Waiting for Paul of Tarsus to Wake Up – Don Hanley’s blog #43

I was nervous when I entered a dream with Mary and John. I was worried about what they thought about my brief confession before I vanished last time. But they seemed serene and radiant as they sat with a pretty young woman in a dusty white robe. She smiled and showed the same warmth and radiance as the other two. She was sitting in ‘my’ chair, and Mary asked John to bring another chair so I could sit in ‘my place.’

Mary looked at me and said, “Well, welcome back, my two-thousand-year-old friend. I would like for you to meet my neighbor Ruth. Ruth has just been telling us about a fellow she and her husband, Joshua, found barely alive and under an avalanche of sand and rocks on the road to Damascus. His horse was loyally standing near him. Ruth and Joshua brought them to their home here in Nazareth.”

Before sitting down, I took Ruth’s hand, and she smiled; simultaneously, she looked at me questioningly. She seemed puzzled by my khaki pants and short-sleeved plaid shirt. John placed the chairs so that Ruth sat next to Mary, and he sat down between her and me. I guessed that Mary needed to tell Ruth about vivid dreaming, or maybe she already had, or she wouldn’t be here in our dream. I said, “Ruth, I am so glad to meet you. I have been dreaming about John and Mary, and until this moment, they have been the only ones I have gotten to know in Nazareth. And you have a wounded guest in your home. You are married. Where is that lucky guy now?”

“Yes, I am a lucky woman; he is with our daughter, Julie. Are you a lucky man?” Ruth said this with the same confidence and poise as any 21st—century young woman.

“Yes, I am; she doesn’t seem to have vivid dreams but enjoys hearing me talk about my dreams and journeys. So, please tell me about this wounded fellow in your home. I looked at her, Mary, and John, asking, “And where is his horse?”

Mary answered, “It is tied up in the back of her house. And we took the man’s saddlebags inside. John was about to read some of his pages when you arrived. Neither Joshua nor Ruth nor I speak or read Greek, and everything is in Greek.”

John added, “I just read his instructions from some superior in Rome, but it just tells me that he was instructed to meet with Luke in Jerusalem and report back to him about what kind of efforts the Jews are getting into to disturb their Roman superiors. I assume this man you brought home and in your house is a Roman citizen, or he would not have a horse. And the man named Luke may be one also. We may see him soon, I believe. From the letters, I am sure his name is Paul of Tarsus.”

Ruth said, “He is in what Joshua calls a coma. Joshua worked in a clinic in Capharnaum before we were married, and he told me that often, when a person is in a severe accident, they pass out and seem to be sleeping for days or even weeks before they regain consciousness.”

Was this Paul of Tarsus, the fellow who wrote all those letters, or Epistles, that take up almost all those pages of the New Testament?

So, I said, “There is a Paul of Tarsus in the New Testament of the Scriptures, or Bible, and he was a Pharisee and had persecuted the Christians who have been following Jesus and later became a follower too. And John, I bet Luke is one of your eleven Apostles of Jesus and a fellow writer. I hope I will get to meet him in one of our dreams.

And, with that, I vanished, but please . . .

Keep opening and nourishing your hearts and thinking about the menus while enjoying the banquet.

 And a big thank you to those of you who commented on my blog - please join them.

Not A Savior But A Transformer – Don Hanley’s blog #42

Before I managed to get into a vivid dream with Mary and John, I thought of the many titles that had been given to Jesus that I imagined they disliked. I want to check this out with them, and the opportunity came that night . . .

They were in the beautiful flower garden in front of Mary’s house. They greeted me with their radiant smiles. John immediately went into the house to fetch a chair. I took my baby steps to ‘my’ chair. Even in my dream, I was feeling all my 91 years.

“It looks like you are hurting a bit, my friend,” Mary said with real concern. “I’m sure if I lived about two dozen more years, I’d feel like that too. It is good to see you.”

As soon as John sat down, I said, “Well, John, are you ready to hear some of the labels laid on Jesus over the years?” He nodded, and I continued, “I and some others find many just too ostentatious for us; these have been running around for years and even centuries.

Here are some of the names of churches in my old hometown: HOLY SAVIOR, CHRIST THE KING, HOLY FAMILY—that one includes you, Joseph, and Jesus.  Some other titles: MY LORD, THE CHOSEN ONE or just THE CHOSEN, MASTER, OUR LORD, SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, or JESUS THE CHRIST, and there are more, but I cannot think of them at the moment. I think the only one Jesus would like might be PRINCE OF PEACE.

I glanced over at Mary, and she had tears running down her cheeks and murmured, “All of them are awful; even the last one should be the man of peace or the teacher of peace.”

John said, “I didn’t hear, SON OF MAN. After all, that was the only title he said would be okay - after Jesus - the name Mary and Joseph gave him. These titles, it seems to me, symbolize how drastically wrong these so-called Christians thought of Jesus’s message."

