Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for April, 2009

WE ARE STEWARDS OF GOD’S CREATION

Posted in SPIRITUAL DREAMS, tagged , on April 22, 2009| 1 Comment »

This year the spiritual theme of the Ottawa Catholic School Board is “We Care for God’s Creation.”  The emphasis then, in addition to the regular curriculum, is the instilling of respect and care for our environment in our children .  The following is from the Ottawa Catholic School Board Website:

www.ottawacatholicschools.ca

 

We Care for God's Creation

2008-2009 Spiritual Theme
 
The Board is pleased to announce the launch of our new Spiritual Theme for the 2008-2009 school year — We Care for God’s Creation. Keeping with the Gospel value of Stewardship of Creation, the new theme includes the elements of sacredness of creation, the value of human life, wellness, care for the environment, and global awareness.

This theme also forms a bridge to last year’s theme – Who is My Neighbour? Stewardship for Creation will have a Justice dimension. Jesus calls us to open our lives to all who need our love and care across the globe. For instance, most affected by global warming will be the people of Africa and low-lying parts of Asia like Bangladesh.

Part of this whole-system responsibility for environmental education includes modelling environmentally sound practices in our facilities and operations. These practices are outlined in a Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education, endorsed by the Ministry of Education. Our students and staff are actively engaged in activities that demonstrate care for Creation including the environment, the welfare of others, and personal wellness.

 

STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S CREATION
In keeping with this theme of the stewardship of creation, it seemed to me that Earth Day was a good time to share with you a dream/vision I was given in 2005.  In it I was literally shown a split screen of what the earth looked like at the time of it’s creation and how it looks today.  I was dismayed at the stark contrast!  The issue of our environment has been under more serious consideration in recent years because we are becoming more aware that how well we have, or have not been, stewards of God’s creation is reflected in the state of our environment.  We do need to clean up our act so that the living environment for ourselves, our children and future generations is a more healthy one.  Underlying all of this, though, is an ingredient which is often overlooked in the secular view.  The earth is God’s creation:
“God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.  God said, “See I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”  And it was so.  God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Gen. 1:28-31 Holy Bible, NRSV, Catholic Edition c.1993)
It was very good.  Unfortunately we do not have to look far to see that it is not very good today.  It is my hope that the following will help to inspire you to consider the ways you are being a good steward of God’s creation.  And let us not forgot, amongst our physical efforts, to imbue the world with our prayer intentions for a healthier planet.  We, as humans, do not really understand how prayer works, or just how powerful it can be.  In an experience of personal motivation God also graced me with a dream/vision that showed me a small snippet of just what prayer really does and I will be sharing this for your discernment in future…

THE WAY IT WAS

 

  THE WAY IT IS NOW

  

Garbage Mountain - Philippines

Garbage Mountain - Philippines

 

 April 28, 2005

I had a dream where I was part of a small team/expedition.  We had found the path to climb Mt. Everest, I think it was.  It became Mt. Kilimanjaro after descending.  I and another (a man was leading me) told others:  “We’re going to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest.”

We turned to the right and followed the narrowest of trails.  It was a straight line of blue crystal looking material laid in a very thin line in the snow.  We climbed it.  I and my companion reached the peak so quickly I was surprised – I don’t even remember the climb, just the start on this beautiful crystal blue trail and then arriving at the summit.

The top had become a tourist sight now though.  There were tables and a restaurant or diner for serving food.  I sat at a table with my companion on the very edge of this peak/cliff.  It was so high and on a precipice that you had to be careful not to back up too much or you’d fall off the side.

I didn’t sit or eat anything because I was upset and dismayed at how trashy and touristy even this place had become.  People seemed to have made the climb and spot of such former pristine beauty a sullied tourist spot.

I cried for the former unspoiled beauty of the world and was all of a sudden shown in split screen what this mountain looked like WAY BACK – at the time of its original creation.  I longed for and much preferred this natural, pristine, exquisite, simple beauty and I began to cry as God was showing me how simple, majestic, beautiful and pristine the world had been when created.  Then, on the other side of the split screen I saw it today – so concrete, dirtied, sullied, trashed and commercialized.  People were so ignorant of what they had lost.

