When they rejoined the spiritual lady sentinel Seán voiced his spiritual relief. “That was a truly enjoyable revelation, Sister.”
Nole chipped in, “Yeah, no doubt about it, it was like being spiritually undone and put together again somehow, Sister. Marvellous!”
“You have both experienced the soothing, purging mists that spill from heaven, and that is your first real spiritual joy,” the spiritual lady sentinel revealed. “The burden of sin has now been greatly reduced. Is there anything you would like to ask me before you cross the Purging Bridge, Brothers?”
“Well, Sister, I have a question, but it’s a kind of personal question and I’m not sure if I should ask it. At the same time I feel a strong spiritual urge to ask it, so what should I do, Sister?” Nole hesitantly asked.
“You may ask the question, Brother Nole. It is not a spiritual offence to seek clarification about something,” the lady sentinel encouraged.
“Good! And thank you, Sister. This is my question: when we enter heaven will we see God himself?”
“Yes, Brother Nole, you will see God, but only in a spiritual sense - that is, in the same manner as you saw him on earth, manifested in every living thing and yet out of sight.”
“Well, Sister, I don’t recall ever havin’ seen God on earth, so you have me at a disadvantage there. What do you say, Seán?”
“I believe the sister means not in a visible sense, Nole.”
“I do indeed, Brother Seán, and I shall explain using a pile of sand as a model,” the sentinel Sister stated. She continued: “You have both seen a pile of sand from time to time during your earthly existence?”
Both nodded their agreement and Nole added, “There’s no doubt about the truth of that, Sister - we’ve seen piles and piles of it.”
“Then you will be aware, Brother Nole, that a pile of sand is composed of millions and millions of sand grains and when a pile of sand is exposed to the wind it is only a matter of earthly time before the sand grains of the pile are scattered far and wide across the earth and the pile can no longer be seen.”
“Yeah, that’s a fact, Sister,” Nole agreed.
“Good. I will now liken God to a pile of sand and each grain of sand to a living entity on the earth. God is the collective entity and sum total of the living entities, like a pile of sand is the sum total of all the grains of sand. So when a human being sees another member of its kind or an animal or insect or flower, or any other living form of life, they are all disguised forms of the spirit of God. Each living creature’s spiritual self is a manifestation of the spirit of God, however big or small it might be. You were taught on earth that God was everywhere and in everything in spirit, and that is true. God has the miraculous ability to clone His spiritual self without limitation and fuse each clone into an endless variety of living, pulsating life forms spread all over the earth just like grains of sand. So you see, Brother Nole, whatever joys you will see or hear or feel in the heavenly realm are spiritual aspects of God; the collective, spiritual forms of all living things constitute God just like the grains of sand constitute the pile. Do you spiritually grasp the meaning of my explanation, Brothers?” the lady sentinel asked.
“I understand your simplistic description of God, Sister, although it isn’t easy to instantly assimilate the spiritual configurations involved in the equation that you so eloquently described,” Seán commented and Nole voiced his feelings too.
“Yeah, I agree with Brother Seán, Sister, and, as he said, it’s not all that easy to stitch together. I must admit it’s like a testin’ jigsaw puzzle to me, Sister.”
“I understand your consternation, Brother Nole, but when you enter the kingdom of heaven it will gradually become clear to you,” the sentinel Sister assured.
“We’re looking forward to that happy event, Sister,” Seán happily anticipated.
“Yeah, that we are, Sister, and we know it’s goin’ to happen sometime durin’ this endless day,” Nole reminded himself.
“There is one other thing I’d like to know, Sister; when we’re finally in heaven will we ever be allowed to visit our loved ones, families and friends, on earth again?” Seán asked, hoping for a positive answer.
