A Vision

[Dark_Warrior]

Is it wrong to desire a vision? I am holding onto my faith, but want it to shine like it once had. Sometimes I wish God, the Virgin Mary, a Saint or an Angel would appear to comfort me. I guess it’s a selfish desire. I just miss that God high I used to have quite often. And I understand that usually when God appears to you, it’s for a very important reason, and the visioner suffers. But I’d take that over lonliness and despair.

 

[macroom2]

You describe yourself as a theist. The great Anglican writer, C.S.Lewis, wrote in his book Miracles that all religions are pantheistic except for Judaism and from Judaism Christianity. They are theistic. He should have included Islam. He also claims that some Greeks rose above pantheism after Plato but later relapsed. Each of the three theisms is based on revelation, and so it seems to me you can’t be just a theist. You have to examine all three and choose one.

Searching for contact with Jesus every day in prayer is more important than hoping for a miracle or a direct sign. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, but then Moses had to go and do what God commanded. He didn’t get instructions from the bush every morning.

 

[Dark_Warrior]

Searching for contact with Jesus every day in prayer is more important than hoping for a miracle or a direct sign. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, but then Moses had to go and do what God commanded. He didn’t get instructions from the bush every morning.

I know.

 

[beckycmarie]

Stop seeking the visions and start seeking God. Whether or not you have visions and locutions is God’s concern, not yours.

Cultivate a daily prayer life, and you will begin to hear the Holy Spirit - not literally - but in the events of daily life. As you become closer to God, the loneliness vanishes as you learn that you’re never alone.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

Is it wrong to desire a vision? I am holding onto my faith, but want it to shine like it once had. Sometimes I wish God, the Virgin Mary, a Saint or an Angel would appear to comfort me. I guess it’s a selfish desire. I just miss that God high I used to have quite often. And I understand that usually when God appears to you, it’s for a very important reason, and the visioner suffers. But I’d take that over lonliness and despair.

Seeking the face of God is what all Christians do. Desiring it in a particularly supernatural way is fine too, as far as I’m concerned. St. Paul told Christians, “eagerly desire the greater gifts,” and Jesus said, “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The ability to see God is something we all (or at least a lot of us) keenly desire. It is part of being Christian . David also wrote in the Psalms about seeking the face of God. “Your face, O Lord, I will seek.”

There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to see God. Seeing God is the essence of the Beatific Vision . To desire that in as many pieces as we possibly can have it while here on Earth is fully good.

I’ve prayed for years to see in the spiritual realm, and that prayer has done wonders for me. The Lord has been answering it on multiple different levels, giving me various kinds of “sight.” I have seen two real, before my physical eyes visions, but then there are so many other ways of seeing God has given me aside from that kind of sight, I am extremely blessed.

It is a wonderful prayer to pray to see God, or to see the heavenly. The Lord is eager to grant it in a variety of ways, and I think that the desire for this itself comes from God. We have to be patient, of course, and be ready both for training that comes prior to the full dose of this, and for gifts of other ways of seeing to preceed it, if God grants it. His ways are above our own and often we are not fully ready for such great things as that, when we first start to ask, so God has to change us to prepare us for it. That’s what I’ve been experiencing, anyway, for several years now.

Of course the others who have posted here are also right, about the deep value of experiencing God in the ordinary. That’s what a lot of our greatest gifts from God are about- ordinary substances like water, oil, bread and wine become supernatural when consumed by God’s Spirit.

We can, of course, already see God in the Eucharist every Mass. We also can hear God directly through the care of our fellow brothers and sisters, “the Body of Christ.”

But to desire a special supernatural vision of the Heavenly is certainly not wrong. If you desire it, though, you do indeed have to be ready to wait, seek and pray as long as God wants (which might be many years), to receive all kinds of unexpected partial fulfillments on the way, to receive training, and very possibly to be used by God in extremely dramatic, hard (and possibly very painful) and/or glorious ways in your future. It’s certainly not a small thing to ask to see God before death in that way. Though I think it is a good thing, and worth seeking .

I’m largely just relating my own experience here, what has resulted for me from praying that prayer for years and never giving up or stopping. It might work differently for you. This is just what I’ve encountered and have been shown to expect to encounter, in my experience of walking on that road.

It is a good thing and worth seeking. Be ready for all the rest of the experience of God we receive on the way, the bulk of our experience, of course . It is so beautiful all the other ways God reaches out to us too.

