LIFE AND LOVE AND MIRACLES – Don Hanley’s blog #47

I was glad to be back in my dreamland and be with Mary, John, and Luke. Luke had told Ruth and Joshua that he would let them know when his surgeon friend could perform the surgery on Julie’s lip. They had gone back home before our dreamy night meeting.

Mary, as usual, greeted me warmly and said, “Well, my dreamy world traveler, now you have two companions of my son. So, ask if Luke agrees with what John has told us. about my son and his mission.” I responded, “It is always you, I come back to see. Your radiance is so comforting that I would be comfortable just being with you and not saying a word.” She gave me a wonderfully beautiful smile.

“So, enough, you two.” John interrupted, feigning irritation, “So, Luke, for Don’s benefit, tell him about Jesus, the miracle worker, and what you think his mission was and is and how we are to follow him.”

“Well, Don, from what John has told me, your world of twenty centuries from now has millions of what you, or they, call themselves Christians or followers of Jesus. Many of these folks believe that all they need to do is tell the world that they believe that Jesus is their Savior and follow all the rules of behavior that he gave us apostles to make known to everybody on our earth Then, if they did this, they would go to heaven and be with God the Father. Is that correct?” Luke stopped and looked at me with the wise look of a master teacher.

“Wow, you have condensed what many call Salvation History into very plain words. The largest bunch of these Christians, called Catholics, and most other groups of Christians also believe that we must be baptized with water as a believer pours water over our heads – usually when we are babies. Most believe this must happen, or we can never be with God the Father.”

John looked startled, “Don, you never mentioned this before. That sounds, oh, ah, maybe a bit harsh or even insane. Jesus never, ever mentioned any ritual, wet or dry, that was an absolute necessity to be with the Father when we die. He did let John, the Baptizer, perform his ritual on him. He did this to give John credence, but he never ever said this was a requirement for everyone who followed him. The only requirement is that we become loving people – which is the one big challenge we all have. And we have this power at the moment we are born. Love, as Jesus tells us, it the spirit or energy of Yahweh and it must be nurtured by those who have discovered it and radiate it. It is more than just being kind.”

Luke looked at John and then at me and asked, “Who, may I ask, added restrictions, and are there many other requirements like it among your twentieth-century ‘Christians’”?

“I would sincerely like to say ‘no,’ but that would not be true. A person must also be in the ‘state of grace’ or believe they are ‘saved’ or ‘called by the Lord.' As John and Mary know, I was once a Catholic priest, and I was supposed to have the God-given power to forgive sins – if they were confessed to me and promised me, as God’s representative on earth, not to commit those sins again.”

Luke, or John, I can’t remember which, asked, “And who made you God’s representative?”

“Supposedly, the traditional leaders of the Catholic church. Other groups of Christians also had similar requirements that they believe came down through their traditions and ‘callings.’” I didn’t want to get into theological debates, so I mentioned that most believers wanted to do the right thing and to be ‘saved’ so they would ‘go to heaven.’

 Both guys and Mary shook their heads in disbelief.  Luke said, “I was near him the last three years of his life, and I never heard Jesus ever suggesting any absolute beliefs or special things other than loving one another, did you, John?” John shook his head, as did Mary.

I asked Luke and John to tell me what Love meant to them and Jesus... and before they could answer, ... I left the dream. Please . . .

Keep opening and nurturing your heart and joining others in studying the menus and then enjoying the banquet with them.

Still Waiting for Paul and Meeting Luke - Don Hanley’s blog #44

I was very pleased that I came right back to the dream with Mary, John, and Ruth. The last time I had learned that Paul of Tarsus, the fellow who had been persecuting the Jews, especially those who had become followers of Jesus. He was now in a coma and right here in Nazareth. I was still in ‘my’ chair in Mary’s flower garden, and John explained Paul’s letter in his horse’s saddle bag.

