Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 186 -
WHAT IS PURE JOY TO THE CHILDREN IS A JOY ALSO TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER. A HOLY SECRET. ABOUT CHILDLIKE SIMPLICITY.
Peter and Martin now return to Me at the sun-dwelling, and Martin is on the point of telling Me naively all that has happened.
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(Peter, however, says to him secretly): "Brother, what is it that you want to tell the Lord that He has not known from eternity? Don't you know that the Lord is, and has forever been, omniscient?"
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(Martin slaps his forehead and says): O brother, and particularly You, O Lord, do forgive me when from time to time I still relapse into a sort of earthly stupidity.
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Naturally, You, O Lord, are omniscient and need not be told about anything at all. However, there is still in me this doubtlessly foolish earthly urge to tell You, like some friend on earth, about everything as if You did not know it already.
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However, I am rather certain that You, Lord, will not hold this earthly foolishness against me. I shall do my best to avoid it in the future."
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(Say I): "My dear son Martin, it is not quite as wrong as you imagine. For all My children like to talk - and with Me more than anything.
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If I did not allow My children to tell Me things because I am omniscient, there would never be a word exchanged between us. But as I do not ever want to spoil a joy for them, they are welcome to tell Me about all their experiences.
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I assure you by the faithfulness and love of My fatherly heart, that only what gives joy to My children gives also joy to Me. The supreme bliss of My whole being is not due to My divinity, My wisdom and omnipotence, nor My omniscience, but solely to My great love for My true children who love Me, like all of you now with Me.
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Believe Me, I was incomparably happier on the cross than when I began to create heaven and earth through My almighty Word. For, as the Creator, I was in the center of My forever inaccessible godhead as the inexorable judge, whilst on the cross I was already an affable, most loving Father, surrounded by a number of children who loved Me above everything, at least as the son of the supreme Father, not yet having fully recognized the Father in Me, because the crucified son, that is, the body of the Father, was still impeding them.
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Verily, I assure you that a heart that loves Me truly, gives Me more than all the heavens and worlds with all their splendor. I am willing to leave ninety-nine heavens to seek just one heart that can love Me.
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Would not a mother immediately leave a great party with music and all kinds of entertainment to hurry to her newborn child if she heard it cry and knew it was in danger of falling ill? Of the guests in her house, she has a right to expect gratitude and respect, but in the bosom of her child a heart is beating with the seed of love for its mother's heart.
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This mother, too, would leave ninety-nine of the most splendid parties to hurry to the side of her child because of that love to come, since a tiny spark of true love ranks higher than a thousand worlds of great magnificence.
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Now, if already a mortal mother would do this, how much more would I, Who am everything to My children - father and mother, a father in My heart, and a mother in My patience, meekness, and boundless kindness?"
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Therefore, My dear children, do not hesitate to tell Me all that you see or hear. Give vent to the love of your hearts, for I enjoy the wonders of My creation only if you enjoy them.
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Does not the mother know already what her little child is babbling to her? And still the first cry of 'mother' from the mouth of her darling, indistinct as it may be, will give her a thousand times more joy than the most clever speech of a sage.
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What are the boldest thoughts about worlds, suns, peoples, and angels, compared with the call: 'Dearest Mother!' from the heart of a child where love is sprouting? Thus it is also true with Me. What else can compare with it in significance if a loving child who has only just awakened from its inevitable preliminary slumber of judgment, calls Me truly and of its own accord: 'Dear Father'?
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Therefore, My dear son Martin, do not let yourself be disconcerted in the future, but follow the call of your heart, and this applies to all of you. Your childlike simplicity rates much higher with Me than the supreme wisdom of a cherub. I gave an indication of this already on earth when I said to My disciples that from the beginning of this world, not one born by a woman was greater than John the Baptist, but that in the future, the lowest one in My Kingdom of Love would be greater than he.
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But now our hosts have laid the tables and the sage is already coming to invite us to the meal. So let us listen to him attentively to see how he will present his invitation. And then we shall sit down at the large table in the exact order as arranged by him. So be it, My children!"