The Divine Fire At that very moment, I felt some kind of fire in my heart. I feel my senses deadening and have no idea of what is going on around me. I feel the Lord’s gaze piercing me through and through. I am very much aware of His greatness and my misery. An extraordinary suffering pervades my soul, together with a joy I cannot compare to anything. I feel powerless in the embrace of God. I feel that I am in Him and that I am dissolved in Him like a drop of water in the ocean. I cannot express what takes place within me; after such interior prayer, I feel strength and power to practice the most difficult virtues. I feel dislike for all things that the world holds in esteem. With all my soul I desire silence and solitude—Diary of Divine Mercy 432 The fire of God’s love, the fire of the Holy Spirit, of purgatory, and the fire of hell, is all the same. It is God’s love in all of its power. It is about our openness to grace and our embracing God’s healing love in our lives, or not. Sister Faustian expresses it with these words: “I am very much aware of His greatness and my misery. An extraordinary suffering pervades my soul, together with a joy” Even in our everyday lives, true healing is often accompanied by suffering. They seem to go hand in hand. God often seems distant and for good reason, for He can only show Himself to us to the extent that we can handle it. In the Old Testament, it talks about this when speaking about seeing God and not being able to stay in existence. When we allow God’s Holy Fire to enter us, it burns away all the dross in our souls. So that which is built on illusion (straw) burns away to ash. We are emptied of ‘self’ so that God can fill us and bring us to our true Selves, as children, beloved of God. In my misery, I still fight God’s love, but this fighting often comes from a place beyond my control. All I can do is to be willing and open to God’s secret hidden work in my soul and to always trust and never despair. That is why Jesus says that we must ‘trust’ above all else. What is the groaning of the Holy Spirit that prays within us? Perhaps the Spirit is expressing in part our pain, our understanding that we are often chained and in our waiting for freedom, we suffer greatly. The Holy Spirit prays with us and for us. It is all about grace, but also in part, about our willingness to allow this fire to burn all to ash that keeps us from union with our Beloved. Yes, God is our Beloved, and we are God’s Beloved, and slowly as we seek God’s love, we allow His love to expand our hearts as Sr. Faustina’s was purified in fire and her heart expanded. We are called to a life unimaginable to us at this time. Sister Faustina’s inner freedom and growth in her love of God was a pure gift, all she need do is trust, never despair, and take one step at a time.
Mark, Usually I highlight what most strikes me. Today, it is difficult because there are so many gems. However, I will ponder this a little: The fire of God’s love, the fire of the Holy Spirit, of purgatory, and the fire of hell, is all the same. I don't want to get too theological about equating the fire of hell with the others, but I will take time to assimilate it. Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
Jesus told us how love works in his "Sermon on the Mount". Love that is infinite, when experienced by one who does not love, or want it, is not purifying but off-putting and painful, suffocating. I believe we can experience this in this life if we reject love from someone who truly loves us. God is not at war with Satan, Satan suffers because God loves all that he has created. For God to fight would be impossible, that enrages evil, which thrives on anger, revenge, and hatred. Of course, you can disagree . It is all relational, for as St. Paul says, Jesus is God's yes, sadly we can say no. Peace Mark
Love that is infinite, when experienced by one who does not love, or want it, is not purifying but off-putting and painful, suffocating. As I've grown older my understanding of Heaven has focused more on the presence of God. Yes, I will treasure again my Mom and Dad, etc...but the Beatific Vision, the love and Holy presence of God will captivate me. The resultant Communion of the Saints is awesome, too, but it begs the question...how can one who rejected God their whole life want to be in the presence of His Glory and Love forever? Precisely for that reason, if the fire of Hell is the fire of God's love, maybe that could be why it is so painful and horrible; they can't escape the One they despise. I never thought about it in that way. How terribly sad! Thanks for helping me better perceive your perspective. Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
Well said. Marino Restrepo describes his experience "dying" and being judged. He said Jesus presence was love itself but because Marino had never loved anyone but himself he couldn't bear it. The light was painful. He wanted to go as far from it as possible. If you haven't heard his conversion story it is well worth listening to on you tube.