After Mary gave me her warm welcome-back greeting, John said, “I do believe this man in Joshua and Ruth’s house is the fellow who has been sending some Jews, who are devoted to Jesus, to jail and even condemning them and ordering them to be beaten. I know both John and Ruth knew Jesus well and that he even helped Joshua, Ruth’s husband, build latrines here in Nazareth. And I’m sure Jesus would approve of them helping care for Paul after his accident. Jesus often said, ‘Love one another and even your enemies.’

Ruth added, “Of course, Jesus would have approved of our helping this fellow. We did not know at first what he had done to those who followed Jesus, but even if we had, we would have taken care of him. Don, Mary, and John tell me that you, twenty-one hundred years before now, still believe in Jesus. So, I would you ask such a question?”

“I am still working to understand Jesus’s true nature and mission.  Most of those we call Christians in the 21^st century believe Jesus was God and man – fully God and fully man.” I talked directly to Ruth but kept glancing at both Mary and John. So, even before I began dreaming about being with Mary and John, I tended to think that Jesus was fully human and was so very enlightened that he was one with God the Father. And, as I read the Gospels or other accounts of those who had been with Jesus before he was executed, I thought of him as one of us humans but far more enlightened and working to help us become more fully one with him and our Father.”

Mary nodded, indicting she agreed with me, and then added, “Now I am concerned that this Paul fellow will be troublesome when he wakes up.

Ruth said, “He is still breathing evenly but not moving except when Joshua and I move him to prevent bed sores.”

Just then, a man on a horse rode up near us. John jumped up and said, “This is Luke, my fellow apostle, and I’m guessing he is the one you mentioned when you read Paul’s letter years later.” He walked over just as Luke dismounted. They gave each other a warm hug and greeting. I was curious to know why he was here and had a horse, as I was sure Luke was not a Roman citizen. Luke cleared that up rather quickly after he and I were introduced; he informed us that he had been drafted to be King Harod’s palace physician, and one of his perks was having a horse, and again, I vanished.

Continue opening and nurturing your heart, avoiding eating the menu, and enjoying the banquet.

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.

I Am My Own Savior – Don Hanley’s blog #37

This was the longest dream involving Mary that I have had. I was talking about what I thought about children and what people needed to truly follow Jesus’s teachings. So, I’ll continue . . .

“Now, John, you were saying that when you wanted people to remember your time with Jesus, you didn’t want to lecture them but to get them to feel what Jesus wanted them to experience, remember, and change how they lived. Is that correct?”

“Yes. I had seen too many Jews mouthing what Moses and the Prophets said and then go about their lives and being as greedy, fearful, and hurtful as they were before they ever heard the words and stories.”

Still looking serene but listening closely, Mary said, “I remember Jesus, as a boy, saying that too often people just eat the menu and fail to see and enjoy the banquet. He meant the banquet our Father had created for us – including our ability to create, inspire, love, and connect with others. Joseph and I realized that our son was teaching us many things while we were teaching him how to survive. So, John, please go on about what exactly was and is, Jesus’s teachings as you see it, or perhaps, experience it.”

“Remember, Mary, when I first met you and Joseph?” Mary nodded, and he said, “Well when I entered your house, I immediately felt overwhelmingly warm and safe. I had been freezingly cold and entered a comfortably warm room. I was with Jesus, and when we left your house, I mentioned to him what I experienced, and he said, ‘John, that is what I have been talking about; I want everyone in the world – even those not yet born, that they have the power within themselves to feel what you just felt. And that power or force within them was from when they were conceived –they arrived in their mother’s womb. The embryonic baby does not know this and must learn this – first in the safe environs of the cocoon or womb and then as a newborn baby. That is why every mother must be protected and cared for in a delicate and secure way so she can pass it on to her infant. And it usually takes a few years for each one to realize, deep in our minds and hearts, that we are one with everyone and everything in creation. We are one – with, we are not alone in this world – ever.”  

