15 Days of Prayer with Johannes Tauler

Johannes Tauler invites us to prepare the ground of the soul to receive God, so that the Word of God may be born in us as it is in Mary. Focusing on themes such as God in Creation and the return of all things to God, Tauler nevertheless insists that the union of the human soul with God is by grace, and not by nature. Through prayer, we surrender our own striving and open our hearts to Gods purposes: this is not abandonment of moral purpose, however, but detachment, and openness to the movements of the Holy Spirit. A 15-day retreat with Johannes Tauler, then, offers true depth to the soul that welcomes God.

Johannes Tauler (c. 13001361), one of the great Rhineland mystics, was born to a prosperous and apparently religious family, both he and his sister entering religious orders at a young age. He began his Dominican novitiate in 1314, and spent several years studying logic, philosophy, and theology before his ordination to the priesthood, after which he dedicated his life to the spiritual direction of Dominican nuns and the laity, and above all to preaching. Under the influence of Meister Eckhart, Tauler developed a mystical approach to Christian spirituality rooted in the concept of Gods birth and continuing presence in the human soul.