Mysterion E-Book

Father Harrison Ayre

• Herausgeber: anna ruggieri
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

In Mysterion, Fr. Harrison Ayre reveals the sacramental worldview, a forgotten way of seeing and living the Christian life that can help us understand what it means to be “in Christ,” participate in Christ’s life, and allow Christ to live in us.

Leseprobe

Praise for Mysterion

“The world is a gift: a sign and symbol of the Lord’s love, created to convey to us the meaning of our own lives and the depths of God’s goodness. In Mysterion, Fr. Ayre aims to point all Christians to that beautiful truth, and thus to invite us to a richer and more joyful relationship with Christ and his Church. Don’t miss this book!”

—JD Flynn, Co-Founder of The Pillar

“Fr. Ayre wishes to challenge preconceptions we have about Christian living and to encourage us in areas of weakness. He does this by inviting us to embrace what he describes as a wide-ranging sacramental worldview and sharing his own experiences and reading. He succeeds admirably; readers will be grateful.”

—Terrence Prendergast, S.J., Emeritus Archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall

“Sacramentality is . . . what the world is begging for. [This is] the reality that our culture wants us to forget—that God is real, and everything has more meaning because of him. We do not live in this reality by adjusting to the world’s standards, but by diving into the heart of the Church. Now is the time to bathe everything in our lives . . . in sacramentality. That’s what Fr. Harrison is doing with this book.”

—Luke Carey, Co-Host of Catching Foxes podcast

“Christ the Eternal Word expresses himself perfectly in the accessibility of human flesh. His accessibility loses nothing of his mystery; his mystery does not overwhelm his accessibility. Fr. Harrison’s book, so needed today, opens the door to this vision; accessible and well expressed, as theology should be, it is a participation in the Incarnation.”

—Bishop Daniel E. Flores, STD, Bishop of Brownsville

“You will read this book with the eyes of reason and see the world through the eyes of faith, a world with God’s grandeur pulsing through everything. It is imperative that this be read by all in Christ’s body.”

—Matthew John Paul Tan, Vianney College, Diocese of Wagga Wagga

“The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. From the gift of awe and wonder we can recover our love for the mystery of God celebrated in a liturgy that is true to the living tradition of the Church.”

—Bishop Richard Umbers, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney

“Fr. Ayre offers us a way of seeing. If we want to encounter God, he says, it cannot be as pure spirits: rather, it will be through the earthly and embodied world. The living God reveals himself in creation, and he reveals himself most profoundly in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. To exist ‘in Christ,’ therefore, is to share sacramentally in Christ as members of his body; and so the way of seeing is a way of living. Read this eye-opening book to discover the pathways of a truly Catholic life!”

—Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

“Fr. Harrison’s gift is the ability to make accessible the large ideas that we grapple with. Mysterion: The Revelatory Power of the Sacramental Worldview is no exception. I found myself drawn into the world of mystery by a hand that wants to share the sacramental worldview with love and passion. It reaches out to guide us to the very thing all Christians seek: how we should live to draw ever closer to God.”

—Bonnie Landry, host of Make Joy Normal podcast

“This is a book of encounter. To read it is to rediscover oneself in a world alive to grace. We need theology like this: clear and deep, accessible and profound.”

—Terence Sweeney, Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture and Villanova University Philosophy Department

“In Mysterion, Fr. Harrison Ayre’s good pastoral sense and his theological aptitude come together in a tour de force that will open up new vistas in the faith life of any disciple. If the saints are those who have true vision, because they have seen the Lord, then Fr. Ayre’s book helps us to see more as they do. This book will not only attune us more fully to Christ as he makes himself known to us, but also renew our appreciation and fervor for our life in him.”

—Michael R. Heinlein, Editor of Our Sunday Visitor’s Simply Catholic

“What does it mean to live in Christ and to see the world for what it really is—loved into being and redeemed from the inside out? Fr. Harrison Ayre’s Mysterion is all encompassing, leaving no thing or thought outside of the scope of Christ’s redeeming love. This is a mystagogical masterpiece that carries more force than a Chuck Norris roundhouse-kick.”

—Thomas V. Gourlay, Manager of Chaplaincy at The University of Notre Dame Australia

“What are our lives about? The sacraments help us answer the questions of our existence and live as fully human beings. Fr. Harrison Ayre’s Mysterion is a post-coronavirus gift for going deeper into the faith. Take and read, wherever you are on the journey of faith. Don’t delay—jump in with the Trinity and Mary.”

