Audience with God

8/1/15

I sit here just before I meditate thinking of how pleasant the day is and how wonderful my life has become. The surrounding neighborhood is at peace and almost quiet on this Saturday except for my neighbor pounding in nails across the street as he repairs the house. The children must be all inside watching cartoons. Regardless, it all seems perfect like my life has become perfect. Keeping up with the house and yard work gives me just enough challenge to stay busy. I have a number of ideas for art right now and the time to accomplish it. I can’t imagine my life more right.

Jesus said as he stood at the side of my chair, “It is a gift.”

Oh, yes, I am sure it is. An underserved gift. I think the struggles I have been through in life contribute to my recognition of the value of this gift from Jesus. Maybe others also have a pleasant life but take it for granted. Not me. If I hadn’t been extremely poor, I wouldn’t feel so rich today with just enough income to keep going. I owe medical bills but can work them out. If I hadn’t been without a home or land I wouldn’t get such pleasure as I do just looking out the window at the flowers and grass. I enjoy cutting the grass and watching the flowers grow during this great season of summer. The rain seems to come just enough to keep the flowers watered. The beauty of this spring and summer is awesome. I just can’t thank Jesus enough for this gift of peace and happiness.

8/9/15

I went to St Hyacinth Church this morning for the 11.00 am mass. I go there every once in a while and I am never disappointed by its grandeur and its central theme which is Jesus. Every church has its own flavor, some are very socially oriented and some others are whisper quiet in order to worship and give the whole self to God. But in any Catholic Church Holy Communion is always special and directs our whole attention to Jesus and his sacrifice. It feels very comforting to know that if I went to a Catholic Church anywhere in the world, the celebration of Holy Communion would be the same. St Hyacinth centers on God from beginning to end. It felt good to say the Apostles Creed and sing Hosanna in the Highest with the choir, though some churches have discontinued these prayers.

When the organ filled the church and the man playing the organ sang “Precious Lord Take my Hand” my bones thrilled to the sound. With such an expansive organ I imagined myself at Chartres Cathedral. I wonder if the builders of St Hyacinth had this in mind when they put so much money into the huge organ a hundred years ago. Whatever their reason, it is fabulous and perfect, and probably one of the reasons the members who have moved away into the suburbs continue to support the church they left behind. They should. It is most beautiful and wonderful.

Beauty in the sea and above

8/22/15

This morning during meditation, Jesus met me at the forest well while I sat and watched the water trickle down from the wall of weathered rock and drip into the small pool where I sat. The others came and joined us at the well. There we stood amid green leaves, our semi-transparent spirit forms dappled with sunlight like rainbows. I laughed delightedly at the sight as did the others. After a moment, we followed Jesus out of the forest. As soon as we stepped out of the tree canopy we could see the golden mountain peak, its top glowing with God light. We walked to the mountain and I climbed up high over boulders to get to the top. It helps me stay orientated in place to visualize myself in a struggle to reach the top. When I arrived at the summit I joined the others as we gathered in a circle, thousands of us by now because our circle included angels. We let the God light filter into our souls and fill us with its awesome power. From the mountain’s peak, we stepped over the edge and down the mountain as giants of light ready to share the invisible energy we’d been given with other life.

I felt drawn to the ocean and wondered if a whale or other life form was in distress. I stepped over to the edge of the Atlantic and sent God light down into its depths. I read that the animal life in the sea is beginning to hurt because of our overuse of its resources and excessive byproducts of CO2 that is warming the air and seas of earth. God light is gentle and can’t undo the harm we have already done but it can spread compassion and peace.

Next I thought of the distress the trees must feel as they burn up in the western states. It is my belief that most of the tree intelligence is below ground within and surrounding their root systems. So I sent God light down deep into the earth, through the worms and other tiny life and deep to where the roots begin hoping this would aid the tree’s distress. It frightens me to know so many trees are turning into ash. I try to think it is something like hair and not felt too deeply.

