Evelyn Underhill		 June 15
Mystic
Evelyn Underhill maintained that “mysticism, in its pure form, is the science of ultimates, the science of union with the Absolute, and nothing else, and that the mystic is the person who attains to this union.” Her own life vividly illustrates her own understanding.
Evelyn was born on 6 December 1875 into a well educated but not particularly religious, legal family. She was educated at King’s College, London. In her childhood and youth she herself was a nominal churchgoer, being confirmed at fifteen. Subsequently she ceased worshipping and became an agnostic. Then gradually she returned to belief in God and became a deeply committed worshipper. Papal condemnation of modernism, along with her husband’s persuasion (she married in 1907), dissuaded her from her interest in the Roman Catholic Church, to which she had shown some inclination.
Following a religious experience in 1907, which she afterwards referred to as her “conversion”, Evelyn began to study the writings of the mystics and gathered together material for her classic book, Mysticism (1911). This was the first of twenty books, in which she developed her central theme - the love of God. In her spiritual pilgrimage, Evelyn was led to meditate deeply on the fact that the way of love is the way of sacrifice. 
[Sacrifice] expresses . . . the living heart of religion; the self-giving of the creature to its God. By this self-giving action, man takes his conscious part in the response of the universe to the Source of its being; and unites the small movements of his childish soul to the eternal sacrifice of the Son.
Another theme to which she kept returning was the pursuit of knowledge at the expense of spiritual depth.
The human mind’s thirst for more and more breadth has obscured the human heart’s craving for more and more depth. . . . Our interest rushes out to the furthest limits of the universe, but we seldom take a sounding of the ocean beneath our restless keels.
About the same time as she wrote Mysticism she met F. von Hügel, who became her spiritual director. Evelyn herself became heavily involved with people seeking spiritual direction and help, both in person and through her voluminous correspondence. Her advice was invariably sensible and practicable.
From the mid 1920s she was in much demand as a retreat conductor - in days when women conductors of retreats were very rare. In recognition of her capabilities, King’s College made her a fellow of the college in 1927. She continued to be associated with the House of Retreat at Pleshey almost to the end of her life.
A true mystic herself, Evelyn was at all times practical and to the point. Her conviction that mysticism showed itself in love of others is reflected in her commitment to socialism and the plight of the poor. She not only wrote books on prayer, worship and mysticism, but produced new translations and editions of older works on the subject, thus introducing many to the classics of western mysticism. Her studies and her response to the First World War led her to become a strong pacifist towards the end of her life. She died in 1941.
For Liturgical Use
Evelyn Underhill was born in 1875 and, after a religious experience in 1907, became heavily involved in mystical spirituality. Through her books, retreat addresses and correspondence with those seeking spiritual counsel, Evelyn Underhill helped many to understand the mystical tradition. To her, worship and the varied dimensions of the spiritual life meant beginning with God and being “drawn at His pace and in His way to the place where He wants us to be: not the place we fancied for ourselves”. She died in 1941.
Sentence
How deep are your thoughts O God, and how great is the sum of them.	Psalm 139:17
Collects
God of love,
your servant Evelyn Underhill
delighted in your presence
and encouraged others in their journey;
may we grow ever nearer to you 
and more open to your Spirit’s voice,
till we abide in you for ever;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God of the expanding universe,
God of the simplest atom,
we praise you for Evelyn
and all who dare to seek
an intimate consistent union with you;
give us her cool perception, we pray,
and her passionate obedience.
Psalm 	63:1-9	91
Readings
Joel 2:26-29		God’s Spirit poured out
Romans 8:22-27		Future glory
John 14:12-21		The Spirit of truth
Post Communion Sentence
Jesus said, “Abide in me, as I abide in you. You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me.”	
				John 15:4 (adapted)