I find what you describe here, a very deep contemplation of Gods oneness! Our words and personifications of the qualities of God be that love, wisdom, fire, truth, mercy are so inadequate, but its all we have, yet it is only a dim understanding of a divine mystery, that will never be explained in human terms! When my 36 year old brother died in tragic circumstances in the year 2000, I was very privileged to be given a consolation from God the day after his funeral. During this consolation my brother Brendan appeared to me and he was allowed to speak to me! the following is some of what he told me.... I asked Brendan where he was. Brendan said...........I’m safe and happy. It’s like heaven. I then asked him what he means and he says. I’m being washed. I see God and everyone, heaps of people. I get happier all the time. Occasionally the sin plunges me into a pain, a fire, where I feel the same pain as I did on earth. It hurts and then releases and I see again. I need prayer. I then said to Brendan ‘I love you’ and he replys...... That makes me so happy, you don’t understand, when you say that its, it’s funny, it causes a great affection to my heart. Say it to God lots, it makes Him so happy. He’s given me so much! sometimes I can’t bear it, it’s so good! then I receive the pain again to wash me, so I can bear the happiness, until its all over; and I’ll just be with Him [God]. Brendan looks over to his right beyond the mist [a place I can’t see] I know that its heaven God is so Good Carolyn. He is just so good to me, I can’t stand it! Tell people.
We pray for all, so there is always hope for all my friend. One thing, God's judgment is the only truth, no doubt. No one goes to hell by accident, God reads the heart. Wow, thank you for sharing this, beautiful. peace Mark
I don't think my dear brother had the sanctifiying grace you speak of garabandal, when he died, but I do know, Brendan had a heart that was more loving than many I have witnessed at morning mass! Brendan's funeral suprised everyone in our family, even my mother! who is a daily communicant! We did not realise that Brendan's love had reached so many! So many people attended his funeral, a guard of honour spontantiously occured outside the church. Also; I know God is greater than oil and water!
Thank you Mark, This was one of only a few really spiritual experiences the Lord has granted me. It has edified me! and I know that Gods Love encompasses the world! so I look at myself as spoilt! .........I have so much because of my Catholic faith. Yet so many have so little, am I better then them? No! I have been given more, so more will naturally be expected! May God be with me in all things. Amen. Mary, Mother of Jesus, be a mother to me and all members of the MoG forum now and always. Amen.
Josephite - I was replying to Mario's post about how lost souls are separated from the Love of God as the fire of His love is too painful for them to endure. What I would call the great incompatibly (hence oil and water). I apologize if you thought it referred to your post. It most certainly did not.
