I'll tell you a true story about something that happened back when I was around 12 years old. Both my grandfathers were dead before I was born and neither of them where particularly good people. In fact my grandfather on my fathers sad was a very bad person indeed. He was a multiple bigamist and left my grandmother stranded in great poverty with a crew of kids and my fathers research much later showed he had ben up to all kinds of wild and wonderful and bad things, a fortune tellers, up in court, fighting in the Spanish Civil War and even being a steam boats captain on the Mississipi. But of course i knew none of this as a child, much of it even my father did not know back then. But at the part of the mass I were you pray for the dead as a kid I used to pray for their souls because well I had no one else to pray for. But it came to me in prayer that I should no longer pray for my grandfather, that the Lord showed me that he was in the place beyond the reach of prayer , in hell. So I mentioned this to my mother and ..puzzled..asked her why God should say this to me about him? I still recall the look of shock on my mum's face. For she knew exactly why God should say such a thing, though I did not.
Ohhh, that is scary.... This is why I always fear for my own soul. I often feel that God in His infinite mercy allows me to live long enough to understand that it might be a lot easer to lose our salvation than we think. Everyday, I reflect on my life and see so many things that at one time I never considered regarding my soul...I see how much more I need to change. I keep telling myself, narrow is the gate to salvation....and I still fail Him daily. I pray His mercy is greater than my sin...for me and for humanity.
I met Fr. Raymond in 1984 when I was up at our Motherhouse. He was a very nice man, dressed when not in his habit like lhewas a marine...... We talked about Joachim. In 1975 I met one of the older monks, in his late 90's, who saw Joachim when he was a novice, it was also very inresting talking to him. He told me some good stories about him. peace Mark
People often forget how important our lives are, and most important that we allow God's grace to fill us with his love, which is the greates spiritural gift. Hell is not a pleasant doctrine to dwell on, yet Jesus taught it. People seem not to understand it is they who choose to seperate themselves, not God. I still pray for the salvation of all, those who are in hell, well, it is the only place foir them, a place for them, better than heaven. Peace Mark
Our sinful lives are like an onion, peel one skin away and there's another one to deal with. That is why Adoration is so important. It is truly like radiation therapy, even better! Radiation therapy often kills the good cells with the bad. But Adoration is Love purifying our souls and adding grace upon grace. Meditation is wonderful, but Adoration strengthens, deepens, and hallows simply by our being present with an open heart! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
The name of this thread is interesting. 'Listening to God'. Most people (including some good Catholics) wouldn't know what this meant. In what circumstances does God actually and unmistakeably 'speak' to anyone? We hear the leaders of the prosperity Gospel 'churches' talk of the suspiciously frequently received 'words from the Lord' (at the drop of a hat, apparently and in one case to assure the preacher that it was a good decision to buy a private jet) and we have our own suspect Catholic 'mystics' who have frequent 'conversations' with God/someone else. We have Mohammed and Joseph Smith whose followers believed that they could converse with God any time they wished and receive the definitive answer to any question even (especially in Smith's case) the most trivial. So what is 'listening to God'? A colleague of mine, from years ago, told me that his father fought in WWI and one day he was holding one side of a map with another soldier holding the other edge while an officer examined it. While this was going on, they heard a 'whoosh' and a shell took the head off the man holding the other side of the map leaving the other two men totally unharmed though covered in blood and brains. He said that his father was so traumatised and fearful of a painful death that he trembled uncontrollably in bed that night and believed that he could bear no more and asked God to take his life quietly and painlessly that night. He then heard a voice that called him by name and told him that he would not die in battle but would live to be 100 and would die in bed. He had total confidence that God had spoken to him and showed such bravery that he was highly decorated and promoted several times. I asked how old his father was and he told me that he was 92 and still working part-time! I asked what effect this had on him during the rest of his life and he said that his father would never retire without thanking God for speaking to him that night but was not otherwise religious though he was a good man who was liked and trusted. I can't claim to have had an experience to match the above but, once, in very great distress I begged (I DO mean begged) God to intervene in a situation. While I literally sweated and swayed with faintness at hearing terrible news, I promised God that my prayers would not cease until He responded in some way and then I heard a voice say, 'What do you want to happen?' I specified exactly what I wanted to happen (which seemed an extremely unlikely outcome). The voice said 'Then that will happen'. I immediately calmed down and was totally convinced that the problem would be solved and that the promised outcome would occur and, although it took months, the outcome was exactly as promised and, while waiting for it, I never doubted. Real desperation and real prayer from the heart (and gut) appears to be the key to actually conversing with God and then absolute faith that the prayer had been heard and would be answered. I have a book on prayer by a nun who helps people with their prayer life. She says that when she helps people with petitionary prayer she asks them to pray for something that is important in their lives and listens to them. She says that she usually blurts out, 'Do you call that praying?' having heard some half-hearted appeal for God's intervention in a serious situation.
