' Belonging Only to God '...

Therefore God lies in wait for us with nothing
so much as with love.

For love resembles the fisherman's hook.

The fisherman cannot get the fish till it is caught on the hook.

Once
it takes the hook, he is sure of the fish; twist and turn as it may, this
way or that, he is assured of his catch.

And so I say of love: he who
is caught by it has the strongest of bonds, and yet a pleasant burden.

He who has taken up this sweet burden fares further and makes more
progress than by all the harsh practices any men use.

And, too, he
can cheerfully bear and endure all that befalls him, whatever God
inflicts on him, and can also cheerfully forgive whatever evil is done
to him.

Nothing brings you closer to God or makes God so much
your own as the sweet bond of love.

A man who has found this way
need seek no other.

He who hangs on this hook is caught so fast that
foot and hand, mouth, eyes, and heart, and all that is man's, belongs
only to God.


-Meister Eckhart Sermon 4