Above the earth once more, I concentrated on one or two people who were in distress. I went to a young mother in Detroit who is struggling to keep food on the table and pay her bills. She works but doesn’t make enough to support her family. She’s had numerous boyfriends who helped her out but at present she struggles alone. I went with her in the supermarket as she tried to make a choice between this meat or that because her food stamps don’t last the whole month. She can’t seem to hold on to enough money to pay all the bills and balances them between pay checks. I understand her problem but also see that she hasn’t learned how to budget yet. I whisper to her that she should return to church of her parents. She went to church as a young girl but fell away from religion. I whisper to her that if she would go back to church, Jesus would help lighten her burdens. “Look around at us older folks who go to church regularly,” I whisper. “Jesus holds us up through each day, gives us what we need, and takes our hand in our most needy times. Call on Jesus once more”

I raised my spirit voice almost to a shout. Does she hear me? I doubt it. Young people today seem adverse to religion of any kind. Maybe she’ll get the message. Maybe she will take that first step back to church. The next step will show her how Jesus can help.

Next I went to a young black man in Detroit. He is angry. Many black men are getting more angry after the events in Ferguson, as if it were a release valve, enticing them to finally release all that pent up anger from being pushed down for so many years.

I held him in a bear hug and surrounded him with God light. I hope to turn his anger down and ease his spirit. I hope to share God’s serenity and peace with him. Although, I know these young black men are justified in their anger, they only hurt themselves by acting on it. Better to find a job and be productive members of society. So I whisper to him, “Jobs are coming this way. Have patience.”

Then I pray to the angels for more jobs in the cities. That is all most people want—a means of survival above sustenance level. I pray that the companies bring back the jobs, even invent work, if necessary, but let the people keep working.

Alas, summer is almost over. I enjoyed it immensely even though this year was lukewarm instead of hot.

8/29/15

I smile when I hear or read a comment suggesting that the idea of a devil is old fashioned, a myth from the middle ages. Sure, the devil seems long gone, but in fact it is ever present and has weaved itself into our systems so thoroughly we can no longer see it. One good example might be corporations. The devil probably invented the idea of incorporation. A corporation’s only purpose is to earn money for its investors and board members. No so a business which provides goods, services, employment along with profit. A corporation seems to be a situation set up to admire greed.

I thought of this as I read the article about DuPont and the chemicals it disposed of in the water in the farming communities of West Virginia. The decisions were based on the profit or loss of the top investors and most of those decisions were selfish. But isn’t selfish what a corporation is meant to be? Even so, like most of us, moral thinking and good sensibilities are supposed to keep even the members of a corporation’s board in check. Hopefully this is most often true, but we should not forget that a corporation is a breeding ground ripe for materialistic behavior and avarice. And as such, is probably the tip of the iceberg in financial systems. Hence, the devil is alive and well.

A nation of people whose main drive is profit will eventually fail or get out of balance. Not so a people whose main goal is craft and well being for everyone. I am not sure how such a nation might begin. I suspect it will take a world wide disaster to make such a system a necessary reality. Hope I am long gone by then.

8/31/15

This morning we gathered with Jesus at the well in the forest and I suggested to the others that we call all the children we had befriended in past years to gather with us on the mountain this day. As soon as I went to one child who used to weave rugs in India, I laughed in surprise. He is no longer a child. Of course, in ten or fifteen years all those children have grown up into young adults. With this new realization in mind I continued searching for those who I had befriended. I went to Maria and her children, who themselves are almost grown. I went to a boy and girl who used to sort through garbage but who are now young adults teaching others and caring for their own children. I went to a group of children who once roamed the streets of Buenos Aires and was happy to see they had employment. I went to as many children as I could remember. My friends did the same as well as the angels until we had a long line of people climbing towards the golden mountain peak, up the mountain side to stand within its golden glow and bask in God energy.

This golden mountain peak, created by Jesus, filled with many people from all around the earth this day, may become a needed refuge one day in the future, a place to come if or when disaster will make life seem impossible. In such a scenario, these young people will already know the way and will show other people how to get to the mountain covered in God light.

