Sunsets Into Sunrises
Bishop Martin - The Progress of a Soul in the Beyond
- Chapter 78 -
AN OBSCURE JESUIT STORY: A FATHER CHEATED OUT OF HIS DAUGHTER. - THE STORY IN THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT.
1
(Bishop Martin): "A very old-looking father of one of these ladies comes forward now and addresses the white-robed men in a lamenting voice: 'Oh, you mighty messengers of God, how is it possible that my daughter is also among these unfortunates? As far as I know, my daughter lived in strict obedience of her order's rules, and thus fully in the spirit of the only true church - the Roman Catholic, whose spirit must obviously be the Holy Ghost.
2
In view of such a life and the assurances of the church, my daughter should have gone straight to heaven. For, in addition to her conscientiously holy life, she was awarded by the Pope himself not just one, but a whole dozen, of plenary indulgences, privileged by the Laurentian Mary, absolving her completely from purgatory. How can it be that here such a life has no value before God?
3
Yes, I can assure you, upon my life, that my daughter was truly and unmistak ably nominated by heaven as a bride of Christ through a vision received by a most godly and strict-living Jesuit. This pious man admitted humbly to having had the following dream:
4
Mary and St. Joseph came to him in a celestial light and said, ' Listen you pure brother of the angels. Go to N.N. who has a dear young daughter who has found favor with Jesus, and HE wants to make her His most favored bride. Go on behalf of God, your Lord, and procure this bride for Him, or you will never have a part in the Kingdom of God!'
5
Upon waking, he pondered this dream and after he had had the same dream three times, he informed the convent, which then passed it on to the general in Rome. And how surprised the whole convent was when the word came from the general that he had had the same dream, and when he did not believe it, Mary had appeared to him even a fourth time and said sadly:
6
'Oh, you wretched worm in the dust, since you do not believe, you will be smitten with a severe illness until the dear maiden is in the convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart as a bride for my son! As a confirmation of the truth, for three days in succession all the bells in Rome shall ring of their own accord at midnight for an hour!'
7
All this had miraculously taken place, and the general secretly ordered special prayers in all the convents. He had also particularly urged the Jesuit, who had had the dream about my daughter, to keep praying night and day for her to join the convent.
8
I myself did not want to part with her, especially as I was very rich and of high nobility. My daughter was very beautiful, gentle and good, and could have married well. However, eventually I gave in to the pleas of the pious Jesuit, and as my daughter also preferred Christ to any other bridegroom, she took the veil and became a bride of Christ. Oh, you unhappy bride!
9
'You mighty messengers of the Lord, tell me, poor unhappy father that I am, in what way did my daughter sin that she is now among these unfortunate, truly hellish, beings? Did she have any secret vices, or was she simply a hypocrite? Or is, perhaps, the Roman church a fake? Do tell me why this terrible thing has happened to my daughter!'
10
Says one of the two white-robed men: 'Friend, have you never read the Gospel of the Lord?'
11
Replies the old man: 'Only as a schoolboy, but never after that, for I used to attend mass every Sunday and on all holidays and listened to the sermons. Besides, we laymen were forbidden by the church to read the Bible, and I believe I did the right thing in obeying the church in everything.'
12
Says the messenger again: 'Well, if the church was more important to you than the pure Word of God, you will have to ask the church to account for what has happened to your daughter - not us, who as true Protestants, unlike the Roman church, have never adhered to anything but what Christ Himself taught. But in the Gospel there is nothing mentioned about an only true Roman Catholic church, nor about a pope, Jesuits, or Ladies of the Sacred Heart. It simply says: 'Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind . . . and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the laws and all the prophets!'
13
Whoever works only for the sake of the reward is an idle servant and not worthy of the reward, even less of the Lord, Who says: ' He that loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more than Me is not worthy of Me. When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants.'
14
Behold, those are words of God! Ask yourself whether you knew them and whether you or your spiritually arrogant daughter have ever observed them.'
15
Says the old man: 'If they are really the words of God, which I do not doubt, especially the commandments of love, I am beginning to understand why this has happened to my daughter. However, she is a victim of deception and entitled to forbearance and the Lord's mercy.'
16
Says the messenger again: 'Friend, if the Lord were not better than you and your daughter imagine, both of you would be in hell by now! But, because the Lord is endlessly better and wiser, you are now, instead of in hell, only in a most essential state of correction of your thinking, in a bath of mercy for the healing of your whole being.
17
Let me tell you that the dream of the Jesuit was an invention because of your beautiful and rich daughter. The Lord allowed this to happen in view of the fact that you wanted nothing less than a prince for your daughter. This was all the more wrong of you for, contrary to the Christian teaching that all men are equal, you withheld your daughter from a poor but otherwise righteous man, and even had him punished for his boldness! Such an attitude is accursed before God!
18
In the end it was not a prince who got your daughter, but a sly Jesuit, who deceived both of you! In view of all this, can you call God to account for the unfortunate state your daughter is in now - God Who is the essence of love, humility, and meekness?
19
Besides, my friend, your daughter was arrogant and harsh towards her subordinates, having soon become a prioress of this new order, because she was the richest. She considered herself a saint in view of her miraculous calling, and even more so because at night a masked Lord Jesus visited her personally, to whom she, as his bride, naturally granted all he asked, after the so-called heavenly veil had been raised. Of course, she did not tell you about this, except that her Jesus demanded that you bequeath your entire great fortune to the holy order, which you also did in your blind faith!
20
This is how things are with you and your daughter and how they will be with your wife, who is still living on earth. How do you imagine that a human being can expect heaven with such a life next to God's teaching, especially since your daughter knew very soon who her would-be Lord Jesus really was? Is this now clear to you, my dear friend?'
21
The old man is quite nonplussed, and several others with him. He now feels like cursing Rome, but the two white-robed men forbid him to do so, pointing out to him that the Lord alone may condemn, and that all men must forgive if they want to be forgiven themselves. This pacifies our old man, and I can see that one of the frogs is beginning to shrink. It is probably the aforesaid 'bride of Christ.' Now things are beginning to move in the right direction, brother!"