No Vision is Necessary

by Charles Reed
(Editorial of Reflections, November 2002)

    • "For patience is necessary for you; that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little and a very little while, and he that is to come will come and will not delay. But my just man liveth by faith. ... Now, faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not."
    -- Hebrews 10, 36. 11, 1

    IN the life of Saint Cuthbert we read the following passage: "In the kingdom of Northumbria, under the pious King Oswald, the holy Bishop saint Aidan founded two monasteries, that of Melrose, on the river Tweed, and another on the island of Lindisfarne (now called Holy Island). He usually resided in the latter. Saint Cuthbert was born not very far from Melrose, and in his youth was much edified by the devout deportment of the holy inhabitants of Melrose, whose fervor in the service of God, and the discharge of the duties of a monastic life, he fervently endeavored to imitate on the mountains where he kept his father's sheep. It happened, one night, that while he was watching in prayer, near his flock, according to his custom, that he saw the soul of Saint Aidan carried up to heaven by angels, at the very instant that holy man departed this life in the island of Lindisfarne. Serious reflections on the happiness of such a death, determined the pious young man to travel, without delay, to the monastery of Melrose, where he put on the monastic habit."

    When we read in the life of Saint Cuthbert and of other saints and mystics of the visions and revelations they had, sometimes we may feel envious about such experiences. Since they saw things so directly, it seems they are closer to God than ourselves, who can only see these truths in an indirect manner.

    October 15 of this year was the 23rd anniversary of the Portavoz' death (Oct. 15, 1979). On that day a Requiem Mass was offered in memory of her.

    When the Portavoz [Maria Concepcion Zuniga, 1914--1979] died, no one saw her soul being carried up to heaven. But notwithstanding that, we can know for certain what happened to her after she died.

    At that moment she came out of the great tribulation, she washed her robe, and made it white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore she is before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple, and the Lamb wipes away all tears from her eyes. — (Apocalypse 7)

    She wept so often and had so many crosses to bear, and now all that is ended, and all those verses quoted above are fulfilled, and everlasting joy is on her head.

Photo. Maria Concepcion Zuniga. 1914--1979. Author of Legion of Victim Souls, My Best Book, etc.

    We do not have to be privileged souls to understand all this: all you have to do is read a few passages in Scripture and meditate some, and you can understand just as well as St. Cuthbert, what happens to the souls of the just after they die.

    In the Scriptures is it written: "The just man lives by faith." By means of faith, meditation and prayer, we can have access to the same favors that St. Cuthbert and the other saints had: The more we love God, the more he will reveal his secrets to us, and the more secrets we know, the happier we will be, although some of the secrets are very sad, so sad that they will make you weep. The Portavoz knew many of these intimacies of God, and that is why she had to suffer so much on earth, and why she is so happy in heaven now.

    The prophet Isaias made a prophecy about the exiles who were going to return from the Babylonian captivity:

    "And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise: and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness: and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." (Is. 35, 10).

    This life is like a captivity and an exile, and we will not be in our true home, until we are in the heavenly Sion. The Portavoz has now seen the happy fulfillment of this marvelous prophecy: her exile has ended: everlasting joy is upon her head, and her sorrow and mourning have fled away.

    May it be for the glory of God

    The Vergel (Garden) of the Immaculate Virgin of Guadalupe

    Oct. 24, 2002 -- Feast of Saint Raphael, Archangel

 - Works of Charles Reed ---  • Reflections. A magazine for the latter times. 2001--2005. Charles Reed wrote the editorials.
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