Back from camping! I thought I would write a little and maybe we could share about Jesus. Not the Jesus of history, nor the Jesus of Scripute, nor the Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament, nor even the Jesus of Theology. Even closer than that the indwelling Jesus who lives in our hearts and what we think of and about Him. This is very personal and I know not everyone wil lwant to share. But perhaps a few will. It is not such a simple thing to talk about I think because it is so personal and regular it is a little like describing how we breath or how our heart beat. But we can always try. John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Wonderful idea Padraig and welcome back. I too have been gone for a bit but checked in from time to time. It is indeed hard to place into words. I can only go off of my 3 dream experiences where I was in the presence of Jesus to even get an idea of him and his love. The most profound dream I ever had was somewhat of a mini illumination of conscience where I saw some of my many past sins and felt their effects. To make a long story short here because I have spoken of this dream a number of times on the forum, in the end I was just with our Lord being held like a child in his arms and his loving gaze upon me. How I long to feel this again and this moment was over faster than it occurred. Just yesterday I was listening to a program on Catholic radio with Father Larry and he gave an extraordinary simple daily exercise that we all must begin now with no delay. In doing this I believe we will all come to know the indwelling Jesus much better if we have trouble doing so. I have trouble and have never done what Father Larry has suggested but will begin now. Here is Father Larry's advice: A Prayer to the Holy Spirit (by Cardinal Mercier) I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day for five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to all the noises of the world in order to enter into yourself. Then, in the sanctuary of your baptized soul (which is the temple of the Holy Spirit) speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him: O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me. Tell me what I should do; give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know Your Will. If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely, and full of consolation, even in the midst of trials. Grace will be proportioned to the trial, giving you the strength to carry it and you will arrive at the Gate of Paradise, laden with merit. This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity. If you have trouble in prayer give yourself to the Holy Spirit in this way and let Him teach you to pray and pray for you in the spirit.
Thank you Andy3 for the lovely prayer. It would be nice to read of your encounter with Jesus if you don't mind sharing it again. Just what you wrote in your post was like a holy hug from Jesus. I wished I could detect Him in my inner self, but sadly this is not the case. We are supposed to see Him in other people, but I have not figured that one out either. Sigh!
It is very hard to put into words as my experience of Our Lord indwelling in my heart, differs from time to time. Normally, as Julia's puts it, I can't detect Him in my inner self. What I experience through the day, is just a knowing that He is there but there no real feeling attached to that. In my formal prayer life, ie: when I kneel down each night to pray, I get a feeling at times, around half way through the rosary, of my burdens lifting and I just know Jesus is doing that. Our human imagination is so powerful and many events/things/thoughts can trigger it and of course the Lord can use our imagination but than again other things can also use and influence it, so I will discount all possible imaginations. However, there have been times of brief ecstacy where I have felt Our Lords presence so close to me and I know that it was not my imagination. One time I was in an intence situation and as I was so totally focused on what was happening in front of me I didn't realise that there was someone standing next to me [on my left hand side] and when I was made aware of this fact I was surprised to see that it was My Lord Jesus, that feeling was utterly amazing!
I find that at Mass the presence of Our Eucharistic Lord strongly; I don't know how it works, in that the intensity of the reality of Jesus being within me, is not always the same. Today it was very very powerful indeed. God Bless
Our spiritual director used to always emphasize the need to place ourselves in the presence of the in dwelling Blessed Trinity throughout the course of the day, and encouraged us to make it an integral part of our daily prayer life. I compare it directly to Eucharistic Adoration, except that one need not visit a chapel to experience this type of presence. Of course, mortal sin breaks that link, and until one confesses it, Grace, the actual in dwelling of the Blessed Trinity, ceases to be present in the soul. By placing oneself in the presence of the Trinity, one better understands the reality of grace, which is really the same thing, the Blessed Trinity indwelling in the soul. When someone becomes aware of this, and makes it an integral part of their daily prayer life, God is no longer "out there" or "up in heaven" but right there with us, in our very soul.it makes it much easier to spend time in silent prayer, because you are simply spending time in His presence, quietly passing time with a best friend, where words aren't always necessary. And it helps someone to crave confession as soon as possible, because mortal sin means one''s best friend is no longer with him, until grace (the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity) is restored by absolution, to the relief of the penitent, that their best friend has returned to them. (My apologies, I just find it easier to talk about such an intimate subject in the third person.)
Like you, Julia, I wish I could detect Him in my inner self. Sometimes I get an inner feeling of peace which I think is Jesus telling me that all is well and He has me in the palm of His hand. Other than that, I just have to trust that I'm in the category of those who have not seen and yet believe. He told us how to see Him in other people when he said that in as much as you have done this for one of these the least of my people, you have done it unto me. He is there in folk for whom life is a struggle through poverty, loneliness, physical or mental disability, etc. We can't go back to Jerusalem to help Him carry His cross, so He presents Himself to us in weak, troubled and persecuted people who need help to carry their cross. I believe that helping with humility is the key to seeing Jesus in others. It's easy when their struggles are obvious but not when they are veiled by aggression or resentment when biting our tongue as we help out can be our biggest hurdle to holiness. I have yet to overcome that hurdle. I, too, would like to read about Andy's encounter with Jesus.
