Mystic in a Materialistic World

Father Longenecker has done it again. He has written an article that I am (figuratively) cutting out and pasting into my Catholic Notebook and filing in my filing cabinet. I am (literally) saving it here, online, for future reference  ---> here in my online Notebook.

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One of the things that is joyous about being Catholic is that you are practicing a religion that is not only as ancient as the Romans, but has it's roots in the Hebrew religion which goes back another 2000 years. How cool is that?

So when you participate in the holy sacrifice of the Mass you are connecting with the religion of the ages, but also with the glories of Baroque, the culture of the Middle Ages, and the grandeur that was Rome. When you practice the devotions of the church you pray with the saints down the ages, and most of all, you embrace a super naturalism which run deep and connects you with the deepest strains within the heart of humanity itself.

And with this super naturalism you perceive the world in a wild and wonderful way which runs counter to the materialism and modernism which disbelieves in anything other than what you can see. This materialistic viewpoint is often said to be 'modern' but we forget that in every age there were cynics and materialists and those who did not believe in miracles or the supernatural. There were cynics and materialists in the ancient world. There were cynics and materialists in the Middle Ages just as there are cynics and materialists in the modern world.

So to be a Catholic and to be thoroughly super naturalist is not to run contrary to the modern world, but simply to run counter to materialism as it existed in every age. To see with supernatural eyes is to simply see through the materialistic assumptions and the cynicism of any age in which you live. It is to believe and perceive what others cannot or will not believe and perceive.

In other words, it is to be a mystic in a materialistic world.

And does this not give you a sense of joy?

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Father Longenecker's blog, Standing on my Head,  is superb. I recommend it for daily reading. He also has a general website.  You should check it out!

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Sometimes people ask me why I go to the trouble of doing this cutting and pasting and link back when a link alone would be so much more time efficient and would take me back to the author's page and their selected art, etc.

I am glad you asked!

I actually did that for the about the first 9 months of my blogging and then one of my very favorite Catholic websites was hacked and destroyed. EVERYTHING was lost. I liken it to a library burning to the ground.
So, here, in my little notebook, sometimes, when an article is too good to chance losing . . . I copy and paste with full reference and LINK back to the originating website and author.
Yes, I know it is not a sure thing. Blogger could explode in cyber space and we could all lose connection . . . my website might be hacked . . . the Internet itself could go haywire or become policed by Orwellian style Big Brothers.
But a girl does what she can to keep learning about her faith and passing it on to her children.
This is my way.  And I am ever grateful to those Catholics out there who are so much more knowledgeable than I and who share that wisdom on the web.