My last blog inspired one of you to ask if I was describing heaven or hell in my last post titled Another Visit.
I will state categorically that the Heaven promised us through the sacrifice of the Living God Jesus Christ is the most real entity in this universe and beyond.
Heaven is attained in increments. For most of us we would not be comfortable in the ultimate heavenly place. We would feel like intruders.
Just like there are nine choirs of angels, we ourselves are travelling in families that are separated by our capability to embrace Love.
Some of us are at a basic level where Love is seen as a far distant dream. Some at these levels cannot even fathom the existence of Love. These have a long way to go. They always need our prayers. They will always tug at us in a jealous rage fed by Satan.
Most of those who have passed from this life are in a place that used to be called Purgatory. It used to be seen as a place of pain. It is not. It is a place where souls can catch their breath before continuing their everlasting journey. Please pray for these.
Some of those who have passed attain a higher level. These are the blessed ones who reach out with encouragement to us.
Hell, is the most difficult to grasp by me. I suspect that it is a place that souls who truly reject all hope over and over go to slowly fade into non-existence. The Hebrew Sheol is the closest I can come up with for these. Pray for them anyway. Who knows the truth about Hell. The master of Hell, Satan, is surely not going to share the truth with us. It may put him out of business.
Fr. Rod
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Another Visit
Yesterday and today I was blessed with an extensive visit to "the other side." Previous visits have left me sad and confused. I could not understand why the ones I loved who had passed seemed to be stuck in one place. Each time I would visit them they were dressed the same, looked the same and the venue was always the same.
This time I took the advice of a gifted friend and asked questions. Those with whom I was visiting were only too glad to answer. In fact they were waiting for me to begin this long anticipated dialog.
It turns out that my perceptions of lack of change was on the money. Our loved ones on the other side create a venue in which they are most comfortable and they stay there. They pick their favorite age, some are young, some are older. They pick their housing, some pick the home in which they were raised others pick the home which provided them with the comfort of child raising or natural beauty. They even drive their favorite cars. They can visit others no matter what the time setting may seem. A person who is comfortable in the 1960s can easily jump in the car or ride a bicycle to their friends who are comfortable in the 1930s. The distances and roads are provided by the expectations of the travellers.
They can even visit us on occasion but those visits are fraught with potential dangers. They are fascinated by our progress and psycho/spiritual growth. This is the one thing that they cannot participate in directly while they are in their current state of being. They will stay the same until they return and begin to grow again. But we can help them. By sharing our experience they can vicariously grow. They love that. They are our family and we owe them that privilege. They in turn can petition the higher beings to help us and them. These are our spirit guides and angels. Some of them may be our own well experienced family members.
I said earlier that these visits can be fraught with danger. There are many, many of those who have passed who do not have a suitable age, time or place in which they feel safe or comfortable. These souls wander about alone or in "gangs" just waiting for an unguarded spirit to pass by. These lost ones will try to hijack the unsuspecting one's milieu. The results are a chaotic visit which can leave both the visitor and visited in a state of anxiety and bewilderment. Satan loves these encounters and there are plenty of them that happen every day.
It is important therefore that you living prepare yourselves for visits by prayer and putting yourself in a safe environment through contemplation and relaxed quiet time. The chaotic ones will try to block this. Your loved ones who have passed will be invited by it. It is up yo you to fight off the chaos and provide a safe place for those who would help and be helped by you. It works. Invite !
Fr. Rod
This time I took the advice of a gifted friend and asked questions. Those with whom I was visiting were only too glad to answer. In fact they were waiting for me to begin this long anticipated dialog.
It turns out that my perceptions of lack of change was on the money. Our loved ones on the other side create a venue in which they are most comfortable and they stay there. They pick their favorite age, some are young, some are older. They pick their housing, some pick the home in which they were raised others pick the home which provided them with the comfort of child raising or natural beauty. They even drive their favorite cars. They can visit others no matter what the time setting may seem. A person who is comfortable in the 1960s can easily jump in the car or ride a bicycle to their friends who are comfortable in the 1930s. The distances and roads are provided by the expectations of the travellers.