But praying at the same time to see the Heavenly is good.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

Cultivate a daily prayer life, and you will begin to hear the Holy Spirit - not literally - but in the events of daily life. As you become closer to God, the loneliness vanishes as you learn that you’re never alone.

This is what’s most important for us all to do. I absolutely agree with this.

Doesn’t mean it’s without value to pray at the same time for as much sight as we can handle, though . And to pray to be changed so we can handle more . Praying for spiritual sight can be an incredible blessing.

 

[RB2]

Seeking something supernatural and calling yourself the Dark Warrior???
The is a level of youth or immaturity here!

I wonder whether to take you seriously or pass
the issue.​

Well, the history of mysticism is filled with those
who werent very holy wishing for the supernatural,visions and special messages to come to them. People who arent very holy are used and manipulated by the Devil and those people make themselves receptice to the false messages, fake miracles and the like that the Devil can make happen as much as an Angel can do.
Some make themselves very complicit with the Devil
and these people do not go to heaven.

On the other hand, being a holy mystic or one that
actually receives messages from God or the Angels will actually open you up to more attacks from the Devil. If you are special to God , in that way, then you are more of a target.

You dont seem like a strong person yet in Christianity. You should not want anything special in the way of visions and messages. The more we receive the more is expected. Soldier on.

I do suggest the ‘Miraculous Medal’, google that, get
one and get it blessed,wear it, and say the inscribed prayer. This medal was my first step towards getting immense help from God. Truly!

 

[Dark_Warrior]

Seeking something supernatural and calling yourself
the Dark Warrior???

I think I’ll proudly pass on you.

Ok.

 

[RB2]

reread my edited message above.

 

[Dark_Warrior]

Seeking something supernatural and calling yourself the Dark Warrior???
The is a level of youth or immaturity here!

I wonder whether to take you seriously or pass
the issue.​

Well, the history of mysticism is filled with those
who werent very holy wishing for the supernatural,visions and special messages to come to them. People who arent very holy are used and manipulated by the Devil and those people make themselves receptice to the false messages, fake miracles and the like that the Devil can make happen as much as an Angel can do.
Some make themselves very complicit with the Devil
and these people do not go to heaven.

On the other hand, being a holy mystic or one that
actually receives messages from God or the Angels will actually open you up to more attacks from the Devil. If you are special to God , in that way, then you are more of a target.

You dont seem like a strong person yet in Christianity. You should not want anything special in the way of visions and messages. The more we receive the more is expected. Soldier on.

I do suggest the ‘Miraculous Medal’, google that, get
one and get it blessed,wear it, and say the inscribed prayer. This medal was my first step towards getting immense help from God. Truly!

I don’t want to go to Heaven to have fun, I just want to be next to God, resting forever. Even if it means I must sleep, as long as I’m beside His feet, I’ll be at peace.

I’m sorry my name offends you, though I’m not being immature, it’s the state I feel. “Dark” is not nessacarily bad, though my darkness is within my heart, and I long for God to release it. If you have suffered like I, in body and especially mind, you’d understand.

No miraculous medal is going to give me peace, only God’s glory, only a humble heart.

 

[RB2]

My initial suspicions turned out to be correct.
When I replied I thought you were Catholic.
You really should be Catholic when seeking advise
like this in this specific forum. Thats the rules and I
feel like I have just wasted my time.

Onward with the dust leaving my shoes.

 

[Dark_Warrior]

My initial suspicions turned out to be correct.
When I replied I thought you were Catholic.
You really should be Catholic when seeking advise
like this in this specific forum. Thats the rules and I
feel like I have just wasted my time.

Onward with the dust leaving my shoes.

You are one of the most self-righteous people I’ve communed with so far. You show no love of God in your words, only words of slander. Hey, RB2, BACK OFF! You do not know me pal and have assumed too much, and WRONGLY.

Yes, shake the dust off your shoes, maybe one day God will reveal to you how similar you are to the self-righteous pharisees of His time. I wish we could commute face to face, maybe you’d be more respectful when your not hiding behind a computer.

Everyone else, please forgive me for unleashing a little anger, I can’t help it. Mean spirited “Christians” like RB2 are such primary reasons for why the earth exists with anti-Christians and atheists.

Also, these forums are not “Catholic Only” forums.

I’m probably younger than you and yet I bet I’m more mature when it comes to actual life and respect.

I came to these forums for fellowship, NOT SLANDER!!!

