Writings About Evelyn Underhill

The Wisdom of John of the Cross in the Writings of Evelyn Underhill

Mary Brian Durkin, O.P.

When Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) began to study and write about the meaning of mysticism, she immersed herself in the writings of St. John of the Cross. Her monumental volume, Mysticism (1911), reveals her knowledge and appreciation of his teachings concerning mystical life. In The Mystic Way (1913), Practical Mysticism (subtitled "A Little Book for Normal People, 1914), and Mystics of the Church (1925), she continued to expound on John's wisdom concerning ways to achieve union with the Absolute.

In 1925, Underhill was invited by the Church of England to lead retreats, the first English woman to be so honored. She was so successful at this and in giving spiritual instructions to those who sought her advice that from then on she considered spiritual direction her life's work. It was particularly in retreat conferences and in letters to advisees that Underhill utilized and with, keen discernment, presented ways to develop a practical and balanced spiritual life based on the teachings of St. John of the Cross, who, she claims, is "at once the sanest of saints and the most penetrating of psychologists." (1)


From the many sanjuanistic ideas found in Underhill's writings, this article will highlight basic teachings concerning the importance of detachment, mortification, prayer, and service, not only because she considered these to be crucial instructions for anyone striving for a closer union with God, but also because members of a contemporary Evelyn Underhill study group found these teachings inspirational today.


"I knew that Underhill had many practical ideas about the spiritual journey," a member of the study group commented, "but I always thought John's teachings were too drastic---impossible for a beginner like me, but now I find him less formidable, thanks to her explanations." As the leader of this study group, I became increasingly aware at each session that the reactions of the group showed how relevant the wisdom of these two mystics is today. When I first drafted this article, I included many questions and comments by the study group, but space limitations demand that in most cases these be eliminated. It is my hope that readers will take time to answer some of the questions proposed and to read thoughtfully the prayers by Evelyn Underhill that end certain sections. Intimate and insightful, these prayers reflect her teachings and those of John of the Cross.

God Dwells Within Us

Evelyn Underhill frequently began retreat conferences with the statement that any discussion of practical ways to grow closer to God must begin with the humble recognition of the supernatural truth that he dwells permanently within each of us. In The Golden Sequence, Underhill reiterates the words of John of the Cross: "In every soul, even that of the greatest sinner, God lives and substantially dwells." (2) John distinguishes between the immanence of the Creator in all his creatures and that supernatural union which requires of each of us a willed self-giving as the price of our transformation into a suitable dwelling place for Divinity. Underhill explains:
God is always really in the soul…but this does not mean that He always communicates to it supernatural being. This communication is the fruit of grace and love, and all souls do not enjoy it.
Those who do, do not possess it in the same degree, since their love may be greater or less…The greater the love, the more intimate is the union. (3)
An important teaching of both John and Underhill is that we are half-formed, incomplete creatures, continually being shaped by God's pervasive presence and pressure. For this reason, Underhill pleads, "Don't say "God made me." Say "God is making me." The Divine Creator is still working on you!" To emphasize this point, she asked retreatants to contemplate a picture---God forming Adam. She then says,
There we see the embryonic human creature…half-awakened, not quite formed, like clay on which the artist is still working, and brooding over him, with His hand on His creature's head, the strong and tender figure of the Artist-Creator. Creative love, tranquil, cherishing, reverent of His material…meeting His half-made human creature, firmly and gradually molding it to His unseen pattern, endowing it with something of His own life. (4)
Like Adam, we too are partially formed and unfinished creatures upon whom the Divine Potter is still working. John of the Cross also refers to the Artist within our souls, able to accomplish his handiwork only if we are receptive to his touch. (5) Left to ourselves, we could only accomplish the merely natural and temporal, Underhill asserts, then adds, "Our spiritual life begins with a recognition of this humble truth, and a willing response to the Spirit, who first creates, then nurtures and stimulates us."(6)
Teach me, O God, a proper reverence for all that unformed human nature on which our Holy Spirit rests, which You can penetrate, transform, make holy, and in which You show forth to us the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.(7)

