Have you ever been to heaven? Back in 1993 I spent a month at a retreat house in Chatawa, Mississippi doing the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Spending a whole month in quiet prayer and meeting once a day for an hour with the retreat director can lead to mystical moments. In one of these prayer experiences, the Lord took me on a tour of heaven. I saw Mary, the Lord's Mother. She was sewing! She explained, when I asked, that she was sewing all the prayers and petitions of people praying to her. "They're all wonderfully connected," she said as she sewed them into a beautiful tapestry that she gives to her Son to present to the Father.
Then, the Lord introduced me to my (deceased) parents, but I couldn't see them. He said, "That'll be for later. That would be too much now." Then He introduced me to one saint after another, including my patron saints, one saint after another - including all my deceased relatives and significant people I've prayed for.
It was a wonderful experience of love and peace and joy and hospitality. The Lord said, "I've showed you heaven once before; and this is surely your destiny, but you must pray for final perseverance. All of these saints are praying for you," - and then Jesus got their attention and told them that it was the Father's will that my petitions be heard; and "It surely is your will too, isn't it?" And a great Amen resounded in heaven. I then prayed a litany of saints as I left heaven and came back to my chair on the screened porch at the retreat house.
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