The more you are educated, the higher salary you can command. God works by analogy. He wants to populate Heaven with highly spiritually educated souls. (no dumb-oxes’, please)(Excuse me, St. Thomas Aquinas)

Fortunately for most of us, high academic education is not necessary for advanced spiritual education.

Here are some of the features on the Higher Spiritual Education University’s “flyer”:
1. Tuition – free.
2. Class meeting times – at your convenience.
3. Prerequisites – none.
4. Texts – new and used – beg, borrow or buy – usually available from former students.
5. Tests – at the discretion of the instructor.
6. Course duration – one lifetime (no reincarnation).
7. Instructor – The Holy Spirit.
8. Acceptance – guaranteed.

Here a few typical examples of the type of instruction:

1. Learning Compassion 1-a (from Chapter 15 – RELIGION AS SCIENCE) – (posted – 2/8/2012)

I returned from my 14th trip to Medjugorje on August 8th (my 78th birthday. Living in California with a 9 hour time difference I enjoyed a 33 hour long birthday!)

The next morning I could barely get out of bed. Every joint in my body was afflicted with severe pain like arthritis. I could barely drive my car (no power steering). Trying to pick up anything was difficult due to the pain in my wrists and hands. All of this was accompanied by a constant cough with lots of (clear) mucus.

After waiting for a week for the symptoms to subside I went to my doctor. Then began a series of blood lettings, x-rays, cat-scans, etc. I was tested for dengue fever, pneumonia and tuberculosis. Everything came back negative.
After about a month of this routine, I was beginning to be subjected to serious attacks from the Adversary. “Will my hands start to get disfigured from arthritis – will I have to use a walker like those older men I see at Mass – I’m starting to walk hunched over- etc.”

One day while I was in the waiting room at Kaiser for another series of tests, I noticed a young man – thirtyish, nice looking with a neat beard, but his legs were like an elephants’ and his belly was hanging below his knees.

Now usually I would look away, not wanting to cause him discomfort by staring at him, but instead I started weeping inside and out – I was feeling all the pain and rejection he felt as a teenager, the sadness now of not being able to find a wife.
I was overwhelmed with these emotions and at the same time I was aware that I liked the feelings going on in my mind and body – feelings of being vibrantly alive.

Then I mentally asked “Where did this come from?”. And then I heard an interior voice, “Haven’t you been praying for the past few months for a more compassionate heart?”

Then my heart leapt for joy as I remembered becoming aware of how cold my heart was toward other peoples’ suffering and that I had asked God to help me to have a heart of flesh. And now He had answered with His 2X4. Since then there have been more of these beautiful events.
Another piece of data for my Faith Supporting Data Book!

Oh, all the pains disappeared overnight shortly afterwards!

2. Trusting God – Learning Not To Fear – 3b (From Chapter 6 – DEATH DIVE TO LIFE)
(Posted – 11/7/2011)

On the return from one of my trips to Medjugorje, we were flying from Zagreb to Split. The plane was droning along at cruising altitude and I was sound asleep. I was in an aisle seat on the right side with a vacant seat next to me and a woman, not part of our pilgrimage, was next to the window in the third seat. My new roommate, Robert, was across the aisle and one row behind me.

Suddenly the engines started screaming; I was pressed back in my seat by a powerful acceleration as the plane went into a steep right bank and a vertical dive. The plane started violently shaking. I awoke with a start, my heart pounding, adrenaline coursing through my veins – I looked over at the woman on my right – she was staring out the window in a panic. I looked back, straight ahead – my mind racing. I estimated that at that speed I had about 45 seconds before the plane ploughed into the ground. I was paralyzed. I am going to die!.

