Father I love you. Test

My Spirit.

         What I saw.

         "Brother Aurelius, once my soul exited from my body, the mantle (in tubular form) unfolded and opened up.

 

         My Spirit.

         The glowing white sphere is my spirit and is about the size of my brain. I now know it is adaptable to any braincase, it is also part of the mantle so, my intellect is conscious of my entire body. The idiom, “get into the spirit” does not apply to us, WE ARE SPIRIT.

         As a soul, can I see and understand?

         “Brother Thomas, while my soul was out of my body, I saw my body and everything in the bedroom. Can my spirit see and understand separate substances?”

         -Brother Raymond, - “Souls apart from the body know other separated souls; as we see in the case of the rich man in hell, who saw Lazarus and Abraham (Luke. 16:23). Therefore separated souls see the devils and the angels.

         In his work De Trin. ix, 3, our Brother Augustine says,            ‘our mind acquires the knowledge of incorporeal things by itself’’--i.e. by knowing itself (Question [88], Article [1], ad 1). Therefore from the knowledge that the separated soul has of itself, we can judge how it knows other separate things. Now it was said above (Article [1]) that as long as it is united to the body the soul understands by turning to phantasms[1], and therefore it does not understand itself save through becoming actually intelligent by means of ideas abstracted from phantasms; for thus it understands itself through its own act, as shown above (Question [87], Article [1]).

         When, however, it is separated from the body, it understands no longer by turning to phantasms, but by turning to simply intelligible objects; hence in that state it understands itself through itself. Now, every separate substance "understands what is above itself and what is below itself, according to the mode of its substance" (De Causis viii): for a thing is understood according as it is in the one who understands; while one thing is in another according to the nature of that in which it is. And the mode of existence of a separated soul is inferior to that of an angel, but is the same as that of other separated souls. Therefore the soul apart from the body has perfect knowledge of other separated souls, but it has an imperfect and defective knowledge of the angels where its natural knowledge is concerned. But the knowledge of glory is otherwise.

         It is clear then that it was for the soul's good that it was united to a body, and that it understands by turning to phantasms. Nevertheless it is possible for it to exist apart from the body, and also to understand in another way."[2]

         “Brother Thomas, this is exactly what happened to me. In my soul state, I was apart from my body, but I knew and understood everything I knew and understood when I was in my body.”

         What is our spirit?

         To understand this, we must go back to the beginning. In the Old Testament, Jeremiah wrote,  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.” [3]

         And, again in the Old Testament, Isaiah wrote, “I have called you by your name, you are mine.” [4]

         Isaiah said, “I have called you by your name,” you, a unique person, you, a spirit.

         Praise the Lord forever and ever. Amen.

         Since it is God who gives us our name, we should not be called by any another name. When we want to communicate with another, it should always be “baptismal name” to “baptismal name,” the name given to us and to the other by God in Christ Jesus and spoken by our parents.

         My spirit, where I was.

In this graphic, we see the glowing white sphere. This is where I was, this is my spirit. My spirit is me, my personhood.[5] Here I was, with my mind, my intelligence, my memory, my will, my history, my vision, my hearing, everything that I am, but without a body.

This has led me to wonder; outside of my body I had memory, knowledge, a history, my imagination, a will, curiosity etc.  Why then do I need a brain? Only because I have a body. Obviously my brain is the link between my spirit and my body and between my body and my spirit. But this link has as its sole and unique purpose, to nourish my spirit with information (via my senses); information my spirit (intelligence, mind, memory etc.) will ponder, retain and use to love God, myself and my neighbor. Information from the “outside world,” can only be known to my spirit through my ears, my eyes, my nose, my touch, and my taste. This information is processed by my spirit and not by my brain, for it (the brain) is simply a sort of copilot for my biological robot (body) for my spirit to use for its contacts with the “outside” world. So, it is not my brain that labors in this process, it is my spirit. Our brain enables us to see, hear, touch, taste and smell, but, our spirit looks, listens, feels, savors and discerns, not our brain. Remember, our brain cannot add 2+2. Moreover, the brain (by itself) does not have a clue as to what Truth is.

When my soul was out of my body, I could exercise no power over my body, nor did I desire to do so. However, my mind was not hampered in the least. If anything it performed with a great deal more ease.

The brain receives information from our spirit/intellect/mantle for the operation of our biological motors. Our spirit/intellect/mantle continuously monitor our biological motors.

It is our spirit (in Christ Jesus) that should gather knowledge, that should love and speak and conquer creation in our Father’s blessed name. We would do well to see Jesus with our spirit, to follow Jesus with our spirit, to listen, to love, to teach and to perform miracles like Jesus, in, with and through our spirit: not with our brain, but in, with and through our spirit, for our brain can do nothing without our spirit. Our spirit, made in God’s image and likeness can do everything. Jesus made this abundantly clear when he says, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[6]

Everything we pursue with our brain will stay on this earth and turn to dust. Everything we pursue with our spirit (made in God’s image and likeness) will give glory and honor and benediction to our heavenly Father forever and ever. Amen.

Though my body was there below me, I did not feel different than what I was before I left my body, except I had no weight. I was the same as I was when in my body. I was whole, alive, well and at peace. This was me, my spirit and Raymond being one and the same.

In summary then, our spirit has two roles: one, to pilot our body for our survival in this world and two, to assimilate the visible and the invisible world for God’s greater glory. Though there is nothing man cannot do, what he does must be done in union with our Father’s will, with his Son’s word, and with the power of the Holy Spirit. God is God and we are his creatures.[7]

A number of wiggly hair-like threads protruded from my spirit (large white sphere). They were filled with zest and wiggling with untiring fatigue, as if they were searching for something.

                          
Brain as an organ.                   Brain permeated by the spirit.

Do these “wiggly threads” link my spirit to the various lobes and parts of the brain? This would certainly answer the question, how, "Brain states causally interact with mental states. But there is no answer to the question of how they do so. The interactions are brute facts. Many philosophers, including many of Descarte's contemporaries, have found that difficult to accept.”[8]

“Are the wiggly threads that link my spirit to the various lobes and parts of the brain, the answer to that question?”

Since the soul is completely and entirely responsible for all bodily activity, I do not find any difficulty in accepting this interaction between my spirit and my body, through the body’s brain organ. The brain after all knows nothing, understands nothing, sees nothing and imagines nothing. The brain can do nothing on its own. Brother Thomas underlines this in his reply to objection 1 Question 76 Article 1 of his Summa Theologica, “Whether the intellectual principle is united to the body as its form?”

“Isn’t that so Brother Thomas?”

-Yes indeed Brother Raymond. I said:-

“ . . . the intellectual power does not belong to a corporeal organ, as the power of seeing is the act of the eye; for understanding is an act which cannot be performed by a corporeal organ, like the act of seeing. But it exists in matter so far as the soul itself, to which this power belongs, is the form of the body, and the term of human generation. And so the Philosopher says (De Anima iii) that the intellect is separate, because it is not the faculty of a corporeal organ. From this it is clear how to answer the Second and Third objections: since, in order that man may be able to understand all things by means of his intellect, and that his intellect may understand immaterial things and universals, it is sufficient that the intellectual power be not the act of the body.” (Underline is the author’s.)

The brain organ may at any time become dysfunctional for any number of reasons, but that does not prevent me from being me, and totally present to me, though I may not be totally present to others.

The mantle is what enables my intellect to be present in all parts of my body, thus enabling me to be conscious and responsible for all of my body motions. I like this particular definition of the mind:

"2. The collective conscious and unconscious processes (in my spirit and in my mind) in a sentient organism (the brain) that direct and influence mental and physical behavior." [9] (Bracketed words are mine.)

-Brother Raymond?-

"Yes Brother Thomas."

“It is clear it was for the soul's good that it was united to a body, and that it understands by turning to the phantasms. Nevertheless it is possible for it to exist apart from the body, and also to understand in another way.” [10]

“Brother Thomas, from my own experience, I wholeheartedly confirm this.”

-I wish I had a similar experience. I wonder if any of my writings would have changed?-  mused Brother Thomas.

“Brother Thomas, you and Brother Aurelius and the others have done incredible work, considering that what you had was inspiration and the power of deduction. Fantastic! My soul is exactly what you and Brother Aurelius describe in your writings.”

-Thank you Brother Raymond.-

"Brother Thomas, it was immediately obvious to me, that I, Raymond, Me, was the head of this “thing.” That circular white sphere was me, my mind, my consciousness, my memory, and my will, my everything. This is where I was, not a pile of wet meat lying on the bed but here, above the bed. Indeed, I am not inside the white sphere, I am the white sphere. I had no fleshy brain, but I had all my faculties, all my inherent powers and abilities. I had no fleshy brain because I did not have a fleshy body for a fleshy brain to operate.

“Loving Father, I knew that I was here, above my body, but I do not know if to another, I was visible or invisible. I believe that to another my spirit and my soul would be invisible, since a lower state (flesh and blood) cannot see or comprehend a higher state (spirit and soul) without the intermediary of a phantasm. With my spirit, I could see things that were of a lower state; I saw my visible body and the room. I could also see things of an equal state, my soul with all its parts. But I saw nothing of a higher sate. These two alone were visible to me. More remarkable still, I had no fear[11] whatsoever, since I was alive and well with all my faculties.”

Since I did not leave the room, since I did not leave this world, I did not have the experience of seeing Heaven or anything else in that realm. Angels I had seen earlier with the eyes of my body.

Spirit created in the image and likeness of God.

         “Dear God, I know you have created my spirit in your image and in your likeness, Love: in the image and likeness of your will, of your Word and your Power. The whole and only purpose of your will, your word and your power, is to Love, for as St. John tells us, “You are Love.”[12]

         Dear God, I, my spirit, was created to be like you, to Love, with my will, my word and my power. Since all words belong to you, and you have decreed that I may speak your words, my vocation as your Child, is to minister to you accordingly.

         Loving Father, your Son Jesus continually tells us he came, to do your will. It is easy to see that you Father, are the will of God,[13] and as we have seen earlier, your will is to love others, by doing good to others, to everyone. I will know rejoicing or suffering by what I will. Loving Father, each day of creation, you saw what you created and said it was good.[14] On the last day Father, you looked at everything you created and you said it was very good. [15]

         “Father, each day of my life may my spirit see what I did that day and with you say, “It was good.” On the last day of my life, may I look back and see what I did with you Father. With you may I also say, “It was very good.”

          I know from the experience described above (out of body) that I was there, in space, in spiritual form, in a soul state without corporeal matter, complete in every way except for my body. With my intellect, my will and my word I was like you dear God, except you are Love, you are Intellect, you are Will, you are Word, and you are Power.

         Though I have been made in your image heavenly Father, I am far from willing to love others by doing good for them. Because of sin, like my Brother Paul, “I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” [16]

         Father, as I hovered above my body, it never occurred to me to sin. However, in a soul state, like the bad angels in their spirit state, my will does not need a body to sin. Should I be in a hospital bed, with all of my body in a cast, I could still sin, for it is our will that sins. I could still choose my will over yours. I still had a choice, I could still say “No!” to you. But why would I say “No.” to you? Why would I want anything other than to be with you and to love you for sharing your blessed Goodness with me? Whether I have a body or not, it is my will that sins, and, my will resides in my spirit, not in my body. Jesus tells us, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” [17] Eyes see, but the will looks.

         Without a body I had no need or appetite or desire either for life-sustaining things or for material things. But, existing as a soul, I could still say “No.” to you, like the bad angels did. I could still refuse to accept Jesus as my King and refuse to minister to Him as My Lord and God. In this experience, I did not have the time to even consider these things, but in that state, is separation from you because of sin still possible?

         Yet Father, in my soul state, why would I possibly want to say “No.” to you? What heavenly ambitions would provoke such a thought? What do I lack or need? Being with you, what else would I want? Only the Tempter from the “outside” would dare to make any such suggestion.”

Reason and intelligence are not in the brain.

         "Brother Aurelius, is our reason and our intelligence in our brain?"

         -No Brother Raymond.-

         "Our soul is endowed with reason and intelligence, so that we might excel all the creatures of earth, air, and sea, which were not so gifted." [18]

         “So, reason and intelligence are attributes of the soul, and not attributes of the brain.”[19]

         “Brother Peter, you made an interesting comment on this in your footnote to question 8, ‘Summa of the Summa, on ‘The Existence of God in Things.’ Footnote 60.’ By the way, you have written a great work on the Summa Theologica, one which I highly recommend."

         -Thank you Brother Raymond. In my footnote I said:-

         “A remote physical analogy might be the sea being in a sunken ship. St. Thomas' analogy is better: the body is in the soul rather than vice versa, as we usually think. (How materialistic our usual thinking is!) This sensory-imaginative picture victimized even Descartes, thinking when he struggled with the mind-body problem. He thought, for a time, that the soul might be in the pineal gland! And we still often think the mind is in the brain. That is like thinking a computer programmer is in his hardware. He transcends even his software, how much more his hardware! Hence also God is in things as containing them: nevertheless by a certain similitude to corporeal things, it is said that all things are in God; inasmuch as they are contained by Him.” [20]

         To repeat what Brother Aurelius said:

         “God, then, made man in his own image. For he created for him a soul endowed with reason and intelligence, so that he might excel all the creatures of earth, air, and sea, which were not so gifted. And when he had formed the man out of the dust of the earth, and had willed that his soul should be such as I have said, whether he had already made it, and now by breathing imparted it to man, or rather made it by breathing, so that that breath which God made by breathing (for what else is 'to breathe' than to make breath) is the soul?”[21] (Italics are the author’s.)

Our intelligence and the intelligence of the angels.

“Brother Thomas, is our intelligence inferior or superior to that of the angels?”

-Brother Raymond, in my reply to the question, "Whether the soul is of the same species as an angel?" I stated:-

“The body is not of the essence of the soul; but the soul by the nature of its essence can be united to the body, so that, properly speaking, not the soul alone, but the "composite," (body and soul) is the species (mankind). And the very fact that the soul in a certain way requires the body for its operation, proves that the soul is endowed with a grade of intellectuality inferior to that of an angel, who is not united to a body.”[22] (Bracketed words are the author’s.)

Spirit is to our soul what our head is to our body.

Getting back to the question of the spirit being the head of the soul, let us recall what Brother Aurelius said earlier:

“In Psalm 3:4, David says,” ‘But you, Lord, are a shield around me; my glory, you keep my head high.’ “I think that this should be here taken of the human mind, which is not unreasonably called the head of the soul;” [23]

Here, Brother Aurelius hints the human mind can be called the head of the soul. This is exactly how I saw my spirit in relation to the rest of my soul. My spirit was as much the head of my soul as my human head is the head of my body, and so it must be for it is the conscious intellect that controls bodily movement.

Again in his book on the Trinity, Brother Aurelius says:

“But if, again, we were so to define man as to say, Man is a rational substance consisting of mind and body, then without doubt man has a soul that is not body, and a body that is not soul. And hence these three things are not man, but belong to man, or are in man. If, again, we put aside the body and think of the soul by itself, the mind is somewhat belonging to the soul, as though its head, or eye, or countenance; but these things are not to be regarded as bodies.” [24]

Notice Brother Aurelius’ reference to the mind (spirit) as somewhat belonging to the soul, as though its head, or eye, or countenance. It belongs to the soul to the extent that is a part of our soul but it is not the soul, like my head is a part of my body but it is not my body.

Dear Brother and Sister in the Lord, when we pray, it must be from within; from our spirit where we truly are and from where we must speak. This is where our words are born. Our spirit is made in the image and likeness of God; every word our spirit speaks must be “God's word.” And, when God speaks to us, his Spirit speaks to our spirit. Here, read this next sentence with your mind, do not speak the words out loud:

“What a beautiful sunset!”

Did you not “hear” these words in your mind as you read them? And so it is when the Holy Spirit speaks to you, you hear his words in your mind as you heard the words in that sentence, as soft as a breeze?[25] This is one way for you, spirit that you are, and God, Spirit that he is, can dialogue and share with one another. This is where Father and Child can meet.[26] But, we must listen... our spirit must be present to the Holy Trinity.

This is also the case when your guardian angel talks to you. “He” is firstly a spirit and secondly a guardian angel, so he communicates with you, spirit to spirit. His voice is the same as the Holy Spirit’s voice. Indeed all spirit voices are the same; it is only their level of authority that is different. The importance of your spirit being at peace with God cannot be stressed enough. If one is not at peace with God, God or your guardian angel, a saint, a departed member of the family etc. will have great difficulty in communicating with you. You simply will not hear their voices. Should we be so preoccupied with other things that an important kingdom message cannot be communicated to us (as is often the case), an “unexpected’ event in one’s life usually wakes one up, bringing us back to the real world. The psalmist tells us, “Do not be senseless like horses or mules; with bit and bridle their temper is curbed, else they will not come to you.”[27]

         Once I was a diocesan resource person to various parishes. My assignment was to help organize pastoral teams for the ministry of baptism. At one particular workshop, we were discussing the consequences of original sin. Suddenly a raised hand signaled a question: “Why does my baby have to be baptized? He hasn't done anything wrong. Why does he have to pay for sins committed by others?”

         In the tone of her question, I detected the presence of a spirit other than that of the Holy Spirit. This made me very uneasy but even as she was asking the question, I could hear very clearly the voice of the Holy Spirit from within.[28] As you heard the words, “What a beautiful sunset!” I heard Him say, “Do not worry, here is the answer you will give.” In a flash I understood the entire answer. My excitement was such that I could hardly wait for her to finish asking her question so that I could reply. My uneasiness left me. There were 125 persons at this session and their eyes were now on me. It was obvious this question was also of interest to others. Now they were waiting for the answer as well. When she finished, I asked her:

         “Your son was born a Canadian citizen, was he not?”

         “Yes,” she answered.

         “Was he responsible for any part of our national debt?”

         “No,” she answered.

         “This debt was incurred by us, our parents, their parents and their parents and so on. He is not responsible for any of the debt we created. Nevertheless, because he was born a Canadian citizen, he will be asked to pay a share of that debt, will he not?” I asked.

         “Yes, that is true.” she answered.

         “If such a law is considered just by men, why do you consider it to be unjust for God to do the same? Yet, because of his Love for us, in baptism he will cancel your son's share of the debt due to Him because of the sin of his/our first parents.”

         She thanked me and said she understood the response very well. With thanksgiving I embraced the Holy Spirit. With renewed zeal, dedication and commitment I continued with the course.

No matter what form or how small, there is no room for lies in the kingdom of God. A lie is totally unacceptable and a complete opposite to who we are and to Whom we represent, the Truth. The fruit of a lie is darkness while the kingdom of God is a kingdom of Light. Yahweh destroys liars. (Psalm 5:6) "No man who practices deceit shall live within my house. No man who utters lies shall stand before my eyes." [29] In the kingdom of God, words from our spirit must breathe God’s life, creativity, and Truth in the other, as happened in this experience.

Further, we do not pray from the printed word. Faced with a text, our spirit unites with the Holy Spirit, he who spoke the original text, that we may be one with Him in prayer. We must be continually conscious we are a spirit made in the image and likeness of God, all our words and actions must be spirit driven. Every word in the Bible is a word addressed to our spirit, a spirit made in God’s image and likeness. If our spirit is possessed, either by our will or some other spirit of darkness, we have of course isolated ourselves from the Holy Spirit. If our spirit is in union with God’s will, (as taught and shown to us by Jesus) we are of course One with our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, whereupon our blessed life is lived in our Father’s House, with God, his angels and his saints. We all have the same name “Jesus,” but we each spell it differently.

Liberty, our Father’s greatest gift to you and me.

“Loving Father, you have given me liberty. With that liberty I can choose to love you and to do your will, and, like our Mother Mary and the good angels, I can choose to cleave to you and in so doing, speak words that are yours.

But loving Father, my will can will one thing, and my word can speak another thing and my hands can do still another. In these ways loving Father, I can sin against You, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, by not willing, speaking and doing things like you do, the God in Whose Image I have been created. “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.”[30] How can I be good Father when I sin in this way?”

-Brother Raymond.-

“Yes Brother Aurelius?”

“How, I say, can good be the cause of evil? For when the will abandons what is above itself, (God) and turns to what is lower, (anything other than God) it becomes evil not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning (choice of the will) itself is wicked. Therefore it is not an inferior thing which has made the will evil, but it is itself (our will) which has become so, by wickedly and inordinately desiring an inferior thing[31]” (Anything other than God). (Bracketed words are the author’s.)

Example: When we put someone down, we choose our will over God's Love, who tells us to, “Love our neighbor . . .” In this instance we suffer twice the heartbreak. First for saying, “No.” to God's Love, and then the pains of isolation from Him, the emptiness and loneliness on that account, and secondly for hurting another soul, for hurting the Community, for hurting Christ, for turning our back on the Holy Spirit. We come face to face with the fruits of our own will. We are disappointed, confused, empty, lost, lonely and left with our own dead-end. If love for self dominates our decision making, our suffering is fueled by the very limits of what we are.

We must never forget, only two loves are possible, either love for God or love for self. If love for God dominates our decision-making, there is no limit to our love since it focuses on Him and everything in his creation. We cannot have two kinds of love, one kind for God and another kind for us or for our neighbor. Persons who do not share God's blessings with others, are like the servant who buried the funds his Master left with him.[32] At death, in his final hour, he/she will return to his/her Father’s home with no more than what he had been originally given. There is only one authentic love, love for God for his sake, love for self for God’s sake and love for our neighbor for God’s sake.

It is my opinion, every word we spoke (either silently in our mind or vocally) every act of ours (either meditated or performed) and every thought we had, in short everything but everything we ever did, (i.e. our spirit ever did) from the time we were conceived, resides in our spirit. This very same spirit, with his or her entire personal history, is the one that will meet God face to face, when and where everything we are will be known. Our dear Lord tells us, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” [33]

“What does it mean “to glorify God”, or “to give glory to your Father who is in heaven?” To glorify God means to be the living proof in this world of the existence of God.”[34] That is why we should rejoice and be glad, for this day the Lord has made, this is the day you and I (passing through this world) can be living proof of the existence of God as Jesus taught us.

 

Psalm 146.

My soul, give praise to the Lord;

I will praise the Lord all my days,

Make music to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes,

In mortal men in whom there is no help.

Take their breath, they return to clay

And their plans that day come to nothing.

He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who alone made heaven and earth,

The seas and all they contain.

 

It is he who keeps faith forever,

Who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

The Lord, who sets prisoners free,

 

The Lord who gives sight to the blind,

Who raises up those who are bowed down,

The Lord, who protects the stranger

And upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just

But thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign forever,

Zion’s God, from age to age.”

                   

Summary.

Our spirit is everything. We should see with our spirit, hear with our spirit, taste with our spirit, touch with our spirit and we should smell with our spirit. We should love with our spirit, imagine with our spirit, talk from our spirit, sing from our spirit, dream from our spirit, ponder with our spirit, be present to others through our spirit, pray with our spirit, study with our spirit, heal with our spirit... in short, everything we do, everything, everything everything we do must be done in, with and through our spirit, a spirit made in God’s image and likeness. Our prayers to our Father, our Brother and the Holy Spirit, must be from our spirit to Their Spirit, from our personhood to their Personhood. Prayers to the departed must be from our spirit to their spirit. Life in the spirit is the only way we can do things as our heavenly Father does them. Life in the Holy Spirit is the only life there is in the Kingdom of God. We must attend mass in our spirit, (physically we are at our parish church but spiritually we should be at the Last Supper in Jerusalem), we must receive the Body and Blood of Christ with our spirit, and we must receive Christ’s forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation with our spirit. For you and for me, that Kingdom is here and now.

Our Brother Paul tells us, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.”[35]

“It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[36]

In earlier years, doing volunteer work in nursing homes, I was often ill at ease with the wrinkles, bruises, rashes and other infirmities of the elderly. Since I wrote this book, now I only see spirits, beautiful eternal spirits made in God’s image, trying to love their God and Savior through their tired bones and the infirmities of old age. These spirits are as beautiful as they were on the day of their baptism. Where once I saw defeat, I now see holy perseverance. It has become a joy for me to minister to these spirits made in God’s image