Chapter 36
- Jesus tells Kempe how best to please God. It's not through penance or prayers; it's through the contemplative life (in this case, that pretty much means weeping and thinking on God).
- But Jesus gives Kempe the power to choose how she enacts her devotion: prayers, or fasting, or other forms of penance. It's all good.
- Jesus tells Kempe that if he were on earth again in his body, everybody would know how much he loved her. And this is where things get a little... odd.
- Jesus tells Kempe that it is appropriate for a wife to be on intimate or "homely" terms with her husband, and so he will lie in bed with her. Kempe, he says, is to touch him as a wife does a husband. Uh, girl, this is J. C. himself…
- To put the awkward cherry on top of this pile of awkwardness, Jesus refers to himself as Kempe's lover, son, and father—followed by the request again to take him into the "arms of her soul" and kiss him.
- Joking aside, Jesus is actually not being a creeper here. Kempe experiences him in very orthodox terms: Christ as bridegroom, as Son of God the Father, and as Lord or Father/Mother of all.
- This is all very confusing if you're not in on the terminology, but just know that Jesus isn't actually asking Kempe to get it on with him: he's talking metaphorically about being one with God. This is all about mystical marriage, the kind of thing we saw back in Chapter 35.
- All of this is done so that Kempe can understand one thing: that she is to love God as he loves her.
- Jesus gives Kempe different signs that his love for her is true. She says she hears a bellows blowing in her ear (it's actually the Holy Spirit), which turns into birdsong in time.
- Jesus says that Kempe has been a good mother to him—and to all the world—because she has a great deal of charity in her.
Chapter 37
- Jesus continues to praise Kempe with an unusual simile: she sticks to him like the skin of a boiled stockfish sticks to a man's hand. Yum.
- Jesus is also impressed because Kempe has said that she would love him even if he hated her and made her spend all of eternity in hell. But he won't let that happen.
- Kempe now recalls how Wenslawe, her confessor in Rome, let her wear white clothes again. God wanted it, and you can't say no to that.
- Kempe now also quits going to the poor woman she had been serving as part of her penance.
- Now God tells Kempe that she has to give all her money away and be poor for his sake. She also gives away all the money that her broken-backed servant, Richard, loaned her.
- Richard's pretty peeved by this, but Kempe promises to pay him back when they get home.
Chapter 38
- Now that she's penniless, Kempe is worried about how to feed herself till she gets home. Jesus tells her to concentrate on their conversations instead—he'll sort out all matters of moolah.
- Jesus assures Kempe that he'll send enough friends along the way to keep her comfortable.
- Sure enough, Kempe immediately meets a good man who admires her holiness and gives her money.
- Kempe has a vision of the Virgin Mary asking people for food for her (Kempe).
- Kempe is comforted and soon meets up with the wealthy Margaret Florentyne (from Chapter 31), who provides her with Sunday dinner and food for several days in the week.
- Two other spiritual admirers provide food on other days, and then Kempe begs for the rest.
Chapter 39
- Kempe sees the poverty of Rome through her begging. She is given wine by a poor woman with a baby, and she sees the infant Christ in the woman's child. Jesus tells her that the house is holy.
- Kempe is thankful for the poverty she is in, because it places her in solidarity with the poor of Rome.
- It turns out that Kempe has a lot of friends in Rome. The Master of the Hospital of St. Thomas—the hospice that she'd been exiled from—renews their friendship.
- While there, Kempe runs into one of her former maidservants. The girl is doing well and will not serve Kempe again—but she gives her former employer food and money.
- Kempe continues visiting holy places. She speaks with St. Bridget of Sweden's former maidservant and visits the place where the holy woman died.
- Kempe learns that St. Bridget was actually popular and laughed a lot (quite a contrast from Kempe herself).
- During this time, Kempe is saved from natural disasters by direct warnings from God.
- Kempe gets to enjoy her reputation as a "servant of God" now, because her frightened companions beg her to pray for their safety.
- Jesus reassures Kempe that the storms will never harm her, and everybody makes it through just fine.
Chapter 40
- Kempe meets a priest from England who has heard of her spirituality and wants to meet her. He's like her first roadie, bringing extra money with him to help her on her journey.
- The priest calls Kempe "mother" and won't allow her to go begging for her food anymore. He also gives her money to return to England.
- But Kempe's adversaries are never far behind. Remember that troop from Jerusalem? They show up and complain that Kempe confesses to a priest who doesn't speak her language.
- The good priest decides to put the situation to the test. He invites the foreign priest to dinner and tries to speak with him in English. Of course, he doesn't understand a word.
- But then Kempe speaks with the foreign priest—and he understands everything.
- Kempe takes the opportunity to emphasize that she doesn't cry by choice: the tears only come when God wills it. But when they come, she can do nothing about it.