† FEAST OF SAINT MECHTILDE †NOVEMBER 19
St Mechtilde of Hackeborn 1241-1298
Of a noble family, when she was seven, her parents placed her in the convent of Rossdorf where her sister, Gertrude, was soon elected abbess. The community moved to Helfta in 1258, and the five-year old St Gertrude was placed in Mechtilde's care. They became close friends and mutually influenced and helped each other. It was Gertrude who first wrote down Mechtilde's mystical experiences in what became The Book of Special Grace, a book whose "every page is alive with color and splendid with light and sound."
Mechtilde, who possessed a beautiful voice, was for many years chantress and chant-mistress at Helfta.
MBS, p. 303; Peaceweavers, CS (Cistercian Studies) 72, p. 213
"What best pleases God in members of religious orders is purity of heart, holy desires, gentle kindness in conversation, and works of charity."
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The Reading from St. Benedict below was used again this morning, (as in Post 19/11/08). While the wisdom here speaks to the monks about the life of faith, one may wonder if the writing of Mechtilde and Gertrude write of mystical experience in other words. Novices in monasteries are directed to the more down to earth of Bernard.
Night Office
Reading from St Bernard on his Mystical Experiences
I confess that the Word has visited me, and even very often. But, although he has frequently entered into my soul, I have never at any time known the time of his coming. I have felt that he was present; I remember that he has been with me; I have sometimes even been able to have a presentiment that he would come; but never felt his coming or his departure. It is not by the eyes that he enters, for he is without colour; nor by the ears, for his coming is without sound; nor by the nostrils, for it is not with the air but with the mind that he is blended; nor again does he enter by the mouth, not being of a nature to be eaten or drunk; nor lastly is he capable of being traced by the touch, for he is intangible.
You will ask, then, how is it that if the ways of his coming cannot be traced I could know that he was present? He is living and full of energy: as soon as he entered me he quickened my sleeping soul; he aroused, softened and goaded my heart which had been in a state of torpor and was hard as stone. He began to pick up and destroy, to plant and to build and to water the dry places. He illuminated the darkness within me and threw open those places which were closed; he warmed my coldness, straightened my crooked paths and made my rough places smooth.
And he did all this so that I might bless the Lord and all that is within me praise his name.
Thus, though he has several times entered into me, he has never made his coming apparent to my sight, hearing or touch. It was not by his actions that I recognized him. Nor could I tell by any of my senses that he had penetrated into the depths of my being. It was, as I have said, only by the movement of my heart that I could recognize his presence. I knew the might of his power by the sudden departure of my vices and the strong restraint put upon all carnal affections.
From the discovery and conviction of my secret faults I have good reason to admire the depths of his wisdom. His goodness and kindness have become known in the amendment of my life, whatever that may amount to. And, in the renewal of the spirit of my mind, that is, of my inward man, I have seen in some degree the loveliness of his beauty and been filled with amazement at his greatness.
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