They can even visit us on occasion but those visits are fraught with potential dangers. They are fascinated by our progress and psycho/spiritual growth. This is the one thing that they cannot participate in directly while they are in their current state of being. They will stay the same until they return and begin to grow again. But we can help them. By sharing our experience they can vicariously grow. They love that. They are our family and we owe them that privilege. They in turn can petition the higher beings to help us and them. These are our spirit guides and angels. Some of them may be our own well experienced family members.
I said earlier that these visits can be fraught with danger. There are many, many of those who have passed who do not have a suitable age, time or place in which they feel safe or comfortable. These souls wander about alone or in "gangs" just waiting for an unguarded spirit to pass by. These lost ones will try to hijack the unsuspecting one's milieu. The results are a chaotic visit which can leave both the visitor and visited in a state of anxiety and bewilderment. Satan loves these encounters and there are plenty of them that happen every day.
It is important therefore that you living prepare yourselves for visits by prayer and putting yourself in a safe environment through contemplation and relaxed quiet time. The chaotic ones will try to block this. Your loved ones who have passed will be invited by it. It is up yo you to fight off the chaos and provide a safe place for those who would help and be helped by you. It works. Invite !
Fr. Rod
Friday, January 13, 2012
A Blessing?
Occasionally I google myself. When I google my full name and place where I live, Roderick J McRae Phoenix, a blurb comes up warning people that I am a false priest. This hurts. It uses a half truth that I am not a priest for a certain diocese, Manchester N.H., but does not mention that I was ordained for a religious order and that I am in good standing with the church. A lot of this is the result of my refusal to go along with some of the expectations for clergy these days.
I have challenged bishops and my religious superiors when I knew that following their lead would be wrong. I have never felt any guilt because of my actions.
Despite all of this, I love my church because I know that there is hope still alive in her bosom. I see this in my weekly healing prayer group at a Roman Catholic Church. Most of the group are traditional Catholics who have a faith to be envied. They have put aside their concerns for the scandalous headlines and have concentrated all their spiritual energies on prayerful intercession for others. We study books by Fr. Henri Nouwen and Fr. Thomas Keating. These are men who help make up the hope that I cling to. We share, sometimes tearfully, our frustrations and disappointments. We laugh when the spirit of compassionate forgiveness fills us with the hope and the joy of belonging. I love this church which has relegated me to a life on the fringe. This seemingly unfair treatment is mitigated somewhat when I read Matthew 5 11-12: "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of ME. Rejoice and be glad , for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
But it still hurts.
I have challenged bishops and my religious superiors when I knew that following their lead would be wrong. I have never felt any guilt because of my actions.
Despite all of this, I love my church because I know that there is hope still alive in her bosom. I see this in my weekly healing prayer group at a Roman Catholic Church. Most of the group are traditional Catholics who have a faith to be envied. They have put aside their concerns for the scandalous headlines and have concentrated all their spiritual energies on prayerful intercession for others. We study books by Fr. Henri Nouwen and Fr. Thomas Keating. These are men who help make up the hope that I cling to. We share, sometimes tearfully, our frustrations and disappointments. We laugh when the spirit of compassionate forgiveness fills us with the hope and the joy of belonging. I love this church which has relegated me to a life on the fringe. This seemingly unfair treatment is mitigated somewhat when I read Matthew 5 11-12: "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of ME. Rejoice and be glad , for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
But it still hurts.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Your cadence, is it hope?
These are the times that try men's souls. Election year that is, and its not just men. When I read my facebook, I have to set up a proper mental scenario for myself to keep from offending you. My list of friends is a mine field of political opinion. I even found a libertarian today. I try to allow your ideas/ideals to enlighten me. Seldom do I express a political preference.
In a previous blog I mentioned that I was a liberal democrat. This is true of my cultural upbringing. I guess I will always see political viewpoints from that lofty precipice of right thinking (or is it left thinking?)
On the other hand political viewpoints are so enmeshed with blind nationalism that even liberal democrats have the need of a prophet to guide them. I see no prophets from here. Do you?
I think that the upcoming election is a classical effort in self aggrandising. The outcome really is irrelevant. The die is cast and those who have been stamped by this die from Hell will not survive in the crucible of social upheaval that they have created for themselves.
My leanings are both right and left. My spirit calls a cadence that allows me to heed warnings from both camps. If you ask your spirit to lead you, you may find yourself in both camps also. Our presence in these camps is not to lend credence to either cause but to offer a presence of hope. Those in the camps will insist that their candidate is hope. These are those who have been blinded to real hopefulness which comes not from the brain but from the Spirit.