I had desperate, heartfelt prayers for my father's deliverance from the temptation to euthanasia (ALS diagnosis) answered spectacularly, and with abundant mercy this last year. He received Holy Communion with deep reverence at the hands of my Mother (extraordinary minister, doing her duty for her husband) a few days before he died, made up with family members with whom he had difficulties, had the Last Rites on the night before he died, ended up dying at the beginning of Holy Week, had his name mentioned at all of the masses of the Tridiuum, and buried with a full Catholic mass on Easter Monday. I was blown away by the graces, healing, deeply touching events surrounding his last health crisis and death. I now truly understand the joy of the the Crucifixion and Resurrection, as it pertains to our sharing of it, in a Catholic, provided-for death. I had enlisted my parish priest, my fellow True Devotion to Jesus through Mary devotees, family members, in praying for my father. Considering how dire the alternative outcomes were, I saw the answers to these prayers as direct intervention of our Lord, supported by the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She really is the Mother of Mercy!! What is the name and author of that book? I could sure use some help with this kind of prayer for my family members' conversions. I suffer from an inertia, and a lack of faith, in regards to this. My husband is an atheist, and my children did not have sound instruction (mea culpa), as I had fallen away during their upbrining....
I have several large bookcases heaving with books and more in the loft. I can't recall the name or author but will know it when I see it. I'll root around and see if I can spot it. Note the feast of St. Anne is on the 26th of this month. She is regarded as particularly powerful when it comes to prayers for our children. There is a relic of St. Anne in a shrine dedicated to her in Quebec. Contact anf@americaneedsfatima.org to have your petition presented to her on her feast day at her shrine.
Mark, I just wanted to comment here. I'm in a place personally where I almost can't afford to care anymore. Or worry, or get too mad. For some people, righteous anger at certain times may be what God has called them to express, while for others, their calling is silence and prayer. Some day, they may switch places. A man immersed in a life of contemplation as a religious may have a different perspective than a man immersed in both prayer, and a very secular, ugly world. As I struggle along, I simultaneously try to immerse myself in all things Catholic, while still understanding deeply that I am also "just a Christian" and can't be anything else, and do the best I can, and try to pray for the Pope without knowing too much about what is going on. So... We all have to be where we are.
I agree, we are struggling to live the Gospel. As a monk, even though I struggle and suffer like everyone else, and yes fail, yet I live in a community of men who even though weak like me, we seek union with God, as well as feeling called to immerse ourselves into the Body of Christ and seek mercy for everyone. Again thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peace Mark
I have been rereading old threads...have you found the book mentioned in this post? I was trying to locate it, and came up with Sr Mary Lea Hill, FSP, author of a book called Prayer and You. She has written a book called Basic Catechism and co-authored some Juvenile books on the lives of some saints. She refers to herself as the 'crabby mystic.' Could this be the book you were referring to? Thanks.
I haven't found the book (my wife is in the habit of moving them to boxes in the back of the garage when my office becomes difficult to enter!). Your title doesn't ring any bells. You've reminded me, I'll look in the garage and report.
I often get the impression that people who talk most about not judging others can be the most judgemental. They just happen to be more selective in their judging - adopting the more politically correct form of tolerance. Everybody judges whether or not they admit to it. In Matthew 7, Jesus warned us against judging, telling us that as we judge others so we will be judged. There's a whole lot more in Matthew 7, such as not casting pearls before swine, not giving what is holy to the dogs, entering by the narrow gate and doing the will of the Father (which surely must include obeying all ten of the Commandments). Is St. Paul violating the instruction in Matthew 7 when, in 1 Corinthians he says: "In my letter, I wrote to you that you should have nothing to do with people living immoral lives. I was not including everybody in this present world who is sexually immoral, or everybody who is greedy, or dishonest or worships false gods -- that would mean you would have to cut yourselves off completely from the world. In fact what I meant was that you were not to have anything to do with anyone going by the name of brother who is sexually immoral, or is greedy, or worships false gods, or is a slanderer or a drunkard or dishonest; never even have a meal with anybody of that kind. It is no concern of mine to judge outsiders. It is for you to judge those who are inside, is it not? But outsiders are for God to judge. You must banish this evil-doer from among you." It seems to me that St. Paul was putting into effect the instruction from Jesus to do unto others what we would have them do unto us - loving others as Jesus loved us. Jesus issued plenty of warnings about the danger of Hell. And we need to be careful about relying on our conscience (that much vaunted internal forum). Paul had something to say about his own conscience in 1 Corinthians. He didn't consider his clear conscience enough to justify him because, as he said, "it is the Lord who is my judge". Presumption is a sin rarely mentioned nowadays perhaps because it doesn't fit very well with the reasonable hope that all men are saved. No wonder we are warned to work out our salvation in fear and trembling.
