Have You Ever Been Overwhelmed By This

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='dUSt' date='Sep 1 2004, 04:47 PM'] When I was a child I saw a small boy standing next to my bed, just staring at me. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them back up, he was gone.

That's the only supernatural experience I've ever had. Still don't know what to make of it. [/quote]
Actually, for a few seconds between sleep and consciousness, most people hallucinate, but few remember it.

Still, who knows...

[AfroNova No Limit Soldier]

I've had similar experiences.

Just make sure these are bringing you closer to Mary, the Church, and Christ.

Otherwise, they are delusions by the devil.

'Cause if it ain't bringin' you closer to Him, then it's doin' the opposite.

Dude, there's lots of great Saints who were mystics - St. Theresa of Avila is one. A lot of people thought she was being disillusioned by the devil.

St. Thomas Aquinas used to levitate during mass in bouts of ecstasy because Heaven would open up & pour grace upon him.

Just remember the passage from the Gospel of Matthew - seed thrown onto rocky soil will sprout quickly but will quickly wither under the sun. We must have a foundation, we can't always be chasing the God high. The God high isn't our God.

God isn't a hippie.

[Donna]

Actually, St. Ignatius (Loyola) says in times of consolation we should pray to arm ourselves for when the time of desolation shall come.

Certainly God can communicate to us through the senses, or dreams, etc;

I knew someone who was mourning greatly over Our Lord's Passion for a time...even being awakened at night, and given a clear picture, like in the room. It exhausted her to where she couldn't concentrate on her state of life and its duties. She begged God to stop it, and it stopped. I don't know if it was God in the first place, or the evil one, trying to exhaust/overwhelm her.

Many saints have experienced great spiritual dryness...almost a blindness. St. Therese was one ("I WILL believe!"). We would be wrong to think that if we don't have sensory consolations, that therefore we're not putting enough "into" God.

The foot of the Cross was Our Lady's Station, and I believe that we're all called to be her...[i]and [/i]Him, crucified.

[i]"When God sends a heavy cross, it is because great
graces are needed, and He sees that the heart is gen-
erous to suffer for the graces He longs to give."[/i]

Or, the grace to suffer whatever Our Lord allows must be excruciating and a signal favor, for those He loves, He chastizes, else we be bastards and not true sons.