Do you thin kRoman Catholicism is spiritual/mystical?

[WingedPig]

I'm feeling very drawn to Roman Catholicism as I feel it's incredibly Spiritual compared to my Anglican roots, has anyone else found this?

[K999]

No

[HoneyandRum]

Yes.

[Gingerdodger]

The Eucharist is a deeply spiritual experience based on the mystery of how bread and wine really become the body and blood of Christ to sustain us all so my answer is yes. Catholic churches have such a sense of continuity and history, even the new ones. I find the words of mass so moving they can actually make me cry.

I can't really answer for how that compares with other faiths but I guess there are lots of ways of being spiritual and mystical so they have their own strengths.

[WingedPig]

I find the Catholic ceremonies incredibly sacred, I also find the faith much more religiously 'magical' - for want of a better word!

[worldgonecrazy]

I am an ex-Catholic, and I know a lot of my pagan and Wiccan friends are also ex-Catholic. Many of us have commented that it is because we are used to a magical bent to spirituality due to our Catholic upbringing, so there may be something in it.

[thanksamillion]

I know what you mean, but I think it would be wrong to say they were more 'spiritual'. It's a different flavour of spirituality, with more of a focus on the mystery and un-knowableness (I know that probably isn't a word!) of God. I think the Orthodox church probably takes this to another level.

Personally I think that a good mix of worship styles gets you a better understanding of the trinity and different ways of relating to God.

[acorntree]

Yes (to the OP's question) – in particular, I find the sacraments very spiritual – but you need to enter in to them yourself – if you were watching from outside without fully understanding or participating then maybe not, but at the elevation of the Host in the Eucharist,there is a real spiritual light flowing out. Similarly with something like the sacrament of reconciliation, sometimes it can feel a bit mundane, but on other occasions you are lifted out of yourself and it is a very powerful and challenging spiritual experience of an encounter with Jesus. God is present always and everywhere, so people could ask why you need the sacraments to encounter Him, there is a different essence (feel/intensity/colour) to the encounter, it is like turning a crystal in your hand and seeing the light refracted and reflected in different ways.

[HoneyandRum]

I suppose there is a juxtaposition in Catholicism with recognizing that we are communing with someone who is beyond all knowing and understanding, and is infinite truth, beauty and glory and yet we are also able to be intimate with God because of Jesus who brings us into the heart of God and comes to us literally into our bodies at Mass.

Catholicism is also a very earthy, sensual faith as to us matter can be imbued with God. Catholic anthropology sees us as embodied beings and that what we see, hear, smell, touch and feel can draw us closer to God.

[WingedPig]

Thanks all, quick question, do Catholics believe we have souls? Or is our physical inextricably 'joined' to our soul?

[Gingerdodger]

I believe we have a soul, a spirit as we were, I don't see this as tied to the body. In Church we reply now 'and with your spirit' rather than 'and with you' which kind of sums it up for me.

[Helpyourself]

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
A Jesuit priest or more prosaically Steven Covey. Lots to read around around if you're interested. But to answer your question, yes. Transubstantiation is essentially woo mystical.

[HoneyandRum]

I believe in Catholic theology we are embodied and therefore the soul and the body are not separate. I thought there was a rejection as heresy from the early church onwards the idea that the body was not good and separate from the soul? I thought in Catholic theology we are integrated?

[Hambo04]

I don't know much about it, but would be interested to know if it encompasses spiritual practices like meditation etc that enables you to become more conscious and experience the different layers of your being or is it more about believing and faith.

[HoneyandRum]

There are as many forms of prayer as they are people. In Catholicism prayer is a gift and an action of the Holy Spirit where we respond to God's grace and so there may be different forms of prayer that you receive at different times. Meditation, contemplation, mental prayer, using scriptures, and traditional vocal prayers are examples. Praise in voice and music is prayer "She who sings once prays twice". You can give your work and task you are doing as a continual prayer to God. Prayer is relating to God in a loving relationship growing in intimacy and knowledge of God and ourselves.

