Midweek Meditation: "Counsels on Discernment 2" (Meister Eckhart)

Continuing our series of meditation about counsels for discernment by the German mystic, Meister Eckhart, we look at the place of prayer. In the middle ages, one of the focuses of prayer is union with God. This is one of Eckhart's distinctive teachings. In prayer, we seek not the gifts but the Giver. As we read the writings, one of the thoughts that come to mind is about the beatitude, what it means to be poor in spirit.

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Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

TITLE: Meister Eckhart: Selections from His Essential Writings (HarperCollins Spiritual Classics)
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Harper-One, 2005, (166 pages).

Of the most powerful prayer, and of the highest work of all

The most powerful prayer, and almost the strongest of all to obtain everything, and the most honourable of all works, is that which proceeds from an empty spirit. The emptier the spirit, the more is the prayer and the work mighty, worthy, profitable, praiseworthy and perfect. The empty spirit can do everything.

What is an empty spirit?

An empty spirit is one that is confused by nothing, attached to nothing, has not attached its best to any fixed way of acting, and has no concern whatever in anything for its own gain, for it is all sunk deep down into God’s dearest will, and has forsaken its own. A man can never perform any work, however, humble, without it gaining strength and power from this.

We ought to pray so powerfully that we should like to put our every member and strength, our two eyes and ears, mouth, heart and all our senses to work; and we should not give up until we find that we wish to be one with Him who is present to us and whom we entreat, namely God. (4)