The Paschal Mystery

  • Thread starter Thread starter lucille5
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

lucille5

Guest
My niece has left the Church for a Bible only view. She says being Catholic is to abandon your intellect because we write things off as mystery. When I asked for examples of mysteries we write off, she cited the paschal mystery, but admitted she did not understand what it was. So as I began reflecting, I am not sure how well I understand the term.

I think this refers to the life, death and ressurection of Jesus. Mystery in the sense of it is beyond human understanding why God would become man, live humbly, suffer and die for sinners. And that we must live out this same myster in our own lives.

I am sure that deeper and more correct understanding is possible. Anyone care to help me ?
 
The Paschal Mystery is the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Saying Catholics write it off as a mystery is to call Jesus something other than God.
 
I define a mystery as something that cannot be fully understood by unglorified humans.

The trinity is a mystery. Can your niece explain fully the Trinity? Sure we can give analogies and so on, but no one can fully explain it.

Calling it a mystery is a challenge to your intellect, not an excuse to abandon it. You can spend thousands and millions of words pulling out more and more of it and still not fully plumb the depths or even getting your metaphorical arms around it.
 
lucille5 said:
My niece has left the Church for a Bible only view. She says being Catholic is to abandon your intellect because we write things off as mystery. When I asked for examples of mysteries we write off, she cited the paschal mystery, but admitted she did not understand what it was. So as I began reflecting, I am not sure how well I understand the term.

I think this refers to the life, death and ressurection of Jesus. Mystery in the sense of it is beyond human understanding why God would become man, live humbly, suffer and die for sinners. And that we must live out this same myster in our own lives.

I am sure that deeper and more correct understanding is possible. Anyone care to help me ?
Click to expand...
The mysteries are an abandonment of intellect? That’s ridiculous. The mysteries are subject to meditation and deep intellect. You’re SUPPOSED to think about them and try to understand them. They’re called mysteries because they are questions which ultimately cannot be answered in the long run, so they provide endless tract of ground to meditate on the spiritual meaning behind them.

The paschal mystery… HOW could Jesus die and rise again? What effect did each part of this action have? Why? What is His ascension? To where? How long? on and on.

Tell her she’s abandoning her intellect by heading away from the mysteries… the equivalent of putting her hands over her ears and humming so that she doesn’t have to face the great questions.
 
Thanks for your help. I was wanting to define the pascal mystery better for her, but now I understand that the challenge is to meditate and contiinue to grow in understanding.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top