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Johannes Tauler Quotes

Powerful Johannes Tauler for Daily Growth

About Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler (1300-1361), a renowned German mystic and Dominican friar, was born in Strasbourg during the late medieval period. His exact birthdate is unknown, but he's believed to have been born around 1300. Tauler joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) at an early age and received his education in Paris, where he was deeply influenced by Meister Eckhart's teachings on the unity of God and the soul. Tauler spent most of his life in Strasbourg, serving as a prominent preacher and confessor. He is best known for his sermons, which offer profound insights into mystical theology and the spiritual journey towards union with God. Unlike other contemporary mystics, Tauler's works are characterized by simplicity and clarity, making them accessible to a wide audience. Some of Tauler's major works include "The Eight Ways to Holiness," "On the Ten Commandments," and his collection of sermons titled "Deutsche Predigten." These works delve into various aspects of Christian spirituality, including prayer, contemplation, and the inner life. Tauler's teachings emphasize self-denial, humility, and the importance of a direct, intimate relationship with God. Tauler's influence extended beyond his lifetime, impacting notable figures such as Martin Luther and Nikolaus von Kues. His wisdom continues to resonate today, offering timeless guidance on the spiritual path. Johannes Tauler's profound insights and enduring legacy make him a significant figure in the history of Christian mysticism.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"God does not look so much at the greatness of our works, but at the love with which they are done."

This quote by Johannes Tauler emphasizes that God values the sincere love behind our actions more than the magnitude or number of our deeds themselves. In essence, he is suggesting that true spiritual growth comes from performing good works out of love for God rather than seeking rewards or recognition. It underlines the importance of compassion, kindness, and selflessness in our interactions with others and the world around us.

"The world and all things in it can be compared to a mirror: as a mirror shows us our faces, so do all things show us ourselves."

This quote suggests that everything in the world mirrors our true nature or character. Just as a mirror reflects an accurate image of one's face, objects, situations, and interactions in life reflect our inner selves. Essentially, the world serves as a reflection of who we are - what we value, what we dislike, and how we behave, revealing our strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices, to us if we choose to observe closely.

"When we seek God in stillness and prayer, He will give Himself to us, little by little, until we are full of His sweet presence."

This quote by Johannes Tauler emphasizes the intimate relationship between an individual and God, suggesting that seeking spiritual connection through quiet reflection and prayer can lead to a gradual but profound filling of one's self with God's presence. It implies that this divine communion is a nourishing and satisfying experience, much like being filled to capacity with something sweet or delightful. The quote also highlights the idea that the process of this connection deepens over time, little by little, as one consistently seeks and cultivates that relationship with God.

"He who has a heart for God is never without God."

This quote by Johannes Tauler suggests that one's level of spiritual connection with God is determined less by external circumstances or specific times of devotion, but more so by the inherent state of one's heart. If a person deeply cherishes God and keeps their love for Him in their heart, they will always maintain an ongoing relationship with Him, regardless of where they are or what they are doing. In essence, it means that true faith persists when it is rooted deep within the individual.

"The way to the Father is narrow and steep, but those who walk on it in childlike trust and faith shall find it easy and pleasant."

This quote by Johannes Tauler emphasizes the idea that spiritual growth or seeking God is a challenging yet rewarding journey. The "narrow and steep" path symbolizes the difficulty and struggles that one may face on this path, but it's not insurmountable. The key to finding ease and pleasure along this journey is having childlike trust and faith. This means approaching God with simplicity, innocence, and wholehearted belief, which helps to navigate through hardships and find joy in the process of spiritual growth.

To discern what weaknesses and faults separate you from God, you must enter into your own inward ground and then confront yourself.

- Johannes Tauler

Own, Confront, Separate, Inward

In the most intimate, hidden and innermost ground of the soul, God is always essentially, actively, and substantially present. Here the soul possesses everything by grace which God possesses by nature.

- Johannes Tauler

Here, Always, Which, Possesses

Your meditations may be as profound, as exalted, as devout as you like; you may practise every pious exercise you can manage, but all this is as nothing in comparison with the Blessed Sacrament. What we do may be godly, but this sacrament is God Himself!

