“Beyond question, great is the mystery of Godliness.” 1 Tim. 3:16

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious, it is the source of all true art and science.”  Einstein

What is it that you know for certain?

What is it that you thought you were convinced of, that you thought you knew, but then discovered that you were mistaken?

How comfortable are you with not knowing?

Think about these questions for a moment.

So much of life, so much in life, has no answer.  It is a mystery. A person as great as Einstein, who knew SO much, recognized this simple, evident and obvious truth.

The ancient Celts were very comfortable with not knowing because they embraced the mystery. Rather than being a cause of consternation, or motivation to “find the answers”, they simply embraced it, recognizing that the Ultimate Mystery behind and beyond all of life’s mysteries, is that being we call God.  Their favorite Gospel was that of John, for it bespeaks Mystery.

For followers of The Way that mystery is Christ.  The Word made flesh is a Great Mystery.  This Word speaks of mystery, works mysteries, and is Himself a Mystery.  St. Paul repeatedly speaks of Christ as a mystery.  The Ancients not only spoke of the mystery but practiced it.

Throughout the centuries something gradually changed, due in part to the institutionalization of the church and the rise of Scholasticism, and Godly mysteries were exchanged for human theories.  Luther promoted this among the protestants.  While eschewing monasticism his was a singular focus on knowing God by studying the church scriptures and systematically defining the divine with set doctrines.  With the Enlightenment and then the rise of the scientific age this emphasis on external knowledge gained even greater steam, so that by the 20^th century the western world was indoctrinated with Humanism and infatuated with the desire for knowledge rather than the pursuit of wisdom. 

The effect this had in the spiritual realm were stark. Wayne Teasdale sums it up in his book “The Mystic Heart”.  “We live in a culture that is blind to the spiritual life.  It is spiritually illiterate, morally confused, psychologically dysfunctional and heavily addicted to violence, entertainment, and consumerism.  It is ‘religious’ to a point—that is, as long as it doesn’t cost too much.” One of the results, in my opinion, is that the practice of spirituality and the mystical life has been exchanged for the pursuit of politics.  One can only imagine what transformation might occur both internally and externally if the type of zeal exhibited and the amount of money contributed at election time would instead be channeled toward prayer, contemplation, and the pursuit of God’s will rather than one’s own, especially as it plays out in serving others rather than oneself.  This, after all, is what Christ did, and what the Advent and Christmas season is about.

How can one explain God coming in the form of an infant?  It’s a mystery!

How can one quantify the many miracles performed?  It’s a mystery.

How can one understand the mystery of Emmanuel, that God is with us always?!? It’s a GREAT mystery!

How can one comprehend that this God can pour out Divine Love in such abundance on you and me, the most undeserving of ragamuffins?  It is quite possibly the GREATEST mystery!

And yet it is true.  So true!  More true and more meaningful and more lasting and more real than anything we can experience with our mere minds.  Truly, the mystery of God is Great.  Truly, the mystery of God is beautiful.  Truly the mystery of God is to be welcomed this Advent and Always and Forever.