Our ideas about who is holy and who is not, probably has little bearing with God.....he sees the heart. We are all in need of mercy, so I would think before God there is not much difference between us.....yet some understand their need for mercy others don't, or do not want it. Peace mark
Garabandal, You do not need to apologise. I was very vauge in my explaination of the spiritual consolation the Lord allowed. Way back in 2014 I think, I had privately written to Padraig in regards to his friend Henry, who had taken his life. In our conversation I explained to Padraig what the Lord had revealed to me after my brother Brendan had taken his life. In fact I have always wanted to share the following, as it may help someone but I have always been a little scared to do so. Following is part of my pm conversation to Padraig which I've copied and pasted....... Hi Padraig, I would like to tell you privately about my dearest Brother Brendan who took his life on the 22 October 2000, he was only 36 years of age and one of the most beautiful people one would ever have been privilege to know or meet. I have two other brothers and the same can't be said about them. Brendan was a person that no one would ever had suspected would have done this. It was a total shock to everyone, his funeral was massive, he touched so many peoples lives, an old school friend of his wrote a song about him, people from all walks of life attended and we his family knew how wonderful he was but never knew the extent of his kindness and compassion to so many. There is so much I want to say regarding this, as I was beset with grief and questions at the time. I have often wanted to post on the MoG forum about his death and the subsequent vision that I was privileged to have of the Lord. Our Lord in His great Mercy allowed me to see and speak to Brendan the day after his funeral, I wrote everything down, as the Lord requested. It is truly beautiful as both Jesus and Brendan told me many things. Brendan was in purgatory, I don't know if he is still there, I continue to pray for him but I had a dream about 2 years after his death and I think he was taken to heaven, so when I pray for him now I know that the prayers are applied to other souls that Brendan showed me in the dream. I will send you a copy of everything that happened and all I was shown and taught on the 27th October 2000 and it will blow your mind. Also I will describe the dream I had 2 years after his death around June 2002. I hope I can get time to write it soon. God Bless and I will pray for Henry
My continued pm to Padraig: Hi Padraig Below is what happened on the 27th October 2000. I hope you get time to read it. My brother Brendan was always a very giving person and being an electrician he had offered his services to myself and my Husband to do the electrical work on an extension which we were in the process of building on our home. We had 7 children under 18 years of age the youngest was only 6 years old. And our home had only three bedrooms so we had bought a caravan and had it situated at the back of our home [we live on a property of 44 acres] for our eldest 2 boys to use as a bedroom and give them some room of their own and we had built an extension to eventually be 3 small bedrooms and a larger rumpus/living type room Brendan had been having a rough time of it lately, but at the time we were unaware of the magnitude of how much he was going through as he never let on as he was the coper [the one who copes] of the family he took care of mum after dad had died 6 years previous and was always working, helping someone, fishing or with his current girl friend Wendy so we didn’t really see him that much. However he had allocated the 22nd of October to be at our place to do the electrical work on the extensions. Brendan lived at Minni waters a beach place about 40 Kms from Grafton but Wendy lived at Grafton with her three teenage children to a previous marriage. To cut a very long story short on Friday the 20th October Wendy’s 13 year old daughter ran away from home [this daughter was very rebellious] and had put Wendy through many trials. Brendan arrived at our place on Friday the 20th October and again on the Saturday the 21st October as he was helping Wendy with transport to and from various places, Wendy’s daughter was found and returned home by police on Saturday 21st October. Brendan was also going through a rough time with a vehicle he had recently purchased, he had been ripped off by the seller and the car needed so much work done too it, as it apparently had been in an accident that wasn’t disclosed before the purchase, plus he had been robbed of his wallet and his keys two weeks prior to that also a number of other horrible things had happened. On Saturday the 21st October, He said a number of times to me that he would come the next day and bring out his old car for my boys to drive on the property and do the electrical work, I kept saying, Brendan you don’t have to do that, you’ve been through so much you need a good sleep, but he kept insisting. On Sunday the 22nd October after Mass We arrived home around 11OcClock and Brendan was not at our home I was not concerned as I was hoping Brendan was resting, My