Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages · Chapter 45On the Fourth Kind of the Spiritual Coming of Christ
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NOW I wish to speak of the fourth kind of coming of Jesus Christ, which exalts and perfects the man in his interior exercises, according to the lower part of his being. But having compared all the interior comings to the shining of the sun, we will continue to speak, while following the course of the seasons, of the other effects and works of the sun.
When the sun begins to descend the sky, it enters the sign of the Virgin, so called because this period of the year becomes barren like a virgin. The glorious virgin Mary, mother of Christ, full of joys and rich in all the virtues, ascended to heaven at this season. The heat begins then to diminish, and men gather, for use during the whole year, the ripe fruits which can be used long after, such as corn and the grape. And they sow part of the corn, that it may be multiplied for the use of men. At this season all the solar work of the year is finished. In the same way, when Christ, the glorious sun, has risen to the zenith in the heart of men, and begins to descend, so as to hide the splendour of His divine beams and to leave a man alone, the heat and impatience of love diminish. Now this occultation of Christ and the withdrawal of His light and heat are the first work and the new coming of this mode. Now Christ says spiritually in a man: "Go forth in the manner that I now show thee"; and the man goes forth, and finds himself poor, miserable, and desolate. Here all the storm, all the passion and eagerness of love grow cold; summer becomes autumn, and all his wealth is changed into great poverty. And the man begins to complain by reason of his misery; what is become of his ardent love, his inwardness, his gratitude, the interior consolations, the heartfelt joys? Where has it all gone? How comes it that all is dead within him? He is like a scholar who has lost his knowledge and his work; and nature is often troubled by such losses. Sometimes these unhappy ones are deprived of the good things of earth, of their friends and relations, and are deserted by all the creatures; their holiness is mistrusted and despised, men put a bad construction upon all the works of their life, and they are rejected and disdained by all those who surround them; and sometimes they are afflicted with diverse diseases; and some of them fall into bodily temptations, or into spiritual temptations, the most dangerous of all. From this misery are born the fear of falling, and a sort of half-doubt, and this is the extreme point where we can stop without despair. Let such men seek out the good, complain to them, show them their distress, and ask their help, and implore the aid of Holy Church, and of all just men.