Then a thought quietly offered itself to me. “Mary, I trust you completely.”
It was quite clear that I had not thought the thought. I accepted it…. and immediately started smiling! I felt completely calm – no adrenaline- no fear. I am going to die in a few seconds and I am peacefully happy. (at this point in my conversion, I did not have this complete trust in Mary)

Then, for the first time, I turned to my left to see the people who were going to die with me. To my surprise, they were reading their magazines or looking out the windows!!! Slowly it dawned on me. I had fallen asleep on the runway at Zagreb!
My mind had misinterpreted the sensations caused by the plane’s taking off.

When I realized that, I started weeping for joy! Not because I was going to live,
but because I knew that I had been given a gift. I knew that I had not thought
that thought which had been offered to me. I had been set up – prevented from
looking around at the other passengers – misinterpreted the action of the woman
on my right. In that brief moment I was freed from the fear of dying. That peace
remains with me today! (Mary has frequently said that “This is a time of Grace.)

Each of these lessons has the beneficial effects of increasing Faith, trusting that God is in charge and a desire for more classes. (And looking forward to Graduation Day !!)

Whatever God creates is perfect, and its beauty is perfect.

Therefore, the idea that He would create a soul to save the mother who would abort it is not only beautiful, but a real possibility.
(This is to counter those who are grumbling “Stop daydreaming in la la land”}.

Since the film’s main character did not have the moral strength to resist the state propaganda environment, she was not in mortal sin and “deserved” a rescue mission.

Perhaps we could have Olga botch the suicide attempt and return to life with a new mission.

There are an awful lot of people out there who don’t think that God is paying attention. Anything we can do to change that terrible misconception is going to please Him and attract His support.

Wednesday of the second week of Easter and already my Halleluiah’s had faded away, so I went for a sunset walk with my beads.

First Joyful – Mary has a conversation with an angel and is pregnant – ho hum – hail Mary…zzzzz

WAIT A MINUTE!!! That’s true!! It’s been personally proven to me many times. OK, I’m awake now! Halleluiah!

Let’s see now. At the end of today’s Mass the priest said “Go and proclaim the Good News!”

OK, I’m proclaiming it to you, the reader.

Mary’s off to visit Elizabeth. Who’s with her? You don’t let a beautiful 15 year old girl head off into the hill country by herself.

Joseph: “Why do you want to go there? I’ve got a lot of work waiting in my shop. What do you mean, it’s a secret?”

Let’s try to imagine Zachariah and Elizabeth after his encounter with the angel in the temple. They probably haven’t been getting along too well for some time now. Bareness was a big deal in those days. ( no one was taking birth control pills back then). Whose fault was it?

Now he’s trying to explain on a writing tablet why he wants to make love again.

After it works and she is pregnant, they have a new marriage and all their friends notice. Do they share their miracle with their friends.

Enter Mary with the Holy Spirit. Does Elizabeth share her new miracle with Zachariah?

Doesn’t he have any priestly friends?

Now John arrives – Zachariah regains his speech and comes out with his Canticle! “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His way…”

Did all their friends present at the circumcision and naming just forget about all these miracles?

Did anyone put two and two together when Herod’s murderous mission occurred a year or so later?

How about Mary and Joseph’s family and relatives – suddenly the newlyweds disappear off the face of the earth right after the child is born. And suddenly reappear a short time later.

For Heaven’s sake, Mary, couldn’t you have filled us in with a little more detail when John took you into his home?

It’s Friday of the second week of Easter, and for the last several days, the inner Halleluiah’s have faded away. My faith is not challenged, but the contrast is unpleasant. The memory problems are annoying and the enemy tries to use them to disturb my peace.

This morning, during my prayer time, my intellect came to the rescue, aided by my memory of personal consolations.

First of all, there is irrefutable proof from the biological sciences that all living organisms reveal a superhuman intelligence in their design, especially in their DNA.

While it is true that to say that “ God created everything” doesn’t explain anything (the Evolutionist’s last line of defense), the Evolutionists’ are faced with the same problem when asked, “Where did the physical universe – atoms, stars, etc. – come from? Did they evolve from nothing?

So, while both “schools of thought” have the same “scientific “flaw, the God school has the advantage of scientific/mathematical evidence of a designing/creating intelligence.