Brother Chris arrived at home at about 3pm To help Brendan with the work, when Chris walked in he said....where’s Brendan? I said.... I hope he’s resting I told him not to bother about the work here. Chris left and at 530pm I get a call from Wendy. Brendan had promised to pick her up at five and she thought he still may be at our place. Brendan never let anyone down so we were all now really worried. I called Chris and all of us now started to look for Brendan. It was now about 6pm and the sun was going down I walked through a paddock on our property and looked to the Northwest and fell on my knees and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet, my husband and my eldest son left in the car to go to Grafton and start searching with Chris and Wendy but Michael was guided by God to go off the main road before getting to Grafton and to search a place where Brendan used to go it’s called Macpherson’s crossing, a little swimming hole frequented by families during the summer months, it is a little side road half way between our place and Grafton..... and........ they found Brendan’s old car there. We called the police and we all arrived there and started looking for Brendan but it was now dark as we searched along the sides of the river through trees and undergrowth. I thought he may have broken his leg or been bitten by a snake and be somewhere there unable to move or talk. I frantically told the police we much keep searching but the police said they would start the search again in the morning. We all had to leave as it was an incredibly dark night, but Michael went back at 2am and it was still too dark and unsafe. Again the search started at around 4am Brendan was found the next day at about 5am. I received a call from my brother Chris at this time telling me that they had found Brendan. I said.... is he all right Chris?......he said..........no he’s dead Carolyn. I fell to the floor and heaved uncontrollably; screaming no, no, no. Brendan had shot himself. A farmer who lives nearby recalls hearing a shot at sundown. From other reports of family groups that were there at Macpherson’s, Brendan had been seen there from 9am walking along the river bed and he knew the place well and it has many beautiful hidden areas of thickets and rises and falls, small hills and dales all covered in trees and scrub where not many would venture and in one of these places is where he was found. I rang Father O’Hallaran at about 530am and told him. I said he’s taken his life Father and that means he’s in Hell!...... Father stopped me there and said.... No Carolyn you do not know that nor what was in his mind. I was unable to understand why God had not taken him before he committed this act, God could have intervened with a lightning strike, a snake bite, a fatal fall but He didn’t and my questions continued as this grief was consuming. The questions and grief continued to consume me and I knew that because of this pain Our Lord was going to give me a relief probably in the following week as I doubted I could carry such suffering for very long [either physically, mentally or emotionally]
My continued pm to Padraig: On Friday the 27th October, the day after the funeral, I awoke again to the same deep sorrow, engulfed in pain and living in the same slow motion world, where doing anything like housework was futile as the continuing mess was being created faster and my puny efforts to remedy were getting left miles behind. It was about 830am and I thought I better go out to the caravan and try to clean it. I entered the annex to the caravan and started to fold clothes and I was speaking to God. I remember saying..........Please God, Please Lord could you just let me hear him or see him, just for a moment, I need to know, please Lord in your mercy. Immediately the Lord spoke to me saying: ‘Be prepared for my message; and He repeated, Be prepared for my message. I realised then that the Lord was going to speak to me and I should write it down, so I thought I’ll have to go inside the house and find a pen and Adam my son is on the computer and it would be hard to find a pen, when the lord expressed His wish that I just go into the caravan and there would be a pen and paper. I didn’t believe Him but I obeyed and there it was. I didn’t believe Him because I know my children, the messes, the rooms and the never ending struggle to find pens. I sat down and the following is the Word In Blue is the word and what I actually wrote at the time. In black is the explanation of all that was happening at the time, that I wrote in a letter to a very good friend a few days after the event. I kept a copy of this letter. 