“Yes, you will be able to do that if you so wish, Brother Seán,” the spiritual lady sentinel revealed and continued: “However, if and when you visit past loved ones on earth it can only be in an invisible, spiritual form, as you are now. You will not have any emotional feelings and therefore will not be able to comfort or console any of those loved ones in any way, regardless of how they may be afflicted by mental or physical anguish. Neither will you be able to have any influence on their lives. It will merely be an unseen spiritual visitation. Do you understand, Brother Seán?”
“Yes, Sister, I understand the significance of it,” Seán replied. “They and we would be occupying two different worlds - we in the spiritual existence and they in the tangible, physical composition of the reflected spiritual existence - and the two cannot interact. Have I got it right, Sister?” he asked.
“Yes, Brother Seán, congratulations! The reason why it has to be so you will learn when heaven welcomes you home.”
“Well, Sister, that seems to be a few stone throws beyond my thinkin’ ability. Still, as you said, Sister, all will be made known when we enter heaven and I’ll just have to exercise patience.” Nole reinforced his pledge.
“Yes, Brother Nole, your patience will be rewarded,” the spiritual sentinel assured. Then she addressed both: “Beyond the Purging Bridge, a little way or a long way, depending on your present state of sin, you will come to a fork in the crooked road. When you arrive there you will be spiritually drawn to the route you are to take. Cross over the Purging Bridge now and leave most of your burden of sin behind and begin to embrace aspects of joy. Farewell, Brothers Seán and Nole, and until we meet again somewhere in heaven keep concentrating on your earthly transgressions.”
“Thank you, Sister, and farewell.” Seán voiced his gratitude and Nole likewise expressed his thanks and said farewell. Then both crossed over the Purging Bridge.
Chapter Six
As the two wandering spiritual souls continued their walk along the crooked road to heaven from the Purging Bridge Seán remarked, “My spiritual self feels like a great weight has been lifted from it, Nole, and I can feel a wave of joy sweeping over my spirituality. How do you feel?”
“Yeah, upon my word, now, I feel much the same as you have just described and I was tryin’ to put my feelin’s into words when you spoke and saved me the trouble. It’s a great state of spiritual mind to be in... Do you hear what I hear, Seán?”
“I believe I do. It sounds like the sweet notes of joy of a blackbird, but the bird itself will not be black. It will be spiritual silver grey like we are and the hedgerow foliage is.”
“Yeah, no mistake about the blackbird’s song, and ahead, perched on the top of the nearest spiritual hawthorn tree, the singer is in spiritual silver grey just as you described, Seán.”
“The thought never crossed my mind of ever hearing that melodious string of notes again. The lady sentinel was right about aspects of joy though,” Seán recalled.
“Yeah, she sure was,” Nole agreed, and after a brief lull he continued: “I’m thinkin’, Seán, that we might have shed just about all of our burden of sin judgin’ by how we feel. How do you see the situation?”
“Well, it’s difficult to say, so we had better continue trying to remember our forgotten sins and not get carried away on a false fantasy route of thought.” And after a thoughtful moment he said, “Still, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with feeling a little optimistic.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. When we feel good spiritually it must be for a good reason, so I think we can safely say, at least, that we are much nearer to heaven than when we started,” Nole suggested.
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p; “Yes, the spiritual feel-good factor may well be a positive indication. We might be nearer than we think.” Seán endorsed the expectation.
“Oh, say no more, Seán. I already feel the shivers of hope creeping up my spiritual back and... Look there ahead. That looks like the fork in the crooked road.”
“Yes, I believe it is, Nole. I wonder which branch we will be taking from there, left or right?”
“Well, I think it will be the right branch.” Nole voiced his preference.
“Have you got some kind of insight for that route, Nole?” Seán’s spiritual curiosity was aroused.
“Yeah, I have indeed, Seán. I remember being advised by my parents and teachers during my childhood years on earth to always follow the right road and I’d never go wrong; I never forgot it.”
“I see, but since we are not here for long explanations, let’s just say that I am not going to even attempt to contradict you - you might be right, you might be wrong,” Seán agreed.
