Revelations of Divine Love · 57 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter XLII-b

And if we see that He doeth, and we pray not, we do not our debt, and so may it not be: that is to say, so is it not [the thing that is] in His beholding.

But to see that He doeth it, and to pray forthwithal,—so is he worshipped and we sped.

All-thing that our Lord hath ordained to do, it is His will that we pray therefor, either in special or in general.

And the joy and the bliss that it is to Him, and the thanks and the worship that we shall have therefor, it passeth the understanding of creatures, as to my sight.

For prayer is a right understanding of that fulness of joy that is to come, with well-longing and sure trust.

Failing of our bliss that we be kindly ordained to, maketh us to long; true understanding and love, with sweet mind in our Saviour, graciously maketh us to trust.

And in these two workings our Lord beholdeth us continually : for it is our due part, and His Goodness may no less assign to us.

Thus it belongeth to us to do our diligence; and when we have done it, then shall us yet think that [it] is nought,—and sooth it is.

But if we do as we can, and ask, in truth, for mercy and grace, all that faileth us we shall find in Him.

And thus signifieth He where He saith: I am Ground of thy beseeching .

And thus in this blessed word, with the Shewing, I saw a full overcoming against all our weakness and all our doubtful dreads.

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Themes

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 text emphasizes 'well-longing,' 'love,' and 'worship' as the primary means of connecting with the divine and receiving grace.

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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 'All-thing that our Lord hath ordained to do' is the basis for prayer, affirming a divine ordering of events.

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Emotional Epistemologysoteriology

The doctrine that emotions constitute a valid and necessary mode of knowing reality, complementing or surpassing intellectual cognition.

The passage defines prayer as a 'right understanding' that arises from 'well-longing,' 'true understanding and love,' and 'sweet mind,' positioning emotion as a mode of knowing.

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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 an active, responsive being who 'doeth' things, feels 'joy and bliss,' and 'beholdeth us continually.'

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Poverty Of Spiritanthropology

Eckhart's radical reading of Matthew 5:3 — the saint as one who wants nothing, knows nothing, and has nothing, having emptied even the will and the self with which to receive God; distinct from renunciation_of_wealth (material poverty).

The text advises that even after doing one's diligence, one should think it is 'nought' (nothing), reflecting a radical humility and self-emptying.

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Prayerpraxis

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

The passage is centrally concerned with the nature, necessity, and mechanics of prayer as a 'right understanding' and a 'due part' of the human relationship with God.

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