In addition we have the medical/psychological evidence provided by many near death testimonies of a wonderful existence beyond normal life.

All this evidence clears away most of the annoying questions and leaves us with the tough ones.

OK, if there is this intelligent God, why doesn’t “He” show himself and explain all the tragedies so evident in the world?

He does “show Himself”, but not to “committees”. The quicker you get tired of trying to run your life and seeking all the greedy, alluring choices presented for you to noisily occupy your mind (and time) – the quicker you might welcome a little benevolent guidance.

He will eagerly begin to show Himself. As He begins to gently touch you with His love, you will have the confidence to look back over your life and see His hidden hand operating at all the important turning points/coincidences in your past. This will become increasingly obvious to you.

You will be able to see, with the consoling evidence of an afterlife, that these small/large scale tragedies are small/large scale lessons from a benevolent loving creator/teacher.

And, with this liberating perspective, you will quickly learn to look at such personal events in your life from the viewpoint “What am I being shown? What am I to learn? If I learn it quickly, perhaps it will no longer be necessary.

233 – TO CATHOLIC FILM MAKERS (GOD’S MERCY)

Here’s the plot:

Olga, a Russian woman who completely embraces the Communist agenda.

She has frequent sexual relations with two men. Dmitri, who loves her, and Serge who just uses her for pleasure, as she uses both men.

She has her menstrual cycle down perfectly, but somehow becomes pregnant. Since motherhood is not on her life plan she arranges to have an abortion.

Shortly afterward she is diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer, becomes depressed and choses suicide.

She dies, separates from her body and finds herself in a pleasant meadow.

Terror-stricken, she realizes that the religious propaganda is all true. The formerly ridiculous sentence of Hellfire is her destiny.

As she sinks into despair, a beautiful young girl runs up, embraces her and calls her “Mother”.

As she struggles away from despair to painful guilt and remorse for her life, the love radiating from her daughter gives rise to a desire to respond.

Then her daughter explains that her “accidental” pregnancy and abortion was God’s loving plan to save her from choosing oblivion.

To flesh out the plot, It should show that she was helpless to resist the propaganda that swept over Russia, despite having devout Catholic parents, and so God’s Mercy will seem “justified”.

Perhaps such a film would go “viral” in Russia where the average woman has had 7 abortions.

Contact me if you need an assistant screenwriter. (joking)

What if, when God created my soul, before I was physically conceived, what if He showed me the purpose for which He had created me. And then He asked me “Will you accept this job?”

What an exciting Idea. Just as the angel Gabriel asked Mary if she would accept the job of giving birth to the Messiah. God has sent Jesus and Mary down here to teach us through their lives.

Mary didn’t know all the details of what her acceptance would lead to, but she trusted God.

My soul must have loved and trusted God since it was aware that He had created me and so I would have freely given my acceptance.

I was watching a special on KQED this evening about the search for energy in our growing economy. The use of coal, gas, propane, wind, solar, nuclear and manure with their costs, limitations, pollution, transportation, vulnerability, etc. It was very well done.

Some of the video clips focused on the garishly lighted downtown areas and the vast swaths of housing tracts with identical homes.
There were interviews with energy leaders describing the problems, opportunities and possible future solutions.

In the back of my mind I kept thinking “What does God think about all this? As He watches us gobbling up all these resources so that we can veg out in front of our TVs and computers, aren’t we trying His patience?”

Shouldn’t some of these brilliant people consider instead trying to find ways to get people to gobble less and genuflect more on why we are here?

I think that one of the quickest and most powerful ways to strengthen our faith is to understand why God hides His operations from us. We can accept the evidence of science (medical, biological, etc.) that He exists, but that evidence doesn’t explain, or provide reassurance for all the painful, tragic events in our lives. For that, we must seek to understand why He created us – what He wants for/from us.

