233. The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face.[159] The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things. Saint Bonaventure teaches us that “contemplation deepens the more we feel the working of God’s grace within our hearts, and the better we learn to encounter God in creatures outside ourselves”.[160]
If I can take license with the reference of "mystical." Pope Francis is correct in that the Catholic faith defines "The Mysteries" in the Rosary. The Rosary are the prayers said within the organization of the Rosary Beads. Every Catholic at one time or another has been given Rosary Beads to guide prayer. I believe it was Pope John Paul II who recognized the DEVOTION within the Rosary and declared the "Year of the Rosary" (click here).
The Joyful Mystery, The Sorrowful Mystery, The Glorious Mystery and the Luminous Mystery.
So when Pope Francis mentions the word mystical there is nothing odd about the understanding of mystery within the religion. These Mysteries are celebrated in prayer within the congregation during the weeks of Lent [fasting, prayer, abstinence and almsgiving (charity)] leading up and preparing for Easter and the rebirth.
The Rosary is set in "Mysteries." (click here)
234. Saint John of the Cross taught that all the goodness present in the realities and experiences of this world “is present in God eminently and infinitely, or more properly, in each of these sublime realities is God”.[161] This is not because the finite things of this world are really divine, but because the mystic experiences the intimate connection between God and all beings, and thus feels that “all things are God”.[162] Standing awestruck before a mountain, he or she cannot separate this experience from God, and perceives that the interior awe being lived has to be entrusted to the Lord: “Mountains have heights and they are plentiful, vast, beautiful, graceful, bright and fragrant. These mountains are what my Beloved is to me. Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh water; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight to the senses, and in their solitude and silence, they refresh us and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to me”.[163]
Take one minute to realize how attached Pope Francis is to the natural world. He sees God's creation and he is grateful for it. As he ministers to 20 percent of the global population he wants their misery relieved due to the exploitation of Earth's natural resources. We know there is suffering and death due to the climate crisis. That suffering and death is happening now, not 100 years from now. It is the reason Pope Francis calls upon Catholics to change the course of Earth's atmospheric imbalance.
235. The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane. Water, oil, fire and colours are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise. The hand that blesses is an instrument of God’s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life. Encountering God does not mean fleeing from this world or turning our back on nature. This is especially clear in the spirituality of the Christian East. “Beauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of a church, in the sounds, in the colours, in the lights, in the scents”.[164] For Christians, all the creatures of the material universe find their true meaning in the incarnate Word, for the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material world, planting in it a seed of definitive transformation. “Christianity does not reject matter. Rather, bodiliness is considered in all its value in the liturgical act, whereby the human body is disclosed in its inner nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit and is united with the Lord Jesus, who himself took a body for the world’s salvation”.[165]
