Having a Hard Time With This

[jc4751]

So…it is very hard to really know what to write here, because I’m in a very odd place right now with things.

I’ve had a couple of “close encounters” with the Lord in the past few years…it was never anything I sought out. I’ve talked to a few other people who have had them as well, as well as a couple of spiritual advisors, and it is truly frightening and profound experience, not to be sought or understood. I’ve never really understood why the Lord chose to reveal his presence to me at those times. I’m not the person who is at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, leading the prayer circle, and so on. I try to be a decent father and husband, but I have a bad temper and little patience, and I fail miserably at being a good man so much of the time. Nobody would look at me and say “He’s a great Christian,” but then God puts His words in my mouth when it suits His purposes, and I find myself making profound statements about God and arguing for His existence to other people in ways that I don’t even understand. It’s so strange to me, because I try to be a rational person and would cheerfully be agnostic, but I know I can’t, because it would contradict what I have experienced and know, that we want to deny God only because our minds simply can’t hold Him in them, and so we reject Him at times because of that.

God has pushed and pulled me and I’ve fought Him every step of the way, I think.

Anyway…last night, I dreamed of my father, as he was dying, but it was really not like any dream I’ve ever had. I always remember my dreams, and they tend to really follow a common theme of one sort or another, just some random thoughts that are jumping around like fireflies on a summer night, or a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of something. I know what a dream is, and I know what a dream isn’t.

Last night was very different, and vivid. In my dream, the doctor told us that he was dying and I tried to comfort him. I put my arms around him and told him that at least he would see Jesus soon, and this was . Instead, he said that “Jesus has shunned me.” The intensity of that moment was such that I woke up immediately, pretty much in the clichéd “cold sweat,” something I also never do when dreaming. It reminded me very much of the two encounters I had with the Lord in the past few years. Very real, very vivid, but in a horribly different way.

To be honest, he’s been gone over a decade, but I never dream of him. I don’t really know what to think of this point. Is he in purgatory, or worse, hell? Was it even him, or a demonic presence? Jesus would never shun anyone, only call them to Him on His terms, but people will reject Him, and blame Him or even deny Him. He professed the faith, but I’m sitting here thinking that I’m really unsure of what he truly thought of it.

I really don’t know at this point, and I don’t know what I’m looking for here…not peace or an answer, because I don’t think either of those things are forthcoming. I’m familiar with some of the stories of various saints and mystics having souls in purgatory appear to them and beg for their prayers so they could escape from it. I always thought those were just anecdotes, but I’m not so sure now.

This really is eating me up today, and no amount of thinking or prayer is really making a dent in it.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

We can’t always make sense of our dreams, sometimes there are like hidden messages in them, and takes a while,perhaps even years to figure out what it ment, I think sometimes a dream is like a long book your reading,you read a few chapters and it doesn’t make a lot of sense,not till you read several more chapters do the first chapters make sense,
I too , have dreams of my dad ,he passed about 15 years ago,I see him in a dream walking towards me from some distance,walking with his walking stick, he come just so far and looks at me, then turns and walks away,I think he just comes to visit just to check up on how I’m going ,
Try not to worry to much about anything,just work at being a loving & careing family man,
And pray a little, laugh a little, and enjoy

 

[Mount_Carmel]

jc4751 - Purgatory is very real, and souls, by God’s mercy, can ask in various ways for those on earth to pray and do other good works on their behalf.

Both, my now deceased, mother and father - and my self have had such encounters - as have, over the centuries, many others.

Imagine just how grateful these souls are for intercessions, and how much more powerfully they will in turn intercede for their intercessors on reaching Heaven.

It is in the end all about Love.

 

[JamalChristophr]

So…it is very hard to really know what to write here, because I’m in a very odd place right now with things.

I’ve had a couple of “close encounters” with the Lord in the past few years…it was never anything I sought out. I’ve talked to a few other people who have had them as well, as well as a couple of spiritual advisors, and it is truly frightening and profound experience, not to be sought or understood. I’ve never really understood why the Lord chose to reveal his presence to me at those times. I’m not the person who is at Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, leading the prayer circle, and so on. I try to be a decent father and husband, but I have a bad temper and little patience, and I fail miserably at being a good man so much of the time. Nobody would look at me and say “He’s a great Christian,” but then God puts His words in my mouth when it suits His purposes, and I find myself making profound statements about God and arguing for His existence to other people in ways that I don’t even understand. It’s so strange to me, because I try to be a rational person and would cheerfully be agnostic, but I know I can’t, because it would contradict what I have experienced and know, that we want to deny God only because our minds simply can’t hold Him in them, and so we reject Him at times because of that.

