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:Rapture:
I do not know the day or hour,
nor the form of any rapture to come, whether in the body or out of
the body. There could well be, most likely at the time of the
prophesied world-wide interior Warning in which we suddenly see ourselves
as God sees us, a flight of the spirit heavenward out of the body
for some saints and even a physical levitation of body and soul for
others. St. Theresa rapture as a sudden ecstatic state as though
lifted up by a strong giant or a whirlwind carrying everything away.
This reminds me of the shekinah glory, the whirlwind of souls
caught up in the physical manifestation of the presence of the Father
on earth, appearing as a pillar of fire by night and smoke by day.
St. Paul’s describes the rapture of a man he knew in 2
Cor. xii, 2 sqq. Apparently, the rapture was for this man a
temporary state, from which he must have returned to express that
he had experienced an inexpressible communion with God, otherwise,
Paul would not have known of it. St. Thomas Aquinas interprets
the Paul’s obscure reference to the Third Heaven as a vision
of the Truth and the very essence of God. There was much speculation
about the cosmology of this in the Middle Ages. The notion of
seven heavens predates Christ and has not been clarified by any formal
teaching of the Church. Since God does work in sevens as the
number of blessing (blessing = ”to seven oneself”), such
as the seven days of the week and the seven sacraments, I believe
it is a reasonable proposition to explore.
One way to look at might be hierarchically as follows:
-
The physical
heavens of the created universe
-
-
Purgatory
(Baptized Christian souls are elevated above the angels as brothers
and sisters in Christ through the adoption of John as the son
of Mary at the foot of the cross; Souls in purgatory are in the
heaven of the knowledge of their assured place with God forever
as Saints; The Limbo of the Just (e.g. souls of aborted
babies and other innocents) and the pre-Christ Bosom of Abraham
for just souls awaiting Christ’s opening of the gates of
heaven are also similar to this state in that they both experience
the comfort of the knowledge of God’s love, yet they lack
God’s presence in the beatific vision.)
-
The Saints
in spirit (fully purified souls capable of withstanding the beatific
vision of God)
-
The Saints
in glorified flesh (in God’s form/image) with properties
of impassibility (freedom from suffering, defect or corruption,
as Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden), clarity (glory,
beauty, shining with light, as seen in the Transfiguration), agility
(ability to pass speedily from one place to another at will as
the perfect instrument of the soul, as in Christ’s tempation
in the desert) and subtlety (a perfect subjection of the body
to the governance by the soul without ceasing to be a true body
as in the spiritual body of I Cor. xv 44). The Blessed Virgin
Mary, Queen of the Saints and Angels is in this state with the
reuniting of her body and soul following her death and the assumption
of her body into heaven. All the Saints are in this state
with the general resurrection.
-
The Trinity
(God’s form/image)
-
In this context,
when the Warning occurs, those who love God more than anything else
will be raptured in spirit or body & soul into the state of Purgatory.
As St. Catherine of Genoa said, “I do not believe it would
be possible to find any joy comparable to that of a soul in Purgatory,
except the joy of the Blessed in Paradise. For every sight,
however little, that can be gained of God exceeds every pain and every
joy that man can conceive without it.”
Another way would be causally/sequentially
as follows:
-
God’s
essence
-
The Trinity
(the formation of family with the sacrifice of the separation
into personhood of God’s first born Son)
-
The sacrifice
of the Angels allowed the formation of the space of free will
with separation from God’s will by the sacrifice/rebellion
of the first born, most high archangel, Lucifer.
-
The physical
heavens of the Universe with the sacrifice/separation of space
and time from complete union with God’s Heavenly domain.
-
The first
born human son of God, Adam’s sacrifice of the state of
divine grace through disobedience causing humanity’s fall
from Eden. This separation from indwelling fullness of Grace created
the space of Purgatory, to which potential and interior life we
are restored by baptism washing away Adam’s sins and those
of our ancestors that followed.
-
The insufficient
types of Christ such as the imperfect sacrifice of Adams’
first born son Abel and the more perfect willingness of Abraham
to sacrifice his first born son Isaac. Perhaps with a few
exceptions, the old testament Saints had to await Christ’s
descent into ‘Hell’ (the uppermost region known as
the Bosom of Abraham) to bring them into the fullness of their
Sainthood in Heaven with their glorified bodies, after being seen
walking the streets of Jerusalem following Christ’s death
(Matthew 27:52-53). Before the flood, “Enoch walked
with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Gen. 5:24;
Heb. 11:5) In the patriarchal era, Melchizedek was a type
of Christ who performed a sacrifice with bread and wine and did
not die (Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1-3). Near the foundation of
Israel, Moses was buried supernaturally (). In the time
of the Israelite monarchy, Elija was taken up into the sky by
a whirlwind (Deut. 34:6; 2 Kgs. 2:11).
-
Christ’s
perfect sacrifice (for all humanity, everywhere, for all time)
as the separation of His body and blood beginning with the Agony
in the garden and extending for 2 days to the completion of the
sacrifice of the Mass (which He began in the upper room at the
Last Supper) with the third cup of the Passover meal on the cross,
as well as His soul and body (on the cross and lasting for 3 days
before until His resurrection on Easter). Christ opened
the gates of Heaven for us to enter and eat the bread of heaven
and drink of the waters of life that we would have His life in
us forever.
The seven sacraments instituted
by Christ (”the anointed one”) are:
-
Baptism (Anointing
by the Oil of Catechumens (Olive oil, also used in coronations)
water dipping (or blood or desire) for the regeneration of the
spirit)
-
Confirmation
(Anointing with chrism oil of olive and balsam (and in the traditions
over 50 ingredients including ginger, pepper, rose water and wine)
with the ascent of the will to believe and receive the Holy Ghost)
-
Eucharist
(”thanksgiving” receipt of Christ, the anointed one,
as spiritual food (in the consecrated species of unleavened wheat
bread &/or grape wine))
-
Penance (”repentance”
or regret for sins motivated by love of God, forgiven by Christ,
in his role as the Judge, acting through a Priest)
-
Extreme Unction
(”last anointing” with holy Oil of the Sick (olive
oil blessed by a Bishop on Maundy Thursday including prayer for
exorcism) for healing of body (God willing) and soul)
-
Holy Orders
(marriage with the Christ): Priests, Monks, Nuns, Brothers, Sisters,
Deacons, etcetera.
-
Matrimony
(participation in the creation and formation of Christian souls)
The Mirror, Broken and Mending.......by
the seven procedures of the Creator
We are universal. When we take in m-state minerals, we take them in
anatomically for varying lengths of time. We also take in their universal
field, which is quite a powerhouse at 4/9 the mass equivalent of some
of the heavier metals in the body. The most challenging part is to
free the mind enough to allow it to instruct the body to receive and
reuinite and revive, rejuvenate, regenerate, restore clarity and redintigrate.
These are the seven blessings of life. What we receive is life. What
we reunite is self. What we revive is hope. What we rejuvenate is
function. What I regenerate is community. What I restore is love,
and what I redintigrate is heaven.
Something happens. You connect and you come alive like a child and
you share your love until you see only the one, even when you are
looking in the mirror.
If our universe is but a component of a cell in the mobility of God,
surely still what feeds the Divine is the Perfection of Love.
What greater gift hath a man than to give his life for others.
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