Friday, October 29, 2004
MYSTICISM - AN INTERVIEW WITH FR. MAXIMILIAN HERRAIZ
A reader sent in this article from Zenit. The last two paragraphs seem especially appropriate to the discussion that has been going on here this week:
Q: What is necessary to have the mysticism of St. Teresa or of St. John of the Cross received by Christians as a wonderful way of being enamored of God?
Father Herraiz: We need people who pray, who reflect, who study, who dialogue with the great witnesses of what it means to be a person in general and of Christianity, which is our home. Not poorly trained priests or churches dedicated to worship and nothing else.
The problem of the Church is that much more time has been dedicated to the structure than to the spirit. And we must change this. The mystics are people of a maximum of spirit and a minimum of structures.
Inside a Carmelite monastery I'm sure this is true. Outside of it...? If we are to have mysticism for the masses, we must have well-defined structure--well-schooled Catholics. Otherwise the spirit of antinomianism will walk the mystic right out of the Church, as history clearly shows.
