The Rare Handful? (Jean Leclercq’s Definition of Mystical Experience)

Selected Works of Bernard of Clairvaux

In the Classics of Western Spirituality edition of the Selected Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, Benedictine scholar Jean Leclercq, OSB offers the follow definition of “mystical experience”:

…those rare occasions when a handful of Christians may enjoy sublime states of prayer and union with God.

What do you think? I have problems with the idea that mystical states are “rare” and only available to a “handful” of Christians. Perhaps Leclercq is trying to protec...