Then, on the beautiful side of the split screen on this pristine, breathtaking, fresh, cool mountain with beautiful breezes, the Light that was God broke out over the peak.  I moved closer and was crying at the heartbreak of such spoiled beauty and also because I miss my God so much.

As I walked and approached the top of this pristine peak I cried “Papa, I miss You so much!” over and over again as I gently sobbed.  What beauty!  I don’t know which made me sadder – the missing and longing for my God or the sight of such pristine, clean, fresh, airy, magnificent beauty made absolutely chokingly trashy, hardened and commercialized by humans – OH! the loss of the world as God gave it to us!  This struck me most profoundly…

In speaking with Father Kane about this issue, he offered his own personal experience of this contrast in the mission fields of Peru.  On the one hand there are beautiful, mountainous areas, relatively untouched by humans, with tall vegetation that make for a beautiful experience of nature.  However, in the big city of Lima one finds a shantytown in the desert and because of their desert conditions they have to have water trucked in from outside sources.  The levels of pollution, however, make them unable to be sure of the safety of the water source, and so they have to boil it.  The appalling conditions of local dumps, where children forage for anything that will earn their families money  (see Father Kane’s Easter Message) also create a sad pictorial of this contrast.  He has found, however, that because these people have such warm hearts and wonderful commitment within their families, they manage to live with good human values in spite of the sub-human conditions and poverty.

In essence the problems we are experiencing environmentally are another offshoot of the fallen nature of man.  Humanity’s greed, materialism, lack of consideration for neighbour and the quest for more, better, faster, without due consideration of outcome, has become humanity’s industries without becoming stewards –  where people are thoughtfully responsible for the management of God’s resources.  We must become better stewards, both now and in the future.

May this dream sharing strike you most profoundly this Earth Day as well…

Karen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

DIVINE MERCY BEFORE DIVINE JUSTICE

Posted in MESSAGES, tagged , , on April 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »

 St. Faustina with Divine Mercy Image

 

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday in the Catholic Church.  To some in the Church this will be old news.  To many, however, it will give pause as they question just what this means.  It is a day when we venerate God’s most beautiful attribute, His Mercy and a day that each and every person can draw down great graces from heaven – for themselves and others. It is also the feast day that follows completion of a nine day novena – the Chaplet of Divine Mercy – that was dictated by Jesus to a Polish contemplative nun in the 1930’s.  This chaplet and her many other supernatural experiences have been compiled in a book called Divine Mercy in My Soul; Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.  Click the link here to find out more information about this Feast Day and the Devotion to the Divine Mercy, or visit the section Mission in this website.

To fully understand the significance of this day, and the essence of her mission, it is necessary to become acquainted with this book.  The easiest way for me to familiarize you quickly with this important work is to present the synopsis found on its back cover:

“A Mystic with a Message for the New Millennium”

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a simple, uneducated, young Polish nun receives a special call.  Jesus tells her, ““I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world.  I do not want to punish mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my Merciful Heart.”  Jesus also tells her to record His message of mercy in a diary:  “You are the secretary of My Mercy.  I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life.”

These words of Jesus are found in the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, which chronicles St. Faustina’s great experience of Divine Mercy in her soul and her mission to share that mercy with the world.

Though she died in obscurity in 1938, Sr. Faustina is now hailed by Pope John Paul II as “the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time.”  On April 30, 2000, the Pope canonized her as St. Faustina, saying that the message of Divine Mercy she shared is urgently (emphasis mine) needed at the dawn of the new millennium.  Over half a million copies of the Diary have been sold worldwide.

In the Diary, this woman mystic’s childlike trust, simplicity, and intimacy with Jesus will stir your heart and soul.  Her spiritual insights will surprise and reward you.  “Only love has meaning,” she writes.  “It raises up our smallest actions into infinity.”

