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By Dan Sherven

In meditation, a person focuses his or her mind on a single point, often focusing on his or her own breath. There is no goal in meditation aside from being present.

Meditation has also been shown to have many mental health benefits. This can include reducing stress, anxiety, depression, negative thinking, and maybe even pain. Meditation also seems to help a person’s sense of peace, focus, ability to stay present, and overall feelings of wellness.

The earliest records of meditation are found in the Hindu texts, the Vedas.

But as Dr. John Meehan — Jesuit and Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at The University of Toronto’s Trinity College — tells us, meditation is also for Catholics. Especially people interested in a more mystical Catholicism.

“I see it as pretty compatible with Catholicism,” Meehan says. “Because there are mystical traditions within Catholicism. Even though a lot of Catholics don’t know about them.”

“People tend to think about the Church, the structure, the rules, those kind of things,” Meehan says. “They don’t naturally think of mystics. And yet, we’ve had so many.”

Dr. Meehan is the former President of Campion College at the University of Regina. He has also served as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sudbury; Interim Director, of the Newman Centre, at McGill University; and Rector of the L’Église du Gesù, in Montreal. One of his scholarly interests is Asia Pacific studies.

He says mysticism is difficult to define. “In most traditions, mysticism refers to a sort of direct contact with the Divine. And in some cases, intimate union with the Divine, or the Absolute. So we’re talking about a spiritual experience, that is connecting with God or the Absolute.”

“What they’re experiencing is beyond normal communication or words,” Meehan says. “Sometimes, they express what they’ve experienced in an image or in a poem. You have to use that type of artistic language to convey what they experienced.”

Catholic mysticism is not new. Rather, it has a long history, including Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, John Main, and Thomas Merton. Yet, as Meehan says, mysticism is found in all religions.

“As one person commented,” Meehan says. “The interesting thing about mystics is that they don’t disagree.”

Meehan says many people have stressed the similarities between mystics within different religions. However, there are also key differences.

“The Catholic mystics would experience Christian symbols or the voice of Jesus,” Meehan says. “What they’re experiencing is not unlike what some mystics have experienced in the Eastern tradition. Because again, with mysticism, you’re going beyond language or those kind of structures. It’s a direct experience of the Divine.”

He says many Catholics have used meditation in the 20^th century. “[John Main] developed a whole Catholic meditation, that’s really based on forms of Eastern meditation.”

And Meehan thinks meditation can be helpful for Catholics. “But it should remind Catholics that we actually have a mystical tradition that is often overlooked. In other words, you don’t have to go to the East to find meditation and mysticism. We have it right in our own tradition, as well.”

In meditation, a person tries to eliminate thinking to calm the mind. And in Catholicism, there is a tradition of ‘negative theology’. Essentially, saying what God is not — eliminating ideas of God to better experience God.

“But in the Christian tradition,” Meehan says. “God is not only transcendent, he’s immanent. He became human. So there is a part of God that is knowable, and that is visible, in Christ.”

So the Catholic tradition has a balance between ideas about God and experience of God. This is well exemplified in the theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. “When he neared the end of his life — of all those scholarly tomes that he wrote, he said, these were like straw. In other words, we have to recognize concepts for what they are; they’re merely concepts. They help us think. But a concept can never fully explain God, who remains mystery.”

Meehan thinks meditation can lead to a more mystical Catholicism. “We need to regain the mystical tradition, which many have lost. The great Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, said ‘the Christian of the 21^st century, will be a mystic, or be nothing at all.’”

With that said, Meehan does think, “we need a counterbalance too. Throughout the history of the Church, we’ve had a mystical tradition, which always is balanced with a kind of ecclesial tradition.”

The mystical tradition is represented through the apostle Saint John the Beloved, Meehan says. And the ecclesial, or more structured approach, is represented through Saint Peter the Apostle. Meehan adds, the Church’s structure, hierarchy, and order, are often criticized. But, mysticism and structure need each other.

“If you just have structure, without Spirit,” Meehan says. “You end up with an empty shell. But if, on the other hand, you have Spirit, with no structure, then it becomes a bit amorphous.”

Still, Meehan says mysticism remains attractive for people who do not like the Church. Sometimes people find the Church too patriarchal, he says, while many mystics were women.

“I think mysticism has really created a place for women to feel comfortable in the Church,” Meehan says. “We often think of mystics as removed, from practical day-to-day concerns — the administration, and politics, of the Church. But as these female mystics show, they were able to do both.”

And mysticism may be appealing to younger generations.

“When I ask my students about religion, 90 percent of them would say they’re spiritual, but not religious,” Meehan says. “Now, when I ask what they mean by that, they would define spiritual, as a personal relationship with the Divine, so it sounds more mystical.

“When you ask, what do they mean by religion, they talk about structures, rules, and regulations. When people nowadays say they’re spiritual, but not religious, maybe what they’re saying — is they’re more attracted to mysticism than religious organizations.”

For people outside of religious organizations, mysticism could be a way to remain connected to God.

“I think it’s really appealing to those who don’t like the Church,” Meehan says. “Because there isn’t a whole lot of structure or rules. It’s more [of] a guide. The people sense a freedom there, to be themselves. And really, that’s what religion is supposed to be about.

“I don’t think Jesus came offering lots of rules and structure. He did come, offering a way to the Divine. That’s what was so attractive about Him and His message. So I think this is a great entry point, for a lot of people in that world, to explore, and go deep within themselves, and by doing that, finding God, at the heart of who they are.”

Dan Sherven is an author from Regina, SK. His debut novel, Light and Dark, is available now. And he has more books in the works. [email protected]