Mount Shoop uses a piece by Pseudo-Dionysius (I have no clue) that leads into further comments on Mystery.
O Trinity
beyond essence and
beyond divinity and
beyond goodness
guide of Christians in divine wisdom,
direct us toward mysticism's heights
beyond unknowing
beyond light
beyond limit,
there where the
unmixed and
unfettered and
unchangeable
mysteries of theology
in the dazzling dark of the welcoming silence
lie hidden, in the intensity of their darkness
all brilliance outshining,
our intellects, blinded - overwhelming
...............
released from all,
aloft to the flashing forth,
beyond all being, of the divine dark.
The "divine dark" invites us into mystery's expansiveness. As Christians, we are not just able to be there, we are, like Isaiah, compelled to be there, to be up close to God's mystery. It is there that we rest in God's massiveness and mercy. It is there that we abide in God's compassion and communication. We re close enough to overhear and drink in what we cannot fully understand.
Being up close to God's mystery may mean that we are not going to be in control of all that is. It may mean that we learn to wait and watch and listen. It may even mean that we are not the ones who draw close to God - but God draws close to us - a mystery. This is much like the incarnation. The 'God of Heaven and Earth" - that is, all that is - is now within the the same frame of reference as the rest of us. That God is in our shoes and making way through the ordinary stuff of life through which we muddle every day. It is in that everyday stuff that God becomes visible - mystery is opened up and we begin to have mystery unveiled in bits and pieces that are common and now see as holy. The "other" is - somehow - the neighbor and in the routine and mixed in with the ordinary. That which was beyond us and shrouded in mystery begins to be unveiled and our lives walk in the midst of it all.
Connection: Forgiveness is a mystery - and yet it is present among us revealing the power of God. Honoring the life of others is a mystery - and yet it miraculously changes how we live together. Mystery all around us continues to open up our senses to the Reign of God.
Though you seem to be so far off, O God, we are all caught up in the mystical presence that remains with us in that through all times. Bless are you. Amen.
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