How did St. Faustina grow in deeper trust and intimacy with Jesus?  What promises did He make to her?  Discover the answers to these questions and many more in the Diary of St. Faustina.  (Divine Mercy in My Soul:  Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. c.1993 Congregation of The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy)

I would like to share with you a quotation from this Diary.  I have quoted from this resource before and probably will do so many times in this ministry because the words and experiences she received in the 1930’s are for our times:

In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people.  Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world.  I do not want to punish aching mankind, but desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.  I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so;  My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice.  Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy. (Jesus to St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul:  Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. c.1993 Congregation of The Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy; entry #1588)

This is a significant passage, for the world is presently in the Day of Mercy.  As I have already written, I believe a significant part of my mission is to prepare the world for God’s justice.  This is not a pleasant task.  I have already worn and will probably wear in future the label ‘chicken little‘.  But this does not matter.  I would rather wear that label and warn you of the things that I have seen and heard from God, than not speak and be accountable that you were not able to hear the warnings from someone.  It will not be me that does not speak up, for I love you all far too much to do that.   And so, with love and warning, I share the following dream.  My spiritual director believes I have been given a special gift to occasionally ‘see’ into the spirit realm through dream, vision and word, and the following message of this dream was so compelling it caused me to immediately step up my prayers and hopefully will encourage you to do the same:

 

Jesus Crying

Jesus Crying

 

Wednesday, April 23, 2003 approx 3:30 a.m.

I had a dream where I was in the livingroom of my childhood home in Heart’s Desire.  All of a sudden I started to go to heaven by some major energy rush.  I could feel my body dematerialize or lift into a spirit form.  It happened in an instant.  One minute I was standing in my material body, then I was caught up in this energy rush and changed into spirit form.  It was the most amazing feeling.  I was in a holding pattern (not going to heaven and not in the material world) as I hovered over the living room.  I said to one of my daughters who was sitting on the couch “I’m between worlds – can you still see me?”

I was floating suspended over the room.  Then another daughter told me she saw two lines of writing on the hanging edge of an ivory paper tablecloth that covered the dining room table.  The two lines were written at the end of the tablecloth off the short side – right near the end of the tablecloth.  I could see the lines too, but she had to read them to me.  She quoted them to me, but because she was a child she couldn’t remember all of the first line.  It was:

“The Son (or sun)…He will smite them with His sword and His Justice.”

Then the dream scene changed and I looked and saw my own living room furniture (or a reasonable facsimilie thereof) had been moved slightly.  The couch was slid to the left and there was a table in its place.  On the table was a white porcelain statue of a crouching or hunched over angel.  There were other white porcelain religious figure statues all over the room.  The angel statue on the table was crying copious tears.  A statue of Jesus was pouring tears (His statue was seated in a chair of some kind – looked like a rocking chair) opposite the table.  Other statues in the room were also pouring copious tears.  I saw the angel statue first and was alarmed and tried to console her.  I started to recite my Hail Mary.  Then I turned to the statue of Jesus in the chair.  As I recited He came to life and I was hugging Him and caressing Him.  He started to show a small heartened look/half smile of love, but very mildly – like a smile of resignation, through tears; as if somewhat consoled.  I was saying “Don’t cry!” and He was approving of my saying the Hail Mary.  I was consoling Him.  He slowly stopped crying, but He was very sombre and resigned.  He said no words.

Then the room was restored, with the furniture in the original position – the couch moved back to the right.  Then I found myself out on a street with my rosary telling a character in the dream, Renata (which I found out later, coincidentally – or not – means ‘re-born’), that she should recite the rosary as often as possible – the need was urgent!  I also knew I had to recite it almost non-stop if possible.  I got ready to go somewhere with my family.

