For with God nothing shall be Impossible

Luke 1:37


37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

 

When I was younger I loved to read nothing so much as to read the lives of the saints. I especially loved reading of incredible events, like miracles , or the devil attacking , or apparitions, or special mystical events and so on. The fireworks of the spiritual life if you like.

I think you see where these heroics of the spiritual life would interest a young man in particular. These things are kind of the war stories of the spiritual life, just the kind of things young boys love.

Of course it as as wrong to centre too much on such things in the spiritual life. It would be a bit like eating cake all the time instead of the good solid bread of the day to day in the spiritual life, instead of the wonderful fireworks that happen occasionally.

Nevertheless time has rolled on in the Church and people have eyes and hearts often not open to the mystical reals all around us. So I thought I would write a little on these fireworks, many of which I have myself seen. If nothing else to confirm the Faith of others, but mostly because like any Irish person I do so love a good tale

You know in my experience it is not the ordinary lay Catholic person who finds it difficult to believe in such things. It is mostly our ordinary priests and Bishops, the wise and learned whose hearts are closed. Such a pity.

 

The Eucharist.


Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.


The Eucharist is the source and summit of the mystical life of the soul. We are like little planets that orbit and draw life and light from the sun of the Eucharist and without it we would wither and die.

But as in all matters mystical there is a paradox here. For in appearance it is just a tiny piece of bread ; but in reality the Lord of Life Himself.

 

Me too. I loved those stories. I expected miracles as a child. I was very aware of spiritual warfare as

 

COnt. ...as a young child. I breathed the mystical air of the beautiful Cathilic church. That richness vanished after V2. Most priests don't want to talk about it. Sad. It's so real both the good and the bad. But they are hesitant. Almost embarrassed. I suppose to them it represents a mine field.

 

One of the very first things Modernism does is to kill Mysticism. The start fro instance in not believing miracles and eventually they end up not even believing in the Resurrection of the Lord; which his to say they end up believing in nothing , for as St Paul says, if Jesus did not rise from the dead we are the most foolish of men.

Sadly, I was listening to one of the priests on, 'Sensus Fidelium', during the week and he mentioned that many of the priests he knows do not even believe in Scripture. I knew things were bad but I did not know they were that bad.

The simple reason why people do not believe in the mystical is that do not pray. Prayer itself is the mystical air we breath. The more we breath it the more our inner eyes see. Scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers and the lives of the saints are simply tissues of mystical events.

 

John 6:55

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

 

One of the most quoted cases of a mystic living on the Eucharist alone was the Belgian mystic and stigmatic Louis Lateau:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Lateau

But mystical literature is full of such cases. But in fact if you read between the lines there must be many , many more cases that are cited. For instance on reading the life of St Padre Pio it is notable it is eating habits that he ate little of nothing at all, he more nor less simply moved his food around with his knife and fork.

During the 1930's the Indian Yogi Yogananda Pramahansa (the founder of Yoga in the USA) visted the Geramn mystic Teresa Neumann and discovered she lived on the Eucharist alone. Yogananda had an interesting theory, he thought that 'spiritually developed', people survive on a kind of sunlight which they drew in in Yogic manner.

Needless to say he was not open to the concept that the Eucharist is a Real Food, but I think he came very close to the truth.

 

One time we had a visiting priest who said from the pulpit that the Bible was just stories
I can’t even paraphrase him
This had to have started in the seminary
You are right, Padraig

 

I had a nun from the Ursuline order—a big wig— tell me that the Magi were just a myth. She was startled when I said I believed the Bible. I wish I had thought to quote Jesus: “how is it that you have no faith?”

 

There is a wonderful famous cartoon about this from the 1920's which illustrates this. First you take one step and then you take another. First you stop believing in one thing then another and another and another, right down to where you wind up in hell; which is where all the wise guy's wind up.

If you want to find out how sound a priest or nun is strike up a conversation about Our Lady; especially her apparitions and see what happens.

I have seen priests run like rabbits when you talk to them about these things. They just don't want to know.

 

I had a dream last night. I dreamt I was in a horse drawn carriage in Italy back in the 1800's . There was a young , prosperous looking man inside on his own. The carriage was about to pass a Carmelite Convent outside which stood a priest and a nun ( I wish to goodness the clergy dressed like this today; the nun's habit was right to the ground, beautiful). When the young man saw them and realised they were Carmelites he jumped out of the carriage and spoke urgently to the nun in English. The nun did not understand but the priest did.

It turned out the young guy had been a very grave sinner but converted. He was begging to join the Carmelites even if it was only to act as a servant.

It was very touching, I think that young man later became a saint.

So many unknown saints.

Where do such dreams come from? I do not know, but I love them, they inspire and are such a source of encouragement.

 

This cartoon is the best!!!!!

 

One thing I find with the Eucharist is a very real hunger for it. I do not force myself to go to mass every day now, I am forced by hunger to go for it. I cannot live without it. I am genuinely puzzled and sad for folks now who have not got this hunger, how sad, for it is the Bread of Life.

Another thing touched me with the Eucharist is how gentle it all is. A tiny bit of bread becoming the King Of Heaven. How fantastic! God hides Himself in a wafer.

I find nowadays going to Church a real adventure, I never leave the Church with an empty heart, I always go full up.

It reminds me of my mother. I used to go home and the place was filled with her warm presence and love. But I f I went home and she was not there it was just and empty building, cold, desolate.

Our Churches are like this , filled with the presence of God in the Tabernacle. He tends not to talk , He just IS.

But the other day I was chatting with Him about the future and ; out of nosiness I asked Him for a few hints. To which He replied,

'Do you really want to know the future? Do you think knowing these things would make you happy or unhappy?'

..and you know as He said this I was filled with a sense of real Dread...

so I laughed and said,

'Let me know what you want me to know; what I need to know!'

..and Jesus smiled for that's what He had been doing all along.

 

Fulton Sheen used to tell the most wonderful stories about the Eucharist

 

The Curtain.

There is a thick curtain between this world and the supernatural world that lies all around us. Why is this curtain placed? The first and main one is that we are called to live by Faith. Why are we called to live by Faith? We are called to live in Faith because we are called to grown into the image of love , the image of God who is Himself love. Love cannot be forced or it is not love. If we could see behind the curtain then love might not be so freely given. If for instance we could see the demons and hell we might be driven by fear rather than love. If we could see heaven and saints and the angels we might be simply be driven by the goods and jewels of heaven rather than pure love. For the rewards of love rather than love itself.

But there are exceptions when God permits the curtain to be drawn at certain times and places and for certain people.

 

I sometimes wonder if the mystical things that occur to me really happen. I would like to share three recent stories were what happened in , 'Real life' , confirm what I saw in the mystical.

Today I woke up late from the night shift and had to rush down town to mass. I saw the bus would not come for quite some time and was afraid of missing mass so I asked for a lift. The lift did not come and I was so afraid of missing the Eucharist I prayed at least not to miss this.

As I entered the Church the host was just raising the host for the Consecration and I felt sorrow for being late but great joy that I was on time. Then I heard the Lord from the raised Host say,

'You give much more glory to me in the hunger you feel than all these others who got here on time'.


The confirmation? To-days mass reading.

John 6:44-51


44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

 

I like to call them “Godwinks”! Things like that happen to me more and more lately.