Revelations of Divine Love · 95 of 127 · tr. Grace Warrack

Chapter LXI-b

So willeth He that we do, as a meek child saying thus: My kind Mother, my Gracious Mother, my dearworthy Mother, have mercy on me: I have made myself foul and unlike to Thee, and I nor may nor can amend it but with thine help and grace .

And if we feel us not then eased forthwith, be we sure that He useth the condition of a wise mother.

For if He see that it be more profit to us to mourn and to weep, He suffereth it, with ruth and pity, unto the best time, for love.

And He willeth then that we use the property of a child, that evermore of nature trusteth to the love of the mother in weal and in woe.

And He willeth that we take us mightily to the Faith of Holy Church and find there our dearworthy Mother, in solace of true Understanding, with all the blessed Common.

For one single person may oftentimes be broken, as it seemeth to himself, but the whole Body of Holy Church was never broken, nor never shall be, without end.

And therefore a sure thing it is, a good and a gracious, to will meekly and mightily to be fastened and oned to our Mother, Holy Church, that is, Christ Jesus.

For the food of mercy that is His dearworthy blood and precious water is plenteous to make us fair and clean; the blessed wounds of our Saviour be open and enjoy to heal us; the sweet, gracious hands of our Mother be ready and diligently about us.

For He in all this working useth the office of a kind nurse that hath nought else to do but to give heed about the salvation of her child.

It is His office to save us: it is His worship to do [for] us, and it is His will [that] we know it: for He willeth that we love Him sweetly and trust in Him meekly and mightily.

And this shewed He in these gracious words: I keep thee full surely .

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Themes

Anthropomorphismtheology

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

The passage is centrally built upon the extended metaphor of God as a 'kind Mother,' 'Gracious Mother,' and 'nurse' with 'hands' and 'blood,' attributing distinct human maternal characteristics to the divine.

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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 text emphasizes 'loving devotion' and 'self-surrender' to a personal deity (the Mother) as the sufficient means of salvation, mirroring the path of bhakti.

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Childlike Innocenceanthropology

The infant or child as symbol of the unfallen, undivided spiritual state; return to primordial simplicity.

The passage explicitly commands the believer to adopt the 'condition of a meek child' and the 'property of a child' that trusts in the mother's love as the primary mode of spiritual existence.

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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 asserts that God actively orders human suffering ('if He see that it be more profit to us to mourn') and salvation toward a loving end, demonstrating active divine governance.

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Living Godtheology

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

The text depicts God as an active, responsive, and caring agent who 'willeth,' 'suffereth,' and actively tends to the salvation of the child, emphasizing a personal and dynamic relationship.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The goal described is to be 'fastened and oned' with the Mother (Holy Church/Christ), indicating a deep spiritual merging or union with the divine.

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Prayerpraxis

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

The passage opens with a direct petitionary address ('My kind Mother... have mercy on me') and frames the entire spiritual life as a dialogue of trust and reliance.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The speaker acknowledges a state of being 'foul and unlike to Thee' and 'broken,' expressing the felt condition of exile or alienation from the divine that necessitates the return.

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Related passages · 10 parallels

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