How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Page)
Quote #4
"For I would have you know, sir, that there is no man in this world that I love so much as God, for I love him above all things, and, sir, I tell you truly, I love all men in God and for God." (I.48.153)
The Mayor of Leicester behaves ungallantly to Kempe and more or less accuses her of being a hypocrite and "unchaste." The problem? He can't imagine how a wife (that is, not a virgin) can wear white clothes and lead a contemplative life. But Kempe will not allow him to shame her solely on the grounds that she knows what it means to live a sexual life.
Quote #5
"If it were your will, Lord, I would for your love, and for the magnifying of your name, be chopped up as small as meat for the pot." (I.57.181)
Kempe's narrative uses the phrase "chopped up as small as meat for the pot" twice in relation to the intensity of her love for God. We imagine this is a little like the modern idiom "I love you to the moon and back"—except without the violence and general mess. The idea of being willing to die for the love of God is something that Kempe and other saintly figures return to when they contemplate how adequately to demonstrate love for God. Such a death is perceived of as the absolute proof of love, and, depending on how you look at it, it's somewhat easier (or at least quicker) than enduring an entire lifetime of self-denial and ridicule.
Quote #6
The said priest read books to her for the most part of seven or eight years, to the great increase of his knowledge and of his merit, and he suffered many an evil word for her love, inasmuch as he read her so many books, and supported her in her weeping and crying. (I.58.182)
Kempe recognizes her true friends when she finds them. For one thing, they don't much mind her screaming and weeping. For another, they read to her and are patient with her conversation—which is especially important for a mystic who can't read. She recognizes that this local priest bears love for her because of these things, and she likes to think that her requirements of him prepared him for a spiritually and financially richer future (he gets a bigger benefice later in life).