“So what if we are drawn to the left branch at the fork? Wouldn’t that mean that the right fork was the wrong one?” Nole questioned.
Seán thought for a moment before answering. “No, it wouldn’t because both are right since they are two arms of the same crooked road, right and left, and both lead to the same place. The only difference, I suppose, is that one is longer or shorter than the other, so they both constitute the one - understand, Nole?”
“Well, yeah and no. If one is shorter than the other then the shorter one must be the right road,” Nole insisted.
“And pray tell me, Nole, how you intend finding out the answer to that.”
“Yeah, well, I suppose we could ask when we reach the end just for curiosity’s sake,” Nole suggested.
“Have you forgotten where we are, Nole? We are on the crooked road to heaven, the purgatory road, and we are supposed to be continuously purging our souls of sin and not creating a bone of contention about the length of part of the crooked road, which is meaningless anyway. Are you on the same spiritual wavelength as I am, Nole?” Seán reminded.
“Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean, Seán. I must have been carried away on an earthly memory. I’ll have to keep focused on the cleansing of my soul,” Nole confessed, and added, “I hope I haven’t made my burden heavier by creating a bone of contention. Do you think Brother Peter will overlook my stumble, Seán?”
They walked in silence until they approached the fork, when Seán remarked, “I feel a strong urge to go right at the fork. How about you, Nole?”
“Yeah, I feel attracted to the right too.”
“So, let’s say your old belief is proving to be correct, Nole. You can’t be wrong if you’re on the right road,” Seán commented, spiritually smiling.
“Yeah, and besides the right and wrong of nothing, I still believe we are a lot nearer to heaven,” Nole concluded, spiritually smiling too.
They progressed along the right branch of the crooked road without spiritually communicating, and then Nole suddenly remarked, “We haven’t felt a drop of rain or breath of wind since we began our journey, Seán!”
“There’s no need for wind and rain in heaven. Nothing changes here. It’s always fine weather and just one endless day, remember?” Seán reminded.
“Yeah, that’s right!” Nole spiritually exclaimed with delight, adding, “I’ve no complaints about that.” And after a timeless moment he spoke again, “We have no physical bodies that would need feedin’, so what feeds our spiritual selves?”
“That’s simple, Nole. The energy in the light of the sun feeds our spiritual selves directly through its invisible, fragmented matter atoms that keep the composition of the spiritual self charged,” Seán explained.
“Well, that’s science and I don’t know much about science. Does that mean that we will never feel hungry or thirsty, Seán?”
“Exactly that, Nole. Our physical bodies on earth had to eat the food that grew there and process it with our digestive systems to extract nourishment; that sun now feeds our spiritual selves direct without the physical hassle.”
“I would call that miraculous, Seán, and maybe even better than miraculous if that’s possible!” Nole commented, amazed.
“I understand what you mean, Nole. The word miraculous seems inadequate to describe the infinite power of God.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was tryin’ to say. It’s hard to grasp the-”
“The significance or immensity of existence,” Seán interrupted to help. “Is that what you were attempting to express?”
“Yeah, yeah, but I couldn’t think of the words,” Nole agreed. He then asked, surprised, “Do you hear that, Seán?”
Seán listened a moment and replied, pleasantly surprised, “It sounds like harp music!”
“Yeah, harp music indeed! That’s what it is and it seems to be comin’ from everywhere, and that can only mean that heaven is close.” Nole’s spiritual confidence was boosted.
“I believe you are right, Nole. Soul-soothing music, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah, beautiful-sounding notes that caress the spirit and make it feel good. Do you think it’s comin’ from heaven, Seán?”
“Well, since the harp and its music have always been associated with heaven on earth and the angelic, heavenly existence, it must be emanating from there, where else?” Seán confidently declared.
“Yeah, that’s right, Seán... and listen to that, now, will you? The call of a cuckoo!” Nole excitedly exclaimed. “Doesn’t that just blend in nicely with the harp music?”