Self-Knowledge

John of the Cross states that the practice of self-knowledge is the first requirement for advancing toward the knowledge of God. Take some time, then, to examine your past, Underhill advises. Discover how the indwelling Presence has shaped your life. You may be surprised to discover that what you dismissed as a lucky coincidence was actually God's molding pressure; that lost job which later opened up a more advantageous position for you; the broken relationship which forced you to recognize and correct a personal weakness; words written in anger but, fortunately, never sent. Were not these inexplicable outcomes the work of the Lord's nurturing grace---his initiative, not yours?

If at times, the Potter's touch seems sharp and painful, Underhill suggests pondering John's words: "The hand of God, so soft and gentle, is felt to be so heavy and oppressive, though merely touching it (the soul), and that, too, most mercifully; for He touches the soul, not to chastise it, but to load it with His graces."(8) How do you respond to the idea that God is truly present in your soul?; that God's prevenient grace and transforming touch is continually forming and molding you to his pattern?; that the Divine Potter is making you, even at this moment? The realization that God's formative presence is within you, Underhill asserts, inevitably nurtures the desire to rid yourself of faults and failings that prevent a closer union with Him.
Lord, help me to think of my small, formless, imperfect soul as constantly subject to your loving, creative action, here and now, in all the bustle of my daily life, its ups and downs, its anxieties and tensions and its dreary, unspiritual stretches---and gradually giving it, through these things, its ordained form and significance. So that in all the events of my life, even the most trivial, I experience your pressure, Creative Artist. (Prayers, p.4).
Self-Giving
Asked how one can learn to respond to God's presence and pressures, Underhill cites John's teaching: "Absolute self-giving is the only path from the human to the Divine." She then adds, "…by prayer also. The two are really one." She explains that to form a closer union with our Creator, we must purge ourselves of all that separates us from Divine Goodness. For most of us, this is a lifetime process, demanding a drastic remaking of our character---getting rid first of self-love; and second, of all those foolish interests which prevent us from making God the center of our lives.(9)

In Man and the Supernatural, Underhill states that self-giving requires self-stripping, that is, ceasing to make the self the center and circumference of our lives, and ridding ourselves of anything that hinders our union with God. Painful but necessary, self-stripping is not an annihilation of our individual character but rather the subjugation of weaknesses which separate us from God. (10) What in our personal life needs to be stripped away? Are we self-centered? How do we manifest our self-love---perhaps by being overly assertive and self-opinionated; being quick to censor others but slow to admit our own weaknesses; or, resenting the success of our colleagues?


Echoing John's statement in The Spiritual Canticle that self-forgetfulness is one certain way to achieve a closer union with God, Underhill wrote this to an advisee:
Just plain self-forgetfulness is the greatest of graces…The true relation between the soul and God is the perfectly simple one of childlike dependence. Well, then, be simple, and dependent, acknowledge that you have nothing of your own, offer your life to God and trust Him with the ins and outs of your soul as well as everything else! Cultivate a loving relation to Him in your daily life.
As to detachment---what has to be cured is desiring and hanging on to things for their own sake and because you want them, instead of offering them with a light hand and using them as part of God's apparatus; people seem to tie themselves into knots over this…The cure is more simplicity! (11)
Sometimes our self-interests, self-concerns, and self-occupation take a religious form, Underhill asserts: "It is expressed as my rule of life, my problem, my sins, my communion with God." (12) Do we fuss too much about our times of prayer and how we are praying and where, with the emphasis on oneself? We ignore the fact that the value of our prayer regime lies in the degree to which it simplifies us and alerts us to see and respond to God's call coming to us through the mundane events of our daily life. Do we place too much emphasis on techniques of prayer and emphasize methods rather than sincerity and simplicity? Do we need detachment in our prayer life?

