The golden rock as a mystery

I am so very fortunate to have close women friends. Recently, some of us spent a weekend in the mountains and happened upon an incredible swimming hole where the icey river water flowed over the slick granite rocks in a way that just demanded that we go in. We spent one afternoon lounging by the river. I brought my camera as usual, and became absolutely fixated on a rock in the stream. It seemed to me that the rock was partly golden, and as the sun darted in and around the storm clouds, the rock changed color and hue and seemed to call out to me to capture its image. I took picture after picture, lying on my belly, perching precariously on river rocks, taken by this small piece of creation. I don't think I captured it, but this is my best effort.

The theologian Karl Rahner speaks about gaining understanding as allowing ourselves to be grasped, instead of grasping. Then theologian Monica Hellwig relates this to mystery and says that in this way, we can understand art as mystery, people as mystery, communion as mystery. She also points out that opposed to magic, which does not presuppose any understanding or encounter, mystery invites the fullest participation and encounter.

This is what I preached about on Sunday and the idea is still with me today. As I ponder both this rock and the experience of allowing myself to be grasped by this rock in the river,I strikes me that in a very ordinary way the mystery of God in creation did grasp me, with my consent and with my involvement. It may just be an old golden rock in a river, but it has served as a useful contemplation of the encounter with mystery.