27-10-2000 Be prepared my daughter. For all is well. For what I have given you. Do not be afraid. Come to me, Receive my message, Receive my peace, Receive the word I now give to you. Justice has been done. My sweet little one, he is home. I have taken many measures to assure this. Your prayers have been answered; they have not fallen on deaf ears. I was given an understanding at this time that it was the prayers of many and the suffering of many that the Lord was referring to. Take this Heart. The Lord showed me a living heart and I didn’t know who’s it was, I thought it may have been Brendan’s so I asked who’s heart it was He answered My Mothers, and place it in your home. Remember I speak in many ways, stay close to my Church, do not remove yourself from the truth of my teachings. Brendan your loved one is here in a safe place. If he was not I would have told you. Prayer is needed, he looks to you. He knows Love now, he sees with a smile. All things, I give you on earth he sees. At this the Lord gently opened up in my mind’s eye a beautiful scene I knew what I was looking at. There was a mist; and this most beautiful little boy about the age of seven or eight and he was looking at me smiling so beautifully and saying something to me. I knew it was Brendan but I didn’t understand why I was seeing him as a child and I questioned the Lord and asked what does this mean what is he saying. The Lord said He says; stay, for you have a purpose. He reaches to you. I then wrote what I saw. His hands are a child's He is innocent and loving. The child now spoke to me Do not be afraid. Your Children will know. One of my main concerns was for my children Stay close to God. Help them all. Then he stops and says intently to me Thank you. You are my sister in love. I await. I then ask this little boy if he knew that I loved him and how much I loved him I know of your love. I knew that before. I then say why? Why did you do this? Know I suffered much and God saw. Peace and prayers. I then question, why am I seeing you as a little boy? I want to see you as I have known you now. It is still me, I wish to hold you. I ask God at this point to show me the Brendan I know and then his face appears in the mist, closer than the child and to the Childs left, the child has now disappeared, Brendan’s face is so peaceful and beautiful. [I have not seen Brendan like that for years, such love exudes from his face] yet I cannot see it completely clear it is as if there is a veil or a thick mist stopping me from seeing him totally clear but I see his expressions clearly [love, peace, beauty] He is about 5 feet away from me and he says Come Carolyn you pray for me mate. The next thing [It takes me by complete surprise] the little boy is in front of me, and he dives ino my sternum area, and he grabs what must be my soul with his little hands and he lifts me up to the mist! and I am still here watching this happen but I see myself, as a little girl with Brendan and he’s taken me up there to dance and sing and I write We’re children, holding hands, dancing, playing, laughing, and happy, smiling. It’s so beautiful I can’t explain it. Then I am back and Brendan speaks to me again and it’s the Brendan as I have known him [the adult] It’s like dad said, it’s beautiful. I ask him where he is. I’m safe and happy. It’s like heaven. The questions I have for him are coming from my soul and my mind. I only have to think the questions and he answers. I ask him what he means. I’m being washed. I see God and everyone, heaps of people. I get happier all the time. Occasionally the sin plunges me into a pain, a fire, where I feel the same pain as I did on earth. It hurts and then releases and I see again. I need prayer. I then say to Brendan ‘I love you’ That makes me so happy, you don’t understand, when you say that its, it’s funny, it causes a great affection to my heart. Say it to God lots, it makes Him so happy. He’s given me so much! sometimes I can’t bear it, it’s so good; then I receive the pain again to wash me, so I can bear the happiness, until its all over; and I’ll just be with Him [God]. I ask about Wendy, Brendan doesn’t say anything but shows me himself as a child again and imparts to me an incredible understanding; He is in the mist and Wendy is there with him and she is a child, he takes her right hand in his left hand the understanding is of innocent, beautiful love he leads her and they seem to be going to joyfully and peacefully to heaven their love is now consummate and pure. He looks so beautiful it nearly makes me cry. I then ask about dad and then adult Brendan says. Dad is so happy. Brendan looks over to his right beyond the mist [a place I can’t see] I know that its heaven God is so Good Carolyn. I wish I knew before, but God doesn’t care that I didn’t! He is just so good to me, I can’t stand it! Tell people. I say ‘they’ll think I’m mad’ They think that now don’t they? After I write his reply I look at him and he is smiling and I laugh, I know he’s having a joke with me and he seems to be laughing with me. It’s beautiful. Then he says Just pray Carolyn. I then ask about Erin, he looks back over to his right and then back to me. Oh your daughter! I say should I know Brendan, should you tell me what you mean, the beauty of what you are saying [as I feel it with his words ] he then looks over to my left to a position of around 5 feet from me on my left and I know that is where Jesus is . Brendan looks back at me and says Enough. I love you. Thank God for allowing this. Tell Him you Love him. See Ya, Carolyn. I love you Carolyn. The vision ended. The Lord is so merciful. One thing that I realized years after this encounter is that: I had asked God to see and hear Brendan and God granted this but God had also granted what Brendan had asked for. Brendan said to me I wish to hold you and God allowed this for Brendan! And this had only struck me one day when I was reading it again. In fact there are so many other things that have been made clearer to me by this gift from God. God Bless Carolyn
