NEW DIMENSIONS: A Fantastic Discovery about the Holy Spirit

You can imagine my surprise when the Holy Spirit presented me with this next Lectio Divina meditation. The Holy Spirit has a sense of humor. I know, you think I am delusional or making this up. Maybe so. You be the judge. Remember my position here. The Holy Spirit is God and I don’t speak for God or even do a good job of speaking to God. I am improving on listening to the various ways that God speaks to me if I am so disposed (literature, science, poetry, writing down what I hear, how the fresh air smells fresh and the clouds are so beautiful). Each day, all day, without even thinking about God or religion or even Scriptures, I try to become what I love most of all (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36). I am just a broken-down, old Lay Cistercian who might not be religious as much as he is seeking to become more and more aware of his humanity (spirituality).

This is why I think the Holy Spirit has a wry and very sophisticated sense of humor.

WHAT DO VARIOUS TYPES OF HUMANS SAY OR HOW DO THEY REACT WHEN THEY REACH HEAVEN?

Yes, I made all of this up. It is not historical as much as a parable (which is how Jesus taught me because of my lack of pure knowledge).

When I die, there is darkness until I open my eyes, and before me is an elevator. That is all I see around me so I say to myself, “Let’s do this, thinking that this is like Doctor Who.”

I press the OPEN button and go inside. It is a typical elevator, one that is tiny has a fan, and reminds me a lot of the elevator at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Retreat House. I close the door and see that there are buttons to press. There is B, L, 1,2,3, which I assume means Basement, Lobby, and First, Second, and Third Floors. “That’s interesting,” I think. A sign reads, “All first-time occupants must press L first.” I do. It rumbles and rattles and the door opens.

There is a shock and amazement when I see a scene all too familiar. It is a park on a winter day in the midst of winter with snow all around and the crisp crunch of snow as I walk over to sit down.

There is a person sitting there, dressed in what looks like a Cistercian monk’s habit of white tunic and black scapular. I sit down and ask, “Am I in heaven?”

“Not yet, ” said the stranger. I notice that he has what looked like rivulets under his eyes moving perpendicular down his cheeks.

“Did you hurt yourself?” I asked.

“No,” he said, “I hurt the one I loved most in this world and these are from tears begging mercy and forgiveness.”

“Peter,” I shouted excitedly, “It is you.”

“Let me share with you some hilarious statement people make when they first open that elevator door and see their lobby. People see what they have placed at their center as their lobby. It is different for each person, but some of their statements are a hoot.”

THE ATHEIST — “Oh, My God!”. “Sh-t.” You’ve got to be joking.” “No Way.” “This isn’t real.” “Why didn’t someone tell me about this?” “I don’t believe it.” Oh, Hell.” “This makes absolutely no sense what so ever.”

THE SCIENTIST — “This can’t be so.” “Where was the proof for this on earth?” “You are making all this up as a fairy tale.” “How could all this complexity be so simple?”

THE CATHOLIC WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE REAL PRESENCE IN THE EUCHARIST — “Where did all those pedophile priests go?” “Why didn’t someone tell me about this?” “It’s the Church’s fault for not forcing me to believe in what I am now seeing.” “How could I have missed all of this. I went to Church almost every day. This is not fair.”

THE LADY IN THE BACK OF THE CHURCH WHO KEEPS HER HEAD LOWERED AND PRAYS FOR MERCY. — “I am home.”

THE CHURCH CLERIC OR LAY PERSON WHO USED THEIR POSITION FOR MONETARY GAIN AND/OR SEXUAL ADVANTAGE –– ‘Why is this place so dark and foreboding, and what is that smell. like rotten eggs.?” “I said I was sorry and believed in Jesus, so why does this look so unlike heaven?” “I thought all my sins would be wiped away and I could sin bravely and be forgiven. What happened?”

THE PERSON WHO THOUGHT ALL OF THIS GOD STUFF WAS A CONSPIRACY BY OLD MEN WHO JUST WANTED POWER. — “None of this makes sense.” “You mean there is a conspiracy by Satan to seduce humans to choose animality rather than fulfill their destiny as nature intended?” “You have got to be kidding?” “Why didn’t people tell me and show me about how to communicate with an invisible God who sends daily signs of how to love others authentically?”

THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF CHRIST BEFORE— “I didn’t see that one coming.” “Can you tell me where I am and why I am here?”

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