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The Mystics

When I became a christian 25 years ago I knew nothing about God, or the church. In the early days of my christian experience I read lots of books about missionaries, and the christians that had made an impact on the world in the 19th. and 20th. centuries. I was always looking for ways to become better, or perform with more results. The church is very good at publishing reports of the ’successful’ christian, but not so good at letting those of us that have a bit of a hard time with things get an airing. Don’t get me wrong, I love success. But I don’t think I understand it very well. And I think the church has been as compliant as the world in promoting success.

Being introduced to a protestant heritage, it took me some time to catch up with some of the traditions of my Catholic forefathers. By that I mean the tradition of the mystic. The whole idea of contemplative prayer was unknown to me when I first became a christian. Some years ago the Holy Spirit began speaking to the charismatic church about our Celtic church heritage. Interestingly for me living in Wales it was not too difficult to relate to the church in Britain before the introduction of the Roman church.

But as I have since found out much of the celtic church had it’s roots in eastern theology. One of the main emphasis to emerge from the eastern church was the experience of the desert fathers. Their experience spilled over into the celtic chuch, and into catholisism. The desert fathers, allegedly, broke from the backsliding of the church and sought a purer way of living. They decided to exclude themselves from the world and seek God in the privations of the desert. Much has been recorded of their time, and I am sure the celtic church sought a way of taking the essence of their experience and adapting it to the way they lived.

The catholic church dug deeply into the Eastern father’s tradition. In any case the term mystic became a part of church vocabulary. The difference was that through the middle ages those seeking a closer union with Christ in the West were martyred, or excommunicated as heretics. I admit to not having any information of the eastern church since the ascention of Christ, but I suspect there are those today in the eastern tradition who would agree to being labeled mystics.

What is a mystic? I suspect that those christians in times gone past who sought a personal relationship with Jesus might have baulked at the term of mystic. Many experienced supernatural visitations, dreams, visions, and revelation from God. Many would say that was ‘natural’. Others condemned them and put them in prison, tortured them, and put them to death. But a mystic had to be a person who chose to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, above all other things. A mystic is not a scary person living beyond the pale. A mystic must just mean a person who devotes his or her life to Jesus, and seeks Him constantly.

Can we be mystics today? Why not? If we seek Jesus for who He is we can expect to recieve from Him. That may be in dreams, visions, angelic visitations, and information from the Spirit. Why should the supernatural be so unnatural to the Western church? We will have to seperate ourselves from all that would hinder our relationship with Him. He will show us how to do that. Because He wants a relationship with you more than you want a relationship with Him.

Maybe the term mystic has taken on a connotation that is not reflective of reality? Cannot we all become mystics? Should we use another term to describe those who seek a relationship with Jesus before anything else? Is the term mystic rooted in the past, and do we need another form of reference?

I don’t know. All I know is that God hungers for those that will give themselves to Him. Those that seek Him with all their hearts. Will you be one of those?

Contributed by Denis Moon.

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