When you die, there is a great likelihood that you will not only be greeted by deceased loved ones, but that there will be a roomful of them.Posted on 08/09/2010 9:21:15 AM PDT by NYer
When you die, there is a great likelihood that you will not only be greeted by deceased loved ones, but that there will be a roomful of them.
This comes to us from actual hospice researchers -- who increasingly are describing the experiences of those who approach the glorious threshold of death (as are hospital medical personnel).
In our dark times, to declare the threshold of death as glorious seems strange, and yet it is also totally accurate: there is a glorious Light at the end of the tunnel for those who are not condemned. And even before that, there is a glorious reunion.
One of those who has come out to reveal the mechanics of "passing over" is David Kessler, a health-care worker whose book is even entitled Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms (and was recently highlighted by the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper).
"I've been intrigued by the use of the words 'crowd' and 'crowded,' writes Kessler. "When I started compiling examples to include in this book, I was surprised by how similar they were. In fact, it was hard to pick which ones to use because they were all so much alike. Perhaps we don't have a full grasp of how many people we've met, and we certainly can't recall all of the individuals who crossed our paths when we were children. In the tapestry of life and death, we may not always think about those who have come before us; we just know where we as individuals are positioned in the family tree. In dying, however, perhaps we're able to make connections to the past that we'd missed earlier in life."
Intriguing indeed. Will we encounter everyone in our family lines back to Adam? Plus all our friends?
"I often say that when someone is dying, it may be a 'standing room only' experience," the researcher says. "As I've stated previously, I firmly believe that just as loving hands greet us when we're born, loving arms will embrace us when we die."
He then cites several examples.
In some cases, those dying list every person they "see" to hospice workers. They carry on conversations with an invisible world that is every bit as real to them as the physical one. Parents. Spouses. Sisters. Brothers. Uncles. Aunts. Even friends and in-laws.
Said one: "I saw something last night that doesn't make sense. In the middle of the night, I woke up and my room was filled with people. I couldn't understand what was going on. I knew that doctors weren't making rounds with their students at that hour. I looked at the faces I saw -- they went on and on. While I only knew some of them, they all seemed familiar. Then I had this realization that all of these individuals were dead. I even noticed a colleague from work who'd died five years ago from cancer."
When asked by her daughter who she was talking to, another one said, "Why, people I've know my whole life. They've been gone a long time, but they're here to see me. So many of them -- what a crowd!"
The dying will sometimes use expressions like, "Look at all the old-timers going by" (in our own recollection of such cases).
This is how merciful Jesus is -- He never allows us to be alone, not even at the moment of death. Although we may have problems with some of those who endorse Kessler's book (as often occurs, New Agers gravitate toward many sorts of spiritual phenomena), it is fascinating. Many may try to chalk it up to hallucination, but cases where drugs were used that could cause such effects or symptoms indicating hallucination were not cited in the book.
Moreover, skeptics will have trouble explaining cases like that of one woman who was dying of pancreatic cancer while her husband Joseph was at a separate facility for severe Alzheimer's. Suddenly, recounts Kessler, she looked up and said, "Joseph died. Why didn't anyone tell me this?" She was assured by her daughter that Joseph was still in the nursing home. "Look, there he is!" insisted the dying woman. Gazing past everyone, she said, "Joseph, you came back for me!"
In the meantime, the daughter had decided to bring her father over to see the mom, and a cousin went to the nursing station to call the nursing home -- only to find out that Joseph indeed had died fifteen minutes before, of a heart attack.
>>How can I be happy in heaven knowing I’ll never see him again?<<
You will have a significantly different perspective.
Just an educated guess. ;)
But to clarify, on this earth, blood tends to be thicker than water. I don’t think that will be a relevant factor in eternity.
My son died at 14. At that point, his great-grandparents had passed, neither of whom he'd ever met. We had several extended family members pass, whom he'd never met.
Two months before his accident, a very close family friend (a substitute grandma) died from cancer. I'll always believe she had to pass first so that my son could be with someone he knew.
I've actually felt guilty because my friend had such a hard time losing her mother.
That is almost identical to what happened when my dad unexpectedly died. He and my daughter, who was also 4, had a “mutual admiration society”. My wife and I woke her up and told her that we needed to talk to her about “Pop”. She said that Pop and Jesus had come to her that night and that Pop had kissed her.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up!
