Skip to main content

Mysteries of God and the Church


Lately, I have been finding a lot of great insight in Catholic Theologian Aidan Nichol's The Chalice of God intended to be something of a swan song of his theological thought. One great unifying thought to my life of faith from the book that speaks to often in the book is the unity of the greater mysteries of Christ life with the lesser mysteries of the Church, that is the sacraments. The sacraments re-present the mysteries of Christ to his Body, so their participation in those mysteries grow as they seek deeper communion with the life of the Son, and through the Son life in the Trinity in which He dwells. 

From these lesser mysteries, then comes our prayer life which he sees as an interiorizing of the liturgy that we have participated in. Thus the grace flows from Jesus' life through the mysteries of the Church to the spirit of the individual faithful, where like seeds, the mysteries germinate to bear fruit in the Christian soul. These, then, of the mysteries returns with us to the celebration of the liturgy as offerings, wherein we are drawn deeper into said mysteries through immediate contact with them sacramentally.

This notion that A) the myseteries of Christ life are present in a real, substantial way in the liturgy, especially preeminently the Eucharist B) that our personal prayer inteiorizes the liturgy, and then enhances our participations in the Mysteries of Christ through the liturgy has enlivened the Rosary quite a bit, and with its emphasis on the saving mysteries of Jesus WHOLE life, in turn paints the movements of the liturgy in bold colors, by bringing our personal encounters and reflections with said mysteries back to the sacraments. No wonder it has become such a prominent prayer form among Catholics (along with Eucharistic Adoration, which extends the celebration of the Eucharist into another liturgical AND personal dimension). 

This aspect of the living mysteries of Jesus life immediately present in the Liturgy, and shared with the faithful through the sacraments (especially communion_), and the relationship between personal prayer and the liturgy (and by extension Jesus life) is not emphasized enough in the liturgy itself, much less in the formation of children or catechumens. It certainly didn't stick out to me in such a profound way til now for me.

Location: Asheville, NC

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crux Fidelis: The Tree of Life

Edward Burne-Jones, "Tree of Life" Faithful Cross! Above all other, one and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, none in fruit thy peers may be; sweetest wood and sweetest iron! Sweetest Weight is hung on thee! —Crux Fidelis In which the pilgrim, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, meditates on the Crucified Christ as the Tree of Life.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tolkien on "The Secret Fire"

The Secret Fire of Middle-earth "You cannot pass," he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. "I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass." —Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings , The Fellowship of the Ring "Therefore Ilúvatar gave to their vision Being, and set it amid the Void, and the Secret Fire was sent to burn at the heart of the World; and it was called Eä." —Valaquenta, The Silmarillion . The following is quoted from Tolkien and the Silmarillion , by Clyde S. Kilby [ via here ] Responding to a letter from Father Robert Murray suggesting Tolkien’s story impressed him as entirely about grace, Tolkien wrote: “I know exactly what you mean by the order of grace; and of course by your references to Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded. The Lord of
Post a Comment
Read more

in persona christi | on priestly celibacy

[Christ] is seated  at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of he heavenly sanctuary. — Heb 8:1-5 In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. — Mat 22:30 There seems to me a powerful link here between the reading from Hebrews in today's Office of Readings and Matthew 22 that speaks to priestly celibacy, and I offer a few off the cuff reflections.
Post a Comment
Read more