A Walk Down Memory Lane: Our Last Easter with JPII and Divine Mercy

I have a habit of hanging on to old emails - especially emails I've exchanged with the people who keep me going in the Faith. I was looking back through these emails. Way back. Back to Easter 2005. It was my first Easter Vigil, only I wasn't able to enter the Church that evening because I was still waiting on word from the Metropolitan Tribunal on the status of my first marriage. Valid or invalid? Sacramental or not. I didn't enter the Church until August 14, 2005 - when everything was ironed out with my "obstacle". But I went to Easter Vigil that year because my RCIA brothers and sisters were entering Mother Church, and I was thrilled for them.That night, I had a dream. The dream was captured in an email that I sent to my Spiritual Mentor. Here's what I wrote to Mary Beth Kremski:

Easter 2005

He is risen!

Last night’s Easter Vigil was holy and beautiful.  It was so affirming, even though I wasn’t able to receive.  I am so hungry to receive, but I sensed that I still am not ready.  The Lord has much to do in me. 

Last night I had a dream—clearly a grace—but I don’t know what it means.  A woman was dressed in a brown robe - like a nun's habit.  A priest lay on a bed, or table, or mat.  And she stretched across him.  It was something like Elisha laying across the widow's dead child.  Only, she was not giving.  She needed strength, an infusion of power to do something...

This is what I wrote a week later:

I have EWTN on and realized the connection between what I’m seeing and what I dreamed Easter Vigil night.  

I only know that the man on the (mat/table/bed) was John Paul II.  I knew it when I saw him on EWTN.  It was exactly the same—only in a small, private room.  He lay there, still, as though dead.  The garment she wore was important—brown.  It was very reminiscent of Elisha and the widow’s son—but in sort of a reverse order—the woman receiving life through the one laying as though dead.

In the years that have passed, I have wondered about this dream. This week, I'm thinking about it all once again.

And I'm excited. "The prayers of a righteous man availeth much" - Sacred Scripture tells us. And I believe that John Paul II is interceding.

For youth.

For the new evangelization.

For full and visible unity of all believers.

For the dignity of women and the feminine genius.

For the faithful witness of husbands and wives.

For the Church.

When I remember the dream, I always turn to John Paul II and ask for his intercession. This is a joy-filled week. Easter Resurrection. Anniversary of a Holy Father's passing. Beatification. Divine Mercy Sunday. All rolled up together. Honestly, how can we contain the joy? The Church is bursting with the joy of it all.

The news we've been waiting for.

He's going to be beatified. And we are the beneficiaries of a great gift: the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.

The Church, the woman dressed in brown, will receive an outpouring of God's Divine Power, through the intercession of a priest, a bishop, a blessed holy father. And, God willing, one day a saint.

John Paul II, pray for us!




This from Mary in STL: In response to your " JPII and Divine Mercy, I wanted to post:

The words from a song: "I scarce can take it in" apply.  :-) but not knowing how to sign up for an ID/URL,I couldn’t get it to post. For those of us who are computer-challenged... we need more help in order to sign up to post. Thanks Denise, love your columns in St Louis Review  and your program with Marcus on EWTN.

Mary

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A Walk Down Memory Lane: Our Last Easter with JPII and Divine Mercy