All from God; all for God

"Let it be our sole privilege to have no privilege calculated to swell our pride; to give ourselves confidence which shall be to the prejudice of others, and be the cause of contentions."

Saint Francis of Assisi

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I have been writing a lot of about this mediumship business of late, mostly to get past it but also because in my particular story, and maybe for others, it's important to understand it.  I've realized it would take many posts to fully convey the way I came to know, accept, learn and practice this.  I hope the reader can only, somehow, accept it as real because I have neither time, energy or desire, frankly, to go to any lengths to convince you.

A few blogs back I expressed my frustration with the fact of the gift and the position of the Church and my life which seemed to block me at almost every turn.  What's the point of me?


From the Catechism:

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

I can and have answered everything in this paragraph to show that mediumship, in and of itself, is not contrary to Christianity or Catholicism and that having this ability to perceive information that comes from the Other Side cannot be a sin. I truly believe that everything was arranged to lead me to the point of discovery, development and practice. Up to a point.

God led Moses right to the Promised Land. But Moses never entered.  We receive spiritual gifts and extraordinary experiences.  We do not generate them.  We are given and are stewards.  But they are, in fact, of God.

The Messiah was given to the Jews, and some of those who accepted He was Messiah, expected certain things.  Jesus was given as gift and, instead of appreciation and submission to God's Will in that Event, people decided what God should be doing, what the Messiah should act like, when He should ....

So What?

There's a story about young monk who reported to the Buddha one day, "Master!  I have achieved levitation!"  and the Buddha responded, "That's nice.  Don't let it interfere with your meditation."

We have moved from extraordinary experience to extraordinary ability.  So what?  They are all God's abilities, not mine, not ours.  They are all intentions of God's for us.  They are His, to be used, or not, as He wills.

I am Catholic.  I was called to the Church directly, knowing nothing of Her.  I have been converted slowly, kicking and screaming all the way, even when I was rejoicing and delighted.  To submit to God, for me, now, must be to submit to the Church He placed me in.  If these psychic abilities are useful to Him from me in some way, He'll make the people and opportunities and information appear and He will do that through His Church.

Tell you the truth, I was always happier singing and washing Holy Water fonts.   I was happier praying alone in front of the Tabernacle.   At the time these extraordinary things happen, they seem huge.  And they are.  But what God is most interested in, is each individual human soul.  That's the real gift we were entrusted with, after all.  This other stuff is just incidental to that.

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Most high, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness
of my heart and give me Lord,
a correct faith, a certain hope,
a perfect charity, sense and knowledge,
so that I may carry out
Your holy and true command

AMEN

(Saint Francis' prayer at the Crucifix of San Damiano)