Mystagogical Catechesis
Mystagogy, from mystagogia, means “initiation” or “leading” into the mysteries. In the Catholic tradition, mystagogy means leading the faithful into a personal participatory relation to the Sacred Mysteries.
The Sacred Mysteries are those through which we participate as the People of God in the saving passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the liturgical life of the Church offered by Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, extending to each time, age, place and tongue his very Life. It is the life of grace received and responded to that engenders authentic peace and freedom, that sends us on mission. The Paschal mystery is the core of the Church’s liturgical life; it is the core of each person called by God to bear its fruit into the world.
Participation in that most loving mystery which saves us, frees us, fulfills us—gives us our identity, our destiny, our vocation—is offered to all humanity. This offering of participation is received by man and responded to in the Mass and the Sacraments, in the rites, prayers and sacramentals of the Catholic Church. This offering is to become our food so that our whole lives become an offering in Christ Jesus.
The Church comes to life in the world through the participation of the faithful in the life of Christ. This is the liturgical life that each baptized Christian is called to. The liturgy is the path of salvation and sanctification, our entrance into, the sustenance and maturation of, our lived relationship with Jesus Christ.
After receiving the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion—the faithful are called neophytes since they are newly initiated/grown/illuminated. The neophyte has been prepared for the reception of, and has received, the sacraments of initiation. Reception, however, is only one part of the liturgical life. The Church calls all to actual participation; one’s full personal response is called for. This is what mystagogy aims to accomplish by way of helping the neophyte cooperate with the freedom of the new life granted to him/her in the Holy Spirit.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ (It is ‘mystagogy.’) by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, from the sign to the thing signified, from the ‘sacraments’ to the ‘mysteries.’” (CCC, 1075)
In Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI laid out three fundamental elements of mystagogical catechesis so that it can initiate people into the mystery of Christ:
a) It interprets the rites in the light of the events of our salvation, in accordance with the Church's living tradition.
b) A mystagogical catechesis must also be concerned with presenting the meaning of the signs contained in the rites.
c) Finally, a mystagogical catechesis must be concerned with bringing out the significance of the rites for the Christian life in all its dimensions – work and responsibility, thoughts and emotions, activity and repose.
Criterion’s approach to mystagogical catechesis attempts to help the fully initiated begin to engage with the liturgy—its ordering and vital role in their lives, and the integral role they have been chosen to fulfill, with personal responsibility—as sharers in the life of Christ.
The Catechism states, “The gift of the Spirit ushers in a new era in the ‘dispensation of the mystery’—the age of the Church, during which Christ manifests, makes present, and communicates his work of salvation through the liturgy of his Church, ‘until he comes.’ (1 Cor 11:26)” (CCC, 1076)
Mystagogy is thus an integral part of the catechetical process of the Church. It is an ushering of the Spirit to include a Christian into the fulness of membership in the salvific work of the Paschal mystery unfolding still in time and bringing it to fruition.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish between what occurs in Religious Education and within sacramental prep at large, including OCIA, and what ought to occur in Mystagogical catechesis.
Criterion was developed to respond to this difficulty and to propose a way forward. More of the same will not do. Another cohort of classroom instruction where neophytes learn about the sacraments—their meaning and value—will not do. Mystagogy must take on another form of instruction that seeks to evoke the question of liturgical meaning and value from within the neophytes’ lived experience so that they can apply it in the everyday.
Sketch of the Crucifixion of Jesus by St. John of the Cross
The meaning and value of that which is experienced in the liturgy must be engaged with by the faithful for it to become a truly personal experience for them. Further, as an interpersonal experience of lived relationship, a level of awareness on the part of the faithful—of that which is being given to them and of that which is being asked of them—is fundamental. Therefore, the personal awareness of the faithful, as integral members of Christ’s Body and as actual participants in the liturgical life of the Church, is essential for a fulfilled/responsive life in Christ. It is necessary that the Church forms the faithful toward this end, so that they can be enlivened, encouraged, and invited into a “mature faith” (Ecclesiam Suam, 36).
Such a faith, involves a renewal of the mind and heart so that each can enter into the mystery of the Church’s liturgically ordered life and mission—which is their life and mission—offered in, with, and through Christ “for the life of the world.”
“It is through faith that we gain this awareness of the mystery of the Church—mature faith, a faith lived out in our lives. Faith such as this gives us a sensus Ecclesiae, an awareness of the Church, and this is something with which the genuine Christian should be deeply imbued. He has been raised in the school of the divine word, nourished by the grace of the sacraments and the Paraclete's heavenly inspiration, trained in the practice of the virtues of the Gospel, and influenced by the Church's culture and community life. He has, moreover, the tremendous joy of sharing in the dignity of the royal priesthood granted to the people of God.”
(ES, 36)
Such dignity, once accepted as one’s own, inspires responsibility. Mystagogy awakens this call to response on the part of the faithful.
One’s personal awareness must become participatory. One’s faith must be integrative and intentional. The liturgy, through the guidance and action of the Holy Spirit, is that which integrates and enlivens intention. It is the criterion of ultimate meaning and value which makes all of life meaningful and enlivens our experience of life with intention.
“Given the vital importance of this personal and conscious participatio, what methods of formation are needed? The Synod Fathers unanimously indicated, in this regard, a mystagogical approach to catechesis, which would lead the faithful to understand more deeply the mysteries being celebrated. That is why, in the Church's most ancient tradition, the process of Christian formation always had an experiential character. While not neglecting a systematic understanding of the content of the faith, it centered on a vital and convincing encounter with Christ, as proclaimed by authentic witnesses. It is first and foremost the witness who introduces others to the mysteries.”
(SC, 64)
Criterion is a framework of mystagogical catechesis which exists to assist parishes in the work of establishing a culture-building practice of witness from within their communities.