As Jesus stood in our midst, we turned and sent out God energy to the whole round earth in huge waves of invisible light. Invisible, yet powerful enough to spread food to many needy souls. We held this stance for a long while as waves rippled and pushed around the earth in eddies of light energy.

8/31/15

After this, I asked Jesus to lead us on a travel to another planet or earth’s future. The choices are so infinite I can never decide where I would like to go, so I have learned to leave where we go up to Jesus. He said today he’d take us to another planet, but that we would visit the future earth at another time.  

We began walking up through the sky-tunnel which stood right in the center of God’s lighted mountain peak. I realized as we did this that by using the sky-tunnel in this way, we were helping insure the life of trees, whatever the future may bring. Not only trees but other life as well because I felt the presence of a whale mind join us as for a moment we walked up the sky-tunnel. I was reminded of the saying that “When God closes one door, he always opens another.” One day, if the times demand it, trees and whales as well as people will have a new door. We will become the universes’ Jonny Appleseed. 

We walked up and through the sky-tunnel, many of the former children followed us. We all lay the palms of our hands on the side of the tree-tunnel and felt its aliveness throb through the veins of the wood. The living tree propelled us forward to the very top where we stood and gathered behind Jesus.

When Jesus stepped off into the gray, swaying mist, we followed and our next step was onto a vividly pink world. The whole area where we stood was light pink with red with purple shadows scattered around and about. We stood on a flat plain but not far from huge boulders that circled the area.

I walked to a boulder and saw small, dark plants growing on the rocks. The plant was short, spread out as if was hugging the rock. It looked like a form of lichen. The sky was streaked with bright yellow, purple and black and the ground mirrored the sky with the surrounding colors varying between purple, crimson, pink and the deepest black. The palette on this planet was very disturbing and I wanted to get off.  

I said so to Jesus. He told us that this planet was inhospitable to most life so it didn’t have any higher life forms. He said he wanted to show us that life would put down seeds wherever it could find a foothold.

He then pointed out into space to another planet in the same vicinity but under a different sun. Since the planet we stood on didn’t have a sky-tunnel, we just followed Jesus as he stepped onto the different planet. As soon as I joined him, my mind thrilled at the verdant green grass and blue sky. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then looking around more, I realized that we had visited this place once before. It was the planet with the flying flowers and very tall, stick people. And suddenly, it seemed as if a hundred flowers flew up from the ground and through the air all around us. Actually, I think they were disturbed out of place by the very tall, beautifully graceful, being who strode towards from the surrounding woods. The being had long, skinny arms and legs and greeted us with a towering nod and smile. I am five feet tall and my head only reached the center of this tall being. The being’s face was gentle with welcome.

I looked in the distance and saw a cloud moving across the land like we would see a swarm of honey bees, but supposed these were flying flowers and perhaps other creatures too. The clouds in the sky were small and fluffy just like clouds on earth and this felt very pleasing. This palette was more to my liking. I felt at peace here. I think we all did.

Jesus told us that this world was almost a paradise world, that it had few problems and mild seasons. But he assured us that even here, although the people led peaceful lives, they still worked towards goals and used their minds in productive ways.

I looked at the tall trees behind the tall person and noticed a few others who stepped out from the trees to greet us. It seemed like the same setting we had visited once before.

Jesus explained that it was the same because the people held their personal lives amid the trees as private and holy.

He said, “Most minds of the people and other small beings, even the flowers are shared openly on this planet, which is why some areas are kept private.”

This explained why we weren’t invited into the wooded areas. All people have different cultures that deserve respect. I did wonder if those tall trees could pick up and move too. I assumed that this planet had a lot less gravity than earth.

As we left, I felt joy for those happy people and their swaying grass and flying flowers. I seemed to remember a small, paper thin type being last time we visited but didn’t see one this day. What a beautiful world.

Contrast that to earth, which is so full of anger and strife. Yet, we humans hold much promise, else why would God love us so? It may in part be our miserable history and constant challenges that will eventually propel us to great heights in a very far off future. Jesus has said as much.