"Again, he wanted all humans to realize how gifted each human person is and that everyone is, by birth, empowered to be loving, creative, imaginative, hopeful, and gifted in a special way. They should not fear God but always allow his energy to radiate with and through them. And we cannot just say it; we must live it – just BE it. It is easy to say, ‘I love Jesus,’ but not so easy to become like him, open our hearts, love our true selves, and BE ONE with others."

He paused and thoughtfully added, “I’ve been thinking of that phrase, ‘He died for our sins.’ Aramaic and Greek means, “He lived and died so that we would strive to be as humanly alive and loving as possible. Sin, in our language, means to be missing the mark or being incomplete; it does not mean committing acts like cursing, committing adultery, or dishonoring our parents. It means failing to be in touch with our God-given power and abilities to connect with others and be one with all creation. His very life, as well as his teaching, was a condemnation of the way the Romans and some Jewish leaders treated their underlings and especially their conquered peoples. Jesus's basic message of love would have been completely lost if he somehow managed to destroy the Roman soldiers rather than let them crucify him, would it not? He never revealed any indication that he had the power to do such a thing, anyway.”

John’s words sank into me like a sword, and after several deep breaths, I said, “You know I have been studying his words on love for many years, and I have tried to live them. When preparing to be ordained a priest, I was expected to write something memorable on a calling card. Most of my classmates, I think, took passages from the Scripture or some other religious book, but I made up a saying I still like, ‘No matter what great things a man may do in life unless he becomes a loving person, his life is a failure.’ You know, Mary and John, I’m not sure I have managed to become a loving person.”

I must have looked quizzical as John said, “Don, why do you look so puzzled? And for the first time, it seemed right that I should vanish, and I did - but please . . .

Open and nurture your heart, study his menu, and do not eat it, but BE it.    

 And do find one of my books and read it -- go to Amazon, and start with Love By Its First Name

A Mission of Love and Joy – Don Hanley’s blog #41

I don’t know how many nights have passed since I dreamt about being with Mary, Jesus’s Mother, and John, but I was happy to return to them. I remember wanting to tell them that I loved what many Catholics and other Christians were wonderfully doing in my lifetime and that I wanted to follow Jesus’s teaching that we were born to love one another. By loving all of creation, we were being one with Jesus and were also sons and daughters of God—just as Jesus is and was.

John jumped up so I could sit in my usual chair, and he went to Mary’s little house and brought out his chair. Mary remained seated and welcomed me with her radiant smile. “Welcome back, my futuristic friend. What is new in your wonderful world?” She glanced over at a little table with my little pile of books on it. I had forgotten all about it.  Mary went on, "John and I looked over your books. Our translator called them writings. There were far too many words for us to understand. Did you write them over your 90 years?" FYI - They were LOVE BY ITS FIRST NAME, WRESTLING WITH GOD, HOPE FOR A NEW WORLD - three novels) 

I then felt sorry that I had brought them to the dream. "No, I wrote them in the last 20 years." I gave them a brief and inadequate lesson on printing and publishing books and hoped they would like to change the subject. Fortunately for me, as soon as John sat down, they didn't seem to mind that I started telling them about the religious orders of women who dedicated their lives to caring for the sick by creating and staffing hospitals, running schools, and many other educational and social services. They were both impressed, and Mary asked, “And I hope that some men are also involved in some of these activities, are they not?”

“Yes, they are. And I must add that many of them, both men and women, believe that they must demand strict obedience from the leaders of their organizations and then ask for obedience from all those they are working with. I believe that they should always be kind and loving if they truly follow Jesus, and that unwavering obedience kills the spirit. I want your opinion of that, John. Did Jesus demand strict obedience and conformity from you and his other disciples?”

“Oh no, not at all; I remember one time that Judas told my brother James that he must not say anything that Jesus had not already said or approved of. Jesus heard him and said, ‘Oh, Judas, that would harm James’ ability to think, imagine, and do new things, and perhaps, a better way to help others – and himself.’ He said our role was to help everyone be more helpful, more growth-filled, creative, imaginative, and joyful. We do not want to make people grumpy, sad sacks.' He added, 'Remember, those who are not against me are for me.’”

Both Mary and I clapped. Mary added, “We sure have a bunch of those sad sacks among our Pharisees and Sadducees.” She saw my questioning look and told me that the Sadducees were a priestly class for the wealthier and more educated ‘class’ of Jews. The Pharisees believed they were superior to others because they more strictly followed the Mosaic laws. I told them that we had 21st-century groups like them, and in my view, they did not help transform the lives of humans in a way that would be helpful to our world."

John added, "Jesus had a way of seeing me, and others, that connected us very deeply with him. It was like he became one with me - like his power and energy entered into me. He radiated that energy and kept insisting that all humans were gifted to do the same. Have you ever felt that kind of connecting energy, Don?"

