The Sound of Heaven

There are many forms of solitude. Some are obvious, such as when a person escapes from society to become a hermit in the desert. But in some cases, solitude can be experienced even in a crowd. That was the experience of today’s mystic, Margery of Kempe. She lived in the 1400s in England. She was married, a mother of 14 children by the age of 40. But late in her childbearing years, she began to feel the presence of Jesus very directly. Jesus spoke to her in visions and trances. This led to the cause of her solitude: she felt the pain of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross so keenly that she would weep, and even wail any time she thought of the passion. This caused her no end of trouble and isolation. But she persevered, and dictated her memoir, The Book of Margery Kempe, which is now a spiritual classic.

Her memoir is written in the third person, and she refers to herself as “the creature”, i.e., one creature among God’s many creatures. Here’s how her experience of the divine begins, one night when she is in bed with her husband sleeping:

“One night, as this creature lay in bed with her husband, she heard a melodious sound so sweet and delectable that she thought she had been in paradise. And immediately she jumped out of bed and said “ Alas that ever I sinned, it is full merry in heaven!” This melody was so sweet that it surpassed all the melody that might be heard in this world, without any comparison, and it caused this creature when she afterwards heard any mirth or melody to shed very plentiful and abundant tears of high devotion, with great sobbings and sighings for the bliss of heaven, not fearing the shames and contempt of this wretched world. And ever after her being drawn towards God in this way, she kept in mind the joy and the melody that there was in heaven so much so that she could not very well restrain herself from speaking of it. For when she was in company with any people she would often say, “It is full merry in heaven!” 

Margery’s perception that heaven is not a place we can access only when we die is a core idea among mystics. To Margery, heaven, and God, are always right next to us, like a parallel dimension that coexists with this one. This was a source of great joy, especially in her time. She was living in the aftermath of the Black Death of the 1350s, which had killed up to half of Europe’s population. Everyone knew that life could be very short, and miserable, too. Her perception that a human being could experience a spiritual realm of unsurpassed beauty, and that was the destination of the faithful, was a tremendous gift, one that literally brought her to tears. And in our days of determined practicality, when all that matters is what can be measured or sold, it is important to know that we are meant for more than mere survival, and the world humans can create is but a shadow of the beauty God has created, and which is our ultimate home. Peace.

-Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto

Quotation source: Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, Book 1, Chapter 3

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