Read 1 Timothy 6:6-19. There is great gain in Godliness combined with contentment. (1 Tim. 6:6) See also Ruysbroeck, The Sparkling Stone Joy and sorrow. Pain and elation. Heaven and hell. Why is life like that? Why is one moment ablaze with glory, every cloud, every leaf, every person a Read more…
Read Luke 16:1-13. Do you like to run? Do you love to get out there, pound the pavement, feel the wind in your hair, see the world flow by, breathe the fresh air, sweat away the stress of the day? Me neither. I know someone who doesn’t like to run. Read more…
In the 14th century, when Ruysbroeck lived, there was no doubt a great deal of illiteracy, especially if that is understood to mean the inability to read and write Latin, the language of the church. Therefore images and rituals were a significant component in worship. Churches had stained glass windows Read more…
Read Luke 14:25-33. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26) So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. (Luke Read more…
Jan van Ruysbroeck (or Ruusbroec; 1293 or 1294-1381) was a great fourteenth-century contemplative of the Low Countries. He wrote in the vernacular, middle Dutch, rather than Latin. He was a proponent of a “common” or mixed active and contemplative life. Of him, Evelyn Underhill said that “Ruusbroec is thought, by Read more…