My Pastor is resuming Adoration today after our Bishop had tightened restrictions over Easter weekend. (The only logic I could think of would be Easter Catholics who show up one or two times a year would make social distancing more complicated) Anyway, I'll be at Adoration from 8 to 10 pm (EST) and hold you all in prayer. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you!
I am not the Carmelite police. But when you tell others about having 'visions' quote: I have had a few visions this year of our Lord and His angels preparing their horses for battle. They are all dressed as warriors and my meek and mild Jesus appears now as in Revelations passages! " That goes beyond just spirituality. I would highly recommend that you talk to the President of your community before publishing that you have had visions and what they are. And get the approval of your President and Bishop that it is ok to publish them. Writing anything on the internet is publishing and is hard to retract. But discussing the sanctity of marriage is wonderful and we need to discuss that even more, and your Provincial gave you permission to do that. Actually, if your President and Bishop gave you permission to publish your visions and locutions I would like to read it. Praise Be to Jesus.
Hi Katfalls. Having been an isolate for a while now perhaps things have changed and I have not heard new rules about internet use, as my first few years with a community starting in 1998 we didn't really have the internet. I would hardly say I am publishing anything, as I don't have a website, I am chatting regarding things heard in prayer with others who may or may not have Carmelite training in prayer, and may not know all the technical terms we use like intellectual visions, etc, and I am basically incognito like yourself. Keep in mind, what I saw WAS actually a scene described in scripture, and for persons who, like me, meditate a lot on scripture, having these kinds of pictures appear in ones mind or even dreams can happen. Whether they are supernatural or not, is always hard to discern. Over many years since my conversion I have met with many persons who have had "glimpses" or "words' in prayer, and in this day and age of constantly being judged by people, they are afraid to think what these things could mean and afraid to ask anyone. It does help to know some things are kind of normal, and experienced by many, and to just be very careful with taking anything too seriously. Also if one who, like me, tends to have a lot of this stuff go on, it is safer to study prayer with saints like Teresa of Avila who, whether they feel called to an order or not, will help them feel calmer and be wiser about such things. The devil LOVES to play with people in this way, as we can see with all of the many visionaries and messengers popping up all over. So I understand what you are saying, but I do think you are jumping to conclusions regarding my motives for sharing. I would never try to influence anyone in anyway regarding something personally given to me, and since I am so isolated since my total disability, I was hoping to be able to have other prayerful people to toss things around with. Perhaps both of our mistakes is to even let anyone here know we ARE in an order. I suppose it implies some sort of authority that neither of us would want to claim in these matters. I would certainly never judge you in these matters, unless of course you were anti Catholic or in grave error or some such thing. Anyway, please if you would point out in our Rule of Life what you are claiming, and let me know if we are no longer allowed to belong to a forum on the internet like this. I will certainly refrain from ever sharing spiritual things again, as I do not want to cause anyone scandal, but from what you are saying it sounds like neither of us should even be on this type of forum.
Well Carmel333, You have definitely assumed alot more than what I asked you. I never said Secular Carmelites are not permitted to be on the internet. I never said you are not permitted to be on a forum. I never said you are not allowed to chat with other people. I never said you are not allowed to share your spirituality. What I said was: 1. If you are having 'visions' you should clarify that with your President as to what they are and are you allowed to publish them. Saying you are a Carmelite and publishing visions is putting a stamp of approval of the Carmelites on it. Anytime you type anything on the internet it is considered being published because it is in writing. 2. If you are having locutions you need to get the permission of your President before publishing it. Same thing. 3. Perhaps you don't know what a real vision or locution is? It would be good to have an understanding of what you are talking about, and not just chatting about. 4. Dreams are different than visions or locutions. 5. People who talk about visions normally take them to a higher authority to make sure they are discerned and meet the criteria of being within the magesterium of the church. 6. When people have visions and publish them they usually carry an imprimatur from the local Bishop saying they have been reviewed and are correct. 7. Letting people know we are Secular Carmelites is not a mistake. I'm not looking for a battle on this. I am merely suggesting you run it by your President. If you were to say something that is not correct it puts your community in a bad light. Maybe someone on the forum would like to define what a vision and locution is . . .
Hello, I really think you ARE looking for a battle on this, and I decline. You started it with a public post to tell me I went against the rules. I admitted my rule book (just looked)is dated 1983 and perhaps you have something more up to date. As far as I remember, I was always encouraged to help people in prayer to discern, and encouraged to share anything I wanted help discerning, which was my intent here. A whole lot different than what you are accusing me of like claiming to be a seer or writing a public book with my name on it. Yes of course I would already assume I would need permission for that even if I were NOT a Carmelite just by the Church itself. I think persons like you are exactly why I stopped sharing anything years ago. Thank you for reminding me of that. Peace to you.
This makes me very sad--this kind of back and forth disputing. I think this should have been privately messaged to you. The rest of us do not need to be in on this. I know nothing about the rules of Carmel for 3rd order members. I pray both of you have peace about this. The important thing is that you dont leave the forum! Please! We need your input just as we need Katfalls' input. God bless.
You are quite right! “The Garabandal girls were led by Mary to pray outside the doors when they weren’t allowed in.”
