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Providence sometimes ordains that we should come across new friends in Heaven at exactly the right time. This happy accident of grace has just occurred to me. I’ve been reading about the Jesu…
Immerse yourself in the world of spiritual art! Explore transcendent creations, divine symbolism, and mystical inspiration to elevate your soul.
What is a Christian mystic? A Christian mystic is a follower of Jesus who believes in and experiences the supernatural realities of relationship with God. I would like to convince you today to join me as an authentic Christian mystic, one who fully engages in the spiritual realities of relationship with God. I come from veins of Christianity that are exceedingly doctrinal. I certainly appreciate the need for strong, logical doctrine. I love theology and apologetics. Knowledge is a key foundation of the Christian faith. But the experience of God is more than doctrine. To live in relationship with God delves into the three realms in which we experience life. These are orthopathy, orthodoxy, and orthopraxy. Orthodoxy is correct doctrinal belief. Orthopraxy is correct practice of Christianity. And orthopathy is correct affections, correct emotion. The mystical comes in the relationship with God. Now please recognize the definition of mysticism I'm using here. We are not talking about adding to the Bible, or creating new doctrines, or believing superstitions, but instead we are making the case for the reality of supernatural experience within the Christian relationship to the Triune God. To know God and walk with God is to experience the supernatural. It means to sense God's presence. It means practice spiritual gifts. It means to have the Holy Spirit minister through us. It means to experience dreams, and visions. It means to discern the will of God. It means to live a life in concert with God, following the paths He reveals to us. It means conviction of sin. It means battling the flesh in the Spirit. It means joy and peace in struggles. It means praying and seeing the world change, as God responds to those prayers. It means being taught by God. Sometimes we can become so doctrinally rigid that we begin to force out and discount the supernatural, because it can be perceived as a threat to correct doctrine. Not that I think we have a great concern in Christianity for our doctrine being "too correct." More so the opposite. Modern Christianity is often an exercise in anti-intellectual belief, in which anything goes as long as it makes us feel good. Brothers and sisters, this is not good! Yet on the other end, we do see the cessationist gang, eager to discount the supernatural. Many of which, though I so greatly admire their adherence to doctrinal belief, outright reject the messy supernatural realities of Christian life. In stark contrast to that, I would encourage a highly mystical walk with God. We should experience God in real ways. We should fast and pray, and delight in the relationship with God. We should sense God's love. We should even sense his anger and wrath. We should sense a call on another's life. We should sense God's power at work (or oddly missing) from our churches. We should discern wisdom and knowledge from God. But of course we must always always test any experience, any insight, and any delight and impulse we experience in our mystical relationship with God against the sharp edge of scripture. The height of foolishness would be to embrace some whim that we believe is from God, when it quite clearly goes against His word. How easily fooled we are at times, when we allow emotions to be our chief guide. One might recall the man who is completely certain that God is calling him to be with a fine and beautiful woman, the only catch being that this woman is married. And thus adultery becomes a necessity as the will of God. Of course it never is, but how our emotions can play tricks on us! How so many respond so powerfully and emotively to political trends, social trends, and various ideas and movements in the culture, which elicit a strong emotional response, a cry for love or for justice, but discover that the ideas behind these trends are contrary to scripture. And thus we are so often swept away by our emotions. The scripture is a check and balance against the emotive experience of God. And the scripture is a check and balance against the practice of living for God, and the praxis checks and balances the scripture and the emotion. It works quite well. But if we remove a piece, or overemphasize one piece, we begin to have a distorted perception of God. To walk with God means to experience the edgy spiritual realities of life. It means the insane beauty of a sunny beach, or mysterious winter night. It means such a picturesque bright green forest, or gurgling river, that for a moment we can't believe what we are seeing. Yet it also means the horror of a dead animal on the side of the highway. It means angry arguments. It means gritty spiritual battlefields. It means looking into the eyes of your new born baby and knowing the Father's love for you for the first time, as you experience that same love toward your own child, made in your image, as you are made in God's image. It means love so strong that it pulls our minds out of this world for a split second, giving us a taste of the infinite. Eternity cries out from the shadows, the canvas edges of this life, calling us to another. And the horrors and evils of the world, in all their gritty, rusty, sharp edges makes us long with broken hearts for redemption, and freedom from sin. All life is filled with the spiritual and supernatural. So that is why I'm a Christian mystic. I experience relationship with God in a supernatural way. I expect to see miracles. I expect to see lives changed. I expect to encounter the presence of God. I expect that I might one day experience a dream or vision from God. It's supernatural. It's beyond the normative. And yes, it may pose what may appear to be a threat to orthodoxy. But in the end I discover it is not a threat to orthodoxy, but a natural part of spiritual perception in the amazing, provocative and beautiful experience of having God as our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ as our savior, and the Holy Spirit within.
