Jesuit scholar Harvey Egan writes about the Flemish mystic John Ruusbroec:
John Ruusbroec, “the Admirable,” [1293–1381] has been called the greatest contemplative and mystical writer in the Christian tradition. He has also been praised as the most articulate trinitarian mystic of the West, unmatched in his power to describe the unitive life. Yet, if those who know something about the Christian tradition are asked to list the great mystics, rarely is Ruusbroec named first—if he is named at all.
John was born in Ruusbroec, South Brabant, about five miles from Brussels. When he was 11 years old, he went to live with an uncle of his who was a canon [senior priest] of a Brussels cathedral…. Ordained at the age of 24, Ruusbroec spent 26 years at St. Gudula’s. There he maintained close contact with the local Beguines. At 50 years of age, Ruusbroec … retired for a more contemplative life to the forest of Soignes, Groenendaal (green valley), just outside of Brussels…. Here Ruusbroec lived the “God-seeing” life for 38 years before dying at the age of 88. [1]
James Finley recommends that we read John Ruusbroec and mystics like him with a deliberate, contemplative reading style:
When we look at these writings of this mystic, what makes him so worth reading in my mind is the poetic eloquence of his language. It’s just exquisite. There are certain passages where he reaches a certain sublime altitude. It’s his gift to put words to these very subtle unitive states of oneness with God. You can read him one paragraph at a time, outline it and sit with it, take it in, walk with it; it’s like a rich inner landscape of the awakened heart, a very carefully nuanced, rich, and grounding place. [2]
We invite you to use Finley’s instructions to sit with this passage from Ruusbroec’s famous text The Spiritual Espousals, in which he describes intimate union with God “without difference”:
In this storm of love two spirits struggle—the Spirit of God and our spirit. God, by means of the Holy Spirit, inclines [Godself] toward us, and we are thereby touched in love; our spirit, by means of God’s activity and the amorous power, impels and inclines itself toward God, and thereby God is touched. From these two movements there arises the struggle of love, for in this most profound meeting, in this most intimate and ardent encounter, each spirit is wounded by love. These two spirits, that is, our spirit and God’s Spirit, cast a radiant light upon one another and each reveals to the other its countenance. This makes the two spirits incessantly strive after one another in love. Each demands of the other what it is, and each offers to the other and invites it to accept what it is. This makes these loving spirits lose themselves in one another. God’s touch and his giving of himself, together with our striving in love and our giving of ourselves in return—this is what sets love on a firm foundation. [3]
References:
[1] Harvey D. Egan, An Anthology of Christian Mysticism, 2nd ed. (Liturgical Press, 1991), 344.
[2] Adapted from James Finley, “Turning to John Ruusbroec,” Living School for Action and Contemplation, 2014. Unavailable.
[3] John Ruusbroec, The Spiritual Espousals and Other Works, trans. James A. Wiseman (Paulist Press, 1985), 115.
Image credit and inspiration: Augustin Fernandez, Untitled (detail), 2020, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. With the Rhineland mystics, we share the ability to gaze with love at the plants of the earth, appreciating the food we eat, and across time and place, we are invited to step through the doorway into the Great Mystery.
Story from Our Community:
Reading about mystics and mysticism in the Daily Meditations has made me think about my own mystical experiences. It wasn’t until the second half of my life that I could see and hear in a mystical way. My most awe-filled moments have come while sitting outside, alone. I hear the birds in my yard talking to one another and find myself talking to them. I’m often overcome with love and find peace during storms.
—Kathy M.