Last night I was at an evening of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament (which we believe to be Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity). There was Mass from 6-7pm then Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in silence from 7-8pm. From 8-10pm Exposition was accompanied by music and singing, scripture readings and invocations. During this time private Confession (The Sacrament of Reconciliation) was available with priests who were there. So a focussed evening of prayer for four hours on a Saturday night. It was a deeply contemplative time, peaceful and very beautiful.

[SchrodingersFerret]

See I do like the mystical side of Catholicism very much. The rosary is very calming, and the idea of transubstantiation is quite a powerful one.

[Pigeonhouse]

Honestly, I never find that much difference between modern Catholicism and most forms of Anglicanism. The Catholicism of my childhood (immediately post-Vatican II in rural Ireland) was quite mystical and absolutist in a way that was appealing to a child - Latin still used for Benediction etc if not for the mass, incense, silence, music, ritual, the stations of the cross, the Rosary, fasting, holy communion, vigils, May altars, the shrouding of statues for Good Friday etc - but I think that has largely leached away now, partly as the older priests and parishioners with memories of pre Vatican II die off, and partly through sheer lack of numbers. The altars full of priests and altar boys waving thuribles on special occasions just aren't possible now.

There are of course Oratorians and various brands of Tridentine Catholicism that still go in more for that kind of thing, but their theology is alarmingly conservative, not to say bigoted.

[PoorOldCat]

It's more romantic if that's what you mean. Not sure if that's what religion should be about though.

[midwifeandmum]

Iam drawn to catholism too, my dds (dd1 is 4 and dd2 is 1.11) are being baptized on easter sunday and im beginning RCIA course in september.

My hubby is an RC and I take the girls to every sunday mass and childrens liturgy class.

I love attending mass, its all so beautifully spiritual especially the eucharist. Im so excited to start in September.

[HoneyandRum]

PoorOldCat well we are in a real love relationship, the ultimate - so it seems natural that there would be romance and beauty involved - the seductiveness of God.

Very exciting Midwifeandmum I'm also a convert.

[heather1]

Yes Catholics believe each person has a soul and a body, when you die your soul leave the body and goes to heaven, hell or purgetory.
At the end of the world all bodies will be reunited with their souls and spend eternity in either heaven or he'll according to the judgement of God.

[PoorOldCat]

Isn't God the same whichever church you use? I think that what he is 'wearing', for want of a better term, is a bit irrelevant if it's a real love relationship.

Hope that makes sense.

[HoneyandRum]

Well yes of course God is the same, but we are not.

A nice story is from Rabbi Lionel Blue, who said he struck up a conversation with a Christian woman at an airport and they decided to pray together. She suggested they go to the chapel in the airport to pray and Rabbi Blue said "Well, why don't why we stay right here as God is the same everywhere". She replied "God may be the same everywhere but I'm not". People have always wanted and needed to set aside places as sacred because we are embodied and our surroundings affect us.

For Catholics we like to use all our senses to experience the sacred. We bless ourselves with Holy Water when we enter the church to remind ourselves of our Baptism for example.

[PoorOldCat]

Yes, that is a fair point. If it helps you feel like you can carry it out better, then it is a good thing.

[midwifeandmum]

honeyandrum

Did u convert through the RCIA course? How long ago did you convert?

[HoneyandRum]

I converted in 1988, I was atheist and had never been baptized. I didn't do RCIA I had individual instruction by a Franciscan Priest and his female assistant. They would both meet with me everyday - sometimes together, sometimes separately. When I entered the church I had First Reconciliation, Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation on the same day! It was not at Easter and I was not in the UK (although I'm from London).

I have often served as a sponsor to candidates going through RCIA and attended weekly meetings. I love RCIA because I love to hear everyone's conversion stories and accompany them as they draw closer to Christ. It builds my faith and has that sweetness of God's love. One of my best friends is the RCIA director of a huge parish in London. So any questions I can run them by her. She always has a big class of converts.