I was surprised but pleased to see you quoting Cardinal Mercier, Andy you don;t hear much about him nowadays. The last I heard his Cause was going forward in Rome. Now let me see : No no sign of this but he did have a reputation for holiness: http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2009/05/the-cardinals-secret-of-sancti/
Actually this post reminded me of a book by Blessed Dom Columba Marmion who was Cardianl Mercier's spiritual Director. Dom Marmiom was Abbot of the Belgian Monastery of Marcedous. He wanedered into it as a young Irish kid and wound up the Abbot of the joint. He gave a wonderfu lseries of retreat lectures which he transcibed into a series of books. The one I am thinking of is called, 'Christ the Life of the Soul'. Which is a spiritual Mastepriece and touches very much on the indweliing of Christ in the soul'. It is not to be read like an ordinary book, I would sip it a little at a time as part of prayer , what the monks call, 'Lectio Divina'. https://www.amazon.com/Christ-Life-Blessed-Columba-Marmion/dp/0972598154 View attachment 5223 Joy is the echo of God's life within us. Columba Marmion
Your post, Julia, reminded me of the hymn of St Thomas Aquinas , 'Adore te Devote'. God may not always kick us up the ass to make the point but that doesn;t mean He isn't hanging on in there. Adoro te devote, latens Deitas, Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas; Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia te contemplans totum deficit. Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur. Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius; Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius. I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity, Truly hidden beneath these appearances. My whole heart submits to you, And in contemplating you, It surrenders itself completely. Sight, touch, taste are all deceived in their judgment of you, But hearing suffices firmly to believe. I believe all that the Son of God has spoken; There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
This reminds me of the story of the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They never cottoned on that Jesus was Jesus til lthe breaking of Bread. This is how we see the Face of Jesus by the Lamp of Love. We don;t have to see Him to walk beside Him.
It would be interesting to hear how Our Lord reveals himself to you Padraig! Mystical phenonoma is something that I believe most people wish they could recognize/harness/label/box......... but it seems that it is an artifact of holiness particular to an individual! This Mystical phenonema seems to have power to produce profound edifice and also delight for the individual who is graced with it! but it is also a kind of tease for the rest of humanity looking on! I believe this is because it is out of the realms of nature [the nature that we experience in 'the here and now' as opposed to that which is not a natural phenomen] and so we look to the person who has this knowledge, in the hope that we can be edified and inspired as well! So please Padraig tell us of your experiences!
I am going to later on Jospehine. It occurs to me that just as everyone is different like the colours of a rainbow ,so God reveals Himself to each one iin the place they are . Just as we are diffrent to each one we meet. So a lady may be to one a grandmother, to someone else a wife, to someone else a mother, to someone else an aunt, to someone else a cousin, to someone else a neighbour, to someone else a freind and so on and on. One woman ,may facets. So for each of us the Christ we meet may come in a different package ,so to speak. Not that there are many Christ's, by no means, but each of us has our own little way of relating to the One True God. This thread may go on for a few days or weeks by the way. Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Last night, after attending First Friday Mass and Adoration, my nine year old son told us something unusual. He said, "Mom, you know when the Priest put the Special Bread(Blessed Sacrament) in that big gold sun thing(Monstrance)? I thought I saw a shadow of Jesus with His arms stretched out and His head was moving back and forth." True, or just an active imagination, it was a special experience for him. I just noticed the picture above of Jesus,similar to what my son described.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
According to the Eucharistic Miracles at Lanciano, Italy and Rio De Janeiro, Chirsts blood is the very rare AB type. The rarest of all. Which is interesting: http://www.medicaldaily.com/ab-blood-type-red-blood-cells-379342
I identify with your sigh Julia. We are told that if two of us in earth agree to ask for something from heaven it will be given. We could agree here on MOG to ask God to touch us with His Holy Spirit in such a way that we will grow in awareness of our indwelling Jesus. Now there is a prayer worth praying. E.G. Heavenly Father by the Power of Your Spirit please let us become aware of the indwelling of Jesus your beloved Son. May Thy will be done. As ever with this type of prayer it is not a magic formula but a prayer of faith. Let me get the ball rolling. I agree.
The act of Faith is an act of the will, the intellect, not one of emotion, and therefore one can believe with the strength of a Saint, like Mother Tersa, yet be dovoid of a feeling of His Presence, like her decades long "dark night of the soul." To believe with the will in the face of lack of feeling is heroic virtue. If one's faith is based more on feelings, it is more dangerous, because feelings are much more influenced by imagination; the devil does not act on the will, part of the intellect, but has tremendous power in our imagination, especially if we open it up to him, even unknowingly, by basing our faith on feelings and constantly seeking after them. Seeking after feelings in the spiritual life is, frankly, dangerous, for that very reason. Forms of piety that are more based on feelings than the act of the will probably should be avoided for those who have an overactive imagination, because they can easily be deceived or manipulated; similarly, forms of piety based on feelings are more commonly used to deceive, for the same reason, and have multiplied many fold in the last couple generations.