“Thank you, John. I felt this same warmth and comfort when I first met Mary in my dreams. My mother wanted to pass on this warmth to me, but I was her ninth live birth, and the doctor who delivered me said to Mom, ‘Well, Maggie, here’s another mouth to feed.’ My oldest sister, who was there, told me that the doctor said that with very little compassion, and mom continued to bleed and that it took three hours to save her life. So, I guess she didn’t have much power or energy to radiate love into me.” I knew I wasn’t explaining what happened well, but I stopped talking. I continue to wonder if my mother’s inability to be as warm and loving toward me as she would have liked had made me less able to be as loving a person as I would like to be. I didn’t share that thought with Mary and John.

Mary pondered what John and I had said and gave both a warm smile and these words, “Thank both of you for telling me these things. I now know more precisely what my son was trying to do. I still cannot grasp why the Romans believed they must kill him.”

She shook her head, and I was disappointed that I just vanished . . . 

Hopefully, you are still nurturing and opening your heart, not just eating the menu. 

I Dream of Mary – Don Hanley’s blog #31

Ah, and my dream continues, only this time, I’m wearing a red and black plaid shirt.

Mary smiled and said, “Well, Don, I’m glad you returned to see me. You asked me about my son, Jesus, and what he was like as a boy, correct?”

I nodded, and she continued, “And I’m still interested in some things you’ve heard about him over the years, right? If I remember correctly, you said centuries, not years, right?” I nodded again, and Mary didn’t give me time to respond before she added, “You made me think back to the many times Jesus talked with Joseph and me about the Jewish heroes of history. Joseph was always interested in it and encouraged our son. Jesus learned to read very early, and I remember him commenting on the first book of the Sacred Scriptures.

‘Mother and Father,’ he would say, ‘This is funny; this book says that God created everything, even us people, in six days.’ He chuckled and said, ‘And he created light, and then, days later, he created the sun. Isn’t that funny?’

“Joseph and I had never thought of that, and we laughed with him. Jesus made us think about the Word of God in an entirely new way. Do people in the future still read the Sacred Word?”

Mary looked at me in a way that indicated that she wanted to know the answer.

I said, “Oh. We call it the Bible or Sacred Scriptures. Some think God Himself wrote it and whispered to the human writer who wrote it down in Hebrew. Do you speak Hebrew?”

“I understand it, but I do not speak it very well. Jesus spoke Hebrew and even read it when he was about five years old – about the same time he read Aramaic. Joseph and other village people were amazed.” Mary shook her head as if she were still amazed.

I had many questions about Scripture that I wanted to discuss with her, but I was more interested in what she had to say about Jesus himself.

“Many people believe that Jesus was, and is, the one and only Son of God. What do you say to that – or would you say to them?”

She looked at the sky, laughed delightfully, and said, “You know, Don, you are talking to a Jewish mother. We all think our sons are the sons of God, you know.” She continued to laugh. "But you mean that they believe that my Jesus was the Son of God – that he was, and you said ‘is,’ the Son of God or, as the Scriptures say, Yahweh. And you know, Yahweh means, ‘I am who I am.’ I heard that when I was listening to men talking when I was a child - that we cannot know the true nature of God. You know, Jesus told both Joseph and me that, after our first trip to Jerusalem. We never found out how he learned that. Oh, imagine for a moment that if God were Jesus’s father, that would mean that God impregnated me.” She sat back, held her stomach with both hands, and laughed heartily.

I hated to interrupt her laughter, but I had to say, “The belief was, and most often is, that God just created a Godman in you, and this was called a ‘virgin birth.’”

Mary looked at me with a mischievous grin and said, “So your believers take all the fun out of it, is that right?”  I nodded and told her that most believers still do, and they call her the Virgin Mother of God.

Again, she burst out laughing and, through tears, pointed at her little house and said, “And does this look like the house a mother of God would live in?”

I nodded and muttered, “I think most still do.”

Regretfully, I woke up. I still hope you continue to . . . 

Nurture your heart and do not eat the menus, even this one.

As For Worshiping – Don Hanley’s blog #32

Love – Not Worship – My Friend

I’m already sleeping too much, and now, with my Mary dreams, I enjoy sleeping even more. So, I'm back sitting in Mary’s flower garden – in the same chair Joseph built some years ago.

