April 4, 2007

• … then things start to get interesting.

  This is when the retreat started to get very intense and amazing. Remember, I’m not just writing a story here; what follows is an account of my experience. When I describe seeing something, I’m describing what I see in my mind. When I describe something I feel, I actually feel it physically. All of this was very real to me at the time. Here it goes…

  

  I began my 3rd prayer hour by walking up to an enormous castle in the clouds. The huge door is guarded by a very severe-looking St. Michael. He draws his flaming sword and says, “What business have you?” Nervously I answer, “I come to beg favors of God.”
  He sheathes his sword and grudgingly opens the doors. They yawn open and close when I get inside. I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turn to see my beautiful guardian angel (who looks like Sienna Guillory). She is wearing a simple white Roman-style dress/gown, has white wings, and is about four-feet tall and very silly, but also very wise.
  
  “All right Jacob, we are going to see the Queen first; she’ll soften Him up.”
  “OK. What do I do?”
  “We’ll walk forward, eyes to the floor. I’ll lead you to a kneeler and you’ll kneel. Don’t do ANYTHING unless she says to, OK?”
  “OK.”
  Angel leads me forward and down a deep red carpet in a plain, stone hall. I arrive at the kneeler, kneel and wait. Then a woman says, “What say you?” I bravely pray ‘My Queen, My Mother,’ ‘Prayer for Purity,’ and ‘The Seminarian’s Prayer.” When I open my eyes I see two feet in blue slippers, the bottom of a white dress and the train of a blue cloak.
  “Well spoken, my child!” Mary says, taking hold of my open hands, “Rise! What would you have of your Mother?”
  I look at Mary. She’s middle-aged but so very kind and beautiful, holding my hands and smiling! Angel squeezes my shoulder, also smiling. I then ask of Mary the three favors of the Exercise, about feeling sorrow for my sins, for a realization of their consequences, things of this nature. She listens lovingly while Angel gets increasingly antsy.
  “Come child; let us go to my Son and Lord.”
  Angel squeals in delight and I offer to take Mother’s arm. She leads me down a long hall while hundreds of angels play “Salve Regina” on trumpets and other brass instruments from choirs above us. Eventually the plain stone gives way to a place that looks like the inside of Yorkminster Cathedral, and soon we stood in front of the choir area, the door again guarded by St. Michael.
  “Wait here,” Mother says as she enters. I wait nervously with Angel and a slightly less severe-looking St. Michael. A voice from the other side says, “Let him in.”
  “You may enter,” St. Michael says. When I enter, I see the vastness of an immense cathedral with marble floors and walls, stained-glass window and a soft, crimson carpet. Mother instructs me to let her lead me to a kneeler where I will await His instruction. Eyes down, arm-in-arm with Mother and a fidgety Angel in tow, we walk forward. Everything is bathed in golden light, like in Rivendell or during the late afternoon in fall. An angelic symphony and chorus is performing the “Ode to Joy.”
  Soon I reach the kneeler and Mother releases me so I may kneel. A gentle but firm voice said, “Who is this?”
  “My Lord, Son, this is Jacob. He comes to ask you of favors. I will support him in whatever he asks of You.”
  “Very well. What say you to your Lord?” I then pray the Anima Christi, hands together like a child. By the end, I feel His pierced hands around mine.
  “Well spoken! Rise and look at me!”
  I did and He wore a simple reddish robe and a crown of thorns. His pierced hands and feet were bare. He embraced me like a brother and held my shoulders, laughing and smiling.
  “What would you have of me, Master Jacob?” Angel gasped and curtsied toward me. I asked the three favors of the Exercise, same as with Mary, and she nodded in agreement, giving her support to my requests. Jesus looked thoughtfully at me for a moment and said, “Let’s meet Father!”
  He took my arm, I took Mother’s and between them with Angel hovering behind, we progressed to an immense door.
  “Cast your eyes upon the ground and wait here,” Jesus said as St. Michael opened the doors. Intense white light covered the floor as He and Mother entered. The doors shut.

  • 12:29 am
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