Have you ever had a profound mystical experience?

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I would be most interested in hearing what it is.

I often have experience where I just know for certain that something is true and profound, like seeing that Satan has the world under a strong spell, especially when it comes to our sexuality.

LOVE! ❤️
 
Admittedly, I have honestly had several starting from when I was very young; but I generally don’t talk about them. Whenever I do, I feel almost like I’m boasting or drawing unnecessary attention to myself. I’ll pray about it a little. Maybe I will come back later to share.
 
I seem not to be very attracted to profound mystical experiences. I have a special love and respect for saints without profound mystical experiences … like sinner Augustine whose conversion was from a small voice that could have been coming from his mind… and ordinary Theresa of the Child Jesus (although coincidentally the sky turns dark often when she was sad ---- a phenomenon I don’t like either)
 
I seem not to be very attracted to profound mystical experiences. I have a special love and respect for saints without profound mystical experiences … like sinner Augustine whose conversion was from a small voice that could have been coming from his mind… and ordinary Theresa of the Child Jesus (although coincidentally the sky turns dark often when she was sad ---- a phenomenon I don’t like either)
Don’t have time to tell now but I’ll be back. Glory to GOD for his powerful Graces!!
 
I’ve not had one, though I am still relatively young. To be honest, I don’t know if I want one or not; the idea makes me somewhat uncomfortable for some reason, though I’m not sure why.
 
I believe I had some when I was a child and teenager. Of course, I was imaginative and maybe they weren’t mystical. But I loved to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament because I felt Jesus was truly talking to me in my mind.

Also it seems that mystical experiences have more of a practical core. They kind of bring about a resolution to whatever I’m trying to figure out at the time.
 
I’ve had experiences which I consider to be mystical in nature. I wouldn’t exactly call them profound. Whilst they changed me profoundly and were profound for me, they are of no interest to anyone who isn’t me.

I’ve talked about most of my experiences to my SD, who attributes some to my mental illness but does think there are validity in others (he didn’t say which ones he thought were genuine mystical experience - I wish I had asked him. Maybe though it’s better not to know!).

Safe to say that at the time these experiences strengthened my faith and carried me through an incredibly difficult and turbulent period of my life. Since then I have acquired a keen interest in and yearning for contemplative prayer as described by many Carmelite saints 🙂

It would take too long to explain exactly what happened and I’m not sure how that would work anyway, what with the rule about no private revelations (even though my experiences aren’t really private revelations, but hey ho!). Similarly to what you say, Robert Sock, I began to see the truth in certain things I had previously doubted or questioned as a child (I’m now 25 yrs old). I also experienced a spiritual adoption (of sorts) and realised the great love and compassion that the Blessed Virgin has for us 👍
 
1990 was a tough year for me.Extreme marital problem.Being sued by people who wanted to put out out of business, severe financial problems. I remember stepping out of the shower almost in tears and blurting out “God I’ve can’t handle this.” Suddenly a voice spoke to me as clear as if someone was standing next to me .It said “I know Bob, but I can” I was immediately filed with peace and joy. When I got dressed and got ready to take my daughter’s to school they both asked Me “what happened”? They could see how calm and joyful I was.There is no doubt the Lord has personally visited me and spoken to me The “I know Bob,l but I can” has become the anchor of my spiritual life
 
Don’t have time to tell now but I’ll be back. Glory to GOD for his powerful Graces!!
I’m back. My first husband died suddenly in an accident when one of our sons was 5 years old. And it was sooo hard on him because he couldn’t understand where Daddy went and why he didn’t come home. Nothing I said seemed to help. Well when he was in the 5th grade he came home one day with a picture of a lung with cancer. (I had smoked for many years and even tried to quit a few times but never could do it) When he showed me the picture, he looked up at me and said, “Mamma, I don’t want you to die too.” I was stunned and I thought to myself, “I wish I could quit for his sake”, I don’t want to put him through that worry. All of a sudden I heard this MALE voice say to me very strongly, “Let me help you!” I quickly looked around to see who said it as I was the only one in the house at that time with my son. Then I realized it came from inside my head. I was smoking a cigarette at that time and I put it out and never, ever, ever touched another one. I had no withdrawal symptoms and never had the desire to smoke again, not ever. Everyone was surprised I quit so quickly and easily but I never told anyone about it because I was afraid they would think I was crazy or holier than thou because I thought God spoke to me. Many years later Fr. William Most came to our parish for a retreat and privately I asked him about it and he said God can and does speak to us often in many ways. The problem is sometimes we don’t listen or don’t give HIM credit. Well I am very thankful I did both and I still do and that was over 45 years ago. God Bless, Memaw P.S. that son does not smoke either.
 
1990 was a tough year for me.Extreme marital problem.Being sued by people who wanted to put out out of business, severe financial problems. I remember stepping out of the shower almost in tears and blurting out “God I’ve can’t handle this.” Suddenly a voice spoke to me as clear as if someone was standing next to me .It said “I know Bob, but I can” I was immediately filed with peace and joy. When I got dressed and got ready to take my daughter’s to school they both asked Me “what happened”? They could see how calm and joyful I was.There is no doubt the Lord has personally visited me and spoken to me The “I know Bob,l but I can” has become the anchor of my spiritual life
Nice story, and I’m glad it’s not just me who experiences them.