I said two decades right after I woke from this dream for the intention of more time for the world because this dream left me so concerned.  At the time I recorded this dream I also wrote:  ‘I said these two decades especially in light of the other spiritual dreams I have had lately.  There is an awful foreboding in all my dreams lately.  This dream left me so concerned as to the state and times of our world that I called a good friend and told her to gather up all her courage and not put off confession for another moment.’  (She took my advice and her life has profoundly changed in a beautiful way since…)

I also immediately increased my daily rosary from 15 decades to 20 and it stayed that way until my sixth child was born in 2005, and then I decreased it back to 15, because with six children and a new baby I just couldn’t keep up the 20!

As a parting thought to encourage you to heed my witness, and if possible, increase your prayers to help your sisters and brothers, I share with you words dictated by God, the Father in a dream:

March 6, 2005

“Tell souls to have recourse to My Mercy while there is still time for mercy.   I love you and you are mine.”

Karen

Read Full Post »

“Rejoice with Me, for I have Found my Sheep that was Lost”

Posted in VISIONS, tagged on April 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Jesus with the Sheep that was Lost

Jesus with the Sheep that was Lost

 

At the beginning of Lent I promised to share a supernatural occurrence I experienced after my first confession.  It was one of those rare, special moments when one has a glimpse into the spirit realm.  I share this experience with you this Easter Season, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  It is and should be one of the most joyous times of the year. 

This celebration, marked by Christians, noted solely as the ‘visitation of the Easter Bunny’ by much of the secular world and outright scorned and mocked by atheists, should be a very joyous, sacred, awe-inspiring, thankful celebration.  Instead, as the world veers more and more into darkness, rejection of God, rejection of the Church and disdain for holiness and celebrates instead the faint blinking lights of humanity’s own reasoning, the light of truth and the celebration of truth are being lost. 

And yet the truth of Christ’s resurrection, as a means for us all to be resurrected in the life to come, is the hope of our entire lives here on earth!  How many do not believe this fact anymore!  How horrifying to think that many people will only come to realize this truth at the moment of death.  How much better to at least open yourself to the possibility of the truth of the Bible, to even just err on the side of caution…

And so, to assist you in the opening of your hearts, I have established this website.  And today I share with you another glimpse into that truth – this experience, which illuminated, for me, the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  I believe it was a moment when I saw, just a little, rejoicing in heaven over the fact that I ‘repented of my sins’ after my first confession in the Catholic Church. 

I know that many hearing me speak of the need to repent immediately feel apathy, disdain, disbelief, even loathing that such ‘an antiquated concept’ is still being preached…Nevertheless, I know that God is asking it – both through a dream I have already shared and through experiences I will share in future.  What if I am right and this need to repent is true and urgent and you ignore the warnings and never do it?  I, for one, did not want to take the chance…

Here’s what I experienced after I made my first confession after almost 40 years of life on this earth, unfortunately making mistakes , as we all do – some little and some not so little…

 

Rainbow Halos

Rainbow Halos

It was, I believe, the fall of 2000.  I was in the RCIA – the Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults – and was looking forward to becoming Catholic the following Easter.  In the meantime I was voraciously reading a book given to me by a good Catholic friend.  She had received it from a friend of hers and that friend had told her that she just knew that my friend was supposed to give it to me.  It was a book called “The Apostolate of Holy Motherhood“.  It is a compilation of visions and messages that a woman in the United States purportedly received from Jesus and Mary in the late 1980’s.  It has received the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur.  In one of the messages Jesus is advising not to put off availing oneself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation – urgently advising people to go to confession.  He says something to the effect of ‘do not delay – tomorrow is no more – go even as you read this.’

I was on my second or third reading of this amazing book (click the link above if you would like to get a copy).  It wasn’t until the third read-through or so that I realized – wow – he is saying ‘go – even as you read this’.  I started to think ‘maybe I should go’.  So, even though I wasn’t yet Catholic (but had been attending for years with my family), I decided to err on the side of caution and heed the advice.  I called my parish priest and made an appointment.  He agreed to see me and hear my confession, even though I was still in the RCIA.  I sat face to face in his office and went through everything I could think of in my life that was against the Commandments and potentially a sin.  Suffice it to say it was a ‘good confession’.  He gave me penance and absolution and stood up and gave me a big hug.