—Kathryn Jean Lopez, senior fellow, National Review Institute

“The term ‘sacramental worldview’ has often been invoked in theology and catechesis alike in the twentieth century. Generally, it means a generic understanding of God’s presence in the world. Fr. Ayre’s Mysterion provides a correction to this approach to sacramentality. A sacramental worldview is necessarily ecclesial, bringing us into communion with Christ and each other in the Church. I cannot recommend this book enough for readers seeking to understand Catholicism.”

—Timothy P. O’Malley, Ph.D., Director of Online Education, McGrath Institute for Church Life; Academic Director, Notre Dame Centre for Liturgy

MYSTERION

MYSTERION

The Revelatory Power of the Sacramental Worldview

FATHER HARRISON AYRE

Nihil Obstat: Reverend Joseph Briody, S.S.L., S.T.D.

Imprimatur: Seán Cardinal O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.

Archbishop of Boston

February 26, 2021

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021933124

CIP data is available.

ISBN 10: 0-8198-5016-0

ISBN 13: 978-0-8198-5016-4

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions in this list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. —Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover art and design by Sr. Danielle Victoria Lussier, FSP

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Copyright © 2021, Father Harrison Ayre

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491

www.pauline.org

Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

To Mom and Dad, thank you for everything. I love you both more than you can know.

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART ONE The Sacramental Worldview Explained

CHAPTER 1 Mystery and Sacrament

Mystery

Mystery as Concealment

Mystery as a Saving Activity

Mystery as Participation

Mystery as Sacrament

CHAPTER 2 Participation in Christ

“In Christ”

The Meeting of Time and Eternity

What Is the Sacramental Worldview?

CHAPTER 3 Modernism: The Obstacle to the Sacramental Worldview

Background

An Argument Against Modernism

How Modernism Seeps into Our Lives

PART TWO The Sacramental Worldview and the Church

CHAPTER 4 The Church as the Place of Faith

The Place of Faith

What Is the Church?

Why the Church?

CHAPTER 5 The Church as Communion

The Church as the Universal Sacrament of Salvation

Apostolic Succession: Guarantee of Sacramentality

The Sacraments: Ordinary Means of Participating in the Life of Christ

The Church as the Place of Participation in Christ

CHAPTER 6 The Marian Stance

Archetype of the Church

Marian Receptivity

Marian Contemplation

Marian Humility

Mary and the Sacramental Worldview

PART THREE Living the Sacramental Worldview

CHAPTER 7 Liturgy as Living Out Christ’s Life

Entering Christ’s Life

Living Christ’s Life throughout the Liturgical Year

CHAPTER 8 The Holy Mass: Christ Glorifies the Father through the Church

The Introductory Rites

The Liturgy of the Word

The Liturgy of the Eucharist

Concluding Rites

Mass: The Source of Mission

CHAPTER 9 The Mystery of Christian Prayer

What Is Christian Prayer?

Spoken Prayer

Praying with Scripture

The Examen

Contemplation

Total Dependence on God

CHAPTER 10 The Sacramentality of Discipleship

Christ Living in You

Christ Crucified in You

Christ Suffering in You

Christ Loving in You

Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?

Reader’s Guide

About the Cover Art

Foreword

THE SACRAMENTAL WORLDVIEW, THOUGH LARGELY forgotten, is not an inaccessible, esoteric vision only scholars can comprehend. Thankfully, you do not need to be a theologian to read this book. Anyone who desires to live from and understand this worldview can do so. In fact, without being explicitly aware of it, some of the simplest, most faith-filled people already see the world through the sacramental worldview because they see it through the eyes of faith.

I was not introduced to the sacramental worldview in a class or a book but through my conversion from atheism. I had struggled for many years with the philosophical problem of the existence of the soul and, after much wrestling, came to the conclusion that the human soul did indeed exist. However, I could not make the intellectual step to believe in God’s existence. Then, one day, as I was walking on a rural country road in Costa Rica, I was filled with gratitude for the beauty around me. At the same moment a sudden gust of wind tore through the trees and I feared that a tree might fall on me. I trembled at the realization of the precariousness of my being. It was in that moment that I realized that the fragile, beautiful, contingent being of the world, including my own self, had an absolute cause—a fearful, awesome cause—God.

In my conversion, I had what the French philosopher Jacques Maritain refers to as a “primordial intuition.” The existence of the natural, material world led me to perceive a spiritual reality, the existence of God. Of course, knowledge of the existence of God is something that my human intelligence could have come to on its own, but I believe my intellect was aided by grace because God saw my struggle and resistance and had mercy on me. The multitudes of intelligent nonbelievers in the world show that what can be for some natural intuitions of God’s existence do not come naturally to everyone. In fact, sometimes high intelligence can be an obstacle to intuiting the world’s deepest realities. And on some level, we all struggle to comprehend and live according to the sacramental worldview in the modern world.

