into heaven. And that was on account of that overwhelming seeing of the inward life.
This inward life is that lofty substance, that precious soul which is endlessly rejoicing in the godhead.
Chapter 56 It is easier to know God than to know our own soul, for God is nearer to us than that; therefore, if we will have knowledge of our soul, we must seek it in God; and He wills that we desire to have that knowledge from nature, mercy and grace.
And thus I saw most certainly that we come more readily and more easily to the knowing of God than to the knowing our own soul. For our soul is so deeply grounded in God and so endlessly treasured [in him] that we cannot come to the knowing of it until we first have come to the knowing of God,
Who is the Maker to whom it is joined.
But notwithstanding this, I saw that we have, from the fulness of our nature, the power to desire wisely and truly to know our own soul, by which we are taught to seek it where it is, and that it is in God. And thus, by the gracious leading of the Holy Spirit, we shall know both God and our soul in one; whether we are stirred to know God or our soul, the stirring is both good and true.
God is nearer to us than our own soul, for He is the ground in whom our soul is rooted, and He is the medium that keeps the substance and the sensuality together for God so that they will never be separated. For our soul sits in God in true rest, and our soul stands in God in sure strength, and our soul is naturally rooted in God in endless love. And therefore, if we will come to a knowledge of our soul, communing with it and conversing with it, we ought to seek it within our Lord God, in whom it is enclosed.
Of this enclosing I saw and understood more in the sixteenth showing, as I shall tell you. As far as our substance is concerned, it can rightly be called our soul. And as far as
THE REVELATION OF DIVINE LOVE
our sensuality is concerned, it, too, can rightly be called our soul — and that is because these two are made one in God.
The glorious city in which our Lord Jesus sits is our sensuality, in which He is enclosed, and our natural substance is enclosed in Jesus, with the blessed soul of Christ sitting at rest in the godhead. And I saw most certainly that we ought and should live in longing and in penance until the time that we are led so deeply into God that we really and truly know our own soul. And I saw with certainty that our good Lord Himself leads us into this lofty deepness in the same love with which He made us and bought us, by mercy and grace, by virtue of His blessed passion.
And yet, notwithstanding all this, we can never come to the full knowledge of God until we first know clearly our own soul. For until the time that the soul comes into its full powers, we cannot be entirely holy — and that will be when our sensuality, by virtue of Christ's passion, has been brought up into its substance [God], with all the profits from our tribulations that our Lord will cause us to receive by mercy and grace.
I had, in part, a touching, and it is grounded in nature. That is to say, our reason is grounded in God, Who is substantial nature. From this substantial nature spring mercy and grace.
They spread within us, accomplishing all things in fulfilling our joy. These are the groundings in which we have our being, our increase and our fulfillment. For in nature we have our life and our being, and in mercy and grace we have our increase and our fulfillment. These are three properties in a single goodness, and where one works, all work, in the things for which we now long.
God wills that we understand these things, ever desiring with all our heart and all our strength to have more and more knowledge of them until the time that we shall be completely filled. For to know them fully and to see them clearly is nothing other than the endless joy and bliss that we shall have in heaven. God wills that we begin [to enjoy] this [bliss] here, by knowing of His love. For by our reason alone we cannot profit, unless we have with it, in truth, just as much spirit and