"Yes!" Both he and Mary looked questioningly at me. "Like right now." They both chuckled and smiled and I went on, "I mean being in your presence is, in itself, a connection, and when each of you look me into your eyes, I feel you are inside me. And I hope I am increasingly doing the same in return." They smiled and nodded and that felt very good. I continued, "Now, even in my century, we still treat children like dummies and insist that they conform to ideas that are given to them, rather than develop their own creative ideas. I believe that everyone, including children, have giftedness that needs to be nurtured. I wanted to tell them about Ann Sullivan and Helen Keller and took a deep breath, and before I could say more, I vanished again . . . So, please.

Keep opening and nurturing your heart, reflecting on the menu, and being a guest at the banquet.

Why I’m So Interested in Jesus – Don Hanley’s blog #40

I had impatiently waited three weeks to join Mary and John again in my dreams. I was pleased that they were patiently waiting for me. i wanted to show them a 21st. century book or books, so I brought the three novels and my memoir with me into the dream. They are in English but I hope my translating angel would translate the titles into Aramaic for them. I wondered what the translator would do with my naughty word in the title of my memoir - FINDING FLOWERS IN A LITTLE PILE OF SHIT. I put the books under my chair and planned to leave them there when I vanished. 

John was ready with a question for me. “Well, Don, you have been asking Mary and me questions about Jesus; now, please tell us a bit about yourself. What have you been doing for, what is it, 90 years?
And why are you so interested in Jesus and what he was thinking and doing two thousand years ago? That is an awful long time. I thought that if we went back 90 years from now, here in Galilee, we’d be in a time before the Romans barged into our land. So, tell us a bit about what in the world you have been doing all these years. That has made you so curious about our Jesus.”

I wasn’t expecting this query, so I started quite slowly, “Well, John, that is a very interesting question. Jesus is now recognized as the object of worship by more than a billion people living in the 21st Century. And . . . ”

Mary, rather urgently, put up her hand to stop me, “Wait a minute, Don. You must be talking about someone other than my son and John’s friend who the Romans executed. Jesus was a wonderful boy and a man who radiated kindness and love, and some say he was very enlightened and gave people hope. He loved people and loved to teach, but he would never want to be worshiped by anyone, ever.” She looked and sounded angry. “So, tell me, was this the same Jesus you and I have discussed all these times? And was he born in Nazareth?”

“Yes, but the New Testament writers, and some historians perhaps, and most claim to know him, say he was born in Bethlehem.”

John interrupted me and said, “You do know, Mary, that there are many stories that say that it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, so to establish the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, they found stories that put him being born there. I don’t think the current writers, including me, think that to be true, but even now, many do think Jesus was, and is, the Messiah. He told us and everyone who walked with him that he was not the Messiah. So, Don, do your best to correct that in your 21^st Century. Okay?”

I wasn’t sure what to tell John and Mary, but I knew that I could do little to correct our 21^st Century thinking, so I just said, “I’ll do what I can, but I want you to know that so-called Christians – that is the name those who say they believe in Jesus call themselves – have gone to war over this question and many other similar questions. It seems that every group seems to think that their version of who Jesus was and what he taught is the ABSOLUTE truth, and if you do not believe their truth, you will go to hell. I do not like that, nor do I believe it.”

Mary looked as distraught as she did the day I mentioned the crucifixion. I waited in silence, as did John. After several minutes, Mary, in a soft but very firm voice, said, “Don, if we are talking about the same person, and I‘m beginning to believe that we are, I am very sure that Jesus, my Son, has been very misunderstood. Even as a boy, he said that to worship someone was to put that person on some kind of pedestal and admire them and then ignore who they really are.

“Well, Mary and John, that is why I’m so interested in Jesus. I was once, 60 years ago, ordained a Catholic priest.” Seeing the questioning looks on their faces, I added that Catholics are the largest denomination or group of Christians who worship Jesus, and they believe that if anyone wants to be saved, they must be baptized, that is, go through a ritual that makes them officially a Catholic. I like many of the things they are doing, but not all, and I do not believe I am doomed if I do not believe everything they say that I must. 

I want to learn, from people like you what Jesus was really like and what he really taught. I guess that many Christians believe was, and is the Messiah but the Catholics do not use that word, but do believe that he is the Chosen one whom we must believe in, in order to get to heaven. And many who claim to follow Jesus believes that praying to him may be helpful to them and that they may receive spiritual and even material benefits - like wealth - if they are faithful to him. Still many believe that if only they keep all of his rules and tell the world that they believe in him, then they, individually, will go to heaven where they will bind bliss. And, before I could finish explaining my position, I vanished . . .  Please–

Continue opening and nurturing your heart, studying the menus, and feasting at the beautiful banquet you were born into.