LOVE! ❤️
 
I have also had an experience but didn’t realise right at the time what it was.

I’ve always been a relatively devout person and being from a thoroughly Catholic family, never doubted God and felt that I understood everything quite well.

About 8 years back, in my mid 40’s, I experienced a period of crushing existencial crisis I guess you would call it and felt as though I was actually losing my mind. I constantly recited the rosary without any sort of relief or comfort and felt so abandoned. It got to the point that I felt I was clinging to reality with the tips of my fingernails and in desperation I said ‘God please save me’ and instantly I experienced myself being scooped up in a huge mans hand and placed back on firm ground. At the moment, it didn’t occur to me that God actually had saved me, I just felt like a little girl whose Daddy had rushed in and saved her.

Since that time, I know God in a profoundly different way than I had for the past 40 years. He really is a loving Father. A Daddy even. I hadn’t connected God the Father as really being like your childhood daddy before.
 
1990 was a tough year for me.Extreme marital problem.Being sued by people who wanted to put out out of business, severe financial problems. I remember stepping out of the shower almost in tears and blurting out “God I’ve can’t handle this.” Suddenly a voice spoke to me as clear as if someone was standing next to me .It said “I know Bob, but I can” I was immediately filed with peace and joy. When I got dressed and got ready to take my daughter’s to school they both asked Me “what happened”? They could see how calm and joyful I was.There is no doubt the Lord has personally visited me and spoken to me The “I know Bob,l but I can” has become the anchor of my spiritual life
Those few words are yours to treasure for a lifetime. Alleluia. I can only surmise that God has very big plans for your future and the poor sinners you influence. Just be sure of their source with the help of a very holy spiritual director.
About 6 years ago, I had a similar locution. I have yet to find an SD to confirm it, but after much discernment, I’m 99% sure it was not from the enemy.
Even if I were 100% confident this was a message from Jesus or my Angel Guardian, I don’t know if it’s acceptable to share it with the whole world.
I’m not sure exactly what the problem is with sharing with brothers and sisters any of our spiritual experiences but there seems to be this stigma. A taboo, if you will, to be silent about it, perhaps not to mislead others, or avoid embarrassment, or persecution…
All I know is that if you conduct yourself appropriately and respectfully, it is a grace for yourself AND others.
 
I agree with Michael Mayo, who is so very wise and pure hearted in spirit. One is best to be silent about spiritual graces received from God or mystical experiences, so as to avoid the temptation of spiritual pride, which is the greatest enemy of the holy life. As Meister Eckhart once said: “The finest thing that we can say of God is to be silent concerning him from the wisdom of inner riches”.That is, unless one, with the approval of the Church or out of a desire to aid another person who needs guidance or requests it, decides to relate their experiences for the common good.

It is not wrong, however, to seek guidance on spiritual experiences one has had or to share them for the benefit of others.
 
I seem not to be very attracted to profound mystical experiences.
I think that people misunderstand what “profound spiritual experiences” actually are.

Firstly, St. Augustine was actually the recipient of very profound spiritual experiences as is attested by his Confessions:

ancienthistory.about.com/od/texts/l/bl_augustine_confessions7.htm
Deceased was now that my evil and abominable youth, and I was passing into early manhood; the more defiled by vain things as I grew in years, who could not imagine any substance, but such as is wont to be seen with these eyes. I thought not of Thee, O God, under the figure of a human body; since I began to hear aught of wisdom, I always avoided this; and rejoiced to have found the same in the faith of our spiritual mother, Thy Catholic Church…And being thence admonished to return to myself, I entered even into my inward self, Thou being my Guide: and able I was, for Thou wert become my Helper. And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul (such as it was), above the same eye of my soul, above my mind, the Light Unchangeable. Not this ordinary light, which all flesh may look upon, nor as it were a greater of the same kind, as though the brightness of this should be manifold brighter, and with its greatness take up all space. Not such was this light, but other, yea, far other from these. Nor was it above my soul, as oil is above water, nor yet as heaven above earth: but above to my soul, because It made me; and I below It, because I was made by It. He that knows the Truth, knows what that Light is; and he that knows It, knows eternity. Love knoweth it. O Truth Who art Eternity! and Love Who art Truth! and Eternity Who art Love! Thou art my God, to Thee do I sigh night and day. Thee when I first knew, Thou liftedst me up, that I might see there was what I might see, and that I was not yet such as to see. And Thou didst beat back the weakness of my sight, streaming forth Thy beams of light upon me most strongly, and I trembled with love and awe: and I perceived myself to be far off from Thee, in the region of unlikeness, as if I heard this Thy voice from on high: "I am the food of grown men, grow, and thou shalt feed upon Me; nor shalt thou convert Me, like the food of thy flesh into thee, but thou shalt be converted into Me." And I learned, that Thou for iniquity chastenest man, and Thou madest my soul to consume away like a spider. And I said, “Is Truth therefore nothing because it is not diffused through space finite or infinite?” And Thou criedst to me from afar: “Yet verily, I AM that I AM.”
This is an incredible description of the Presence of God in contemplative prayer and theosis (becoming God by grace).