- Johannes Tauler

Comparison, Like, May, Meditations

The gracious, eternal God permits the spirit to green and bloom and to bring forth the most marvelous fruit, surpassing anything a tongue can express and a heart conceive.

- Johannes Tauler

Green, Fruit, Tongue, Marvelous

If we really want to achieve true prayer, we must turn our backs upon everything temporal, everything external, everything that is not divine.

- Johannes Tauler

Want, Turn, Achieve, External

In the kingdom of heaven it is His work that will be crowned, not yours. Anything in you that He has not wrought Himself will count for nothing.

- Johannes Tauler

Work, Will, Nothing, Wrought

Every one should find some suitable time, day or night, to sink into his depths, each according to his own fashion. Not every one is able to engage in contemplative prayer.

- Johannes Tauler

Night, Some, Sink, Depths

Like blind hens, we are ignorant of our own self and the depths within us.

- Johannes Tauler

Blind, Like, Within, Depths

A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding, is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises.

- Johannes Tauler

More, Religious, Occasional, Outward

As a good wine must be kept in a good cask, so a wholesome body is the proper foundation for a well-appointed inner ground.

- Johannes Tauler

Wholesome, Proper, Kept, Wine

Never believe that true prayer consists in mere babbling, reciting so many psalms and vigils, saying your beads while you allow your thoughts to roam.

- Johannes Tauler

Thoughts, Believe, Allow, Psalms

Spiritually good people, pure in heart, who long for the Blessed Sacrament but cannot receive at the time, can receive spiritually... even a hundred times a day, in sickness and in health, with immeasurable grace and profit.

- Johannes Tauler

Blessed, Receive, Hundred, Profit

Often when He comes, He finds the soul occupied. Other guests are there, and He has to turn away. He cannot gain entry, for we love and desire other things; therefore, His gifts, which He is offering to everyone unceasingly, must remain outside.

- Johannes Tauler

Love, Other, Away, Occupied

Give yourself entirely to God, enter and hide in the hidden ground of your soul.

- Johannes Tauler

Religion, Give, Hide, Entirely

If you fall seventy times a day, rise seventy times and return to God so that you will not fall too often.

- Johannes Tauler

Seventy, Will, Often, Rise

Let God and all his creation teach you what your sins are.

- Johannes Tauler

Teach, Your, His, Creation

Judge yourself; if you do that you will not be judged by God, as St. Paul says. But it must be a real sense of your own sinfulness, not an artificial humility.

- Johannes Tauler

Humility, Own, Will, Paul

You don't have to leave the world to be holy and grow closer to the Holy One.

- Johannes Tauler

World, Grow, Holy, Closer

Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century If ye keep watch over your hearts, and listen for the Voice of God and learn of Him, in one short hour ye can learn more from Him than ye could learn from Man in a thousand years.

- Johannes Tauler

Voice, Your, Alexandria, Hearts

God touches and moves, warns and desires all equally, and He wants one quite as much as another. The inequality lies in the way in which His touch, His warnings, and His gifts are received.

- Johannes Tauler

Desires, Which, Equally, Gifts

You have within you many strong and cruel enemies to overcome. You must know that there are still a thousand ties which you must break. No one can tell you what they are; only you can tell by looking at yourself and into your heart.

- Johannes Tauler

Strong, Still, Which, Enemies

Such sins, even if they do not kill all grace in us, do harm, nevertheless; and though they are only venial in themselves, they make us apt, ready, and inclined to lose grace and to fall into mortal sin.

- Johannes Tauler

Harm, Nevertheless, Though, Sins

What matters most is a good and ready will to obey God.

- Johannes Tauler

Matters, Will, Most, Obey

Because in the school of the Spirit man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence, how to live by dying.

- Johannes Tauler

Learning, Humility, Through, To Live By

Rid yourself of anything that is not directed toward God.

- Johannes Tauler

Yourself, Directed, Toward, Rid

Man must do his part and detach himself from created things.

- Johannes Tauler

Himself, His, Created, Detach

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart. No one can tell you better than yourself what comes between you and God. Ask yourself. Then listen!

- Johannes Tauler

Own, Tell, Your, Silence

God in His wisdom has decided that He will reward no works but His own.

- Johannes Tauler

God, Decided, His, Reward

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