Jesus revealed his Sacred Heart devotion to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in several mystical visions between 1673-1675. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French nun of the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady. Jesus appeared to her four times in Paral-le-Monial, France, revealing his love for humankind through His Sacred Heart. Below are excerpts from the four revelations in St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s diary. First Apparition: Dec. 27, 1673 St. Margaret Mary Alaqoque: “One day…I
Mystics of the Church website
Immerse yourself in the world of spiritual art! Explore transcendent creations, divine symbolism, and mystical inspiration to elevate your soul.
"Rosa Mística" Rosa Mystica (Mystical Rose) by Francisco Laporta Valor
October 17th is the feast of the “Disciple of the Sacred Heart”, Saint Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, Virgin: Burgundian noblewoman, ascetic, Visitandine nun, mystic, ecstatic, and writer—who died on this day in 1690, aged 43.
"Is this life of union a special vocation for priests, religious, Saints, privileged persons, and mystical souls? Not at all. This trusting and tender union with God is the very foundation of the spiritual life. There is no exception made to that call of the Divine Master: 'Come unto Me!' and for those souls who might imagine that the labours, cares and sorrows of this life might hold them back, He adds: 'Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you!' There are hours when we are all mystics. We throw ourselves instinctively upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whenever sorrow or pain strikes us with 'a blow from God,' or when we feel the need of carrying our joys to a safe refuge." from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence' by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1940, p. 75
(Christianity) Christ speaking to Sister Maria Consolata Betrone
This is a self-portrait of medieval St. Hildegard of Bingen. It is the frontispiece of Liber Scivias (Know the Ways), one of her theological books which explain her mystic visions. Some of her other illustrations are deeply complex, but this is clearer. Even so, all the details suggest a meaning. She is a cloistered nun, an Abbess, and the Holy Spirit has descended upon her like tongues of fire. She is within the Church; by implication, she is orthodox and under its protection. The monk—named Volmar, her teacher and friend—is hearing her tell her vision. Besides being who he is, he represents the rest of us. He is within her “cell,” deeply personal, sharing her work. She is sharing her vision with the whole Church. Even the footstool has a tradition in ancient Catholic art. Pictures of the Church Fathers, when they are seated, composing, often have a footstool. We are pretty sure this suggests not simply a creature comfort of the writer—which would not have been the concern of the artist—but a detachment from this world. For thousands of years, Christian art has tended to be didactic, not wasting visual elements. The original illustration was lost in World War II. But according to Sr. Maura Zátonyi OSB, a Benedictine nun in the Abbey of St. Hildegard in Eibingen and one of the world’s leading experts on St. Hildegard, the copy is “miraculous” and “gives an accurate impression of the original, especially with regard to the variety of colors.” (source: abtei-st-hildegard.de) ** IMPORTANT ** THE IMAGE IS SMALLER THAN THE PAPER! There is a blank border all around the image of about .5" for 5x7, 1.3" for 8.5x11, 1.6" for 11x14, and 1.75" for 13x17". All Approx! The white space gives the framed picture a finished look without using a mat. – Acid-free paper – Archival pigments, rated to last for generations. – Cardboard backer – Above story of the art – Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag. Thanks for your interest! Sue & John “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art.” ~ St. Pope John Paul II Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson
Japanese ‘Christ Pantocrator’ and ‘Madonna of Tender Mercy’ by Theophilia
February 9th is the feast of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Virgin: German Augustinian nun, mystic, stigmatic, ecstatic, and Marian visionary, who died on this day in 1824.
Irving "Francis" Houle, Michigan Stigmatist -died 2009 Stories of the stigmata in persons throughout the world -Amazing details of th...
Spread the love Follow Us @ Sacred Art and Quotes of the Saints Get to know the mystics! The mystics are saints in the Catholic Church who have had visions and personal experiences with the presence of God in their lives. Many of the Saints have written of their love of God. It can be … Continue reading Praying with the Poetry of the Mystics →
Many years ago Bishop Casey of Brentwood, England, asked me to set up a Residential Retreat and Conference Centre in Chingford, London. He wanted to use it as a place where priests, religious and laity could come to learn about the Biblical Theology that had made the Second Vatican Council possible.
In many places throughout the world, Christians observe Pentecost as a celebration of God as the Trinity — three divine persons living eternally in perfect unity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is the mystery at the heart of Christianity. The Apostles’ monotheism was continuous with their religious heritage. God had said through the […]
In 2009, a famous tour came to London. Every day for several weeks, people queued in their thousands, huddled into little groups and raising flimsy umbrellas against the old city’s autumnal drizzle. Big Ben chimed another hour gone, the sun began to retreat behind clouds, but still, they waited, inching…
Mystics of the Church website
Saint Faustina Kowalska is an amazing Polish Nun whose visions provided us with Jesus' message of Divine Mercy.
The German book "Anneliese Michel and her demons" The Exorcism and death of Anneliese Michel--W hy did she die? The true story -A unre...
