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Spiritual Life

Margaret Ebner: Major Works
translated and edited by Leonard P. Hindsley
introduced by Margot Schmidt and Leonard P. Hindsley
preface by Richard Woods, O.P.

The Name Jesus Christus-the Truth knows this well-blossoms within me during the season of Advent with especially sweet grace and I can do nothing except what is given me with Jesus and from Jesus and in Jesus.
Margaret Ebner (1291-1351)

With these words, Margaret Ebner concludes her Revelations, making a moving statement of Christ's mystical presence to her through repetition of the Holy Name. Margaret was a Dominican nun and mystic at the Monastery of Maria Medingen near Dillingen in Germany. Within the confines of the monastic enclosure she lived a deeply spiritual life of prayer that issued forth into mystical union with Christ. Renowned in her own time for her holiness, she was the center of the Friends of God-a group of deeply religious layfolk, priests and nuns at every level of society from Queen Agnes of Hungary to laysister at Medingen. Her letter exchange with her spiritual director and friend, Henry of Nordlingen, is said to be the oldest exchange of letters (in the modern sense) in the German language. Her Revelations record the events of her spiritual journey for over fifty years of her life and reveal her gradual growth in holiness and deeper conversion to Christ.

This is the first translation of the entire Middle High German text of the Revelations into any modern language. Margot Schmidt and Leonard Hindsley have brought the age of Margaret Ebner to life by illuminating the historical and religious details of the late Middle Ages for the benefit of the modern reader. Through the translation and its introduction the hidden life of a remarkable and holy woman is made known to the modern world.

Margaret lived in turbulent times in Church history and had to contend with matters of conscience when caught between the rival forces of Pope John XXII and the Emperor Louis the Bavarian. She teaches the centrality of a personal relationship to Jesus Christ by whose standards all is judged. She proclaims the confidence that the believer must have in Jesus Christ who is Truth, Goodness and Love.
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Introduction by: Margot Schmidt, Leonard P. Hindsley
Preface by: Richard Woods