![](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/TN9fSqcXzrI\/AAAAAAAAE98\/SyoK-qGPJBk\/s320\/mysticism.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nOne 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\u2019s roots in the Hebrew religion which goes back another 2000 years. How cool is that?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2018modern\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In other words, it is to be a mystic in a materialistic world. <\/p>\n
And does this not give you a sense of joy?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ancient and Modern Mysticism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ancient and Modern Mysticism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/TN9fSqcXzrI\/AAAAAAAAE98\/SyoK-qGPJBk\/s320\/mysticism.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html\",\"name\":\"Ancient and Modern Mysticism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ancient and Modern Mysticism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ancient and Modern Mysticism","description":"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","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ancient and Modern Mysticism","og_description":"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","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/TN9fSqcXzrI\/AAAAAAAAE98\/SyoK-qGPJBk\/s320\/mysticism.jpg"}],"author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html","name":"Ancient and Modern Mysticism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-13T23:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"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","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2010\/11\/ancient-and-modern-mysticism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ancient and Modern Mysticism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/TN9fSqcXzrI\/AAAAAAAAE98\/SyoK-qGPJBk\/s1600\/mysticism.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n