Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 34 -
A SUBLIME SCENE OF REDEMPTION: MARTIN AT THE LORD'S HEART.
When I enter with Peter, Bishop Martin collapses as in a swoon and all of the party, except the bookseller, cry: "Woe betide us!"
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Only the bookseller goes down on his knees and says: "Lord, Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy will be done! We are all of us great and gross sinners, not in the least worthy of Your mercy! But we all love You with all our hearts. Therefore, if it is Your will, show mercy to us! What are we without Your mercy, Your love, Your compassion?
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You are everlasting, infinitely wise, and Your might is unlimited! We have no excuses before You. Or could anyone in the whole of infinity oppose Your might? For You could destroy him even before he conceived such an idea.
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I, and all of us, recognize and acknowledge that You alone are the Lord of Heaven and all creation and that we are nothing before You and Your boundless might: Your holy will be done; but remember our weakness and show us Your mercy."
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(Say I): "Rise, all of you, and do not lament like delinquents on earth. If I come to you, it means that you have already attained salvation, for the unredeemed souls flee from Me and never want Me to come and save them. Therefore, your fear of Me is pointless and faint is the light of your intellect.
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Shed all that is useless in My house, in My Kingdom, which is wherever I am and is the innermost and highest part of heaven. This heaven is not one of idleness and eternal inactivity, but one of full action, as you will now be taught. Every one of you will be active in the things for which he showed a talent already on earth. So be it!"
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They all rise happily, thanking Me for such boundless mercy. Only Bishop Martin is still lying in his swoon, neither hearing nor seeing what is going on around him.
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At a sign from Me, Peter walks over to the bishop, shakes him, and says: "But Martin, what are you doing here? We have been waiting for you outside for quite a while, but you did not return. You have been chatting here, making us wait for you like a prudish bride her bridegroom while she is adorning herself for the wedding feast. Don't you know that there are some most important and urgent matters we have to attend to?"
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(After a pause, Bishop Martin speaks again): "Oh, yes, of course, it is you! This time I set out on a very important and distant voyage of discovery, and it takes some time to return from such a voyage. Although I have discovered something most important, this has not made me happy, but only extremely frightened.
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I have now discovered irrefutibly that our host and master is God, Lord of Infinity! Of this I am now positive! But, just imagine me, the greatest sinner - and God, the Almighty, Omniscient, the Most Wise, Most Just, Most Holy, Who must damn me because of His justice and holiness!
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My friend over there with the shiny hat has done his best to console and reassure me, but until I have the reassurance from Him, Who can send me to hell for eternity, it does not do me any good."
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(Peter): "Better rise to your feet and do not be silly! The Lord Jesus, of Whom you are so afraid, is waiting for you with open arms. Does He look as if He were going to condemn you?"
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Bishop Martin glances at Me and sees My great kindness. This encourages him to lift himself from the ground, and he says, with tears in his eyes: "Oh, no, this mildness does not consider condemnation. Oh, Lord and Father, how good You must be to look so kindly upon a sinner like me!
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Oh, Jesus, I cannot bear it any longer! My heart burns like a central sun, with newly awakened love for You; let me at least caress Your feet to give vent to my love! Then, Lord, do with me what You will!"
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(Say I): "Come to Me, you stubborn brother, your sins are forgiven. And do not give vent to your love at My feet, but at My heart!"
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Following these words, Martin rushes into the embrace of the Lord, Whom to recognize took him so long.
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After he has had a good cry at My heart, I ask him: "How do you like this descent into hell? Am I really the tyrant I have been made by your church?"
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(Bishop Martin): "Oh, Lord, I lack the words to confess to You before all these dear brothers how clearly I now see all my faults and errors. But allow me to collect myself a bit in this newly found unutterable bliss, and then I will make a true confession to You, my sweetest, kindest, most merciful Lord Jesus.
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O Lord, o Jesus, I must love You above everything, You Most Holy, Whose essence is supreme love and boundless patience!"
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(Say I): "Well, it is this love that I saw in you that made Me attend to you Myself, and which made Me have so much patience with you. Now you are so full of bliss, for you will be wherever I Myself am. But beatitude is never founded on idleness; on the contrary, it consists in the greatest activity, for which there is at all times much scope here.
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But let us now go to the other thirty people whom you brought here. You go in first and try to lead them to Me. If you succeed in this first task in your state of beatitude, we shall guide them also to their eternal destination. So let us go there, and you will enter their apartment alone. So be it!"