We are all called to be "mystics" according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church?
Yes. It says so right in paragraph 2014. Here it is.
2014 Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called "mystical" because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments - "the holy mysteries" - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all.
Did you notice the phrase I made bold?
Our intimate union with Jesus is really what Christian mysticism is all about and the examples of it from the lives of saints like St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Faustina and from the pages of the Bible are invitations meant to draw us into a deeper experience of that union.
As the Apostle John says in 1 John 1,
1. What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life—
2. for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—
3. what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.
NABRE
Did you know the saints were often ticked off at their spiritual directors and superiors when they insisted that the saints write about their intimate unions with God? Writing is hard work and finding time for it is even harder. So why do it? Well, how else are we going to know what God has in store for us in our intimate union with Himself?
The biblical writers and the saints didn't write to brag about their spiritual experiences so they could elevate themselves as a spiritual elite. They wrote because they are inviting us to join them, to let us know there is "more" to be entered into, to be experienced in intimate union with God.
I will be writing more on this topic because God keeps pestering me. But enough for one insomnia session.
