Deacon Ed Shoener,   Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, (Mental Illness Mentioned)

In today’s readings, we hear from people who encountered God in a miraculous and mystical way and then their lives were forever changed. 

Have you ever had a mystical experience?  You know, a sense of the divine, of God entering your life in an unexpected and inexplicable way?  An overwhelming feeling of serenity or peace? An experience or feeling of awe and wonder?

Now I don’t mean extraordinary public visions like what happened at Fatima or Lourdes.  No, I mean experiences of God that are more private, quiet, and subtle.

There was a time when I thought such experiences were rare and if they did happen, they could be understood as a psychological phenomenon, certainly not something that had a divine connection.

And to be sure, there can be psychological explanations for some experiences: sickness, medicines and drugs, psychosis and other purely natural causes can lead to unusual experiences.

But, I no longer dismiss all of these types of experiences with simple psychological or medical explanations.  It seems to me that these types of mystical experiences are common - but often fleeting.  I am guessing that most, if not everyone here, have had a mystical experience of the presence of God.

These experiences are hard to describe. It's like trying to describe falling in love, or holding your newborn, or being enthralled with a sunset. But just because they are difficult to explain doesn't mean that they're not real.

I think God uses them because we are hardheaded people who find it difficult to just read scripture and take God at His word.  God knows that at times we need a direct personal experience of his presence. 

Sometimes these experiences happen when life is at its worst: When we are grieving - When we are alone and in pain - When we are suffering

You know, I have heard some of the most inspiring stories about the mystical presence of God at our mental health spiritual support group meetings that are held here at St. Peters. 

People have shared how at the depths of clinical depression or when the schizophrenia was at its worst, all they could do was turn to God in the simplest of prayers – Oh, God help me – and in the depths of that suffering, they knew that God was present. 

They understood that God worked through their illness to draw them closer to him.  This too is a mystical experience - it is clinging to the cross with Jesus and living in hope.

The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic,’ one who has experienced ‘something,’ or they will cease to be anything at all.” So runs a famous quote from the theologian Karl Rahner.

Every true mystical experience changes us in a fundamental way and gives meaning to our lives. God uses such experiences to reassure us that we are loved - and that we are all called to bring His love into the world. 

God gives us these experiences to help us build up the Kingdom of God. These mystical experiences lead us to want to share the love of Christ with others and to serve each other.

So, how has God entered your life in a mystical way? And through this experience, what is God leading you to do? 

Consider this: we are blessed to live in a mysterious and unique time. A worldwide pandemic, crisis and decline in the Church. Yet God has entrusted to us – yes us- you and me – the task of rebuilding His Church during these times.

Now more than ever we need to reach out and support each other. And get involved in rebuilding His Church.

The Church always needs help: to welcome the stranger, to comfort those in sorrow, to visit the sick.  To help feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless on these cold winter days, and to visit those in prison. 

In the midst of the anxiety, depression, and emptiness that so many of us experience, we can build a Church that proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ and brings hope and meaning into people’s lives.

If you want some specific ideas look in today’s bulletin and consider the ministries that are offered here at St. Peters.  Help is needed in every ministry.

Join our mental health ministry. Help break down the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental illness.

If you can sing, consider joining the choir – we are down to just a few active members. We need more voices to fill this beautiful Cathedral.

Even if you can’t get out and about easily, our prayer ministry needs people to actively pray for the living who are sick and struggling and for the souls of the dead.

So, it is good that we are here today in this Cathedral to worship together.  Every Mass is mystical. We are participating in the mystical body of Christ and sharing in his divine life.  At every Mass, we can experience God drawing us closer and calling us to serve.

Each one of us needs to be still and listen to the Holy Spirit.  And like Isaiah in today’s first reading, we will mystically experience God calling us saying: “Whom shall I send?  Who will go for us?” 

And filled with joy we can say: “Here I am – send me!”  

Amen.