This topic created discussion and frank comments from the study group. "At communion time, I used to switch over to another line just so I could avoid receiving the Eucharist from a lay person," commented a member. "Then I stopped doing this, for I realized that I was thinking more about who was giving me the Host, instead of concentrating on Whom I was welcoming."


Underhill's teachings concerning detachment closely follow the wisdom of John of the Cross, particularly the idea that, often unconsciously, we place false values on things. We unwittingly form attachments to persons, possessions, habits, thoughts, and desires which may become so intense that they fetter the mind and spirit, distracting us from giving the attention and dedication due to our Creator. Underhill reminded retreatants that in The Spiritual Canticle John cautions, "A soul enslaved by anything less than God becomes by this fact incapable of union with Him." (13) In what ways do we allow ourselves to be "enslaved" in our life today---by desiring possessions or by inordinate attachments that fetter us so much that our spiritual journey is disrupted?


In Fragments from an Inner Life, Underhill reveals her own disciplined efforts to practice detachment. Her notes and jottings record her attempts and failures:
Persistent failure is detachment and in escaping from the control of my own likes and dislikes. My inordinate longing to retain C.'s full affection and devotedness, and equally inordinate dislike of L.'s emotional clinging and dependence, sources of disturbance in my own inner life…Fraternal charity is the index of all real love of God. Don't love Him really until I love His manifestation in others, revere it, want to serve it.
 
I am critical---rigid in my attitude to uncongenial people; frequently impatient and exasperated, feel hostile to people without reason---reprove servants too coldly or severely---fail to make allowances or repress personal vexations---fretful, snappish, even to those I love. (14)
 
Jesus, show me what the attachments and cravings are which hold me down below your level of total self-surrender, real love. Show me the things that lumber up my heart, so that it cannot be filled with your life and power. What are they? People? Ambitions? Interests? Comforts? Anxieties? Self-chosen aims? Take form me all that hinders my work for You! (Prayers, pp. 8,9)
Right Use of Possessions
John's statement, "That thou mayest have pleasure in everything, seek pleasure in nothing; that thou mayst possess all things, seek to possess nothing," is a paradox frequently misunderstood, Underhill explains. (15) People think that John is suggesting that it is wrong to take pleasure in the senses, which is utterly false and absurd.

We know that he enjoyed food, drink, music, friendship, and loved nature so much that he purchased a wooded area so that the novices could relax and recreate out of doors while praising their Creator. John never advocated a denial of sensory pleasures but simply a moderate use of them. Underhill concurs: "We ought to be strong enough to use our senses without letting them swamp our souls, to enjoy them without forgetting the Giver of these gifts" (Letters, pp. 78-79).


The same moderation must govern our attitude toward material things. We do not have to sell or abandon our possessions, but we must refuse to be possessed by them. It is the craving, the inordinate desire to possess, that enslaves us, not the actual possession. John of the Cross teaches that it is our attitude toward possessions that matters for it is the poor in spirit, not the poor in substance, who are spiritually blessed. (16) Possessions---whether they be wealth, power, prestige, or material objects---have different values for everyone.


The important question is this: Do we use them in such a way that they distract us from our main purpose in life---to know, love, and serve God? Surprisingly enough, sometimes it is a very small, seemingly insignificant thing, that enchains us. If it is detrimental to our spiritual life, it must be abandoned. Underhill repeats John's warning: "It makes little difference whether a bird be held by a slender thread or by a rope, the bird is bound and cannot fly until the cord is broken. This is the state of the soul with particular attachments." (17) Underhill warns of the danger inherent inordinate desires for possessions of any type:
We mostly spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching, and fussing on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual---even on the religious plane---we are kept in perpetual unrest; forgetting that none of these verbs has any significance, except in so far as they are transcended and included in the fundamental verb to be…Being, not wanting, having, and doing, is the essence of a spiritual life. (18)
"I can relate to that idea," someone from the study group commented. "I struggled so hard to earn a higher position at work but to win it, I undermined the work of others, not giving them full credit for their helpful contributions. In other little ways, too, I sacrificed my integrity, but I suddenly realized what I was doing and stopped being so competitive. I could live with myself again!"

