Catholic Mystics
The “Catholic Mystics” comprise the Desert Fathers (3rd – 4th centuries) and a group of Catholic priests/monks/nuns (who lived during the 11th to 18th centuries). The mysticism they practised is being revived through its key element “contemplative prayer”.
The Catholic Mystics include:
- the “Desert Fathers” (the form of contemplative prayer they practised is more commonly referred to as hesychasm),
- Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153),
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179),
- Catherine of Siena (1347-1380),
- Meister Eckhart (1260-1327),
- The Cloud of Unknowing (anonymous monk),
- Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1341),
- Julian of Norwich (1342-1423),
- Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556),
- Teresa of Avila (1515-1582),
- John of the Cross (1542-1591),
- Brother Lawrence (1611- 1691),
- Madam Guyon (1647-1717).
Although contemplative prayer as practised by the Catholic Mystics is defined in the New Spirituality as the principal means to experience God, it is not the sole method the Catholic Mystics employed to achieve a ‘higher state of spirituality’. They are well known for engaging in extreme asceticism. Of the physical and mental results that this produces, Edward Gibbon, the famous historian of the Roman Empire, described the state of a member of the Desert Fathers as a “distorted and emaciated maniac … spending his life in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of his delirious brain.” Gibbon said, “They were sunk under the painful weight of crosses and chains; and their emaciated limbs were confined by collars, bracelets, gauntlets, and greaves of massy and rigid iron” (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire).
In his Spiritual Exercises Ignatius of Loyola taught that penance requires “chastising the body by inflicting sensible pain on it” through “wearing hairshirts, cords, or iron chains on the body, or by scourging or wounding oneself, and by other kinds of austerities” (The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, First Week, Vintage Spiritual Classics, p. 31).
Some of the common ascetic practices of the monastic mystics included:
- Prolonged periods of fasting
- Self-flagellation – the use of a whip or iron chain to scourge oneself
- The use of a cilice – the wearing of a hairshirt (an uncomfortable garment usually made of animal hair but sometimes of metal) or a tight binding (a rope or chain worn around the body or leg)
- Sleep deprivation
- Vows of silence
- A hermit lifestyle of solitude and seclusion
Ascetic practices are still deemed necessary by the Catholic Church as penance for sin, and the means to achieve a state of ‘holiness’. They are commonly referred to as “mortifications of the flesh”. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“…the way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis [the practice of severe self-discipline] and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: ‘He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.’”. The purpose of mortification is to train “the soul to virtuous and holy living.”
(The Catholic Encyclopedia, article on Mortification ).
Pope John XXIII , who convened the Second Vatican Council, wrote:
“But the faithful must also be encouraged to do outward acts of penance, both to keep their bodies under the strict control of reason and faith, and to make amends for their own and other people’s sins… St. Augustine issued the same insistent warning: “It is not enough for a man to change his ways for the better and to give up the practice of evil, unless by painful penance, sorrowing humility, the sacrifice of a contrite heart and the giving of alms he makes amends to God for all that he has done wrong.” …But besides bearing in a Christian spirit the inescapable annoyances and sufferings of this life, the faithful ought also take the initiative in doing voluntary acts of penance and offering them to God…. Since, therefore, Christ has suffered in the flesh,” it is only fitting that we be “armed with the same intent.” It is right, too, to seek example and inspiration from the great saints of the Church. Pure as they were, they inflicted such mortifications upon themselves as to leave us almost aghast with admiration. And as we contemplate their saintly heroism, shall not we be moved by God’s grace to impose on ourselves some voluntary sufferings and deprivations, we whose consciences are perhaps weighed down by so heavy a burden of guilt?”
(Paenitentiam Agere, July 1, 1962).
Asceticism is contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible:
Colossians 2:20-23
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
The believer’s sin is forgiven through the blood of Christ and not through self denial, self harm and self sacrifice:
Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ , who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Nevertheless, modern ascetics wanting to emulate the practices and experiences of the Catholic Mystics, claim biblical support in the Apostle Paul’s statement in 1Corinthians 9:27 ” …I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
But nowhere does Paul say that he performed the type of asceticism that was practised by the Catholic mystics. He listed many things that he suffered, but they were things that he was subjected to by others (Satan and those who opposed his message) and what he endured as he performed his duty as an apostle (see 2 Corinthians 11: 23-29; 12: 7-10).
If we read 1Corinthians 9:27 in context we can derive a correct understanding of what Paul was saying:
1 Corinthians 9:24-10:14
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did — and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did — and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroying angel.
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
Clearly, Paul was not inferring that he inflicted pain upon himself by physically beating his body. He was was employing an analogy about the discipline of an athlete to communicate that we have to be (spiritually) disciplined also; which means to remain steadfast in righteous living and not allowing ourselves to fall for temptation (as the Israelites did in various ways) and so be led astray. The “spiritual disciplines” of the Catholic Mystics are something entirely different – self-imposed regulations that are useless in producing righteous living, which is achieved only by faith as we live in obedience to the Holy Spirit:
Galatians 5:16
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Romans 8:13-15
“For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.”
The Catholic mystics adopted spiritual disciplines and imposed hardships upon their bodies to earn their salvation. It was human endeavour prompted by human pride. They denied the truth of the sufferings of Jesus Christ to pay the entire penalty for a person’s sin, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit enabling the power to live a righteous and sin-free life. As such, they were false Christians and their way of life is not to be emulated.