There are more and more stories emerging of people who experience a taste of heaven and come back to earth with a new sense of the mercy and unconditional love of God as well as a desire to serve others on earth with that same mercy and love
I know the veil is thin between life on earth and the saints who have gone ahead of us. St. Paul reminds us we are united, because we are all part of the vibrant, Mystical Body of Christ, both the living and the dead. Actually, dead is a confusing term because only their physical bodies are dead; their souls are very much alive . As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said:
“We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.”
One night, while struggling to centre myself in The Lord’s Presence, a crazy, impulsive thought popped into my mind. Without analyzing or questioning theological implications, I asked Agnes Sanford, an author on inner healing whom I have admired for decades, to pray for me. Immediately I experienced a warm, emotional embrace of love and sheer joy as I heard these words in my heart,
“My dear, you have my undivided attention. No one asks me to pray for them because I was a Protestant, you know!”
I don’t want to argue theology. I just want to encourage others with the thought that there are tens, hundreds, why maybe thousands of saints, most of whom we will never meet, who pray for us. As Saint Paul said there is a cloud of witnesses, both living and dead, cheering us on as we journey towards the Lord. The Holy Spirit is my companion but in His Body, He has gifted me with many other faithful companions and Agnes is one of my special friends.
On this day let us revive in ourselves an attraction toward Heaven that calls us to carry on in our earthly pilgrimage. Let us lift in our hearts the desire to always unite ourselves to the family of the saints, of which we already have the grace to be a part. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
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