The last post to Padraig in this conversation was..... Hi Padraig, I must say that I am so happy with what MS7 posted about the afterlife by Michael Brown . As you know, my responce to that thread was limited to some of what my brother Brendan said but I'm bursting at the seams to share with someone the other most edifying things that are stated in the book by 'Michael Brown' and I'm sorry but you are the person that I am going to share with as I can't really share this information in the threads . Please forgive me for this indulgence. I've highlighed where what is stated in the book the afterlife, are confirmation of what the Lord told me that day before our Lord granted me the visit with Brendan and then the confirming things that Brendan states. I think it is amazing! AS THE SOUL ASCENDS AS THE SOUL ASCENDS Adapted fromAfter Life: As the soul ascends through Purgatory, as it enters the upper reaches after so much suffering, it reaches places that, while lacking God's Presence, take on some characteristics of Heaven. Here one can only imagine the colors that begin to take shape above the gray areas and the more frequent visits from the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Michael. It's a place where there is more happiness than sadness. It's a place of anticipation. It's a place where the spiritual body has been beautified. In all our life we have never encountered the kind of beauty we will be given as we approach paradise. It's not Heaven and there is still purification but it's beautiful because souls see the spiritual world. They see angels. They occasionally hear from Christ. They are given knowledge about matters elsewhere in the afterlife or even events on earth when so permitted as the veil scrolls like a curtain between two worlds and God gives the grace to see beyond time and space. At the upper reaches of Purgatory, at the highest stage, the immediate environment is said to resemble Heaven. There is still pain but there is also a certain peace, comfort, and beauty. No doubt many holy people who had some minor need of purification do their entire purgatories here. Love is pure and for Heaven there must be pure love. At the high levels souls can probably communicate more readily and pray with less effort than in the oppressive lower levels. I imagine there are many souls at that stage who would have gone directly to Heaven but for a bit too much pride and self-love. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When I look at the above it confirms the words below of the Lord and Brendan to me on the 27th October 2000 . Our Lords Words: Receive my peace; receive the word I now give to you. Justice has been done. My sweet little one, he is home. Brendan your loved one is hear in a safe place. If he was not I would have told you. Prayer is needed, he looks to you. He knows Love now, he sees with a smile. All things, I give you on earth he sees. And Brendan Words: I’m safe and happy. It’s like heaven. I’m being washed. I see God and everyone, heaps of people. I get happier all the time. So Humbling and so Wonderful! God Bless
Wow Carolyn You have received many graces! I am prompted to share about my brother Around the summer of 2009 I was at church waiting for daily Mass to begin I understood that my deceased mother, father, and grandmother were there with me And they let me understand that my brother Mark was with them In my mind I said "but Mark is not dead" And then it slowly dawned on me that perhaps he would be soon My brother was estranged from us I saw him in the grocery store and hugged him I made halfhearted plans to meet him for lunch So As time went on I asked the Lord if Mark was sick A year and a half after my "visitation" in church the police came to my house to tell me that my brother had passed away in the restroom before going to the Urgent Care and they found my name as his next of kin on his records He had had a heart attack The Lord let me know that my brother repented and said "I am truly sorry" as he passed away What a grace for me to know that A priest told me to have some Gregorian Masses said for Mark's soul and I did I feel in my heart he is at peace with the Lord now I had been praying for him a lot before he passed
Josephine and HH thank you so much for sharing! God's ways aremerciful and mysterious. I had similar experiences when my oldest son was taken from us suddenly. so many assurances and consolations. As grief stricken as I was I had joy in my heart because it was made clear to me that he was "safe" in the arms of the Blessed Mother. I am so grateful. I still pray for his soul and will for the rest of my life knowing if he doesn't need those prayers they won't go to waste. God is so good!!!
Josephite, Thank you. I see you had originally not planned to share this on a thread. I'm glad the Lord gave you peace to do so! Divine Mercy be praised! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