Purification of Memories

In The Ascent, John states that in some instances memories are as great a hindrance to the soul as the desire for external things. Hence, he urged a thorough cleansing of all disturbing and harmful recollections. Underhill agrees:
The psychic storehouse, with its accumulation of remembered experiences---pains and pleasures, repulsions and attractions, images and notions---colors all our reactions to reality and enchains us to our past. Still more disastrous is the constant presence of the psychic rubbish-heap with its smouldering resentments, griefs and cravings,…the tight, hard balls of prejudice, the devitalizing regrets. All this ceaselessly tempts us to sterile self-occupation, destructive of that simplicity which is the condition of a self-abandoned love. It reminds us of past sensible and emotional experiences…old wounds to our self-love, old conflicts born of pride, anger, or self-will, and throws up distracting images whenever our minds are quiet. (19)
Underhill also suggests that it is not just memories that need cleansing. We are enslaved by prejudices---racial, religious and ethnic---and gender biases. We unfairly judge others when their customs, culture, and lifestyle unfavorably differ from ours. Purification of negative memories and prejudices is necessary, Underhill insists, so that we can accomplish our work and prayer, undisturbed by vitiating thoughts and attitudes.
Penetrate those murky corners where we hide memories, and tendencies on which we do not care to look, but which we will not disinter and yield freely up to You, that You may purify and transmute them. The persistent buried grudge, the half-acknowledged enmity, still smouldering; the bitterness of that loss we have not turned into a sacrifice, the private comfort we cling to, the secret failure that saps our initiative and is really inverted pride; the pessimism which is an insult to your joy. Lord, we bring all these to You; and we review them with shame and penitence in your steadfast light. (Prayers, p.62).
Moderation in Mortifications
Given the differences between John of the Cross and Evelyn Underhill, their times and culture, as well as the spiritual maturity of those to whom they offered counsel, it is somewhat surprising that they held similar views in regard to mortifications. Although each practiced rigorous asceticism personally, they advised their followers to observe moderation, advocating normality and common sense in all penitential exercises.

A pragmatic realist, Underhill repeatedly stated that the mortifications sent by God and the ordinary frictions of daily life offer ample opportunity for self-discipline. She forbade advisees to undertake any self-imposed mortifications until they could cheerfully accept the difficulties and contradictions of each ordinary day. A letter reflects this:
As to deliberate mortifications, I take it you do feel satisfied that you accept fully those God sends. That being so, you might perhaps do one or two little things, as acts of love, and also as discipline. I suggest the mortification of the tongue---very tiresome and quite harmless to the health. Carefully guard against amusing criticisms of others and all complaints, however casual and trivial…I'm sure custody of the tongue could give you quite a bit of trouble and be a salutary discipline, sort of a verbal hair-shirt. (Letters, p.250)
One wonders if Underhill had recently read the advice that John of the Cross wrote to Mother Magdalena: "Straitly restrain thy tongue and thy thought, and fix thine affection habitually upon God, and the Divine Spirit shall give you great fervour. Read this often." (20) To another advisee perplexed about the role of mortification, Underhill counseled,
But the question is, how and where in a normal, active life to fit it in. The one great rule must be, you must not do anything which lowers your all-round efficiency of life---if the absent hot-water bottle means always bad nights and slackness the next day, it is not a good thing to choose. Ditto about food. (Letters, p.124).
Underhill rarely reveals aspects of her personal life to her directees, but in the above letter she tells that she "has knocked off all aesthetic pleasures: All poetry, fiction, theatre, music. This I find a real deprivation, and absolutely harmless" (Ibid).
Lord, teach me to accept all that You accepted: the ceaseless demands, needs, conflicts, pressures, misunderstandings even those of who loved You most. Help me to discern the particular price You asked and help me to pay that price whatever it may be. And Oh! Cleanse my vision that I may see your pressure in my daily life, your ceaseless, purifying action of your generous, patient love. (Prayers, pp.8,13)
A Willing Surrender to God
True asceticism requires the cleansing and transforming of our will, the most difficult and most searching of all the soul's purifications, Underhill declares. In Mysticism, she states that nothing separates us from God except our own will. All the disorder, corruption, and weakness in our nature stem from our willfulness. (21) To discipline our will, conforming it to the supreme Will, requires us to take up our Cross daily, just as John proclaims: "However high your endeavors, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will, unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself, not one step will you advance on the road to perfection." (22)


