Ruth: Part 2 Ch. 2 "Who's Who in Heaven"

On page 75 Hahn reminds is that at the Last Supper John reclined on Jesus’ breast. “Yet, in the Apocalypse, when he saw Jesus in all His power and glory,……John fell on his face (Rev. 1:17). This brought to mind two things…First is an experience of Adoration at a retreat where I was by myself and just responded to the prompting and longing to lay prostrate before my Lord. It was a powerful moment that I long to relive. The other thought that came to mind is that today our catechesis seems to stress the warm “fuzzy” Jesus where we are friends and he is a comfort…laying our head on his breast. Yet the other side is to recognize that Jesus is Lord who is to be adored and followed. As Lord he is also to be obeyed. This is the side that people tend to forget. We are to prostrate ourselves (mind, heart, soul & body) before him. …… That statement ”and the elders fell down and worshiped” (p. 76) (Rev 5:13-14) tell of the same experience. God is more than our friend He is to be worshipped by our total being. …………………. The description of Mary on p.78 as the new ark was awesome. ……………….. On p. 85 Hahn states, “The beastly message is this: we are fighting spiritual forces: immense, depraved, malevolent forces.” They are forces we have to deal with but, as shown, we can hope to overcome. We are told “the solution has to match the problem, spiritual force for spiritual force….The solution is the Mass, when heaven touches down to save an earth under siege.” Again this churned up the thought that we don’t hear about spiritual warfare unless we are in Charismatic circles. Ignorance is dangerours. Evil forces exist even if we are unaware of them but with knowledge/recognition can come power to overcome. (Lord help us to recognize the forces that work to pull us away from you. Protect us with your Eucharistic presence within us.) ………… And then we read the next section about angels. “In battle, we do not fight alone. ….. Michael and his angels fight against the dragon.” We have spiritual partners in the battle. How awesome! And I did not know that each particular church has a guardian angel. Don’t you feel the connection between heaven and earth? We have angels as messengers, angels doing battle ….”constantly on the side of God—which, if we’re faithful, is our side, too.” WOW!!!!!!! ………I loved the last paragraph that asked several “where” questions all with the answer “Where else but in the Catholic Church, and most particularly in the Mass? Thank you Lord that I have been blessed to be born into a Catholic family and to come to love the Church left by our Lord, the Catholic church, with all its human warts and heavenly blessings.