Posted on 01/20/2016 6:33:52 AM PST by Salvation
In the secular world a "mystery" is something that baffles us or eludes understanding, something that lies undisclosed. And the usual response of the world to a mystery is to resolve it, to get to the bottom of if, to uncover it. Mysteries must be overcome! The riddle, the "whodunit," must be solved!
In the Christian--especially the Catholic--world, a mystery is something a bit different. In our world, the concept includes the recognition that there are hidden aspects of things, people, and situations that extend beyond their visible, physical dimensions.
One of the best definitions I have read of mystery is one by the theologian and philosopher John Le Croix. Fr. Francis Martin introduced it to me some years ago in one of his recorded conferences. Le Croix says,
Mystery is that which opens temporality and gives it depth. It introduces a vertical dimension and makes of it a time of revelation, of unveiling.
Fr. Martin's classic example of this to his students is the following:
Suppose you and I are at a party, and Smith comes in the door and goes straightaway to Jones and warmly shakes his hand with both his hands. And I say, "Wow, look at that." And you say, puzzled, "What’s the big deal? They shook hands, so what?" And then I tell you, "Smith and Jones have been enemies for thirty years."
And thus there is a hidden, richer meaning beyond what meets the eyes. This is mystery. There is something hidden, something accessible only to those who know and are initiated into the mystery and who come to grasp some dimension of it; it is the deeper reality of things.
In terms of faith there is also a higher meaning that mystery brings. And thus Le Croix added above, It [mystery] introduces a vertical dimension, and makes of it a time of revelation, of unveiling.
Hence we come to appreciate something of God in all He does and all He has made. Creation is not just dumbly there. It has a deeper meaning and reality. It reveals its Creator, and the glory of Him who made it. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Psalm 19:1).
In the book of Sirach, after a long list of the marvels of creation, there comes this magnificent line: Beyond these, many things lie hid; only a few of God’s works have we seen (Sirach 43:34).
Indeed, there is a sacramentality to all creation. Nothing is simply and dumbly itself; it points beyond and above, to Him who made it. The physical is but a manifestation of something and Someone higher.
In this reductionist world, such thinking is increasingly lost. We poke and prod in order to "solve" the mysteries before us. And when have largely discovered something’s physical properties we think we have exhausted its meaning; we have not. In a disenchanted age, we need to rediscover the glory of enchantment, of mystery. There is more than meets the eye. Things are deeper, richer, and higher than we can ever fully imagine.
Scripture, which is a prophetic interpretation of reality, starts us on our great journey by initiating us into many of the mysteries of God and His creation. But even Scripture does not exhaust the mystery of all things; it merely sets us on the journey ever deeper, ever higher. Mysteries unfold; they are not crudely solved.
For the Christian, then, mystery is not something to be solved or overcome so much as to be savored and reverenced. To every person we know and everything we encounter goes up the cry, O magnum et admirabile mysterium (O great and wondrous mystery)! Now you’re becoming a mystic.
Here is Fr. Francis Martin speaking briefly on the subject of mystery:
Monsignor Pope Ping!
There are 2 types of mystery in Christianity. The first is to be embraced, such as the trinity. It is something we can not fully understand, but it is something we can embrace.
The second type of mystery is something unknown, something for which God hasn't given an answer. Looking for answers where God hasn't given any always leads to trouble and doubts. What happens to aborted babies? We don't know. God knows.
A third type of mystery is something that must be teased out of the source material. Something that isn't apparent, or something that can only be understood after exhaustive contemplation. You can see this when people try to use Revelation as a road map to secret knowledge. The point of Revelation isn't to figure out the secret meaning; the point is that things get worse and worse and then God wins. This third type of mystery is not a part of Christianity.
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
When I was teaching in Turkey I would occasionally get into discussions with my fellow faculty members about Islam and Christianity. The Trinity was always a stumbling block to them. Because of it, they consider Christians to be polytheists.
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