Left, Right or Libertarian you have a seed of hope in you or you would not care about the future. Look closely at the seed. Is it the one that must fall to the ground and die before it will bear fruit? Are you willing to die to the thoughts that have brought about this terrible collapse for our society? If the answer is yes or even maybe, you have the hope that I have. Welcome. Keep up the fight, it works.
In a previous blog I mentioned that I was a liberal democrat. This is true of my cultural upbringing. I guess I will always see political viewpoints from that lofty precipice of right thinking (or is it left thinking?)
On the other hand political viewpoints are so enmeshed with blind nationalism that even liberal democrats have the need of a prophet to guide them. I see no prophets from here. Do you?
I think that the upcoming election is a classical effort in self aggrandising. The outcome really is irrelevant. The die is cast and those who have been stamped by this die from Hell will not survive in the crucible of social upheaval that they have created for themselves.
My leanings are both right and left. My spirit calls a cadence that allows me to heed warnings from both camps. If you ask your spirit to lead you, you may find yourself in both camps also. Our presence in these camps is not to lend credence to either cause but to offer a presence of hope. Those in the camps will insist that their candidate is hope. These are those who have been blinded to real hopefulness which comes not from the brain but from the Spirit.
Left, Right or Libertarian you have a seed of hope in you or you would not care about the future. Look closely at the seed. Is it the one that must fall to the ground and die before it will bear fruit? Are you willing to die to the thoughts that have brought about this terrible collapse for our society? If the answer is yes or even maybe, you have the hope that I have. Welcome. Keep up the fight, it works.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Are you Radical?
I read in Huff Post today about a young woman who says she is confused. She was raised Catholic but describes herself as an atheist now. Now, as a catholic priest I might be expected to defend the traditional faith that this woman was reared in. And I do. But like all normal humans she seems to have outgrown the scope of what she had been taught. The traditional stuff no longer fits her life situation. And well it should not. I suspect that like most Catholics, she had a child's religious educational experience. This is fine for some but for persons who need more there seems to be a huge gap in learning opportunities. Plus most are too busy to read or contemplate Catholic teachings meant for adults. Another road block is that a lot of progressive/adult Catholic teaching is frowned upon by the traditional church. They do not trust you.
I trust and believe you. I believe that you would not have read this far if you were not at least curious about the meanings of religious shortfall and the promise of spiritual growth. Religion and spirituality started off as one and occasionally during the last 5,000 years they come tantalizingly close again. My blog is about instigating another one of these experiences. If enough of us put own spiritual longings into a spiritual force perhaps we can get religion to bend our way. Who knows, maybe we are meant to do this. Do you feel a tingling when you think about actually making a Loving spiritual home here on Earth for the people for whom you care? A place where all can contribute and build a powerful shield against those who would have us castigated for our lack of earthly realism. Stay tuned to my blog and send in some suggestions. We can do it!
Fr. Rod
I trust and believe you. I believe that you would not have read this far if you were not at least curious about the meanings of religious shortfall and the promise of spiritual growth. Religion and spirituality started off as one and occasionally during the last 5,000 years they come tantalizingly close again. My blog is about instigating another one of these experiences. If enough of us put own spiritual longings into a spiritual force perhaps we can get religion to bend our way. Who knows, maybe we are meant to do this. Do you feel a tingling when you think about actually making a Loving spiritual home here on Earth for the people for whom you care? A place where all can contribute and build a powerful shield against those who would have us castigated for our lack of earthly realism. Stay tuned to my blog and send in some suggestions. We can do it!
Fr. Rod
Monday, January 2, 2012
Had enough?
This is my first blog entry for the new year. Checking the stats, I started off with a bang in Oct, began to slip in Nov. and was downright ignored in Dec. Perhaps I am the proverbial ninety day wonder? At any rate, I was looking forward to comments from you that would help me understand my role as a retired priest. Only one comment came my way. I will take this as a confirmation that all I have written about is clear and relative to your spiritual understanding. This is great news. If everything in your spiritual ambit is clear and acceptable, I guess I will sign off and continue to explore my retirement unfettered by self doubt. I will check every now and again to make sure you are all ok. Bye for now :)
Fr. Rod
Fr. Rod
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