However while Augustine did have this very stereotypically “profound” experience in accordance with his very intellectualistic approach to spirituality, “mysticism” is far broader than this and Augustine had a variety of experiences which were “mystical” but hardly “extraordinary” in character.

Consider the case of Brother Lawrence.

This is a section from his biography, written by his close friend Father Joseph de Beaufort:
"…He began life as Nicholas Herman, born to peasant parents in Lorraine… Herman had an experience that set him on a unique spiritual journey; it wasn’t, characteristically, a supernatural vision, but a supernatural clarity into a common sight.
In the deep of winter, Herman looked at a barren tree, stripped of leaves and fruit, waiting silently and patiently for the sure hope of summer abundance. Gazing at the tree, Herman grasped for the first time the extravagance of God’s grace and the unfailing sovereignty of divine providence. Like the tree, he himself was seemingly dead, but God had life waiting for him, and the turn of seasons would bring fullness. At that moment, he said, that leafless tree “first flashed in upon my soul the fact of God,” and a love for God that never after ceased to burn. Sometime later, an injury forced his retirement from the army, and after a stint as a footman, he sought a place where he could suffer for his failures. He thus entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Paris as Brother Lawrence.
He was assigned to the monastery kitchen where, amidst the tedious chores of cooking and cleaning at the constant bidding of his superiors, he developed his rule of spirituality and work. In his Maxims, Lawrence writes, "… Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?"
For Brother Lawrence, “common business,” no matter how mundane or routine, was the medium of God’s love. The issue was not the sacredness or worldly status of the task but the motivation behind it. “Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God…”
***- Brother Lawrence (1614 – 1691), The Practice of the Presence ***
As you can see Brother Lawrence never had any visions which led him to a mystical state. Rather it was insight into ordinary experiences, such as looking at a tree, or working in a kitchen that led him to his state mystical union with God. For mystics any common thing can precede and lead too a mystical state: a walk on the beach, seeing a sun set, making love to one’s spouse, speaking with a close friend etc.

God is in the here and now. Mysticism is part of everyday life.
 
I agree with Michael Mayo, who is so very wise and pure hearted in spirit. One is best to be silent about spiritual graces received from God or mystical experiences, so as to avoid the temptation of spiritual pride, which is the greatest enemy of the holy life. As Meister Eckhart once said: “The finest thing that we can say of God is to be silent concerning him from the wisdom of inner riches”.That is, unless one, with the approval of the Church or out of a desire to aid another person who needs guidance or requests it, decides to relate their experiences for the common good.

It is not wrong, however, to seek guidance on spiritual experiences one has had or to share them for the benefit of others.
I think it’s wonderful to be able to share our experiences with others as I was afraid to even mention it to my family for sooo long. It wasn’t easy wondering about this all those years by myself. It was great to be able to talk to Fr. Most. I was even afraid to mention it to my priest. But Fr. Most didn’t know me so I decided to ask him. It was God’s work, not mine. I found others have felt that way too. It’s encouraging to share. God Bless. Memaw
 
Not everyone has the benefit of a SD, sometimes we live our lives and think we are crazy. We relate to people our experiences and they do not understand and label us as crazy. What we are relating is on the spiritual level and thus need to relate these things to others who are spiritual. They understand. I’ve gone from telling people to not telling people. I’ve told people who I thought were spiritual only to find out they really were not, because they still looked at me like I was crazy. 🤷 I’ve heard the voice relating a specific scripture, I’ve had an invisible force stop me from proceeding into a dangerous situation, I’ve felt the protection of angels, I’ve seen the protection of angels, I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and prayed in tongues, I personally know others who have been miraculously healed. I have also been in the desert, feeling abandoned, knowing only one thing for sure, that I believe in God, in nothing else but in that He exists. He rescued me, in His timing. In only that, I am sure, He exists. He has placed me in many places, where I am now I believe I am safe, I pray. Dont know if that is clear, but it is to me right now.
 
I agree with Michael Mayo, who is so very wise and pure hearted in spirit. One is best to be silent about spiritual graces received from God or mystical experiences, so as to avoid the temptation of spiritual pride, which is the greatest enemy of the holy life. As Meister Eckhart once said: “The finest thing that we can say of God is to be silent concerning him from the wisdom of inner riches”.That is, unless one, with the approval of the Church or out of a desire to aid another person who needs guidance or requests it, decides to relate their experiences for the common good.

It is not wrong, however, to seek guidance on spiritual experiences one has had or to share them for the benefit of others.
The Apostles didn’t after Pentecost. I share only when I feel it is appropriate but I have no problem sharing when I feel moved to do so.
 
The Apostles didn’t after Pentecost. I share only when I feel it is appropriate but I have no problem sharing when I feel moved to do so.
The Church tells us to be ready to give an explanation for the joy that is in us. I am careful what I say to whom, also. God Bless, Memaw
 
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