Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Celebrating the Transitus of St Francis
in the Friars' Cemetery

When you read this
you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
which was not made known to human beings in other generations
as it has now been revealed
to his holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit,
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same Body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

During the early centuries of Christianity, the Roman Empire was overrun with “mystery cults.” When Saint Paul speaks of a mystery “which was not made known… in other generations” he is using a phrase which might not be readily understood today. American religions want to be anything but mysterious. We advertise our benefits to anyone who will glance at a billboard. We speak openly of such ineffable mysteries as the Blessed Sacrament and the Word of God. Christian scholars speculate on television about the Second Coming of Christ. I’ve seen the Tetragrammaton, a word no devout Jew will speak, on bumper stickers!

The mystery cults of Saint Paul’s time were secret societies, bound together by code words, gestures and compacts. They celebrated in clandestine rituals certain arcane doctrines that had been “revealed” to them. For obvious reasons, we know little about their rituals and doctrines today. Apparently they operated like Rosicrucians, Masons, or other benevolent societies, but without benefit to the larger society. They promised their adherents salvation or justification or something equivalent.

So when Saint Paul speaks of hidden mysteries his disciples understand they too have been initiated into deep mysteries of life and death, salvation and justification.

Centuries later, within the conflicted era of the Reformation, the various Christian denominations would produce catechisms. These compendiums of questions and answers explained in simple, straightforward language religious beliefs and practices. But they stripped them of every trace of mystery. They did not feel like wonderful truths to be pondered but arguments to be rehearsed.

Instead of hearing the priest proclaim “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Catholics memorized, “The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament and a sacrifice. In the Holy Eucharist, under the appearances of bread and wine, the Lord Christ is contained, offered, and received.”

Since the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church has set out to regain the evangelizing fervor and the mysterious aura of our rituals. The catechisms are useful but the rituals tell us who we are. 
We welcome new adult members with the Sacrament of Baptism during the Easter Vigil, after months of preparation, in a public ceremony. Conducted by the entire community, the rite of initiation invites and challenges everyone to be renewed in Christ. 

Eucharist, the second Sacrament of Initiation, follows the Baptism, as the initiate is incorporated into the Body of Christ. The only explanation offered for this mysterious bread is the phrase, "The Body of Christ" and the only appropriate response is Amen. 
Finally the bishop or pastor anoints the newly Baptized with sacred chrism. As Jesus is "priest, prophet and king" so are we consecrated representatives of the Lord of All.  

Leaving the Church after Sunday Mass we should feel a new spring in our step and new hope in our hearts. We have been touched by the mystery which was not known in other generations.

The rituals are solemn and impressive -- and even terrifying. If there is an adulterer, thief or murderer among us, he should be frightened. It would be better for him if a millstone were tied about his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 
Our church was never a mystery cult but we are regaining our sense of mystery as we participate in the liturgies of the Church. Through them we are not only instructed in the beliefs of our religion, we are shaped and molded into the People of God.