I happened to come across a PBS program where the research was being done on aggressive/passive behavior in wolf cubs being raised in captivity. Some reacted aggressively to any attempted contact by the researchers and some accepted peaceful approaches. I think they were trying to find out how domesticated dogs evolved. The aggressive wolf cubs didn’t/weren’t allowed to learn from the friendly cubs. Obviously there were genetic differences.

Since we have the opportunity to spend eternity in Heaven with God, it makes sense that He doesn’t want Heaven cluttered up with people who are snapping at Him and each other. The wild wolves have a purpose on earth maintaining the balance of Nature, and warlike humans may have served a purpose on earth while humanity was learning (not evolving) to become more civilized (Christ like) , but God only wants the finished product with Him for all eternity.

Fair enough, but back to the painful tragedies. Why should I want to go to a lot of trouble to qualify for admittance to His Heaven? The most obvious evidence from the historical record is that He doesn’t seem to be paying attention.

Of course, you may counter that Jesus did a large number of compassionate miracles during His three year manifestation on earth.

Yes ! But notice that He frequently strongly commanded the beneficiary of His healing not to broadcast it everywhere.
Part of His reasons was He didn’t want His preaching drowned out by crowds clamoring for miracles.
Also, since His mission was planned to end with His death, He didn’t want to make His God-power too obvious, thus making it too difficult for the authorities to justify His execution.

But the basic reason, and the answer to the allowed tragedies is that: God wants us to take His unspectacular teachings and apply them to ourselves – not to get rewards – but because we want to become more like the people that have applied the teachings to themselves.

Now sometimes these exemplary people have miracles associated with their self-application and sometimes they suffer “tragedies”, but are able to bear their trials with heroic joy. In both cases, we are led to see the importance of the teaching, and also to see that “gaudy” miracles would distract us from the quiet meditation needed to apply it to ourselves.

Furthermore, a public miracle falls on people at widely different stages in their development. Assuming that the recipient understood the purpose of his trial and thus no longer needed the trial, his miracle (release from his trial) was beneficial for him, but for someone else bearing a similar trial, but who had not grown to the same level of self-knowledge, the first person’s miracle could cause resentment/self-pity, etc. and retard the growth of the second person.

God only wants fine vintage in Heaven and so doesn’t want to spoil it with too many artificial fertilizers. He is stuck with using two-by- fours, rulers and other hidden persuaders to guide us.

There is an abundance of historical evidence to prevent our faith from being damaged by the tragedies we have brought upon ourselves and which God, in His love, has allowed.

“Very interesting” you may say (very interesting sometimes =’s ho hum).

Well, let’s look at it from a different perspective.

Suppose there was a puzzle, which, if you were able to solve it, would reward you with 2 million tax free dollars, and the effort required to find the answer was within your abilities. I don’t think you would be ho humming.

Well, if you make the effort to gather evidence for the truth of this teaching, you will, once convinced, be able to weather life’s trials with ease, and gain the prize of eternal life with all our loved ones and the saints.

As mentioned in Chapter 15, there are many easily accessible sources of data. The Bible, secular historical records, testimonies shared in prayer groups, family histories, etc.

Still sound like a lot of trouble? Happy complaining!

I continue to look at the amazing “data” of my life and try to find an explanation for it in the teaching of the Catholic Faith.

Perhaps some of you agnostics, atheists or “just nice” people whose life without Christ is beginning to lack a little “luster”, might just be open to some of the possibilities that are proposed here.

To briefly review, prior to my conversion in 1996, I was a sinner, perhaps not Olympic class, but definitely on the “straight and narrow” to the darker regions.

After ‘96, with a conditional baptism and a couple of general confessions under my belt, my behavior radically improved, but I was “ looking forward” to a lengthy sentence in Purgatory and/or working out part of the sentence here and now.

