When Worlds Collide! RadTraddyLand Meets St. Blogs - Priest defends strange Popcak comments

http://www.thrownback.blogspot.com/2003_08_17_thrownback_archive.html#106144691180028909 ^ | August 20, 2003 | Fr. Rob Johansen

[Romulus]

Thank you. Let it be said that "mystery" is not mystification. Christianity is not a gnosis, after all -- much less an excursion into irrationality. In Christian usage, the word connotes not concealment, but revelation of truths transcending our ability to describe or comprehend. Mystery therefore is about simplicity -- an un-folding of prophetic truths.

Flannery O'Connor has some memorable observations pertinent to this discussion:

"Dogma is the guardian of mystery. The doctrines are spiritually significant in ways that we cannot fathom. According to St. Thomas [Aquinas], prophetic vision is not a matter of seeing clearly, but of seeing what is distant, hidden. The Church's vision is always prophetic vision; it is always widening the view."

I might add here that mystery is the guardian of faith -- and faith is what must be preserved because faith is what links us to a Person -- One who refers to himself, let it be remembered, as Bridegroom.

Does Divine Hiddenness Justify Atheism?