“You know, my young, old man, I look forward to your visits. I somehow believe you are doing your best to tell me how admirers of my son, Jesus, saw him over many centuries, but I still find it hard to believe. So, anyway, my friend, tell me a few more of your strange stories.”

“First, I’m happy that you are finding me believable, but if I had visited you in what we call the Middle Ages and told others about my visit with you, I would have been burned at the stake.”

Mary looked at me, first with astonishment and then with horror. She covered her mouth with a hand and muttered, “Oh, dear, why in the world would they do that?”

“Because no one, if they are true believers in Jesus, should ever even think of talking with His mother. Evil spirits must possess that person.”

Mary began to laugh, and through her guffaws, she said, “Now, you surely are joking with me, are you not?”

“I wish I were joking, but I’m not. In those years, you were worshipped, and they even built one of the most beautiful temples in the world in a city named Paris. They named it ‘Our Lady’ or ‘Notre Dame.’

Mary looked so alarmed that I feared she would faint and fall out of the chair.

“Oh, Mary, I do not want to hurt or frighten you. What can I do for you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How did they go so wrong about my Jesus and me?”

“I honestly don’t know. I think they thought they were honoring both you and Jesus.” I shook my head as if to shake some answer in there."

“Don’t they know that Jesus did not want to be glorified in any way? He just wanted everyone to know that Yahweh created them and that they can love and be kind to themselves and one another.”

I wanted to answer her, but I left her sitting there. So, all I could do was to…

Nurture my heart, glance at the biblical menu again, and not eat it.

A Delightful Dream – Don Hanley’s blog #30

I have had vivid dreams for years; last night, I had the most wonderful one. In the dream, I am 90 years old and dressed as I usually am these days—a maroon long-sleeved shirt and black pants—and I am sitting in a flower garden.

The flowers are in front of a small house, and a beautiful middle-aged woman is sitting in a chair like mine. She has a delightful, inquisitive smile and asks, “Did I hear you correctly? Your name is Don Hanley, and you are from the 21st century?” I nodded and started to explain, but she continued, “Is that why you are dressed so strangely?”

“Where I come from, my attire is quite common, at least for an old man. Now, to me, you are dressed funny. Where are we, and when are we?” I looked around for the first time and could see the flowers, the small white house, and similar houses in what I assumed was a village square.

“Does this place, or town, have a name? And what year is it?”

“We’re sitting in Nazareth in Galilee, and I’m sad to say, in the Roman Empire. What year? I do not know.” Again, she carefully examined my outfit and muttered a tsk, tsk sound. 

“Oh my, my name is Mary, and my husband, Joseph, is no longer with us. And we had one son, Jesus, whom the Romans murdered just two years ago and, of course, is no longer with us.”

I thought that I must be dreaming, for sure; she did say her son, ‘Jesus?’ I was sure, but I was amazed and blurted out, 

“Oh, Mary, I’m so sorry to hear that. Two deaths in so short a time that is so sad. Yet you tell it like it is not bothering you so much.” I realized I was just rambling foolishly and said, “Oh, I’m sorry for being so thoughtless. I’m sure you are still mourning.”

“Do not worry, my friend. I mourned a great deal when my Joseph died, but my very wise son, Jesus, assured me that Joseph was now living in a blissful state in union with our Father.” She looked so serene as she said this that I couldn’t help but believe her. 

“You know, Don, Jesus was so wonderfully wise. Even as a young lad, he would talk, as Joseph would say, ‘Like he just had breakfast with God.’ Now, I think maybe he did . . . 

He was delightfully thoughtful to his earthly father, Joseph, me, and everyone around him. Oh, and I’m sure Joseph is the only father he ever had.”

Sitting there, I realized we conversed in English like in my “home, century.”

Mary told me, “You speak Aramaic so well as if you were born speaking it. Now, my friend, I hope we can visit again. Now, I do need to take a nap. Will you come to see me tomorrow?”

I woke up feeling wonderfully alive and hoped I would continue this dream. So, the dream helped me to . . .

Nurture my heart and realize that writing my own menu is almost as good as feasting on the banquet.