Then came the amazing news from my cousin’s research that I had never been baptized as a child. At the age of 66, I was completely forgiven my sins and necessary reparation. If I had died then, I would have gone straight through the Pearly Gates with the Holy Water still wet on my head. (with the “Good Thief” as my neighbor)

That’s the teaching. Is it true or just a lovely tradition?
Here’s some of the supportive evidence:
1. Going on 82 this August, my health is excellent, and I don’t do any of the recommended regimes to keep it there. I eat junk food, microwave all my meals, don’t exercise, etc.
2. Behaving comes easy. Temptations are very manageable. Never been even curious to click on e-mails from “Lonely sexy women”.
3. Loneliness, boredom, despair, fear about the “end game”, economic crashes, retirement, immanent chastisements…ho hum.
4. My kids and grandkids are all doing great – financially and behaviorally. Their only frustration – they want to do something for me – buy a car, etc. and I don’t need anything.
5. Purpose for living – meaning in life. All this is amply covered by studying and reading about the Faith, growing closer to my Creator, basking in His love and the knowledge that I am one of His one-of-a-kind masterpieces, and He seems to like my writing.
6. Working for my employer/teacher: She takes care of everything – finances, problems, scheduling, etc. and she spoils her employees!
7. The Faith was a complete gift. I didn’t have to listen to boring lectures about dogmas, papal infallibility, etc.

So here’s my suggestion – do an experiment on the Q.T. (don’t let any of your similarly deprived friends know what you’re up to).

Just say (mentally): “I’ve read the advertisements (*) and some testimonies. It sounds interesting. Sign me up for the free trial. If I like it, I promise to tell my present circle of friends and put up with their ridicule as my payment/penance.

(*) See Chapters 14, 15

P.S. If you were previously baptized as a young person and then later chose to pursue your present “philosophy”, your experience may differ somewhat from mine.

However, there is still reason for optimism. According to the Management’s main sales person (Mary Davidson), the sale may be ending in the near future and they are eager to sign up as many clients as soon as possible.

4-4-12 Rosary – Joyful: Questions.

1. Secrecy: Mary’s secrecy: doesn’t tell Joseph what’s going on. Why? Too fantastic -? What was God’s purpose for Joseph:? Perhaps to avoid Joseph’s natural male reaction. (I must do something – move, share the miracle with my friends, parents, get a bigger house, etc., take charge.) Was there a stigma attached to their relationship if it appeared that they had had relations before they lived together?

2. Secrecy: God allowed the shepherds in on the miracle – but it evidently didn’t spread too far. What did the shepherds do with their info. –immediately, and after the slaughter of the innocents?

3. Circumcision 8 days after birth. Who did it? How common was it to have a child named Jesus?

4. Presentation in Temple: What happened to those present in the temple who heard Simeon and Anna’s comments – and later after the Slaughter:? Who “composed” Simeon’s Nunc Dimitis? Was it read at his funeral?

5. Finding in the Temple: Weren’t there any of the teachers present who were amazed by Jesus’ questions and answers who thought “He would make good Rabbi material. I’ll take him under my wing.”

6. How much did Mary and Elizabeth reveal to Zachariah and friends at John’s naming? Did Mary and Elizabeth reconnect after the return from Egypt?

7. Didn’t anyone in Nazareth connect the dots when Joseph and Mary reappear from Egypt after the slaughter with a son named Jesus?

8. How did God cover Jesus’ tracks all those years ‘till he appeared for baptism by John?

All these questions came to me this morning as I was meditating on the Joyful Mysteries. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. If I were into writing plays or making movies, I might have had a use for them.

Later, I suddenly realized that the questions reveal how God managed His “intrusion” into Humanity. Like a “Mission Impossible” episode, He outwitted the enemy, Satan, while leaving unmistakable traces for future generations to combat the inevitable doubters.

AND THEN – AHA!! After admiring God’s genius, I realized that each of us can go back over our lives, look at all the important intersections/changes in direction/tragedies, and from our present time vantage point, try to see His loving, secretive guidance.

From my vantage point of almost 82 years, His hands-on is obvious – and therefore – healing