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ANIKÓ DARÓCZI
She finds herself in stillness: And she must remain in stillness in the freedom
of that blessedness (Ende si moet bliuen in stilheiden / Jn die vriheit derre
verweentheit, 141).
The freedom the soul receives goes hand in hand with the silence that
makes listening possible:
What God speaks to her then
of lofty spiritual wonders,
that nobody knows,
except God,
who gives this to her,
and the Soul,
who is spiritual like God,
above all spiritualness.
Wat god dan te hare sprect / van hoghen gheesteleken wondere, / dan weet niemand
/ dan god, / diet hare gheuet / Ende die ziele, / die gheestelec es alse god bouen alle
gheestelecheit.
God’s ‘giving’ in this freedom thus appears to be a speaking. God first
speaks to the soul, and then the soul speaks herself ‘in God’. The following
passage reflects what is said by ‘a human being in God’ and takes the form of
an incantatory, overpowering song of praise followed by yet another:
A soul in God’s friendship said this:
I have heard the voice of blessedness,
I have seen the land of clarity,
Ihave tasted the fruit of gladness. (154-156)
Dat seide ene ziele inde vrienscap gods:
Jc hebbe ghehoert de stemme der verweentheit.
Jc hebbe ghesien dat lant der claerheit,
Ende Jc hebbe ghesmaect de vrocht der bliscap.
The situation of the soul which speaks ‘in the presence of God’ (196)
suggests a strongly affective experience of God that is described here,
like at the beginning of the letter, as that of the blessed soul that has
received ‘sensitivity, sweetness, gladness and blessedness’. These ‘powers’
(crachticheiden) appear to be heavenly ones. The soul is led into ‘a blessed
stillness’ (verweende stilheit) that is reminiscent of the ‘blessed soul’ that
must ‘remain in stillness in the freedom of that blessedness’. There the soul
perceives the following:
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