 

[Dark_Warrior]

Seeking the face of God is what all Christians do. Desiring it in a particularly supernatural way is fine too, as far as I’m concerned. St. Paul told Christians, “eagerly desire the greater gifts,” and Jesus said, “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The ability to see God is something we all (or at least a lot of us) keenly desire. It is part of being Christian . David also wrote in the Psalms about seeking the face of God. “Your face, O Lord, I will seek.”

There is nothing at all wrong with wanting to see God. Seeing God is the essence of the Beatific Vision . To desire that in as many pieces as we possibly can have it while here on Earth is fully good.

I’ve prayed for years to see in the spiritual realm, and that prayer has done wonders for me. The Lord has been answering it on multiple different levels, giving me various kinds of “sight.” I have seen two real, before my physical eyes visions, but then there are so many other ways of seeing God has given me aside from that kind of sight, I am extremely blessed.

It is a wonderful prayer to pray to see God, or to see the heavenly. The Lord is eager to grant it in a variety of ways, and I think that the desire for this itself comes from God. We have to be patient, of course, and be ready both for training that comes prior to the full dose of this, and for gifts of other ways of seeing to preceed it, if God grants it. His ways are above our own and often we are not fully ready for such great things as that, when we first start to ask, so God has to change us to prepare us for it. That’s what I’ve been experiencing, anyway, for several years now.

Of course the others who have posted here are also right, about the deep value of experiencing God in the ordinary. That’s what a lot of our greatest gifts from God are about- ordinary substances like water, oil, bread and wine become supernatural when consumed by God’s Spirit.

We can, of course, already see God in the Eucharist every Mass. We also can hear God directly through the care of our fellow brothers and sisters, “the Body of Christ.”

But to desire a special supernatural vision of the Heavenly is certainly not wrong. If you desire it, though, you do indeed have to be ready to wait, seek and pray as long as God wants (which might be many years), to receive all kinds of unexpected partial fulfillments on the way, to receive training, and very possibly to be used by God in extremely dramatic, hard (and possibly very painful) and/or glorious ways in your future. It’s certainly not a small thing to ask to see God before death in that way. Though I think it is a good thing, and worth seeking .

I’m largely just relating my own experience here, what has resulted for me from praying that prayer for years and never giving up or stopping. It might work differently for you. This is just what I’ve encountered and have been shown to expect to encounter, in my experience of walking on that road.

It is a good thing and worth seeking. Be ready for all the rest of the experience of God we receive on the way, the bulk of our experience, of course . It is so beautiful all the other ways God reaches out to us too.

But praying at the same time to see the Heavenly is good.

Thank you very much friend, for the kind words.

 

[The_Catholic]

You are one of the most self-righteous people I’ve communed with so far. You show no love of God in your words, only words of slander. Hey, RB2, BACK OFF! You do not know me pal and have assumed too much, and WRONGLY.

Yes, shake the dust off your shoes, maybe one day God will reveal to you how similar you are to the self-righteous pharisees of His time. I wish we could commute face to face, maybe you’d be more respectful when your not hiding behind a computer.

Everyone else, please forgive me for unleashing a little anger, I can’t help it. Mean spirited “Christians” like RB2 are such primary reasons for why the earth exists with anti-Christians and atheists.

Also, these forums are not “Catholic Only” forums.

I’m probably younger than you and yet I bet I’m more mature when it comes to actual life and respect.

I came to these forums for fellowship, NOT SLANDER!!!

Agreed, there was no need for RB2 to speak to you as such. Perhaps he didn’t mean it the way you thought. I don’t know.

But anyway, welcome to the forums :hug3:

 

[RB2]

I’ll make it very clear.
I am here in these forums to dispense Catholic advise.
Advise was related and ignored by ‘Dark Warrior’ who I later discovered that on their profile for religion they list ‘Theist’…

this is the ‘Catholic Living’-‘Spirituality’ forum.
You should be Catholic here, or open to Catholic teaching else your on your own program and your wasting my time and everyones else who types a lenghty and considerate reply containing Catholic teaching/thought!

Its not the ‘Anything Spirituality OR I’m doing it my way’ forum. If you think it is, then your just yanking
everyones chain! There are other more appropriate
forums on Catholic.com for the kind of communication you are seeking.

 

[mammallama]

To answer your question: No,it is not wrong to desire a vision.But is it necessary?Why do you desire this?

