Christian Mystics365 Readings and Meditations
Review posted December 29, 2024.
New World Library, 2011. 406 pages.
Review written November 29, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review
I heard about this book from the Richard Rohr emails I get from his Center for Action and Contemplation. Those daily emails made me interested in Christian mysticism, and this book was a good way to go a little deeper.
The Introduction to this book explains how the author is trying to show Christians mystical writings from within our own tradition. Here’s a short bit from that:
Today there is a genuine effort around the world at “deep ecumenism,” or “interfaith,” the coming together of the spiritual wisdom traditions of the world. That is a positive development. But the Dalai Lama points out that the “number one obstacle to interfaith is a bad relationship with one’s own faith tradition.” It is pitiful how few Christian leaders and Christian teachers (including in seminaries) know their own mystical lineage. These days, as revelations come to light about darkness in the Catholic Church, it is all the more important to pay attention to that which is true and deep and beautiful in the work of our Christian ancestors. Through the ages even to today, Christian mystics and activists have stirred hearts and souls. It is valuable at a time of church reformation and even revolution to tap into this wellspring of truth and renewal. Reading and praying the wisdom in these passages moves me deeply to embrace my mystic/prophet ancestors. I hope it helps to awaken the same in the reader.
The format includes 365 short readings from 32 Christian mystics, who include Jesus and Paul. After each quotation, Matthew Fox has some thoughts and questions about it.
Although there are 365 readings, they are numbered not dated, so you can begin any time during a year. Because I was using a library book, I read two pages per day. It still took a long time to finish, but is an older book, so I could renew or re-check out for as long as I liked.
The dedication also gives you an idea of what you’ll find here:
I dedicate this book to the young. They deserve and require a healthier version of religion, one that celebrates the depths of mysticism, love of the earth and the body, and a fierce commitment to community, compassion, celebrative rituals, and justice-making. They deserve a religion that is both simpler and more open to wisdom from all the world’s spiritual traditions.
May the mystics and meditations in these pages assist us all in reawakening the depths of our faith traditions, whatever they may be. May we travel lighter but stronger into a future worthy of our nobility as a species and worthy of the beauty of this wounded planet.