Born a Mystic

Did you know you were born a mystic? And I was too. A simple definition of a mystic is one who has direct experience of God and believes there is something deeper to this journey than what meets the eye. We are fortunate that some mystics such as Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton and others we have been reading on Mondays with Father Hendree have given us words to describe their experiences of God. 

Interestingly, Lacy Finn Borgo, author of Faith Like a Child, refers to children as “mini mystics”.  She states “we are made to experience God. Our first and most natural inclination is to connect with God in deeply bonding, yet often very ordinary ways.”  

She underscores what new research is showing: children desire and experience God even if they don’t have the words for it yet. Borgo says, “experiences of God, divine unity, happens long before consciousness….Union with God is our true home…the place from which love flows in and through us.” 

This past Sunday in his sermon, Hendree referred to St. Augustine who famously said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”  Indeed, God has placed God’s very own image in each of us and has called us, “very good.” Therefore, our longing for God is part of being human and this desire begins in childhood. We each enter this world as a child.

Long before we begin to seek happiness in what we have, what we accomplish and what others think of us, as children we know God and yearn to know God more deeply. We may not remember it, but we sense God’s elusive presence, amazing beauty, faithful goodness and timeless truth. Borgo suggests, “experiences of God, divine unity, happens long before consciousness. Mystical experiences are both beyond reason and before it.”

So why is this idea that we are all born mystics important to us as a community of faith who includes children? The children are our teachers. Being with children in worship, in community, as parents, grandparents, neighbors and church family reminds us of our belovedness, our inner child…that place deep within us where we are one with God in Love. This is a place we may return again and again through our adulthood. May the children lead us home.

With Wonder,

Cynthia