What is Mystagogy?

BY

Walter Bradely

When considering the topic of Mystagogy and the Church’s understanding of the subject it is important to recognize the complete picture, the scope of what is covered. Looking quite literally at Mystagogy, and perhaps a common view held by most, it is very simply the final of four stages in the RCIA process of bringing believers into the Church. However, the context of this paper will focus at a more in depth look at the nature of Mystagogy and its essential relationship to the liturgical life of the Church. In doing this I will also show the relationship between Mystagogy and exegesis, the sacraments as mysteries and the vital place of narrationes in Mystagogy. Before an attempt to delve …show more content…

In other words, sacramental life is impoverished and very soon turns into hollow ritualism if it is not based on serious knowledge of the meaning of the sacraments, and catechesis becomes intellectualized if it fails to come alive in the sacramental practice.” The ordinary means for the believer to enter into the mystery of the sacramental life is to encounter Christ Jesus in the sacraments and most fully through the Eucharist. Mystagogy allows us to unpack the signs given over the entire economy, teaches people to read those signs so that they may comprehend the meaning and be brought into the mystery. It is not enough to simply have an understanding of the signs and symbols, one must go deeper, it must be an understanding of the meaning of the symbol and it is that meaning that unites us to the mystery. How do we do this, how do we unpack the signs, given throughout sacred history and realize there meaning? It is through a biblical exegesis specifically with a typological approach.
As stated above, Mystagogy allows one to see the real meaning, the ratio, of the sign which then unites us to the mystery itself. But, how do we see the meaning, how does one come to an understanding of the sign, through the use of typology. Typology as defined by the catechism is “the discernment of persons, events, or things in the Old Testament which prefigured, and thus severed as a “type or prototype” of, the fulfillment of God’s plan in the person of Christ. The