Way back when I was in my teens I suffered from a major nervous breakdown.This went on for 6 months…one night feeling like I just needed to die…well I saw Jesus standing at the foot of my bed with His arms stretched out to me.At the time I figured it was a hallinuciation…who knows for sure???
So fast forward 30+ years…Now I wonder if this event was a vision???..again…who knows???The entire thing lasted about one second.I suppose that if I had prayed and prayed for a visit from Our Lord then perhaps I would have been expecting something that was more dramatic.Now I understand that God gives us just exactly what we need.

And another point…If you read about visionaries you will notice that there is usually a price of some sort involved.Demons attacked Padre Pio on a regular basis.They tend to go where they feel the most threatened.

 

[Dark_Warrior]

I’ll make it very clear.
I am here in these forums to dispense Catholic advise.
Advise was related and ignored by ‘Dark Warrior’ who I later discovered that on their profile for religion they list ‘Theist’…

this is the ‘Catholic Living’-‘Spirituality’ forum.
You should be Catholic here, or open to Catholic teaching else your on your own program and your wasting my time and everyones else who types a lenghty and considerate reply containing Catholic teaching/thought!

Its not the ‘Anything Spirituality OR I’m doing it my way’ forum. If you think it is, then your just yanking
everyones chain! There are other more appropriate
forums on Catholic.com for the kind of communication you are seeking.

So perhaps I should’ve asked this question under another section. I did not know that. That however gives you no right to act and speak the way you did. And RB2, you do not know me, so stop assuming that i’m just some young bratty clueless punk trying to get attention.

 

[Dark_Warrior]

I’ll make it very clear.
I am here in these forums to dispense Catholic advise.
Advise was related and ignored by ‘Dark Warrior’ who I later discovered that on their profile for religion they list ‘Theist’…

this is the ‘Catholic Living’-‘Spirituality’ forum.
You should be Catholic here, or open to Catholic teaching else your on your own program and your wasting my time and everyones else who types a lenghty and considerate reply containing Catholic teaching/thought!

Its not the ‘Anything Spirituality OR I’m doing it my way’ forum. If you think it is, then your just yanking
everyones chain! There are other more appropriate
forums on Catholic.com for the kind of communication you are seeking.

if you were to re-read my post, certain words in it should tell you I’m familiar with Catholicism, and that I understand those that see visions always suffer. But at the end I said I’d take that over lonliness and despair. There are reasons, very specific reasons for my question. But I guess it’s forbidden here.

pulling your chain huh. Man, anything else you want to judge me on?

go ahead, write some more unfriendly sentences about me leaving your exclamation points.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

I’ll make it very clear.
I am here in these forums to dispense Catholic advise.
Advise was related and ignored by ‘Dark Warrior’ who I later discovered that on their profile for religion they list ‘Theist’…

this is the ‘Catholic Living’-‘Spirituality’ forum.
You should be Catholic here, or open to Catholic teaching else your on your own program and your wasting my time and everyones else who types a lenghty and considerate reply containing Catholic teaching/thought!

Its not the ‘Anything Spirituality OR I’m doing it my way’ forum. If you think it is, then your just yanking
everyones chain! There are other more appropriate
forums on Catholic.com for the kind of communication you are seeking.

Why are you so angry? Dark Warrior has not shown any indication that he automatically rejects Catholic advice. He has not given any indication he’s wasting our time. He came here for real advice. You don’t have to be a Catholic to want a Catholic opinion, receive one, and possibly benefit from it. Remember how Jesus was a neighbor to everyone around Him, even those who weren’t His followers, and even some of the Gentiles like the Roman centurion. This forum is not a “Catholic only club.”

Also, it is not your place to accuse him of immaturity, being young or having (in your view) a dumb username. Just like you and me he stands or falls before GOD. You and I have no right to pass judgment. He is not being in the least disruptive or closed to advice. Though if he has an opinion already and just wants to bounce it off others, that’s okay too.

He came here for spiritual advice, not conflict. We should welcome him, as The Catholic is doing .

 

[Dark_Warrior]

I’ve had a long history, from agnostic to pagan to now and most joyfully Christian, and an even longer history of mental illness and severe suffering. I am not trying to decieve anyone at all. My questions are serious, and I welcome advice, but doesn’t mean I will take it if I disagree with a certain aspect. But I’ll respect it. I love the story of how the miraculous medal came about. Every time I read it it brings tears to my eyes, to see Mother Mary.

I know my user name is a little silly, and so is my profile, but it also sparks truth. There’s darkness in me I am fighting, it needs to be quenched, high and large. I also, admit, have alot of anger in me that I know dislpeases my God, so in a sense I am “Dark,” but also a warrior fighting to eradicate this Dark.