Revelations of Divine Love · 54 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter XLI-a

" I am the Ground of thy beseeching.

" "Also to prayer belongeth thanking" After this our Lord shewed concerning Prayer.

In which Shewing I see two conditions in our Lord's signifying: one is rightfulness, another is sure trust.

But yet oftentimes our trust is not full: for we are not sure that God heareth us, as we think because of our unworthiness, and because we feel right nought, (for we are as barren and dry oftentimes after our prayers as we were afore); and this, in our feeling our folly, is cause of our weakness.

For thus have I felt in myself.

And all this brought our Lord suddenly to my mind, and shewed these words, and said: I am Ground of thy beseeching: first it is my will that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it; and after, I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it.

How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseeching?

And thus in the first reason, with the three that follow, our good Lord sheweth a mighty comfort, as it may be seen in the same words.

And in the first reason,—where He saith: And thou beseechest it , there He sheweth [His] full great pleasance, and endless meed that He will give us for our beseeching.

And in the second reason, where He saith: How should it then be?

etc., this was said for an impossible [thing].

For it is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and not have it.

For everything that our good Lord maketh us to beseech, Himself hath ordained it to us from without beginning.

Here may we see that our beseeching is not cause of God's goodness; and that shewed He soothfastly in all these sweet words when He saith: I am [the] Ground .—And our good Lord willeth that this be known of His lovers in earth; and the more that we know [it] the more should we beseech, if it be wisely taken; and so is our Lord's meaning.

Beseeching is a true, gracious, lasting will of the soul, oned and fastened into the will of our Lord by the sweet inward work of the Holy Ghost.

Our Lord Himself, He is the first receiver of our prayer, as to my sight, and taketh it full thankfully and highly enjoying; and He sendeth it up above and setteth it in the Treasure, where it shall never perish.

It is there afore God with all His Holy continually received, ever speeding [the help of] our needs; and when we shall receive our bliss it shall be given us for a degree of joy, with endless worshipful thanking from Him.

Full glad and merry is our Lord of our prayer; and He looketh thereafter and He willeth to have it because with His grace He maketh us like to Himself in condition as we are in kind: and so is His blissful will.

Therefore He saith thus: Pray inwardly, though thee thinketh it savour thee not: for it is profitable, though thou feel not, though thou see nought; yea, though thou think thou canst not.

For in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me, though thee thinketh it savour thee nought but little.

And so is all thy believing prayer in my sight.

For the meed and the endless thanks that He will give us, therefor He is covetous to have us pray continually in His sight.

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Themes

Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

God is described with human emotions and actions, such as being 'glad and merry,' feeling 'covetous' for prayer, and 'enjoying' the reception of it.

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Bhaktisoteriology

The path of loving devotion and self-surrender to a personal deity as itself sufficient means of liberation — the Gita's 'to those constantly devoted, I come forward as their deliverer,' Kabir's and the Sant poets' love-religion, the devotional stream that parallels Sufi love-mysticism. Distinct from mystical_union (the resulting state), fana_annihilation (the ego's unmaking at the path's end), ladder_of_love (eros staged toward Beauty), and prayer (the practice of address): bhakti names devotion as the soteriological road itself.

The passage emphasizes a relationship of loving devotion and trust ('sure trust') where the divine is 'covetous' to have the lover pray continually.

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Dark Nightsoteriology

John of the Cross's stage of contemplative purgation: a felt absence and aridity of God that strips the soul of attachments to its own consolations en route to deeper union.

The text addresses the state of spiritual 'dryness and barrenness' where the soul feels nothing, yet affirms that prayer in this state is 'well-pleasant' to God.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The text explicitly states that God ordains the desire and the act of beseeching from 'without beginning,' ensuring that every prayer He causes to be made is granted.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is depicted as a dynamic, personal agent who actively wills, makes the soul will, receives prayer 'thankfully,' and feels 'glad and merry' about human supplication.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

Prayer is defined as the soul's will being 'oned and fastened into the will of our Lord,' describing a state of deep spiritual integration.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The entire passage is a theological exposition on the nature, mechanics, and divine reception of prayer, defining it as a 'true, gracious, lasting will of the soul.'

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