Visions from the Mountain

When you experience the wound of Divine Love, God takes you from the mountain to the valley to act on the heavenly vision he gave you on the mountain.  St. Francis gazing at the cross heard God speak these words to him, "Repair my church."  This vision totally changed the direction of Francis life to one of simplicity and poverty for the sake of others.

On the Feast of St. Agnes, John Suso sat alone perplexed when suddenly his soul was raptured into ecstasy.  There was a shining brightness and joyful sweetness.  He fell to the ground like a dead man but inwardly he was full of heavenly delights.  Many times when we read accounts where people are taken up to the mountain of God, they are forever changed by God's presence.

The mountain is the high place where God meets you and takes you higher than you have ever been before.  On the mountain God moves faith to even move mountains.  Even the mountain can be leveled if it stands between you and God.

Visions from the Sea

"No one can serve two masters"  -  Jesus Christ

My body is sick but God is healing my soul.  As the soul goes higher and higher in the love of God, the pain increases and gets greater.  As the cruise ship goes out to sea, so my soul gets lost in eternity.  If one forgets about oneself, one finds oneself being immersed in an ocean of Divine Love.  When this happens, ones sins are lost in an ocean of forgetfulness.  They are lost in the depths of the sea.

God gives us a Trinity of experiences in the cadences of His love.  The secrets of the soul are laid bare by the purifying fire of God's unconquerable love.  The deeper one is swallowed up by the sea, the purer one is drawn away from the things of the world.  The earth grows dim by the sun's twilight.

Like one climbing a mountain or ascending a summit is the soul's quest for God.  Meditate on God's Word but don't stop there.  Go deeper and contemplate God and His Word.  In contemplation one begins to behold the majesty and beauty of the Lord.  Faith in God sees the unseen and ends in sweet union with God.  It is in the dark inward light that the soul enters through the gate of Jesus  into the very presence of God.  St. John the Cross calls this "the cloud of unknowing."

True mysticism is Trinitarian and incarnational.  It is never self-seeking.  It is the supreme vision of the Trinity where we experience true oneness with God.  It is in the incarnation where suffering and sacrifice lead us into the very throne room of Almighty God.  This is the secret place of the Living Incarnate Word that makes us truly human in a world that has forgotten its true nature.  This is the hidden chamber where God makes us divine by His Spirit.

Step 3 of Johns Ladder - Exile

"Exile is separation from anything that separates us from God" -  Saint John Climacus

God keeps calling us to leave the familiar for the unfamiliar.  But our desire for comfort, security, and pleasure keeps us from pursuing this deeper life in Christ of simplicity and sacrifice.  We forget we are strangers in a foreign land and we are to leave the far country behind and come home to God.  Before we try to save others, we need to save ourselves first.  Take care of your own soul and then you will be able to take care of other souls.

The prophet Jeremiah repeated warns against backsliding.  Adam and Eve were exiled against their will but we choose willingly to be an exile for God.  Guard your life, especially against lust and sexual immorality.  Don't be deceived that you can look as long as you don't touch.  We deceive ourselves if we think we can draw near to temptation and not get burned by it.  Protect your soul and give no opportunity to the Devil.  Separate yourself from anything that is taking your attention away from God and draw closer to God in spiritual meditation on God's Word through prayer.

John especially warns novices of dreams that may be induced by demons.  Don't put your trust in dreams for dreams can lead one astray.  Even though it is true that demons can seduce and deceive us, not all dreams are bad or from the Devil.  Often in Scripture we see God giving heaven sent dreams to his children.  Dreams and visions are an invaluable way God directs and orders the affairs of people.  The test of a true dream from heaven is does it lead you closer to the throne room of heaven and a deeper love for God and His ways? 

Dreams and visions are powerful ways which God continues to speak to people today but John Climacus warnings still stand.  The enemy wants to sow bad seed even in our dreams so dreams must be tested by the Word of God, God's holy presence within us, as well as other spiritual minded people and the Christian community of faith.  "Beloved, do not believe every spirit (prophesy or dream), but test the spirits, whether they are of God (1 John 4:1).

A Mystic Looks, Loves, and Lives

"The philosopher guesses and argues, the mystic lives and looks" -  Evelyn Underhill

I have been doing a study on visions and dreams for this year and I love reading the stories, poems, and explorations of saints, visionaries, and mystics.  Mystics and saints are pioneers and explorers of the spiritual world.  They see things others do not see and know things that can only be known by the
Spirit of God.  I have known a few Christian brothers and sisters who have heard angelic choirs and even seen God's angelic army.  Some who have been transported to heaven and back for what seemed like hours was only minutes in the natural realm.  I have come to the place in my life where I would rather hear someone with a vision from God rather than an argument for God.

Mystics have such a deep love for God that their knowing is beyond knowledge.  Mystics have such a passion for truth that they perceive and see the same reality around them at a whole different level of experiencing and feeling.  My own spiritual life is becoming more mystical as I get still, listen to the mystical intuitions of the Holy Spirit within my own life.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed with joy and peace and other times I am in intense fear and trembling of the Holy.

If there is a direction for Christian writers, poets, and theologians for the future, I would hope it would be in this direction of wonder, mystery, ecstasy, beauty, and developing what I call a sanctified imagination.  Going deeper into the mystery of the Trinity should lead us into a new vitality in our Christian discipleship and faith.  Learning both from the glory of beauty and the depths of pain should teach us greater meaning of Christ's passion, suffering, and entering into a cruciform lifestyle.

What is even more surprising and amazing is when we begin to see in the dark and find light from God we have never seen or experienced before.  We enter into the humanity of Jesus and the divinity of Christ in ways we never thought possible or could ever imagine before.  Self-surrender becomes a lifestyle and communion with God becomes part of our life like breathing.  It is only when we empty ourselves from all the false images of the intellect that we free our own imprisoned spirit.  When we do this, nothing satisfies us but God and truth.  We get glimpses of heaven as well as discover our true selves.  The true mystic knows oneself and is becoming more like God.

When God's Spirit penetrates our spirit then everything becomes naked and exposed.  We feel calmness even when there is strife all around.  God's goodness permeates our soul to where we have such gratitude and aliveness in everything we do.  Chores for others become acts of kindness rather than duties to be tolerated.  Mystics learn to embrace both paradox and an all embracing simplicity to life which seemed so complicated and frantic before.  The mystic knows by shutting out the world and shutting in God is true happiness and bliss.  The mystic enjoys the benefits of heaven knowing full well this is only a foretaste of what is to come.