Szabó Ferencz S.J.: The Life and Work of Ottokár Prohászka (1858-1927) (Budapest, 2007)
X. Prohászka, the poet and mystic
and anti-ecclesiastical forces, which Prohászka had to confront on his return from Rome. After outlining the situation of church life at the beginning of the century, Bangha highlighted Prohászka's role as follows: "After the initiatives of Nándor Zichy the first impetus towards rechristianization was given to Hungarian Catholicism mainly by Prohászka Ottokár. His success was mostly due - apart from his phenomenal knowledge, his mind, his radiant strength and captivating eloquence - to the fact that that he began by being consciously cautious. At that time many accused Prohászka of being a bad Catholic and one often heard the criticism that what he said in the pulpit could for the most part have been said in a Protestant or a Jewish pulpit. But Prohászka knew very well what he was doing. He knew that his badly educated audience could not at the time accept the whole truth, and so with prudent accommodation he was content for the time being to utter those truths which the times, estranged from faith and truth, could understand, and in a form they understood ..." Before Prohászka it had not been the custom to even talk to a priest or to the Church, but since Prohászka the Church and the pulpit in a church have become accepted. This was the primary huge success and influence of the great apologist.13 2. PROHÁSZKA'S JESUS MYSTICISM Before I go more deeply into Prohászka's Jesus mysticism, I want to clarify a few concepts. What is the essence of Christian mysticism? In the past, spiritual theology distinguished between Asceticism and Mysticism: the former emphasized spiritual struggle in the effort towards Christian perfection, self-denial, the practice of virtue, the latter favoured contemplation, the experience of the presence of God (Christ) and the search for a loving union with God. In fact we should not separate these two ways since one presupposes the other: the Christian calling is to strive to participate in the life of the Trinitarian God through living a life of faith, hope and charity with the aid of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is neither a grim voluntarism nor a passive quietism, as Prohászka explained in his essay A Pilis hegyen [In the Pilis Hills] published in the year of his death, in which he introduces Cistercian (St Bernard's) spirituality and mysticism. I cite here the most important section (CW, 8, p. 89):14 "Christian sentiment, expressed in songs of love, has consecrated the Pilis, the Börzsöny and the Mátra into sacred forests. Here were lit the fires that fanned the flames of a soul transforming charity which in the mysticism of the 12lh century planted anew its epiphany in Europe. It was not quietism, not a dream of ecstasy that took men out of the hard world of reality, making him unfit to face life's struggle and do creative work. It was a real, practical development which knew that mankind has its struggles 13 Béla Bangha: Világhódító kereszténység [World conquering Christianity], Budapest, 1940, p. 226. 14 On St Bernard's mysticism see Kurt Ruth: A nyugati misztika története, [The History of Western Mysticism] Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006, vol. 1, chapter 8'\ pp. 253ff. 298