Meister Eckhart

A Dominican I've been reading lately is Master Eckhart and his Counsels on Discernment. He writes with such a trust in God, it reminds me of St. Catherine of Sienna.

"the greater and the morethe sins are, still immeasurably more is God glad and ready to forgive them...as godly repentance lifts itself up to God, sins vanish into God's abyss, faster than it takes me to shut my eyes, and so they become utterly nothing, as if they had never happened, if repentance is complete." -Counsel 13

"For however great your love for him may be, of this you are sure: his love for you is greater beyond measure, and his trust in you is incomparably more. For he is Trust himself; one should be sure of this with him, and they are all sure of it who love him." - Counsel 15

Yes, you could in a short time with great resolution turn away from all sin with a true disgust for it, and with equal resolution betake yourself to God, so that even if you had committed all the sins that have ever been done since the days of Adam and will ever be done, all that would be completely forgiven you and its punishment remitted, so that if you were to die this moment you would come into the presence of God. This is true penitence, and it comes, particularly and most perfectly, from what our Lord Jesus Christ suffered so fruitfully in his perfect penitence." - Counsel 16

"God never goes far off. He is always close at hand, and even if he cannot remain under your roof, still he goes no farther away than outside the door, where he stands." - Counsel 17

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I'm so glad I found this man again. My friend Sam who is quite a mystic himself loves Eckhart and Teilhard and in speaking with him, I came back to the German Master. He has a great way of preaching confidence in God, but also emphasizing love rather than simply faith, and thus steers clear of Luther and goes straight in line with St. Augustine.