EVELYN UNDERHILL

This year marks 80 years since the death of Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), a great English mystic, poet and author. I have read and reread many of her books through the years and find that she was deeply committed to prayer and listening in silence before she wrote and spoke. She gave retreats and seminars on the spiritual life and hearing the voice of the Lord. Her work later became known as mysticism unfortunately. Hearing the voice of the Lord is normal, not mystical. Her path took her to greatly influence many people in countries where few have gone and especially women in her day. Bless her courage and gifting. During her second half of life her emphasis was to encourage the spiritual life in ordinary people. She defined the spiritual life as “a life in which all we do comes from the center where we are anchored in God.” She redefined holiness: “The final test of holiness is not seeming very different from other people but being used to make other people very different; becoming the parent of new life.” Making a life of faith practical she described Christians as those who “do not stand aside wrapped in delightful prayers and feeling pure and agreeable to God. They go right down into the mess and there, right down in the mess, they are able to radiate God because they possess God and that, above all else is the priestly work that wins and heals souls.”

The common language for the common person was her great gift. She was a true prophet and seer that I admire very much. She said: “The visionary is a mystic when his vision mediates to him an actuality beyond the reach of the senses. The philosopher is a mystic when he passes beyond thought to the pure apprehension of truth. The active man is a mystic when he knows his actions to be part of a greater activity.” To know God in this way is to know ourselves, as we personally trust that self to God. The Spiritual Direction movement largely came from her influence and books.

“It is written in the prophets, ‘and they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.” Jesus