Posted on 09/18/2014 2:06:25 AM PDT by markomalley
Msgr Pope ping
If you’ve experienced along illness and know your not going to get better you think about heaven daily
I hear about people longing for heaven every day on the TV. Usually right before they blow themselves up.
I know I am so unworthy of heaven. Only by reliance on the atonement of Jesus sacrificial death and resurrection and free gift of salvation can be relied upon.
Missing out on entering heaven is the greatest tragedy anyone can experience forever.
That’s where I’m at.
My prayers are pretty much just for mercy on my wretched soul.
That is one of the reasons why I admire the true stories of people who have had what are called “near death experiences” or NDE’s.
BINGO!
Fans of Everybody Loves Raymond may recall the episode where Ray sits down with his 8 y/o daughter to address the question of where babies come from. Actually, Allie's question, though similar, was quite different: "If we all go to Heaven when we die, then why does God want us here first? Why does God want us here? Yeah, why? Why are we here, Daddy?" Not surprisingly, Ray had no idea.
Poor catechesis, Ping!
Everybody wants to go to Heaven, just nobody wants to go now!!! Except me!
All kidding aside, once you have experienced Heaven and return here to this realm, you feel so empty it is as though your closest friend died and ripped your heart out in the process.
I died from meningitis in 1988 and experienced Heaven. Not only did it eliminate my fear of death, it caused me to greatly miss the feeling of being in God’s radiance. No longer did I want to be here in earth. It truly is like finding the treasure buried in the field. Here it is, over twenty five years later and I still remember the experience as though it is a current experience.
Recently I was deep in prayer and crying, begging God to allow me to return to His radiance and experience His Love again as I miss it so much. His voice immediately responded, “Love me in all the people around you.”
There is an important lesson in life!
When we are full of ourselves we have no room for God. When we are empty, nothing can fill the void except God.
When a society equates sin with enjoyment, it’s hard for people to view Heaven (as traditionally taught) as anything other than the deprivation of all that they care most about. There’s nothing appealing except to continue the present life, but with fewer constraints.
As for me, my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
BINGO!
I agree 100%.
My Father's mansion has many rooms. Some rooms are near to Him and some are very far away from Him. When you really Love someone, you want to be as close as possible to Him at all times. That's why Bother Lawrence's writings are such profound truth. I passed through a great dark cloud where I saw many mis-shaped beings and gargoyle looking figures. But the bright light that shone upon me from above eliminated the possibility of me experiencing any fear at the sight of these odd beings. This is when I realized that the beings served a purpose, i.e. to create fear in anyone not connected to Heaven and serve as an etheric fence to keep them out of the higher realms of Heaven. Fear acts as an anchor, just as hate, guilt, or any other obstacle to Love within our souls. God's perfect Love casts out that fear and allows us to go to Heaven. Once there, you do not want to return to this hell we are in. Jesus came here to teach us how to get to our real home, with God. For me, Jesus' great sacrifice was not dying on the cross and returning to a solid connection with Our Father, it was disconnecting from His Father and lowering himself into the flesh at our level to teach us how to grow. That was the greatest sacrifice, i.e. giving up His experience of Communing with His Father to blaze the trail for us.
Preachers are generally tainted to begin with. Don’t forget — Jesus warned us about scribes. Guess who ‘educates’ most preachers and priests?
They need to read David Limbaugh’s book and learn about the miraculous side of God. Without modern day miracles, the church is dead.
"...Teach me to realize that this world is passing, That my true future is the happiness of heaven, That life on earth is short, And the life to come eternal.
Help me to prepare for death With a proper fear of judgment, But a greater trust in your goodness. Lead me safely through death To the endless joy of heaven. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen."
In his spiritual autobiography, "Surprised By Joy," CS Lewis indicated that one of the principle driving forces behind his turning away from atheism and paganism was the hunger for the eternal. Lewis reasoned that all human longings and desires (i.e. hunger, thirst, sex, etc.) could be either distorted or perverted into dreadful sin, but were also placed within us to serve a higher purpose when properly fulfilled. Lewis suggested that our Creator would not imbue us with a desire and longing for Heaven, or at least an innate curiosity about the afterlife if there were no means of fulfilling it.
It was such a strong theme of Lewis's that Brooke Fraser wrote her aptly titled, "CS Lewis Song." Here's a cover with the lyrics...
I thought that only angels and the saints, and perhaps a few visitors (Elijah, John), were allowed into heaven.
This says it all!
Recently I was deep in prayer and crying, begging God to allow me to return to His radiance and experience His Love again as I miss it so much.
Most of us go through life seeking "true" love. I recall the Conversion Story of Roy Schoeman. In it, he describes the day he "fell into heaven" while walking through the woods. He writes:
I felt myself in the immediate presence of God. I was aware of His infinite exaltedness, and of His infinite and personal love for me. I saw my life as though I was looking back on it after death, in His presence, and could see everything which I would be happy about and everything which I would wish I had done differently. I saw that every action I had ever done mattered, for good or for evil. I saw that everything which had ever happened in my life had been perfectly designed for my own good from the infinitely wise and loving hand of God, not only including but especially those things which I at the time I thought had been the greatest catastrophes. I saw that my two greatest regrets when I died would be every moment which I had wasted not doing anything of value in the eyes of God, and all of the time and energy which I had wasted worrying about not being loved when every moment of my existence I was bathed in an infinite sea of love, although unaware of it. I saw that the meaning and purpose of my life was to worship and serve my Lord and Master, in whose presence I found myself. I wanted to know His name, so that I could worship Him properly, so that I could follow "His" religion.
Your testimony bears this out.
“There is only one tragedy in life: not to have been a saint.” - Leon Bloy
When we are full of ourselves (politicians) we have no room for God. When we are empty (the American people as a whole), nothing can fill the void except God.
This says it all!
I was at total peace when Obama was reelected. A few weeks before the election I came to the realization that God is in control and what is supposed to happen will happen.
Election day for me was a confirmation of God being in control. We are in the transition times, (I don’t like using the term “end times” as we are actually in a new beginning.)
People who focus on what they are letting go of bring fear into their lives and fight the process of growing closer to God. People who focus on the destination and Love God are described in the rapture process.
It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. If you look at a point down the road, ahead of you and focus on it, you are quickly off and riding. But if you focus on what is beside you or behind you, you quickly crash!
Thank you for sharing the excellent post.
I believe that long illness can be a blessing from God to people who might have otherwise never thought about it.
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