Description of Mysticism, of a Mystic
Fr. Bertrand Wilberforce's "Introduction" in St. Catherine de Ricci: Her Life, Her Letters, Her Community, includes a description of mysticism and the mystic life which can be helpful to anyone living life omnia pro Deo.
"...the words 'mystic,' 'mystical,' mysticism' are often used in modern literature in a sense very different from that in which Catholic writers employ them. Often indeed it is not easy to understand what modern authors do mean by these phrases....
"Thus, philosophical writers are sometimes described as 'mystical' who have a symoblical way of looking at abstract truths. Again writers of fiction often describe their characters as 'mystically inclined,' because their minds have a tinge of melancholy and regard ethical or religious truth in a dreamy, imaginative and unpractical kind of way.
"The Catholic mystical theologians have on the other hand, as has been shown in this essay, a very definite and precise meaning when they use the word mysticism, and can indicate very clearly what they signify by calling a man a mystic or by saying that he walked in mystical ways.
"They mean that the soul was chosen by our Lord to lead a life of close and constant union with God. Such a soul, in a most perfect way, realizes the ideal held out by St. Paul in the words: 'Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks.' [I Thess. 5:16]
"...St. Paul, as we can easily draw from what he has written in his epistles, was an eminent mystic. We have already seen how he was favoured by the highest visions, raptures and revelations.
"His hidden, secret (that is mystical), life of union with God can be gathered from incidental sayings about himself in his various epistles.
"A man who is a Christian mystic lives an entirely supernatural life, having no object he desires in this world; and St. Paul could say with full truth: 'I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.' [Gal. 2:20]
"A mystic is one who has no inclination for anything earthly, having tasted and found by experience how sweet the Lord is, and St. Paul declares: 'I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ.'
"A mystic has one and only one desire, union with God. St. Paul testifies this concerning himself. Nothing else did he desire in life or death, nothing else could satisfy the hunger and quench the thirst of his soul. So he exclaimed: 'To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' [Phil. 1:21]
"A mystic is one utterly abandoned without reserve, in life and death, to Jesus Christ, and St. Paul tells us: 'With Christ, I am nailed to the cross.' [Gal. 2:19]
"A man walking in mystical ways speaks of himself as annihilated in Jesus Christ, in the sense that natural life is of no value to him except in as far as by it he can give glory to Jesus Christ, and what but this is expressed in those sublime words, 'Now also shall Christ be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death'? [Phil. 1:20]
"Mystical writers speak of holy people being transformed into Jesus Christ, meaning by this strong expression the intimate union of the purified soul with our Lord, and St. Paul says that he bore in his very body 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' [Gal. 6:17]
"The mystical mind has so put on the Lord Jesus that it looks on everything in the same light that He did, and this St. Paul meant when he described himself as 'not knowing anything, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'
"The will of a man in mystical ways is entirely and for ever united to the Will of God, expressed by that short, simple yet comprehensive aspiration fo the Apostle, 'Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?'
"Lastly, the whole object of the mystical soul is to imitate and reproduce the character and life of Jesus Christ, and how perfectly did St. Paul accomplish this before he exhorted the Corinthians to follow his example: "Be ye imitators of me, as I am of Christ'! [I Cor. 11:1]"
Lord, purify my soul. Help me to become You and You alone. May I live all for God and never depart from union with You. Amen!
"...the words 'mystic,' 'mystical,' mysticism' are often used in modern literature in a sense very different from that in which Catholic writers employ them. Often indeed it is not easy to understand what modern authors do mean by these phrases....
"Thus, philosophical writers are sometimes described as 'mystical' who have a symoblical way of looking at abstract truths. Again writers of fiction often describe their characters as 'mystically inclined,' because their minds have a tinge of melancholy and regard ethical or religious truth in a dreamy, imaginative and unpractical kind of way.
"The Catholic mystical theologians have on the other hand, as has been shown in this essay, a very definite and precise meaning when they use the word mysticism, and can indicate very clearly what they signify by calling a man a mystic or by saying that he walked in mystical ways.
"They mean that the soul was chosen by our Lord to lead a life of close and constant union with God. Such a soul, in a most perfect way, realizes the ideal held out by St. Paul in the words: 'Always rejoice, pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks.' [I Thess. 5:16]
"...St. Paul, as we can easily draw from what he has written in his epistles, was an eminent mystic. We have already seen how he was favoured by the highest visions, raptures and revelations.
"His hidden, secret (that is mystical), life of union with God can be gathered from incidental sayings about himself in his various epistles.
"A man who is a Christian mystic lives an entirely supernatural life, having no object he desires in this world; and St. Paul could say with full truth: 'I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.' [Gal. 2:20]
"A mystic is one who has no inclination for anything earthly, having tasted and found by experience how sweet the Lord is, and St. Paul declares: 'I count all things to be but loss, for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ.'
"A mystic has one and only one desire, union with God. St. Paul testifies this concerning himself. Nothing else did he desire in life or death, nothing else could satisfy the hunger and quench the thirst of his soul. So he exclaimed: 'To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' [Phil. 1:21]
"A mystic is one utterly abandoned without reserve, in life and death, to Jesus Christ, and St. Paul tells us: 'With Christ, I am nailed to the cross.' [Gal. 2:19]
"A man walking in mystical ways speaks of himself as annihilated in Jesus Christ, in the sense that natural life is of no value to him except in as far as by it he can give glory to Jesus Christ, and what but this is expressed in those sublime words, 'Now also shall Christ be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death'? [Phil. 1:20]
"Mystical writers speak of holy people being transformed into Jesus Christ, meaning by this strong expression the intimate union of the purified soul with our Lord, and St. Paul says that he bore in his very body 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' [Gal. 6:17]
"The mystical mind has so put on the Lord Jesus that it looks on everything in the same light that He did, and this St. Paul meant when he described himself as 'not knowing anything, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'
"The will of a man in mystical ways is entirely and for ever united to the Will of God, expressed by that short, simple yet comprehensive aspiration fo the Apostle, 'Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?'
"Lastly, the whole object of the mystical soul is to imitate and reproduce the character and life of Jesus Christ, and how perfectly did St. Paul accomplish this before he exhorted the Corinthians to follow his example: "Be ye imitators of me, as I am of Christ'! [I Cor. 11:1]"
Lord, purify my soul. Help me to become You and You alone. May I live all for God and never depart from union with You. Amen!
posted by The Catholic Hermit | 12:18 PM
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