No matter what it is — healings, apparitions, weeping statues, locutions, stigmata, even deliverance — mystical manifestations are subject to discernment and — usually — dispute.
It’s why some shy away from them.
But when we do, we risk losing out on manifest Grace. (We occasionally had these discussions with Mother Angelica, who believed strongly in the mystical aspect and before taking ill often viewed Spirit Daily; see remembrance later this week.)
It is a challenge of life, discernment: not just in religion and between religions and within denominations (there are disputes at every turn), but in all walks of life.
A political election is a process of public discernment.
So are many scientific interpretations (see global “warming”).
When it comes to mysticism, there is also the relatively “new” category of “near-death experiences.” That’s of course when someone clinically dies but is brought back. According to one well-known researcher, John Burke — author of the acclaimed Imagine Heaven (which combines scientific and biblical viewpoints) — about one in 25 Americans has reported such an episode, especially prevalent in our time due to vastly enhanced medical techniques of resuscitation.
“More than 900 articles on NDEs have been published in scholarly literature like the Journal of the American Medical Association and Psychiatry, many showing NDEs as evidence of consciousness beyond death,” he notes.
But really, there is nothing new about them. They were alluded to by Plato, and the first to record them with detail in Catholicism was Pope Gregory the Great, a doctor of the Church who lived in the fourth or fifth century. In the New Testament, Saint Paul alluded to a man he knew who had left his body and visited the second or third heaven (there are levels).
They are obviously a part of Christianity. Do they, asked Fox News on Easter Sunday, prove the Resurrection?
No, they assuredly do not. Folks who have near-death experiences may provide strong evidence of eternity, but those who are revived don’t appear after death in the flesh (as did Jesus) to others; they do not show their wounds; they are not touched, as Christ was touched; they have not been “assumed” into the afterlife; they do not ascend on a cloud.
But the consistency between those many thousands who have had them, in whatever walk of life, in whatever part of the world — and in whatever religion — is astonishing. They give us all the reason for joie de vivre (as the French say).
Difficult it is, however, when we try to view such experiences with a legalistic or naturalistic perspective — for this is a realm beyond anything seen in nature, on earth, much broader than can be viewed solely through the lens of religion. Many also bear lessons about how to live, plus other insights, that certainly are not available through theologians. It was Saint Thomas Aquinas — the epitome of a theologian — who after his own glimpse into eternity just before dying said that after what he had just experienced, all his theological musing — his writings — were nothing more than “straw.”
When a person “comes back” from the other side, they often have interpretations and “spin” that fit their own life experiences and religious background.
Therein lies a problem.
Like any mysticism, there is imperfection — and like great mystics such as Saint Faustina and Padre Pio and Joseph Cupertino and innumerable others, they are often initially rejected. If the observations and recollections of the person do not strictly fit someone’s view, there is the temptation to toss an entire experience out — the baby with the bathwater.
When we do, we are in danger of neglecting what Paul told us in 1 Thessalonians 21: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
Take what is good from something and leave the rest. Yet, exercise sophrosyne. If you’re not comfortable with something, either because it seems in error, or goes beyond what you have imagined (or previously read), set it aside; be cautious, however, not to quickly besmirch it. We recall that Jesus was accused of the heretical, as were seers at places such as Lourdes and Fatima.
Take what is good. It’s our approach with all such material: a cautious openness — for many potential benefits are contained in such experiences, despite certain flaws, as long as they are not heresy (a good number do have elements of the New Age; it is in fact a time of deception).
Difficulties? There are Protestants who glimpse a dark place and immediately label it “hell’; they do so because they do not believe in deepest purgatory (which they may describing when they come back saying souls are eventually released from such darkness). For all we know, others describe the top of purgatory or a holding area just before paradise as “heaven.” Some may be shown Heaven — what they are missing — before the spiral downward!
We see the problem with semantics — trying to read descriptions of the supernal, the ineffable, the infinite, in extremely finite human terms.
Be ready, when you pass over, to encounter glorious surprise at every turn. Be very discerning at the same time that you are careful not to bear any resemblance to the Sadducees and Pharisees (who were always trying to undermine Jesus on legalistic grounds and who in the case of Sadducess believed in religion but not the afterlife!)
Sometimes we should reject claims of mysticism, including near-death experiences; there can be deception in this realm, as with any mysticism and anything else (again, see politics); the devil can come as an angel of light (most who have the near-death experience encounter a great light). Some speak of reincarnation, or otherwise provide a “new age” spin (new age being a term used to express anything that seems unorthodox in a way that may mask the occult).
Sometimes, we overuse such terms. By the “fruits” will we know it — not always by what we understand (for our knowledge and experience are limited). We should not reject something just because the person is not Catholic. Our Popes teach two things: that Christ is the only mediator between Heaven on earth and also that those outside the formal Church may (if they accept Christ) find salvation.
Take what is good. Leave the rest. Exercise prudent, prayerful openness. If something truly oppresses the spirit, yes, then, toss out the bathwater.
Not everything unfamiliar is wrong, but careful discernment is always in order.
The narrow gate is Catholicism.
It is the safest path toward eternity.
Michael Brown
