Saturday, January 2, 2016

From Fr. Delp's Diary, 2 January 1945

During the daytime I read a little Eckhart, the only one of my books I have managed to retain. The whole Eckhart question would be simpler if people remembered that he was a mystic and his mind and soul and spirit were always soaring into higher spheres. He did his best to follow their flight in word and expression - but how can any ordinary mortal succeed in an undertaking that defied even St. Paul? Eckhart failed as, in his own way, everyone must fail when it is a matter of analyzing and passing on an intimate personal experience: individuum est ineffabile. Once we have got back to the point where the ordinary person can have inexpressible secrets then a favored few will emerge and God will find them sufficiently advanced to draw them into the creative dialogue as he drew Eckhart. With this in mind reading him becomes more rewarding and more comforting. It gives the reader a glimpse of the divine secret in every human heart.

Tomorrow morning I shall pass on this sheet and there may not be any more before our fate is decided.... The whole business really has no central theme - it just doesn't make sense. If N. sticks to his deposition - which is false - there is no hope at all. But what is the use of thinking about it - far better to kneel and prayer placing everything in God's hands. Ad majorem Dei gloriam.

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