Mystery is a great embarrassment to the modern mind...
- Flannery O'Connor
I found this quote posted on FaceBook and its wisdom haunts me.
I'm thinking of how mystery is part and parcel of our belief, theology and prayer and ritual: how mystery is constitutive of church and ministry. Apart from mystery, there is no life of faith. And I'm trying to apply that truth to the modern individual, family, world view and culture.
How much of the spiritual life is an embarrassment to the modern mind, to the modern heart, to the modern Christian?
I think of the parents and children at our rehearsal Tuesday night for this coming Sunday's First Communion celebration. I was speaking to them of food and drink becoming sacrament, of bread and wine becoming body and blood, of our gifts becoming the real presence of Christ...
How much of the mystery of which I spoke was an embarrassment to the minds of those who were listening? How much was simply screened out, politely dismissed or benignly ignored?
Has the language, the vocabulary of mystery ceased to speak to the contemporary mind?
What do we know, what do we relish of mystery - we who won't let go our smart phones even while at prayer?
How did reason come to be the enemy of mystery?
How have we forgotten that mystery is a way of knowing, a path to knowledge?
If we are embarrassed my mystery, what chance has love? truth? hope?
Something of critical import pulses in those O'Connor's words, something for believer and non-believer alike.
As a pastor and preacher I'm taking these words to heart, to my work and to my own prayer.
Look to the mystery in your own life, your own faith and let no embarrassment diminish its beauty within and around you.
I found this quote posted on FaceBook and its wisdom haunts me.
I'm thinking of how mystery is part and parcel of our belief, theology and prayer and ritual: how mystery is constitutive of church and ministry. Apart from mystery, there is no life of faith. And I'm trying to apply that truth to the modern individual, family, world view and culture.
How much of the spiritual life is an embarrassment to the modern mind, to the modern heart, to the modern Christian?
I think of the parents and children at our rehearsal Tuesday night for this coming Sunday's First Communion celebration. I was speaking to them of food and drink becoming sacrament, of bread and wine becoming body and blood, of our gifts becoming the real presence of Christ...
How much of the mystery of which I spoke was an embarrassment to the minds of those who were listening? How much was simply screened out, politely dismissed or benignly ignored?
Has the language, the vocabulary of mystery ceased to speak to the contemporary mind?
What do we know, what do we relish of mystery - we who won't let go our smart phones even while at prayer?
How did reason come to be the enemy of mystery?
How have we forgotten that mystery is a way of knowing, a path to knowledge?
If we are embarrassed my mystery, what chance has love? truth? hope?
Something of critical import pulses in those O'Connor's words, something for believer and non-believer alike.
As a pastor and preacher I'm taking these words to heart, to my work and to my own prayer.
Look to the mystery in your own life, your own faith and let no embarrassment diminish its beauty within and around you.
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This was a very interesting post. Surprisingly, I have also encountered some of this disdain for "mystery" in discussions with others, even Catholic friends. It seems as if admitting that our faith is "mysterious" in many ways is almost an insult to one's intelligence. In searching to deepen one's faith, some seem to believe that that is mostly a journey of reason. As if we are truly able to figure things out, because we are so educated nowadays. Added to this, there seems to be an assumption that we are capable of doing this on our own without guidance from priests, bishops, etc. We create our own version of faith, Catholic or other, which is perfectly legitimate. A reflection of the arrogance that seems so prevalent in our current culture?
ReplyDeleteIt's mystery that keeps *me* going. I consider much of what passes for "reason" these days an embarrassment. PBWY.
ReplyDeleteThis one has had me thinking all day !
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church has an embarrassment of spiritual riches to draw from that surpasses much that other religions have to offer and yet we do not always have reverence or awe for them and are often complacent.I think this is particularly so in Western churches - not so in Africa and Asia and other countries where their faith is often under threat and where witness to faith puts a person's life at real risk.
I don't find mystery an embarrassment but I do find it hard to talk about faith to people who are antagonistic and hostile towards it, probably because I can empathise with them as I can remember a time in my late teens and early twenties when I rejected the church and my faith. It is so easy to pontificate or come across as superior. I am not embarrassed by mystery but I am often challenged and embarrassed at my lack of ability to convey my faith.
I do think that it is hard to find the correct language to convey mystery in the modern world and that is a big challenge for the church.