For those of you interested in this topic, you might want to read of Tiffany Snow’s near-death experience (lightning strike) and what she learned from it. Fascinating, believable (at least to me), reassuring and enlightening.
www.tiffanysnow.com
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I read that. Wow.
I’ve always wondered about Heaven.
Like, what about wives who died at 80 and their husbands at say, 35? Would the still be in love when they met in Heaven?
What kind of relationship between mothers who died at 35 and their ‘children’ who lived to be 80?
Will we meet only our family and people we knew or will we meet those who have died centuries or thousands of years before?
I can see us sitting there with Cleopatra and ‘ol Abe.
How do all these people fit together?
Ok. I know this is crazy. LOL
What a beautiful view of heaven you have given us! Thank you!
The night after my brother died, I also had a dream where I saw him, big and healthy as life, and I asked him, are you in heaven ? What's it like, and he said it was OK, like he was sort of regretful that he was there. He died quite young ( he was 22) and doing something kind of reckless; maybe he was sort of regretting it, or maybe feeling bad about all the pain he was causing my Mom. I did not tell my Mom about that dream; she had enough pain.
She says we live more than once and calls herself “Blessed Tiffany.”
I’m taking this one with a grain of salt.
All I care about is making it inside the gates. I have no illusions about being a great saint and I’ll be happy to be the least in Heaven.
I read her account. I was troubled by the fact that she says we live more than once- and by the fact that she signs her work “Blessed Tiffany.”
Actually, she says that our *souls* live more than once, usually because we have more to learn.
Tifanny Snow calls herself “a worker for the Big Guy”; but yes, some people have referred to her as “Blessed Tiffany”
If you are still curious, read some of the Articles and Archived Articles (link from banner menu). I won’t be offended in the least if you reject them, salted or not :)
I believe that is true for all of us. It helps, however, to ask our Lord on a daily basis, to guide and direct us to where He needs us most. And then, follow where He has led us.
Maybe that's why they call it joining the majority.
The premise developed in the first half of the movie illustrates how important fantasy lies are to human society. Watching the movie made me think that maybe delusion is a fundamental pillar of society that makes life tolerable for many. Almost makes me want to forgive the lying politicians who might just be giving hope to many when in fact there really is little hope. Almost - but not quite.
Ok - can someone explain this? This is hypothetical! Let’s assume I go to heaven when I die but knowing that my son will never arrive because he doesn’t believe in God. How can I be happy in heaven knowing I’ll never see him again?That's a very, VERY, good question. The answer IMO (I just jumped right in here -- I hope that is okay; I realize you didn't question me) is to suffer and pray for your hypothetical son as much as you possibly can on this earth; that means offering up solid hard sufferings, or if you don't have them, offer up things like doing the dishes, picking up dog poop, etc. and so on. There are Adoration Chapels in the Catholic Church where you can go and have a "talk" with Jesus *face to face* (he is alive in the Eucharist that is exposed there in a monstrance; you needn't be Catholic to go), and request over and over that your son be with you in heaven upon his passing. Just simply refuse to give up on the issue. If you are a Catholic (or not!), you can say the Rosary as well, and make the same request to Mary, and she'll pass it along to her Son. I say endless "beads" for my kids/parents/birth family, etc. for precisely just that reason you mentioned.
All I care about is making it inside the gates. I have no illusions about being a great saint and I’ll be happy to be the least in Heaven.You must be having a down day, Melian. You're one of the most upbeat FReeps I've met! *smiles*
There is only one tragedy in the end, not to have been a saint -- Leon Bloy.
But what do you guys think?
From what members of my family have said, this has happened quite often when they’ve been with folks who are dying.
A similar thing happened to me, in 2006. I hadn’t been feeling well the night before, and stayed up very late, so I was sleeping late one morning in July. I woke up to the phone ringing, answered it, and it was my oldest brother, George, and he said, “I’m just calling to let you know that Mom is all right”, which I thought was a strange thing for him to say, because our Mom had died two years before. Just then I woke up, for real, and realized it had been a dream. A half hour later, my older sister called to tell me that George had died, unexpectedly, a half hour before.
Thank You for this Thread
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