Backporch Advent Outpost with Hadewijch and the Mother of Love - Contemplify

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Contemplify Podcast Summary

Episode: Backporch Advent Outpost with Hadewijch and the Mother of Love
Host: Paul Swanson
Date: December 8, 2024

Overview

In this special Advent episode, host Paul Swanson reflects on the spiritual meaning of Advent by exploring the writings and mystical theology of 13th-century poet and mystic, Hadewijch. Set against the backdrop of the season’s anticipation and longing, Swanson dives into Hadewijch's unique understanding of Mary, the mother of Jesus, reframing her as the "Mother of Love" and inviting listeners to consider the lived, embodied implications of carrying and birthing love into the world. The episode offers poetic and practical inspiration to live this Advent more deeply and contemplatively.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hadewijch’s Vision of Mary: The Mother of Love

Paul introduces Hadewijch, a 13th-century mystic theologian renowned for her poetry and epistolary teachings.
Hadewijch’s preferred term for Christ is "Love," and thus she refers to Mary as the "Mother of Love," emphasizing a seamless, incarnational connection between Mary and Christ.
- "[Hadewijch] saw an unsplit, intimate and incarnational reality between Mary and Christ that through Mary's bearing and birthing of Christ, there are the theo, poetic, mystical implications for all of humanity." (01:17)
Paul is personally moved by how Hadewijch translates Mary's physical experience of pregnancy into spiritual lessons on the incarnation and the invitation this extends to all humanity.

2. Incarnation and Theosis

For Hadewijch, the Incarnation of Christ doesn’t just divinize Mary but reveals a path of theosis for all people—participating in the divine through love.
Paul notes:
- "Mary... bears Christ's divinity in her body and imitates Christ's humanity in her suffering and delighting of his birthday. So for Hadewijch, the incarnation of Christ is the divinization or theosis for Mary and ultimately for all of us." (01:55)

3. Growing Up and Giving Birth to Love

Hadewijch summarizes the spiritual path as "growing up and giving birth to love."
- Growing up: Attuning one's life to Jesus, opening humbly to suffering and working for justice, which is paired with the joy of birthing love.
- Giving birth to love: The patient, continuous labor of living out and manifesting love in our lives, both in suffering and delight.
- "Growing up is humbly opening up oneself to suffering through the works of justice, which is an inextricable partner with the delight of giving birth to love." (02:31)
Paul draws forth Hadewijch’s insight: "We enjoy God's divinity by imitating the humanity of Jesus." (02:44)
Every act of justice, every embrace of suffering or joy, becomes a way of carrying and bearing love into the world.

4. Incarnational Love as a Call for All

Hadewijch (and Paul) extend Mary’s path to all people: All are called to be 'mothers of love'—those who nurture, bear, and birth love in the world.
- "One who follows the path of mysterious incarnate love towards a union already started and ripened every day. By suffering and delighting in the service of love, love lives inside of us." (03:01)
- "We imitate and suffer love to give birth to love so that we may increase the way of love." (03:13)
The invitation is both mystical and practical: Bearing and birthing love within daily joys, works of justice, suffering, and ordinary acts.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

Hadewijch’s Influence:
- "Her (Hadewijch’s) understanding of Mary has deeply impacted me this Advent." (00:57)
On Advent’s Invitation:
- "I join Hadewijch in inviting us all to be mothers of love by believing that we are all bearing and birthing love." (03:27)
- "And I wonder what this might look like for you this Advent season. How might you already be preparing, bearing and birthing love?" (03:37)
Blessing for Listeners:
- "This Advent season may be a deepening in the darkness. Till next time friends. Be well." (03:48)

Important Timestamps

00:05 – Introduction to the Advent theme, Hadewijch, and Mary as “Mother of Love”
01:17 – Hadewijch’s theo-poetic implications of Mary’s motherhood
01:55 – Theosis and mutual participation in the Incarnation
02:31 – Explanation of "growing up and giving birth to love"
03:27 – Paul’s invitation to all contemplatives for Advent
03:48 – Closing blessing

Overall Tone

Paul Swanson maintains his signature contemplative, poetic tone, blending scholarship, lived spirituality, and heartfelt invitation. He draws listeners into a richer, more incarnational Advent—marked by both humility and hope—echoing Hadewijch’s vision that we are all capable of “bearing and birthing love” in our daily lives.

For listeners and readers alike, this episode is a gentle, rich call to awaken a mystical and practical sense of love’s incarnation in the world this Advent.

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Transcript2 lines

[00:05]
A
Welcome to contemplify where we seek to kindle the examined life for contemplatives in the world. I'm your host, Paul Swanson. This morning, or afternoon or evening, wherever you are, I want to muse on Mary, mother of Jesus, through the eyes of the 13th century mystic had a witch during the second week here of Advent, Hadewich was a mystic theologian who used poetry and letters as her primary vehicles for teaching. Her understanding of Mary has deeply impacted me this Advent. She translates Mary's biological experience of pregnancy and giving birth into spiritual terms for exemplifying the Incarnation and her own participation in it. And she does so with gusto. Haddwich. Gosh, I love that name so much. Hadewich's favorite term for Christ was love, and thus she called Mary the mother of love. She saw an unsplit, intimate and incarnational reality between Mary and Christ that through Mary's bearing and birthing of Christ, there are the theo, poetic, mystical implications for all of humanity. Mary, both symbolically and in actuality, bears Christ's divinity in her body and imitates Christ's humanity in her suffering and delighting of his birthday. So for Hadewich, the incarnation of Christ is the divinization or theosis for Mary and ultimately for all of us. In her letters to her sister beguines, Hadwich uses shorthand teaching phrases for this process. She calls it growing up and giving birth to love. For Hadewich, growing up is attuning your life and following the person of Jesus. As she sees it. Growing up is humbly opening up oneself to suffering through the works of justice, which is an inextricable partner with the delight of giving birth to love. Hatwich saw that we enjoy God's divinity by imitating the humanity of Jesus. It is in this embodied divine flow of the gritty human life that we all become the mother of love. One who follows the path of mysterious incarnate love towards a union already started and ripened every day. By suffering and delighting in the service of love, love lives inside of us. We imitate and suffer love to give birth to love so that we may increase the way of love. So this Advent I join had a witch in inviting us all to be mothers of love by believing that we are all bearing and birthing love. And I wonder what this might look like for you this Advent season. How might you already be preparing, bearing and birthing love? Thanks for listening to this bonus episode of Contemplify here. This Advent season may be a deepening in the darkness. Till next time friends. Be well.
[04:04]
B
Thank you for listening to this slow cooked episode of Contemplify. May its delights spark wonder, and may any sour patches be sweetened by their folly. Head over to contemplify.com to find the show notes for this episode. Sign up for the monthly Contemplify Non Required Reading list and also the weekly Contemplative practice Lo Fi and Hushed. If you are enjoying Contemplify, rate and review it on your podcast player. The Internet tells me this helps spread the content. Contemplative Cheer the theme song for Contemplify is called Langside by Charles Ends and Darren Hovius. Fellas, thanks as always and of course I am looking forward to bringing you more musings and more conversations with contemplatives kindling the examined life in the world. Until then, be.