The supernatural is real. We all know it. We all know that there are “things visible and invisible,” and we’ve all experienced moments where the veil between the two has thinned and surprised us – through our dreams, our guts or our physical senses – with information we need, consolations that feed or warnings we’re smart to heed.
Like Hamlet, we all know there are “more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of” in our philosophies. We all go out in search of connecting with that thing – that force, that power, that energy, that “thing” – that exists beyond our perceived-as-natural world.
How we make that search has a lot to do with our own lived experiences.
If we think the supernatural is hogwash, we may land on atheism, agnosticism or humanism. If it’s real but not for us, we might be drawn to the faith-without-vulgar-talk-of-miracles found in mainline Protestantism, or the trace-supernaturalism of Buddhism.
I passionately advocate for acknowledging the profound supernaturalism of the Catholic Church, where bread and wine, consecrated through prayer and ritual, bring into our space the very presence of the incarnate Lord, who feeds us, entering into our very veins and sinews, so we might become his vessels, bringing the light, the concern, the Body of Christ into the world.
Where grace – all unmerited – sacramentally assists the work of the Holy Spirit in ways material and immaterial.
Where the natural and the supernatural are complimentary: the Communion of Saints not only touches time but impacts the world in ways large and small as we call on intercessions of our spiritual ancestors.
Where a thing blessed is a thing made sacred – icons, wedding rings, rosaries, crucifixes.
Even those who claim no faith testify to the unseen but true power of prayer. They do so with every “Oh, God!” Those gasps that rise from our guts betray all our doubt when either joy or horror is before us. They are real, those joys and horrors. They are real, good and evil. How fortunate for us that they are also real, the things visible and invisible, the things natural and supernatural.
It is good to get comfortable living with, and talking about, these realities.
Elizabeth Scalia is editor-at-large for OSV. Follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter) @theanchoress.