In Life As Prayer, Underhill develops John's teaching that sanctity is obtained by a willed surrender, a deliberate adherence to the will of God. This surrender is in reality the action of God rather than the deliberate action of the soul. Nevertheless, to respond to his prevenient pressure, the will must be disciplined by selfless giving. We may not be saints yet, but we can follow John's advice: "The whole wisdom of the saints consists in knowing how to direct the will vigorously toward God." (23)

Like John, Underhill taught that sometimes this surrender means being deprived of consolation and joy during prayer, a purgation of self-love that frequently comes to those who, well advanced on the spiritual journey, have hitherto enjoyed feelings of deep peace and tranquility. To an advisee who complained that aridity and dryness destroyed her joy in prayer, Underhill replied that this suffering was a test of loyalty and courage, requiring the eliminations of self-love:
It is St. John of the Cross's Night of the Senses you have come to. Face the fact, and trust God and not your miserable sensations. You are being made to disassociate love from feeling and center it on the will, the only place where it is safe! This does not mean feeling is gone forever, or ardor, or joy. They are to come back, at God's moment not yours…Don't be worried---all is well. It is God you want and God wants you. (Letters, p.231)
In another letter, she states, "Remember it is your will that counts, not the amount that you have strength to accomplish." (Letters, p.132)

How can the will be disciplined so that it becomes one with the will of the creative Artist who is molding and shaping it to his design? Underhill answers that this transformation of the will is chiefly accomplished by prayer. When purging the will is very difficult, imitate Christ, she urges. Remember that he never sought for himself any spiritual advantage or consolation. His steadfast will and perfect love accepted evenly all that was uneven. Like him, we must place our trust in the Father, our Sustainer. John the Cross reminds us, "The soul does not unite itself to God in this world by understanding and enjoying, by imagining, nor by any faculty of sensitive nature, but by the generous act of trust which turns from all these props to a bare adherence in faith." (24)

In Abba, a study of the Our Father, Underhill reiterates John's admonition: "It is not the act of a good disciple to flee from the Cross in order to enjoy the sweetness of an easy piety."(25) Be willing to accept suffering. When trials are difficult and the will is weak, remember that John says it was in the Passion that Christ "accomplished that supreme work which His whole life, its miracles and works of power, had not accomplished---the union and reconciliation of human nature with the will of God." (26)
Help me to do your will in whatever work You give. Willing as You will, willing to use very simple things as the instruments of love, as You did: the towel and the basin; the cup, plate, and loaf; willing to do the most menial duties for the sake of love. (Prayers, p. 25)
Importance of Prayer
Stating that the entire teaching of John is directed to perfecting the soul in charity---so that all it does, has, is, and says is transfused by its love for God---Underhill insists that prayer is the only way to achieve this goal. Prayer must become a top priority. God must come first in our lives! Of course, by prayer she does not mean a number of litanies, rosaries, the divine office, or other formal utterances. Prayer is all of life, offered with love to Absolute Love. If you truly believe that your spiritual life depends, not so much on your actions but on God's actions within you, you will find time to be silent and still, alone with him, allowing his supernatural life and love to permeate, grow, and sustain you. (27)


Too many individuals, living lives of frenetic hurry and tension-filled activity, foolishly neglect the essential need: prayer. Both John and Underhill urge simplicity in prayer, but Underhill, to a greater extent than John, stressed the role of adoration: the lifting up of heart and mind to the Eternal God. We are created to praise, worship, and serve him, she states. If we neglect praise and adoration, our service counts for little. Adoration, she insists, does not mean emotional, sentimental outpourings or ecstatic, esoteric devotions. It simply restores the sense of proportion in our hectic lives. Every aspect, even the most humble, of our everyday life can become part of this adoring response. Only when our hearts are at rest in God in selfless adoration are we empowered to show his attractiveness to others.

