True happiness
Let her breathe more freely, and may her
pain be lessened by her clinging to you so that she forgets where she now is.
O Lord our God, you created us to come to full enjoyment
of you, and you ravish every rational soul with desire for you: free from
slavery to corruption that in us which should serve you alone - namely, our
eros. Free it, Lord, in us so that your bride, the Christian soul, having your
blood as her dowry, may sing her love songs to you in the midst of this life's
harsh tribulations, in her exhaustion as she journeys far from you, in this
prolonged exile in a foreign land. Let her breathe more freely, and may her
pain be lessened by her clinging to you so that she forgets where she now is.
The time has come, O Lord, the time has come for you to have mercy, for you
have nourished her with milk and led her out into solitude, there to speak to
her heart. Make her your captive in your war with Satan. Strip from her
everything superfluous, so that, in eternal charity and an indissoluble union,
she may enter into the embrace of her Victor. Amen
Father William of Saint Thierry (d. 1148)
was a Cistercian abbot, a theologian, and a mystic.
was a Cistercian abbot, a theologian, and a mystic.