|
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.
|