A Mystical Aspiration

 Seek by reading and you will find by meditating; cry in prayer and the door will be opened in contemplation - Saint John of the Cross

A mystical aspiration accompanies discipleship: in other words, that beauty which we cannot wish to change is focused on a passionate longing for God. This isn’t necessarily appreciated, sought, or understood because too much emphasis is placed on devotions dominated by our words rather than by our silence. 

A mystical aspiration concerns a participation in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments – the holy mysteries – and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity (CCC, 2014). Hence, a mystical aspiration is not some experience of God concerned with our emotions, but an immediate encounter with the Divine where our emotions, subjected to Beauty, pale into nothingness. 

Silence, understood as restfulness, underlines this experience where stillness, prayer, love and self-control are a four-horsed chariot bearing the intellect to heaven (St. Nikodimus, The Philokalia) so that loved, we can recline on the Magister’s heart (Jn. 13,23).

Silence is not simply external but concerns an interior attitude where prayer integrates a laying aside of thoughts (Evagrios Ponticus, On prayer 61). In other words, not to let our hearts be troubled or afraid (Jn. 14,27): an experienced freedom that allows us to focus on prayer as the articulation of love. 

Only love is credible (Hans Urs von Balthasar) because it underlines every experience of beauty, and beauty points to eternity since it summarises the Divine. 

God has many ways of drawing us to himself, but all these are expressive of Divine love. Thus, the mystical aspiration that underlines prayer points us to its inner reality: Agape (committed love), which necessarily points us to the Cross interpreted within the confines of the empty tomb.

God seeks us where we are so that we may come to where He is (Pope Benedict XVI, Theology of the Liturgy): if we intend to integrate contemplation, we need to emphasise the now, rather than the then: the secular rather than heaven not because we reject the latter but because the secular opens our eyes to heaven. Yes, contemplation begins now: our ability to discover the silence that gives meaning to our activities.

Mysticism entails effort and an openness of heart tested by disputation as a form of reasoned investigation. Elie Wiesel specifies: “I believe mysticism is a very serious endeavour. One must be equipped for it. One doesn’t study calculus before studying arithmetic. In my tradition, one must wait until one has learned a lot of Bible and Talmud and the Prophets to handle mysticism. This isn’t instant coffee. There is no instant mysticism.” (Elie Wiesel, 10 Questions for Elie Wiesel, Time, Jeff Chu, January 22, 2006). 

This ‘instant coffee’ mentality reduces faith to a used throwaway plastic object: a diffused attitude where God’s presence is talked about but not embraced. Unless scandalised by the Cross, we still need to learn our arithmetic to study calculus: that only love is credible. 

A similar understanding underlines discipleship. Many presume it to be easily claimed by specific devotional practices or particular garbs. These might satisfy our emotions, but they can also prevent personal conversion so that the truth inspired by an embraced charisma is stripped of its vital power because it is handed on but not thought anew – a tradition or, at best, an honoured, breathless institution.  

Martin  


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