Healing

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Mountain of Light, Hospice
for the Broken

By Stephen Hand,
editor, TCRNews.com



In my (natural) spirit I saw an endless trail of broken ones winding their way by faith up a towering Mountain of Healing Light and Faith. They were all bruised, limping, or worse, crawling or being carried, each pilgrim helping the other, toward the beautiful Song and Sign at the Mountain's summit. Love was their joy. The Mountain itself was a continuous refuge, a shelter for travelers, pilgrims, foundlings, the destitute, especially for those forsaken by the proud, the sad mockers....

A continuous, loud, and yet beautiful hum ---there is nothing else to call it--- was heard of countless peoples, singing, mingling harmonious words in tune with the Beautiful Music above,

"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner...and on the whole world... especially those in need of thy mercy...Holy Lady...pray for us sinners, now, and at the Hour of our death...forgive us our trespasses.."
They wound and wound slowly, as far as the eye could see, through days of sunshine and sweetness, but also through inclement, even hostile, seasons; sometimes having to stop and take refuge from lightning and storms and from the deep fog which was foretold to descend on the whole Mountain from time to time; they would follow the sacred papyrus maps they held in their hands or heard chanted through the Mountains into sheltering caves and crevices; caves covered with crosses and pictures of the Lamb sketched into its walls from pilgrims of ages past; or in makeshift tents of trees and thatch, each always helping the other, especially the most weak. The young helped the old, the strong helped the sick; the old and the sick in turn encouraged the young and strong with stories of yesterday, and taught them how to see through the fog and deep Night which sometimes frightened the young and the timid.. All shared in such times with excitement how they had come to find the healing Mountain of Light in that other deep Night, of the world of illusions below, and how they set out for it as a tiny ship braves the tempest waves toward distant beacons of hope.

One old sinner, sadly thin from the very long journey, yet somehow strong and joyful in his silence, and now renowned like the others for his practical wisdom, said to the younger ones who had only begun to climb with their elders, "the way to the Omega upon which doubtless you have seen the luminous Cross so many times is not a place to show off any vaunted superior knowledge, or superior wisdom, brains, or past morals; for you know yourselves, brothers and sisters. We are the weak ones, the stumbling ones, who---and he laughed at this, and they with him--- the ones who stumbled even to the foot of this Mountain of Promise, we know not how!

"Ours is not an exclusive club or way that distinguishes us from other sinners, from the "stupid," the "losers," and the wretched---for who are we but such, friends? No, this a place we bring our brokenness, our wounds, our prayers for the world below; a hospice for sinners, and spiritual rest for all, for all those who are "foolish" enough to believe what the Master told us... The Master, Who forgives 70 x 7 unto the very consummation of all things, all of us limping stumblers, with whose sacred Arms of Love He ever welcomes, ever calls and invites, and never forsakes, the weak, the penitent, the bruised, the willing....But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 pet 3:8). See? It is written. There is no time in God. The Mountain is very young!

"But how can we know we will make it?," asked one man who feared the storms and shakings and fogs of the Mountain. "Didn't we leave the storms of the world behind? Why do they follow us here?"

He was met by understanding eyes from all, eyes that told that they, too, had once or often asked the same question themselves. The old man pointed to a cross etched deep into the ceiling of the cave. "That pilgrim too, brothers, here, look, he asked that same question, we can be sure. We are all flesh and blood and so easily frightened. To be afraid is so human. Especially when we know ourselves. But having got this far, notice, he did not turn back, we can be certain. See the joy in the sign? Look at it closely." The old man outlined it with his finger. " It is clearly visible, is it not, sisters and brothers? And then look here, sisters. What is that next to it? The words 'Yes!' and 'Amen!"

"Yes is the answer! And Amen"! They nodded with joy and excitement.

"But what of those who, even now, sin in the Mountain's shadows?," another asked.

"Are you praying hard enough for them, sister? They, like we, have not reached the summit yet. They will either get up and go forward, or, God forbid, forsaking their faith in the Love that calls them, they will turn back. How tragic to despair! Remember the words of the Master: "Let him without sin cast the first stone". Help them up, friends! Help them by every means! The Holy Mountain is the way. How we found it we do not know. But look behind and before and see the torches of the millions who are behind us and then look in front of us! Will any of us turn back now?"

They all looked and saw what seemed like a million candles lit in the Night, wound all around the Mountain, as far as the eye could see. "Have you ever heard of one being turned away, friends?," the old man asked. They all shook their heads. "Only the proud collapse and turn back, forgetting that the way down is harder than the way up, and they forget that the destination in that direction is a quicksand of troubles without resolution.

"On the Mountain our passions are quieted by our holy tiredness. Below it is all anyone has, and what does it lead to but greed, envy, mayhem and, finally, Outer Darkness. Contrast that to this! And he pointed to the luminous sign above, only partially covered by the fog.

"Do not be afraid, but follow your sisters and brothers, listen to their stories, eat every day the Holy Bread and Holy Wine, which He has given us, Himself, and reference your little maps which are a lamp for your feet and a light to your path. We have come this far by faith. When you are discouraged, look up at the Sign and realize you are closer now than the day you began your holy journey, you blessed ones".

9.11.05

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