Underhill deplored the growing practice of many devout Christians who, in order to give more time and energy to Christian social services, shortened their time of prayer, justifying this by claiming such work is in fact prayer. She insists: prayer must precede work. Take time for communion with God first: withdraw from activity, seek solitude, be silent, rest in his presence, listen to God speaking to you, and then praise him for his goodness. Follow the advice of John: "The soul must now learn to receive, to let Another act in her." (28)

In the Life of the Spirit, Underhill quotes John's admonition, "What is wanting is not writing or talking---there is more than enough of that---but silence…For silence produces recollection, and gives the spirit a marvelous strength." (29) Underhill elaborates on this:
Until we realize that it is better, more useful, more productive of strength, to spend ten minutes in the morning in feeding and finding the Eternal than in flicking through the newspaper---that this will send us off to the day's work properly orientated, gathered together, recollected and endowed with new power of dealing with circumstances---we have not yet begun to live the life of the spirit. (30)
Teach me to abide in the Light of Eternity, in simplicity, in stillness and peace, asking for nothing, seeking to understand nothing, but absorbed in that selfless adoration of your glory which is the heart of prayer. Quiet abandonment to the Spirit will bring order to chaos, Light into my darkness, if I yield myself to His action without reserve. (Prayers, pp. 49, 62)
Love Demands Action
Prayer, however, is only one part of our spiritual life. Underhill cautions that we cannot remain in a cosy oratory, conversing intimately with our Friend, cut off from the world. Love demands action! We do not truly love God until we are driven to seek his incarnation in the world of time. We must use, expand, and share our God-given gifts to further his work. We must emulate the saints who, Underhill wryly points out, served God, not by standing aloof, "wrapped in delightful prayers…but by going down into the mess and there, right down in the mess, they are able to radiate God because they possess Him." (31)

Enlarging upon John's comment, "The soul is life an unopened parcel and only God knows what He has put in it." (32) Underhill raises the following questions: Do we open ourselves and offer our gifts generously to others? Do we give what we are and what we have to be the eternal purposes of God without any self-centered concern about the value or cost of our service? The generous gesture, the sacrifice, and the intention are what matter, not the particular form or value of our work for him. As Underhill observes, our actions may seem like "small green apples," insignificant and humble, but if offered with selfless love, they are fruits of infinite worth.

Underhill reminds retreatants that there is a work that God requires each person to do and which no one else can do. Few will be asked to make heroic sacrifices, but we are all required to serve our Creator in that situation and condition where he has placed us. There is no place where Eternal Love cannot be served, praised, and made known to others. It is up to us, as John bluntly states: "One action, one endeavor of our own is worth more than many done by others." Underhill observes that this is true only when we give unselfish and dedicated service, accepting pain, failure, rejection, and misunderstanding, without desire for personal satisfaction, reward, or recognition. "Real charity," says John of the Cross, "is not shown merely by tender feelings, but by strength, courage, and endurance." (33)
Teach me to enter the life of service that alone is freedom, which accents humiliations, hardness, poverty, hiddenness, sacrifice, spend-thrift love, with a glad generosity, asking nothing. Cleanse my service of all selfishness, spiritual or material, all criticism or impatience, all secret desire for consolation, recognition or reward. Take all that I have and all that I am and subdue it to your service. (Prayers, p.28)
A Life-Long Process
When reminding retreatants that John of the Cross said, "In the evening of life, we shall be judged on love," Underhill emphasized the word "evening" to reinforce once again the thought that our spiritual formation is an ongoing, lifetime process. Incomplete and unfinished, we are gradually being formed and shaped by the Divine Artist who dwells within us. Our faithful, enduring response to the Potter's chipping and chiseling will gradually enable us to seek and find the Eternal in our everyday world of duties, demands, pressures, and pleasures. Only then will we be empowered to carry out the command of John of the Cross: "Be thou the Message and the Messenger." (34)