“Yes, indeed! The herald of summer. That’s another joy to hear, an endearing, nostalgic sound if ever there was one.” Seán expressed his spiritual joy.
“No doubt about that, Seán. My mother told me during my childhood years on earth that the cuckoo was sent by God in early spring to remind us all that the warm, summer weather was approachin’, and for that same reason it was given a call that was unique. I believed that till I was in my early teens. It was only then that I learnt it was a springtime visitor from Africa.”
“Did you ever tell your mother what you discovered?” Seán pressed, spiritually intrigued.
“I did indeed, but not to embarrass her,” Nole stressed.
“I imagine she would have had a logical explanation for your discovery?” Seán suggested.
“Correct! She said that on arrival on earth it might have stayed for a few weeks’ rest in Africa before setting out on its long journey to Ireland, and it would hardly have taken on such a struggle unless God had intervened to make it happen, she reminded me.”
Seán spiritually smiled and said, “I doubt you would have questioned her logical explanation, Nole?”
“Right again, Seán. Her logic silenced me and I felt obediently obliged to accept it. I’ve often asked myself what other reason there could be for flying the great distance and I could never answer that either. Have you any idea, Seán?”
“The truth is, Nole, I don’t think anyone on earth knows for certain. It’s a mystery as is the cuckoo’s habit of laying its egg in another bird’s nest,” Seán explained.
“Yeah, I could never work that out either, but there must have been some reason for it never having learned the art of nest building,” Nole suggested.
“That’s a valid point, Nole. I must confess the thought has never crossed my mind and I’ve never heard the subject discussed in conversation either, but when we are accepted into heaven we will learn all about the mysteries of earth,” Seán assured.
“Yeah, and that will be immensely - where did that word come from? - interesting.” Nole expressed his delight and surprise at the addition to his vocabulary, and instantly remarked, “There’s the call of the cuckoo again.”
“The spiritual music of the harp, a blackbird’s sweet melodious notes and the cuckoo’s nostalgic c
all are endearing sounds of heaven, and if they are a sample of the joys to come who wouldn’t wish to be part of it!” Seán stated with conviction.
“Yeah, who indeed wouldn’t? It’s becomin’ more and more appealin’ as we progress,” Nole commented.
“If Maura, who was my earthly love and wife-to-be before our accident, were here with us now she would really enjoy listening to those wonderful heavenly sounds,” Seán spiritually reminisced, and he continued: “I hope she meets some good man eventually when she recovers from my loss. It’s strange how we instantly lose all our physical emotions when our bodies die.”
“Yeah, it is strange, Seán. I wasn’t involved in a love affair, but I did have strong feelin’s for a young single woman who lived just along the road from where I lived. Her name was Mary Finnigan. Did you know her, Seán?”
“Not by name, but I might have known her by sight,” Seán suggested.
“I wanted to get acquainted with her, but I could never pluck up the courage to ask her out in case she turned me down. Still, it’s too late now, but like you, Seán, I hope she too finds someone better than I might have been.” Nole made his spiritual wish.
“Well, our divine consolation is that we can’t suffer from the mental pain of regret or heartbreak in this spiritual existence; and besides, when they die in the future sometime they too will come to heaven, where we all will be reunited in spirit and rejoice.” Seán ended on a happy note.
“Yeah, that’s right. I hadn’t thought that far ahead!” Nole agreed and after a spiritual pause remarked, “I wonder how our spiritual selves might be employed in heaven when we make it. Have you considered that, Seán?”
“No, but it’s an interesting thought. I’m hoping that we might be scientifically employed in spiritual evolutionary creation.”
“And what exactly does that mean, Professor Seán?” Nole asked with a spiritual smile.
Seán returned the smile and spiritually replied, “The spiritual study of invisible particle physics, the subatomic particles of matter of the universe, which is what it is composed of.”
The Crooked Road to Heaven Page 7