{"id":24538,"date":"2024-12-13T10:28:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T15:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24538"},"modified":"2024-12-13T10:28:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T15:28:01","slug":"great-mystery-and-great-intimacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=24538","title":{"rendered":"Great Mystery and Great Intimacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MercyMe - Word of God Speak (Lyric Video) | I&#039;m finding myself at a loss for words\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h7YEF0dIEh0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Richard Rohr explains how experiencing God can be both scary and alluring, and ultimately wonderful.&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book\u00a0<em>The Idea of the Holy,\u00a0<\/em>scholar Rudolph Otto (1869\u20131937) says that <strong>when someone has an experience of the Holy, they find themselves caught up in two opposite things at the same time: <\/strong>the\u00a0<em>mysterium tremendum\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0<em>mysterium fascinans<\/em>, or the scary mystery and the alluring mystery. [1] We both draw back and are pulled forward into a very new space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In the\u00a0<em>mysterium tremendum<\/em>, God is ultimately far, ultimately beyond\u2014too much, too much, too much (see Isaiah 6:3). It inspires fear and drawing back. <\/strong>Many people never get beyond this first half of the journey. If that is the only half of holiness we experience, we experience God as dread, as the one who has all the power, and in whose presence, we are utterly powerless. <strong>Religion at this initial stage tends to become overwhelmed by a sense of sinfulness and separateness. The defining of sin and sin management becomes the very nature of religion, and clergy move in to do the job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simultaneously, with the experience of the Holy as beyond and too much is another sense of fascination, allurement, and seduction, <strong>a\u00a0<em>being pulled into something very good and inviting and wonderful\u00a0<\/em>or the\u00a0<em>mysterium fascinans<\/em>. It\u2019s a paradoxical experience. Otto says if we don\u2019t have both, we don\u2019t have the true or full experience of the Holy. I would agree, based on my experience.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mysticism begins when the totally transcendent image of God starts to recede, and there\u2019s a deepening sense of God as imminent, present, here, now, safe, and even within me. In Augustine\u2019s words, \u201cGod is more intimate to me than I am to myself\u201d<\/strong> [2] or \u201cmore me than I am myself.\u201d St. Catherine of Genoa shouted in the streets, \u201cMy deepest me is God!\u201d [3]\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To spiritually know things on a deeper level, we must overcome this gap<\/strong>. <strong>Then, ironically, we\u2019ll know that Someone Else is doing the knowing through us. God is no longer \u201cout there.\u201d At this point, it\u2019s not like one has a new relationship with God; it\u2019s like one has a whole new God! \u201cGod is my counselor, and at night my innermost being instructs me,\u201d says the Psalmist (Psalm 16:7). God is operating with us, in us, and even\u00a0<em>as\u00a0<\/em>us.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The mystics are those who are let in on this secret mystery of God\u2019s love affair with the soul, each knowing God loves\u00a0<em>my\u00a0<\/em>soul in particular; God loves\u00a0<em>me\u00a0<\/em>uniquely. We are invited into that same mystery. All true love gives us this sense of being special, chosen, and like nobody else. That is why we are so joyful in the presence of our lover, who mirrors us with a divine mirror.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Dec 13, 2024, Skye Jethani<br><strong>The Idol of Tradition: Innovation Isn\u2019t the Answer<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><br>All week we\u2019ve been talking about <strong>the dangerous idol of tradition\u2014the way our dedication to inherited beliefs and practices can blind us to the presence of God and interfere with our obedience to him.<\/strong> No one should assume, however, that all traditions are bad and ought to be abandoned for every new trend we encounter. <strong>Innovation can be just as flawed as tradition when followed blindly.<\/strong><br><br>A recent study by the University of York has found people are drawn to things labeled \u201cnew\u201d even when the items possess no new qualities. They concluded that identifying something as \u201cnew\u201d produced a placebo effect, increasing a person\u2019s sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. This is the result of a consumer culture that venerates innovation and youth over tradition and experience. We\u2019ve been shaped to believe that something new is inherently superior to something old. That\u2019s why \u201cnew and improved\u201d attracts more attention in advertising than \u201cold and reliable.\u201d<br><br><strong>Our cultural bias for new, young, and innovative things is not only chronologically arrogant, but it may also prevent us from incorporating the hard-earned wisdom of prior generations. <\/strong>Just as tradition can keep us locked in the past and unable to see what God is doing in the present, so <strong>a relentless addiction to what\u2019s new will cause us to foolishly disconnect our faith from the foundations that give it strength and durability.<\/strong><br><br><strong>In the end, neither tradition nor innovation should be our guide, but communion. Does a practice or idea\u2014whether old or new\u2014draw us into more intimate communion with God? Does it deconstruct the lies we\u2019ve believed and build up the truth? Does it stir our affections for God and our neighbor and move these affections to action?<\/strong> These are the questions we should be asking, not whether a practice or idea is popular, innovative, or historically rooted.<br><br><strong>When God himself ceases to be our goal, we can be certain a false god has taken his place in our lives. Sometimes that false god is very old, like tradition.<\/strong> But it may also be something brand new. As John Calvin said, \u201cThe human heart is a perpetual idol factory.\u201d That means we\u2019re always inventing new, false gods to worship instead of the real One.<br><br>DAILY SCRIPTURE<br>2 Timothy 4:1\u20134<br>2 Peter 1:12\u201321<br><br>WEEKLY PRAYER<br>A Gaelic prayer<br>God guide me with your wisdom,<br>God chastise me with your justice,<br>God help me with your mercy,<br>God protect me with your strength,<br>God shield me with your shade,<br>God fill me with your grace,<br>For the sake of your anointed Son.<br>Amen.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr explains how experiencing God can be both scary and alluring, and ultimately wonderful.&nbsp;&nbsp; In his book\u00a0The Idea of the Holy,\u00a0scholar Rudolph Otto (1869\u20131937) says that when someone has an experience of the Holy, they find themselves caught up in two opposite things at the same time: the\u00a0mysterium tremendum\u00a0and the\u00a0mysterium fascinans, or the scary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24539,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538\/revisions\/24539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}