Truthful perceptions and intuitions of reality rely on a contemplative gaze, something that has become incredibly difficult to maintain in our hurried, noisy world. It’s no coincidence that I became open to perceiving the existence of God through an experience in Costa Rica of slowing down, drinking in the beauty of nature, and dedicating myself to unhurried, patient manual labor. So many people are starved for these experiences in much of modern life. Additionally, many unwittingly live according to destructive modern ideologies and philosophies of the material world completely contrary to the sacramental worldview. As a result, many people reject Church teaching, especially in the areas of sexuality and ecclesiology, because they fail to understand the material world in the light of our faith.

Our modern way of living and thinking is so contrary to the sacramental worldview that apologetic arguments can only do so much in response to what is fundamentally a vision problem. For this reason, since my reversion to the faith, I have searched for effective ways to share the clarifying power of the sacramental worldview because I know how life-changing it can be. But I have struggled to find the words to explain something that came to me in a flash of grace. I have searched for a book on a popular level that explains the sacramental vision, but it’s a sorely neglected topic in the Church. Many books have been written on the Mass and the seven sacraments, but few delve more deeply into the fundamental structure of the universe, which informs these basic aspects of our faith. Why? Based on my experience in ministry, I would venture to guess that, unfortunately, few people explicitly think about the faith in these terms.

I am delighted and honored to have worked with Father Harrison Ayre in the process of bringing this book to life. For so long, I have wanted to find a clear explanation of the revelatory power of the Catholic worldview to share with people. I am confident that his book will help many people to remove the blindfolds of tainted, injurious worldviews and put on the clear, defining prescription glasses of our faith. I pray that a deeper understanding of the sacramental worldview will change your life as it has changed mine, and that it enable you to participate more in Christ who lives and dwells within us through our Baptism.

SR. THERESA ALETHEIA NOBLE, FSP

Preface

THIS BOOK IS MY ATTEMPT to bring together the different topics I’ve spoken about on my podcast Clerically Speaking, in my research and studies, and as the fruit of my prayer and pastoral experience. I will caution that this book attempts to enlighten rather than to offer practical tips. This is not to say that practical matters aren’t important, but the Christian tradition—especially the Church’s sacramental vision—begins in contemplation and prayer. By being enlightened through this life of prayer, we start to see life differently and to live it differently in practice. So much of what is written in this book doesn’t only come from theological studies; it comes from pastoral experience as well. I am very keen on the idea that theology has to be rooted in both prayer and pastoral work. This book is meant to challenge some preconceptions we have about Christian living and encourage us in areas of weakness so that, both through reading this book and living our Christian life, we can attain a deeper communion with Christ and his Church.

A small grace occurred while I was writing this book. When I submitted my writing sample to Sr. Theresa, she told me after the book was accepted that much of what I had to say was very Pauline. Over the years I’ve been attracted more and more to the Pauline charism. The Pauline charism encompasses the mission of evangelizing through the modern means of communication and is also deeply bound up in the theology of the letters of Saint Paul. The Pauline charism and spirituality are centered on the person of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, inviting each of us to learn from Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to form Jesus in us. As I was writing this book, I was reading some of the writings of Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family. I found in him a kindred spirit and an advocate for what I want to propose in this book: that to be a Christian means to really live and participate in the life of Christ. Blessed Alberione was inspired by the writings of Saint Paul, who teaches us that Christ is to be formed in each and every person. What is proposed in this book, then, is not some innovation, but is rooted deeply in the tradition and in the teachings of Saint Paul himself. I’ve come to recognize that the Pauline community sees how important the idea of participation is to the Christian life and how central it is to the teaching of the New Testament. Thanks to writing this book, I am eager to get to know Blessed Alberione all the more. I encourage you to discover his writings as well.

This book is an attempt to express the idea that the word “sacrament” has a broader and deeper meaning than we often give it. We are going to explore the idea that we always have access to the life of Christ today, principally through the Church and the life of discipleship, but also by looking to the whole of creation and seeing it as a sign that points us to God. This book is meant, then, not so much to propose new tools and new habits of living, but to propose a new and deeper vision of reality based in the heart of the Church’s tradition and teaching. This vision is none other than to share in Christ’s own vision of creation, to share in his life, and to allow his life to live in us: the sacramental vision is meant to help us see that always and everywhere, in a mysterious way, we are participating in the life of Christ.