{"id":36135,"date":"2020-11-19T08:35:51","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T12:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/?p=36135"},"modified":"2020-11-19T08:42:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T12:42:02","slug":"st-mechtild-of-mageburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2020\/11\/st-mechtild-of-mageburg\/","title":{"rendered":"St Mechtild of Mageburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/St-Mechtild.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-36136 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/St-Mechtild-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/St-Mechtild-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/St-Mechtild.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/a>In one week we have two diamonds in the crown of Benedictine (Cistercian) sanctity: St Gertrude and today, St Mechtild of Magdeburg (c.1210 &#8211; 1280).<\/p>\n<p>The witness of St Mechtild is striking because it conveys a personal experience with the Lord. Far being abstract and vague, Mechtild relates her experience of the love she and God shared. These experiences are what we all are after in our relationship with the Lord. Mechtild&#8217;s biography notes that she was 12 when these mystical experiences began. When she was 18 she joined a community of B\u00e9guines. After forty years, she moved to the Cistercian convent of Helfta. Her prose showed poetic sensitivity in direct and simple language.<\/p>\n<p>In another place I wrote of St Mechtild, \u201cAccording to some scholars, this Cistercian-Benedictine nun and poet, theologian and mystic was the inspiration of Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy. Interesting that her liturgical memorial comes at the end of the liturgical calendar given her visions of heaven, hell and purgatory! Some people register a doubt about her status as a canonized saint in the Church but she is remembered in the Roman Martyrology (2004) and venerated as such by many, including the Cistercian-Benedictines and that\u2019s good enough for me. The Martyrology speaks of Saint Mechtild as a woman of exquiste doctrine and humility, and supernatural gifts of mystical contemplation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The words in the picture mean:<\/p>\n<p>Das fliessende Licht der Gottheit<br \/>\nThe flowing light of the Godhead<\/p>\n<p>Herr himmlischer Vater, du bist mein Herz.<br \/>\nLord Heavenly Father, you are my heart.<\/p>\n<p>Herr Jesus Christus, du bist mein Leib.<br \/>\nLord Jesus Christ, you are my love.<\/p>\n<p>Herr Heiliger Geist, du bist mein Atem.<br \/>\nLord Holy Spirit, you are my breath.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; St Mechtild von Magdeburg<br \/>\nPicture: (c) Initiativkreis Kloster Helfta.e.V. Durach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In one week we have two diamonds in the crown of Benedictine (Cistercian) sanctity: St Gertrude and today, St Mechtild of Magdeburg (c.1210 &#8211; 1280). The witness of St Mechtild is striking because it conveys a personal experience with the Lord. Far being abstract and vague, Mechtild relates her experience of the love she and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2020\/11\/st-mechtild-of-mageburg\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">St Mechtild of Mageburg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1727,32350],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36138,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36135\/revisions\/36138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}