Meister Eckhart

In this first session Fr. Hendree spoke about what initially drew him to the teaching of the 13th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart.  It was primarily two things.  First, Eckhart’s line from Sermon 13(b) “God’s ground is my ground and my ground is God’s ground.”  This teaching invites us to consider our union with God in the ground of our own being.  The further invitation is to learn about how the ground is a place within FROM which we can proceed as we go about our lives.  The important mystical word here is From.  The second teaching that drew Fr. Hendree is this line from Eckhart’s work titled, The Book of Divine Consolation, “God still does not have the love of my whole heart, and I still do not love such things as God would have me love WITH him.”  This line speaks to the notion that we are called to radical detachment from all creation.  In a sense we turn our backs on all creation and surrender totally to God, then we find that we are turned back to all creation to love all creation WITH God.  The important mystical word here is WITH.  Thus From and With are concepts gleaned from the mystic teacher Meister Eckhart which have captivated Fr. Hendree for many years.  This reading group is an exploration of those mystical concepts and whatever else the Spirit may reveal to us through the sermons of Meister Eckhart.

In session two we read a sermon from Meister Eckhart on Luke 10:38 which is titled, Jesus Entered.  You can find a pdf of the sermon here - https://german.yale.edu/sites/default/files/meister-eckhart-maurice-o-c-walshe-bernard-mcginn-the-complete-mystical-works-of-meister-eckhart-the-crossroad-publishing-company-2009.pdf it is on page 77 and is labeled Sermon Eight.  Hard copies will also be provided.

in session three we read a sermon from Meister Eckhart on John 4:23 which is titled, Woman, the hour is coming.  A hard copy of the sermon will be handed out at session two.

Here is a list of Meister Eckhart translations and commentaries:

Wandering Joy by Reiner Schurman (the sermon translation for session two is from this book)

Meister Eckhart in the Classics of Western Spirituality series by Bernard McGinn  

The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart translated by Maurice Walshe

The Way of Paradox by Cyprian Smith

The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart by Bernard McGinn