I left his office that evening feeling very emotional and, well, unburdened.  I started to cry a little as I walked in the darkness to my car to drive home.  It was then that I looked up at the streetlight.  It had the most beautiful circular rainbow halo of many colours around it.  I hadn’t remembered seeing a light appear this way at night before. 

However, since I wear contact lenses I assumed it was some sort of natural effect of my tears as I looked at the light.  I got in my car to drive home.  As I drove I realized every light I saw had this most bright, beautiful rainbow halo around it – all the streetlights, all the headlights of the cars.  It was so beautiful!  Then, as I drove along a stretch of road I looked up at what I thought were the streetlights and was absolutely bombarded by two rows of these rainbow halos (one on each side of the road) in a long stretch down the darkened road ahead of me – it was so beautiful and I was so overwhelmed I actually drove my vehicle off the road a little as I took in this breathtaking sight.  Because I drove off the road, which was a little scary, I remember exactly where I was when I did this.  It was in front of a farm, kind of coincidentally called the ‘Valleyview Little Animal Farm’ (where they have little animals, including sheep…I’ll leave the reader to ponder that one).

At the time, however, I did not realize the significance of what I was seeing where I was seeing it.  I just drove on – in a state of euphoria, taking in the beauty of these rainbow halos everywhere I looked.  It was so beautiful and I was so overcome I made the decision not to go straight home – I didn’t want it to end.  I ended up driving around the larger neighbourhood for at least half an hour, when, gently, the experience of seeing these beautiful halos started to pass.  So, I finally drove home and told my husband what happened.

I carried on with my life – never forgetting what I had seen, but not really knowing whether it was a ‘natural’ occurrence or a ‘supernatural’ one (as I had already been experiencing some pretty amazing things).  It wasn’t until Christmas Day over a year later that I realized the fullness of the experience. 

It was one of those Christmasses that many of you who are parents will sympathize with, where one or more of your children wakes up and is really sick.  Why does this always seem to happen on days that matter?!  But it does…Anyway, because one of our children was quite sick we had to make the decision for one of us to stay home with the child.  My husband volunteered and I dressed up the rest of the children and proceeded to Christmas mass with them by myself.  I was sad and disappointed that we would not be able to go to church, on one of the most beautiful celebration days in the church, together, as a family.

I drove back along the same path that Christmas morning to the same church where I have gone for many years – and also where I had made that first confession.  I noticed something I had not noticed since the incident.  As I got to that same stretch where I had seen the most amazing rows of rainbow lights, brilliantly lighting up either side of the road, (where in my euphoria I had driven off the road) I realized that there are absolutely no streetlights whatsoever along that entire length of the road!

That Christmas morning I was given the uplifting gift of knowing that those lights I had seen were not of the ‘natural’ variety and they became gift all over again that Christmas morning, as I drove to the church in sadness.  Instead of being sad, however, the realization filled my heart with joy all over again, and I had and have always kept, a most secret smile of joy, gratitude and amazement at the beautiful array of halos that lit up for me the night that I first repented…

It was then, truly, that I knew the truth of the scripture, The Parable of the Lost Sheep:

Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?  When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’  Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  Luke 15:3-7, NRSV, Catholic Edition

When I told my spiritual director of this experience he just smiled and said that God often works this way.  Often His manifestations are done subtly, gently, so as to blend in with our natural experience.  An aunt of mine calls it a ‘wink wink’ experience.  Others I know describe it as synchronicity.  Others don’t really pay attention to these unusual moments and write them off as coincidence.  Whatever you call it, I believe each of you has had and will have your own ‘wink winks’.  All we need to do is pay attention and ponder their meaning more deeply.  When we do so, we open ourselves more fully to waiting grace and the action of God who so eagerly awaits to rejoice over His sheep that was lost.

This Easter season, may you more fully participate in the resurrection of Jesus, and experience directly the waiting arms of the God who created you.

Karen

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »