Father I love you. Test

My body, a masterpiece, and yet?

            As I mentioned earlier, in one, very fast, smooth and perfect movement, I (my spirit and my soul) left my body and came to a sudden stop above it. My soul was suspended in the air above the bed, about halfway between the ceiling and the bed. In spite of everything that happened (leaving my body and finding myself suspended above it) my attention was focused on my body lying on the bed. My bodily eyes were closed. My body was motionless. It looked like a mannequin. 

For a long time, in wonder and in awe, I looked at my body. For the first time in my life I saw my body, as another person would see it, as if I was in a coffin. There it was, on my bed like a puppet without strings; head, arms, torso and legs, all completely inert. Clothing over meaningless flesh and bone, over motionless members. All those incredible organs and veins and arteries and tissue and ligaments, all in limbo. It appeared clumsy and restrictive, very inhibiting. Without my soul there was nothing my body could do, absolutely nothing.

Yet, I was overwhelmed at how great a marvel our bodies are, truly masterpieces of beauty and ingenuity. But it is not the greater part of who we are. Each and every part, each and every organ, each and every cell was there for one purpose and one purpose only, to enable me, spirit that I am, to be God's Child in his creation. Our bodies are there to serve our spirits and our souls, that together, soul and body, we may “love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind, that I may love myself, and that I may love my neighbor as myself,[1]” and, that we may conquer the earth[2] as God has asked you and me to do.

Bodies, as beautiful and symmetric as they are, are never anything more than an instrument at the service of our eternal, immortal soul.

Brother Aurelius says,

“Now, O my soul, thou art my better part, unto thee I speak; for thou animatest the mass of thy body, giving it life, which no body furnishes to a body but thy God is even unto thee the Life of life.”[3]

My head.

My head, once the control center for everything in my life, and for everything God wanted of me, was now an immobile skull lying on a pillow. When I had that head I was God's ambassador in this land. It was like sitting on a throne, like being a general for a great army. I could have exercised so much power in my Father’s name. From here my heavenly Father would teach me. From this vantage I could see the entire universe, all of time and all of history. From here, I could imagine myriad wonders and dream dreams. I had at my disposal intelligence, imagination, understanding, reason, emotions, memory, vision and a will. I had real power. I was God’s son.

How many years have I wasted, using these gifts for personal and infantile purposes? Why did I allow perversity and immaturity to reign from this throne? How can God be content with the way I have used his gifts? Yet, and this is the miracle of it all, he has brought me from valley to mountaintop, from darkness to light. He has allowed me to act on his behalf and to be his ambassador in my little corner of his Kingdom.

Now, without my spirit, my head (this center for Divine government in the Kingdom of God) is but bone and flesh on a pillow. A weed in a field has more life and more power than this head.

My eyes.

Suspended above the bed, I saw those closed eyes. Earlier they were my windows to God's visible world. Through them I saw his creation and his Children, my brothers and sisters. Now, they cannot even see the darkness.

My ears.

I saw my ears, and like everything else on my body, they too were useless. They no longer heard songbirds, thunder, traffic, symphonies, music from his brooks or the loving words of those dear to me. They no longer heard the myriad sounds of his creation. They no longer heard the compositions of my God. 

My mouth.

As I hovered, I saw my mouth, closed and still. Once it was a fountain for millions and millions of letters, words, sounds of love, of joy, of anger, of laughter and prayer. Sounds of useless chatter, of rules and laws. Now it cannot whisper the softest sound or breathe the smallest breath. This great gift from God, which I was given to sing his praises and bless his creation, was now nothing but a box of bone and flesh, teeth and a tongue.

My limbs.

My arms rested at my side. With them my soul could reach out to anything and everything. There were my hands and fingers, instruments for my spirit to do God's work, to create, to do thousands and thousands of good things. Now, without a spirit and a soul, my hands were still and motionless. God made his angels spirits and placed them in his invisible world where they minister to Him. He made us spirits incarnate placing us in his visible world where you and I are to minister to Him. How often did I use those hands to glorify self or to satisfy my body or to hurt others, and how often did I fail to use them to glorify God through good works?

My legs were there to walk, to run, and to bring my spirit wherever I wanted to go. Now they were as nothing but sticks of bone and flesh, useless stilts with no spirit to make use of them. Once they walked on the living green grass, every blade part of a regal rug for my royal feet.

When I reflect on how I orchestrated this great marvel (my body) I must surely be the most immature person in God’s creation.

Our Brother Paul tells us, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"[4]

Jesus said his body is a temple. [5]

Ironically, without my eyes I see more clearly and understand more fully that my body is indeed a temple and that the Spirit of God does indeed dwell in me.

Dearest Brother and Sister in the Lord, alive we are living, mobile temples, which belong to God, where the Spirit of God dwells. There was His temple below me and here I was, a spirit created by God hovering above it. With what love, with what respect, with what fear, should we care for this temple wherein each one of us dwells?

When this experience is over, will I have learned that the only reason I have been created, the only reason I am here, is to, “ . . . love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind, and to love my neighbor as myself?” [6] To love Him and my brothers and sisters, with every part of my being, body and soul.

Our incredible voice, a means for our spirits to meet.

Much of what we are, what we mean, how we dress and what we say, can be very deceitful and misleading. Many wear masks. Our voice however, contains an incredible amount of personal information about our spirit. Our voice is simply a loudspeaker; the words are from our spirit.

I remember one Sunday, after mass, I was talking with a young lady at the parish brunch. I asked her,

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

“Go ahead." she replied.

“Are you in the paramilitary?" I asked.

“Yes." she replied.

“I am a member of the … police force. How did you know?" she asked.

“Do you mind if I ask you another question?" I said.

“OK." she replied.

“I would guess that you have been a policewoman for 15 years."

“I have been on the force 17 years." she replied.

She was quite amazed at my observations.

“I'll tell you something else." I said.

“You are a great team player. In a way, you could be considered as being married to the force. Your fellow officers can depend on you. There will never be a situation when you will let them down. The force's life is your life. You are a very happy person because you are a member of that team."

Blushing, she replied:

“How do you know all that?"

I did not reply and we continued with our meal.

I was carrying on an experiment. This was an opportunity to test my “soul/voice” listening skills. I discerned everything I new about her, by simply listening to her voice. Her vocal symphony was written from bars and bars of personal experiences. Her sound waves revealed a vocational spirituality that easily identified her great love as a policewoman. We meet through our words. I must communicate with you word-to-word. To do this, I must listen to the sounds (to the signs) given by your spirit, your words. If you would like to know how much love there is between you and your spouse or your children, or with God, consider how much time you spend in dialogue with them. Dialogue is to love, what blood is to Life.