God has pushed and pulled me and I’ve fought Him every step of the way, I think.

Anyway…last night, I dreamed of my father, as he was dying, but it was really not like any dream I’ve ever had. I always remember my dreams, and they tend to really follow a common theme of one sort or another, just some random thoughts that are jumping around like fireflies on a summer night, or a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of something. I know what a dream is, and I know what a dream isn’t.

Last night was very different, and vivid. In my dream, the doctor told us that he was dying and I tried to comfort him. I put my arms around him and told him that at least he would see Jesus soon, and this was . Instead, he said that “Jesus has shunned me.” The intensity of that moment was such that I woke up immediately, pretty much in the clichéd “cold sweat,” something I also never do when dreaming. It reminded me very much of the two encounters I had with the Lord in the past few years. Very real, very vivid, but in a horribly different way.

To be honest, he’s been gone over a decade, but I never dream of him. I don’t really know what to think of this point. Is he in purgatory, or worse, hell? Was it even him, or a demonic presence? Jesus would never shun anyone, only call them to Him on His terms, but people will reject Him, and blame Him or even deny Him. He professed the faith, but I’m sitting here thinking that I’m really unsure of what he truly thought of it.

I really don’t know at this point, and I don’t know what I’m looking for here…not peace or an answer, because I don’t think either of those things are forthcoming. I’m familiar with some of the stories of various saints and mystics having souls in purgatory appear to them and beg for their prayers so they could escape from it. I always thought those were just anecdotes, but I’m not so sure now.

This really is eating me up today, and no amount of thinking or prayer is really making a dent in it.

Have three masses said for your father. You must be present, just so you know. This will be of the most benefit for his delivery from Purgatory, then be at peace.

 

[St_Francis]

When things like that happen and really bother me, I assume they are from the devil, who can influence our imaginations. I see him as a bully, trying lots of tactics and then doing more or whatever works. You are now fretting about this dream. Is it turning you to God? No? then there’s a good chance that the devil is trying to distract you from God.

It is very strange how the devil will even distract people from God by using good things. He will try to get someone to focus more on how well they are concentrating on their prayers to distract them from God.

Since your experience differs greatly from that of saints who have had visits from souls, and because it is bothering you, I would suggest saying a St Michael prayer each time you are bothered by it, along with a prayer for your father’s soul. That way you will use this event for good, to get you closer to God, and you will foil the devil’s tactic.

Since it worked for a bit, he may go for similar things. Be attentive and try to turn everything into a readon for prayer.

 

[quinone]

maybe pray for your father once per day, or offer a mass, but don’t let it distract you 24/7. in St. Faustina’s diary she says that once the soul (who asked for her prayer) have escaped purgatory and gone to heaven, she’d feel at peace. in case her prayer for some reason can’t be applied to that soul, then her prayer benefits some other soul.

 

[Neofight]

Have three masses said for your father. You must be present, just so you know. This will be of the most benefit for his delivery from Purgatory, then be at peace.

Three masses and he must be present? Seems a pretty arbitrary formula. I always assumed God’s mercy need not be linked to rigid ritual. Isn’t prayer and faith that God will be merciful sufficient?

Maybe I’ve been missing something.

 

[JamalChristophr]

Three masses and he must be present? Seems a pretty arbitrary formula. I always assumed God’s mercy need not be linked to rigid ritual. Isn’t prayer and faith that God will be merciful sufficient?

Maybe I’ve been missing something.

I think it’s Catholic tradition to be present at the masses when you want a mass to be offered for someone.

I would not call it a ritual, but just a recommendation.

The mass is the most meritorious and efficacious means of releasing a soul from purgatory because it’s making use of the infinite merits of Christ won for us. No offering or prayer can compare to offering a mass for a Holy Soul.

But if a soul is not in Purgatory, as someone said, those graces shall be applied to another soul in need.

So to sum up, it’s just a good idea, not a formula to be followed that is certain “to work”.