Well known Saints like Saint Paul and Saint Francis and many others have had really intense moments when they had such awesome experiences of being caught up into the Spiritual realm, that it was almost impossible for them to put them into words. They were so acute that had they gone on too long they feared that they would have died. From what I can gather they were very vivid moments of feelings and emotions of LOVE with a very big capital L.
I don't know about you but I dare say that you too have experienced, maybe not to the extent of Paul and Francis, such moments of a feeling of bliss. Let me tell you about some of mine and see if they compare with yours.
These moments in my experience can not be worked up. They just happen. When they happen they do not last very long. In my case usually tears of joy are the outward show that something is going on.
As a convinced and practicing Roman Catholic, the Holy Mass for me is a big moment and by faith I accept it as time travel to Gethsemane, Calvary and the Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. Accepting the Host onto the tip of my tongue and then slowly going thankfully back to my seat is a highlight. However mostly I don't experience any feeling or deep emotion. I accept it by faith and that's it.
Today however was very different. It was a normal Mass, yes, it was with one of my very favourite Priests a Black man from Tanzania, Father Joseph, and as I came back to my seat I was overcome with emotion and repressed tears. During this time of about one to two minutes I was so caught up that nothing else in the world really mattered. Jesus was there. I was eating His body in a totally not cannibalistic way and I knew He loved me and had forgiven me for my very many shortcomings and sins.
A few days ago I was thinking about the Shrine in Neunkirchen near Bonn where I had the experience of the Flickering Eyes of Jesus. This is also recorded among the Spiritual experiences stories on this web site. My seven kids from 23 to 7 years old are normal modern kids and although they do have faith in Jesus Christ it is not the all absorbing factor in their lives. I was going to be driving in that direction taking two of my teenage daughters to Koln/ Bonn airport and so we stopped off a few minutes at the shrine. Sophia, the Polish caretaker was there and she is a mystic. She is also the most positive loving woman I have ever met. I have never heard her utter anything remotely derogatory. She greeted my two surprised daughters with so much love and affection that they were visibly overwhelmed. I know this was a big moment in their lives too. It was an experience that they will never forget. A small but distinctly real touch of Heaven. Something beyond the realms of just earthly entertainment.
Today is my Mother's Birthday, October the 5th. It is also the graduation day of one of my very favourite saints, Saint Faustina from Poland. She died on this day, 49 days before I was born in 1938 on November the 22nd. I will be 70 next month.
If you have internet connection, Google this amazing sweet and humble saint. She had wonderful spiritual experiences even being able to Bi locate. To be in two places at one time.
Now to go back to the shrine. It is one of my very favourite places on earth. Hardly anyone visits there. Maybe 10 persons a week. On the altar there is a black pencil drawing of Father Montfort Okaa the Nigerian Priest who started the movement of the Two Hearts of Love. He is looking down to his right and is also weeping. This shrine has statues of Jesus and Mary and saints and angels. From time to time the statues weep tears and in the case of the life size statue of Jesus, even tears of blood.
The message of the shrine is that Jesus and Mary weep for the indifference of the world to the sacrifice on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins.
I have often seen this drawing of Farther Montfort whom I have met on one of his visits to Germany some 5 months ago. It just so happened that a very precious German sister nun died in Nigeria at the headquarters base, of a sever case of Malaria on the 25th of last month.
The drawing of Father Montfort is tightly packed between glass and a hardboard back in the frame. We were there about three days after the death of the German sister in Nigeria. Sophia showed us the portrait and it had a wet mark around it and directly under the tearful gaze of the Father were the numbers 25 very lightly smudged and only noticeable under careful scrutiny.
Dear Readers and friends, there is a wonderful mystical and spiritual world all around us and I would love to hear from you your reactions to this story and any accounts of your own personal glimpses of Heaven. God bless you all!
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I believe it as FACT that all of us are one, from one source, that we will all return to in the end. We do not have one soulmate, which is a little dissapointing on the surface, until you consider that we are ALL soulmates. The message that we are all one was made so incredibly clear to me that I have absolutely no doubt about it.
I keep reminding myself that we are all pieces of each other when I encounter frustrating situations with others. It brings me back to serenity after a few moments when I do. It has only been two weeks since my moment with God so I am still adjusting to practicing new behavior that is based on the newfound truth I discovered on my day of confirmation.
I agree that we do see miracles every day. I am more open and aware of their existence after having my experience. They were so easy to dismiss as ironic coincidences before. Now I have a much deeper appreciation when those tiny miracles expose themselves.
-With everlasting love and bliss for all, JAndrew