Meister Eckhart's Christmas Sermon One. Where is the Word born and how?
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Dec 14, 2024
Delve into the profound insights of Meister Eckhart as he explores the eternal birth of God within humanity. Discover the significance of inner purity and the journey toward self-awareness amidst external distractions. Eckhart challenges us to seek the divine inwardly rather than focusing solely on external celebrations of Christmas. Emphasizing the necessity of silence and receptivity, he presents a transformative path for spiritual growth and deeper understanding, urging listeners to connect with their true essence.
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insights INSIGHT
The Inner Christmas
True Christmas is not merely an external event but an inner transformation.
It's about the birth of the divine word within the human soul.
insights INSIGHT
Personal Significance of Christmas
The birth of the Word must occur within each individual for Christmas to be meaningful.
It's not enough for the birth to happen externally; it must become an inner reality.
insights INSIGHT
Location of the Divine Birth
The divine birth happens in the purest, subtlest part of the soul, not in external locations.
This requires inner purity, stillness, and turning inward, away from the senses.
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Julian of Norwich's Revelations of divine love
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Meister Eckhart's Complete Mystical Works
Meister Eckhart's Complete Mystical Works
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Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart's Complete Mystical Works compiles the sermons and writings of this influential 14th-century mystic. His work explores the nature of God, the soul, and the path to spiritual union. Eckhart emphasizes the importance of inner transformation and detachment from worldly concerns. His writings are characterized by their profound insights and paradoxical language, challenging conventional understandings of Christian faith. Eckhart's influence on Christian mysticism and contemplative spirituality continues to resonate with readers today.
Psychotherapy
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Dissolve
Dissolve
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Paul Foote
Sermon One (in Walshe, Complete Mystical Works) has become known as capturing the essence of Meister Eckhart’s thought. “Here, in time, we are celebrating the eternal birth which God the Father bore and bears unceasingly in eternity, because this same birth is now born in time, in human nature.” And why does this lofty thought matter? “What does it avail me that this birth is happening, if it does not happen in me? That it should happen in me is what matters.” Eckhart, therefore, offers a corrective to the way Christianity and indeed Christmas is usually articulated today. Where does this birth take place? Not in Bethlehem, not in a stable, not around 4BC, not even from Mary, but primarily “in the very purest, loftiest, subtlest part that the soul is capable of”. Only, is this itself not only too rarefied a form of Christianity, but one inadequate to our times, in denial of moral imperatives or simply a gospel of spiritual bypassing? In fact, precisely the opposite is the case. Without that birth of the Word in the soul, Christianity’s moral meaning is lost, its injunctions become pathways to demoralisation, with the happiness promised transitory or elusive. Eckhart, therefore, has crucial things to say to a church dedicated to filling people up with experiences and demands, as well as a time keen on practices that miss the stillness and silence he argues is fundamental. Rather, alongside the author of The Cloud of Unknowing and Mother Julian, Eckhart preaches the direct and easy path, that depends not on our efforts but on a capacity to not know and stay before the ground from which the Word is born. Unity with God is the purpose and promise of life - the secret that I feel is regularly absent in presentations of Christianity, though so much sought and needed.
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