The desire for a more retired life, and possibly also the persecution which followed Ruysbroeck's attack on Bloemardinne, induced the three friends to quit Brussels in 1343, for the hermitage of Groenendael, in the neighbouring forest of Soignes, which was made over to them by John III, Duke of Brabant. But here so many disciples joined the little company that it was found expedient to organize into a duly-authorized religious body. The hermitage was erected into a community of canons regular, 13 March, 1349, and eventually it became the motherhouse of a congregation, which bore its name of Groenendael. Francis van Coudenberg was appointed first provost, and Blessed John Ruysbroeck prior. John Hinckaert refrained from making the canonical profession lest the discipline of the house should suffer from the exemptions required by the infirmities of his old age; he dwelt, therefore, in a cell outside the cloister, and there a few years later happily passed away. This period, from his religious profession (1349) to his death (1381), was the most active and fruitful of Ruysbroeck's career. To his own community his life and words were a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. His fame as a man of God, as a sublime contemplative and a skilled director of souls, spread beyond the bounds of Flanders and Brabant to Holland, Germany, and France. All sorts and conditions of men sought his aid and counsel. His writings were eagerly caught up and rapidly multiplied, especially in the cloisters of the Netherlands and Germany ; early in the fifteenth century they are to be found also in England. Among the more famous visitors to Groenendael mention is made of Tauler, but though the German preacher certainly knew and appreciated his writings, it is not established that he ever actually saw Ruysbroeck. Gerard Groote in particular venerated him as a father and loved him as a friend. And through Groote, Ruysbroeck's influence helped to mould the spirit of the Windesheim School, which in the next generation found its most famous exponent in Thomas à Kempis. Just now strenuous efforts are being made to discover authentic Flemish manuscripts of Blessed John Ruysbroeck's works; but up to the present the standard edition is the Latin version of Surius, all imperfect and probably incomplete as this is. Of the various treatises here preserved, the best-known and the most characteristic is that entitled "The Spiritual Espousals ". It is divided into three books, treating respectively of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life ; and each book is subdivided into four parts working out the text; Ecce Sponsus venit, exite obviam ei , as follows: (1) Ecce , the work of the vision, man must turn his eyes to God ; (2) Sponsus venit , the divers comings of the Bridegroom; (3) exite , the soul going forth along the paths of virtue ; and finally (4) the embrace of the soul and the heavenly Spouse.
Literally, Ruysbroeck wrote as the spirit moved him. He loved to wander and meditate in the solitude of the forest adjoining the cloister ; he was accustomed to carry a tablet with him, and on this to jot down his thoughts as he felt inspired so to do. Late in life he was able to declare that he had never committed aught to writing save by the motion of the Holy Ghost. In no one of his treatises do we find anything like a complete or detailed account of his system; perhaps, it would be correct to say that he himself was not conscious of elaborating any system. In his dogmatic writings he is emphatically a faithful son of the Catholic Church, explaining, illustrating, and enforcing her traditional teachings with remarkable force and lucidity; this fact alone is quite sufficient to dispose of the contention, still cherished in certain quarters, that Ruysbroeck was a forerunner of the Reformation, etc. In his ascetic works, his favourite virtues are detachment, humility, and charity; he loves to dwell on such themes as flight from the world, meditation upon the Life, especially the Passion of Christ, abandonment to the Divine Will, and an intense personal love of God. But naturally it is in his mystical writings that the peculiar genius of Ruysbroeck shines forth. Yet here again it is the manner rather than the matter that is new, and it is especially in the freshness, originality, boldness, variety, detail, and truth of his imagery and comparisons that the individuality of Ruysbroeck stands out. Students of mysticism from the pages of the Areopagite onwards will scarcely discover anything for which they cannot recall a parallel elsewhere. But there are many who maintain that Blessed John stands alone, unrivalled, in his grasp of what we may term the metaphysics of mysticism, in the delicateness and sureness of his touch when describing the phenomena and progress of the mystic union, and in the combined beauty, simplicity, and loftiness of his language and style.
A word of warning is needed against the assumption of some writers who would exalt the genius of Ruysbroeck by dwelling on what they term his illiteracy and ignorance. As a matter of fact the works of Blessed John manifest a mastery of the sacred sciences, and a considerable acquaintaince even with the natural science of his day. His adaptation of the slender resources of his native tongue to the exact expression of his own unusual experiences and ideas is admirable beyond praise; and though his verse is not of the best, his prose writings are vigorous and chaste, and evidence not only the intellect of a metaphysician, but the soul also of a true and tender poet.
Blessed John's relics were carefully preserved and his memory honoured as that of a saint. When Groenendael Priory was suppressed by Joseph II in 1783, his relics were transferred to St. Gudule's, Brussels, where, however, they were lost during the French Revolution . A long and oft-interrupted series of attempts to secure official acknowledgement of his heroic virtues from Rome was crowned at length by a Decree, 1 Dec., 1908, confirming to him under the title of "Blessed" his cultus ab immemorabili tempore . And the Office of the Beatus has been granted to the clergy of Mechlin and to the Canons Regular of the Lateran. No authentic portrait of Ruysbroeck is known to exist; but the traditional picture represents him in the canonical habit, seated in the forest with his writing tablet on his knee, as he was in fact found one day by the brethren—rapt in ecstasy and enveloped in flames, which encircle without consuming the tree under which he is resting.
Donated items for evacuees of Fort McMurray set up outside Lac La Biche's evacuation centre on May 7. Photo/Courtesy of Lac La Biche County via Facebook
So it is ironic that the fire-devastated town has now brought the country together. The ugly political and environmental debates, although not entirely muted, have been muffled by a national eruption of caring and generosity. From coast to coast, people from all walks of life have banded together and, where there was despair, brought hope.
Who would have predicted that the bitumen capital of the world would be embraced as Canada’s city? Even many who oppose everything the oil town stands for have opened their hearts and wallets to support a pan-Canadian relief effort. True, some sanctimonious fools have suggested Fort Mac, as it is affectionately known, got what it deserved, but those cold voices were quickly shouted down. Compassion has won the day.
The wildfires that forced almost 90,000 people from their homes, creating perhaps the largest refugee crisis in Canadian history, bluntly remind us that nothing we build can match the occasional fury of nature. But, as many have pointed out, Fort Mac’s ashes also declare that even when nature throws a tantrum it can’t crush mankind’s capacity for kindness. Buildings may burn to the ground but human spirit endures.
The Catholic Register has written often about people forced to flee their homes in fear. But these accounts normally deal with situations of war and terror in places like Syria, Iraq and east Africa, where millions of desperate people have become refugees, moving to distant lands or living as nomads within their own country. These victims know the fear and pain of losing their homes, their possessions, their livelihoods. Thousands of them have also lost loved ones, victims of war.
Natural disasters are not the same as war, and no one died in the Fort McMurray fires (although two teenagers died in a road accident during the evacuation), but there is common trauma in having to flee in fear and not knowing when you will return or if your home, your belongings and your livelihood will still be there. Tens of thousands of displaced people from Fort McMurray are now coping with that trauma. No amount of goodwill from across Canada can totally erase their anxiety but receiving a virtual hug must help.
When flames jumped the Athabaska River to sweep down the streets of Fort McMurray, to their credit most Canadians put aside differences about oil sands and climate warming and instead asked the most straightforward of questions: how can we help? It was that simple. As it should always be when people are in need.