I walk outside and it’s a mild day. The frogs have even settled. As I move towards the garden, I see Jesus and Mary walk out below the arch and they each offer a hand to me. As we begin to walk, the physical world melts away and my inner vision begins to morph into what looks like a movie scene. There is a sunset, clouds, lots of peach, blue and slivered sun beams.
I get the sense that I am on a type of heavenly conveyor belt; that a surface is rising each time we are moving forward to support my weight. I realize that this is going to be an important lesson and I put on my thinking cap, hoping my memory serves me to remember as much as possible once I rise from my Biomat.
JC:
Don’t worry, Sally. We will write this article together with you.
Oh, thank God! My shoulders relax and as I take a deep breath my step lightens and my inner vision improves. I can see we are near my home and in some sort of heavenly realm at the same time. There are clouds drifting past my feet as if there is a dry ice machine ahead of us beyond the big cloud bank on the horizon.
JC:
You have learned about listening, feeling, and loving. And grieving. How are feeling about what’s been presented?
Sally:
I’m feeling good about it all. They are giant concepts. I need to reread the blog entries. Mary presented them in basic terms but they can be hard to practice.
JC:
Yes, the time must be made to practice. The most important thing is to develop an open heart. That is the discipline to aim for.
(He pauses) We are asking you to find more awareness in your life. Awareness is how you create awakening. What are you aware of after going through your Lenten journey with Mary Magdalene?
This is a big question. I am not sure what is due to the Lenten journey and what is a result of my regular prayers and practices.
Sally:
Well, at night, when I pray to have my fears and worries taken and replaced by trust and faith? That is definitely working. My anxiety has lowered quite a bit. I’m very grateful for that. I feel like I am more aware of the present moment. So, I feel more…capable, maybe? But I forget to actually go into my heart to feel if it is open. I understand that this needs to be a conscious action.
JC:
The final lesson is about the concept of give and take. To be in relation with the world is what the human experience is all about. When we talk about awareness, we are talking about being aware of your heart and your soul. Coming from a deeper, or a higher place in yourself. Do you understand?
Sally:
Yes, I understand what you are saying. But practicing that from moment to moment is another thing. You are talking about radical love, right?
JC:
Yes. I am also talking about looking at your daily world more closely. What are your goals?
Sally:
Well…I’m planning on writing The Path of the Rose, a guided meditation that will allow others to meet and speak with Mary about their individual experience so people can begin to practice the Way of the Rose as she described it to me. That way, I can combine them both into an e-book and put them on my website for people to learn and be inspired. I need to write the outline for a wisdom class I am going to teach in the fall at the church and submit that to Fr. Berto. I need to build the infrastructure on my website more.
JC:
That is a lot of doing. What about being? Where do you need to expand? Become more awakened?
I realize now that I wasn’t on the same wavelength as JC when he asked about goals. As I go deeper and consider this, I see Gandhi show up on JC’s left with his walking stick. Gandhi taught me about practice and discipline. At this point, I mentally retreat and internally ask for JC to take over.
JC:
When we think about our place in the world, it is important to see our relationship to it. What are your friendships like? Are they supportive in the way you want to live? And work: does it nourish your soul? Do you feel like you are making a positive impact on the world? Are you part of a community that makes you feel you are walking on the Path? That you are on the Way?
Mary:
Or do you need support? Do you need help from someone that can be a greater guide in your journey? If you feel stuck, what is your heart asking from you? Can you see beyond your own world? If you can’t, then it is time to stop and ask why that is.
They are talking about being-in-relation. Relation with a capital "R." Being in relation to yourself, others, the world. Do you need to be out in nature to restore yourself? Do you need a therapist to help you navigate where you are at or to help you ask the big questions?
JC:
These things you are asking, that we are asking, are simple and basic. But they have profound consequences on your life. People often don’t take the time to think the important questions through. To connect with themselves, first.
At that moment, the conveyor stops. Clouds float by us. I am completely calm. Each of us is looking forward at the sunset. Or maybe it's a sunrise?
JC:
Sally, what are you going to do today?
I begin to share my to-do list with Jesus. I’m leaving the island tomorrow for a trip to Chicago to visit family. There are a lot of things that need to happen. I think about my mother-in-law who has some wrist pain and the products I’m bringing with that may help her pain. I wonder if she will allow me to practice Reiki on her.
JC:
You need to talk to your family [my husband and daughter]. You need to ask for their support in your work.
The heavenly vision disappears. Fear has entered the scene and I quit breathing.
JC:
Do you sense that your heart has closed?
I blush. Internally the collapse was almost visceral. I begin to better understand the concept of the heart opening and closing. And when the heart opens and closes, it allows the give and take of Relation to occur. Of course.
JC:
Becoming aware of your heart is about first taking the time to recognize and feel into your emotions. You must feel to heal. You must feel to be present in the world.
JC:
You need to ask for their help. Ask for what you need. That is the final lesson. In order to give and receive love, in order to develop greater practices in your life, you need to ask for help. Everyone does. Not just from us! You need to ask for it from those you love in the physical realm. It’s as important to ask for help in the physical realm as it is in the spiritual realm.
JC gets down on one knee and holds my hand. He is the rabbi Jesus now. It is as if he is speaking to a ten-year-old child and maybe in a very real way, he is.
JC:
You need to share how you feel. Opening your heart is a tender act. It is a place of vulnerability and it is beautiful. You are both teacher and student when you share this practice. It is important for you to do this.
He gets up and when he pivots to move forward, the heavenly projector turns back on.
JC:
Being requires doing. Giving requires taking. They are one in the same.
In order to improve, there are risks that need to be taken, actions that need to occur. Asking for help, opening up to your needs and your wants is the first step. If you are unsure how to do this, then you reach out to us.
This is important: within three days you will be called upon to expand your being. This will become clear to you when it happens. Let your readers know that the same will occur for them. Ask them to open their hearts so they can receive this gift.
After JC says this, they continue walking forward but my feet remain solid in place. As the chime goes off on my meditation, their physicality turns into two light beams that float forward into the horizon and disappear.
Reflection questions:
What was the chief lesson you gleaned from your pilgrimage with Mary?
When you think back over the weeks leading to Easter do you recall a time when your heart opened or closed?
Can you open your heart to receive the gift coming from Spirit?
Thank you so much for joining Mary, Jesus and I on our Lenten walk! We hope you continue to join us for my upcoming trip to Ireland when I begin to work on my Relationship with nature. ^_^
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