Challenging but not daunting, these spiritual goals can be implemented by frequently recalling and acting upon the practical counsels pertaining to ways to grow in detachment, mortification, prayer, and service as explained here by John of the Cross and Evelyn Underhill, two mystics separated by centuries but bonded by their intense desire to follow---and to help others to follow---the way of their exemplar, the Divine Artist.
Give us light, O Lord, that contemplating the love and patience of Jesus and His saints, we may be changed into love and patience. Take from us by contemplation of their example, all selfishness. Take from us all softness, cowardice and timidity, all self-love. Give us a spirit of courage, of surrendered trust, so that we may be willing to spend ourselves and to be spent, for the sake of your children, in union with your self-giving love. (Prayers, pp.41-42).
Notes
(1) Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (London: Methuen, 1911), p.275
(2) Evelyn Underhill, The Golden Sequence, (New York:Harper & Brothers, 1960), p. 55.
(3) Ibid., p.56.
(4) Ibid., p. 65.
(5) The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1973), p.318.
(6) The Golden Sequence, p. 67.
(7) Evelyn Underhill, Mediations and Prayers (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1949), p. 52 Hereafter referred to as Prayers; page numbers follow text.
(8) Mysticism, p. 399.
(9) Ibid., p.204.
(10) Evelyn Underhill, Man and the Supernatural (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1928), p.69
(11) Evelyn Underhill, The Letters of Evelyn Underhill, ed. Charles Williams (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1991), pp.306, 307. Hereafter referred to as Letters; page numbers follow text.
(12) Evelyn Underhill, The Ways of the Spirit, ed. Grace A. Brame (New York: Crossroad, 1990), p.227.
(13) The Golden Sequence, p. 98.
(14) Evelyn Underhill, Fragments from an Inner Life, ed. Dana Greene (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1993) pp.44-45.
(15) Mysticism, p.206.
(16) Ibid., p. 211.
(17) Ibid, p. 212.
(18) Evelyn Underhill, The Spiritual Life, (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1984), p.20.
(19) The Golden Sequence, p. 127.
(20) In the Kavanaugh-Rodriguez edition of St. John's works, this is omitted, but it appears in the edition by E. Allison Peers, volume three, p.234.
(21) Mysticism, p. 397.
(22) Evelyn Underhill, Light of Christ (Longmans, Green and Co., 1944), p. 100. This quotation was frequently displayed at retreats given at Pleshey, England.
(23) Evelyn Underhill, Life as Prayer, ed. Lucy Menzies (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1991), p. 92.
(24) The Golden Sequence, p. 119.
(25) Evelyn Underhill, Abba (London: Longmas, Green and Co., 1940) p. 41.
(26) Evelyn Underhill, The School of Charity (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1991), p. 56.
(27) Evelyn Unerhill, Fruits of the Spirit (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1942), p.4.
(28) Life as Prayer, p. 87.
(29) Evelyn Underhill, The Life of the Spirit and the Life Today, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 19410, p. 157.
(30) Ibid, p. 157.
(31) Evelyn Underhill, Concerning the Inner Life (London: Methuen, 1924) p. 61.
(32) Evelyn Underhill, The Mystery of Sacrifice (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1991), p. 21.
(33) Evelyn Underhill, The House of the Soul (London: Methuen, 1924), p. 144.
(34) The Mystery of Sacrifice, p. 67.

Mary Brian Durkin, O.P., is retired professor of English literature, Dominican University, River Forest, IL. She is presently engaged in research on the spirituality of Evelyn Underhill. She is the author of Be Not Afraid, I Am With You, a collection of traditional and original prayers addressing the needs of the ill and those who care for them.

This article first appeared in Spiritual Life, Summer 2000 followed by the Evelyn Underhill Newsletter, November 2000.