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When the Night Begins to Lift

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You don’t notice dawn by its brightness — you notice it because you can finally see your hands again. 🌅 1. The return of quiet joy It doesn’t come as ecstasy or revelation. It comes as a subtle warmth — the sense that prayer is no longer impossible. You realize you’re not forcing faith; it’s breathing on its own again. 🌅 2. The light feels different It’s not the old sweetness. It’s gentler, steadier, less dependent on emotion. You begin to recognize God not in feeling, but in fidelity. 🌅 3. The soul feels spacious After the stripping, there’s room for everything — sorrow, beauty, even mystery. You no longer need to control the experience. You simply dwell in it. 🌅 4. Compassion deepens Having walked through darkness, you no longer fear others’ pain. You listen differently. You carry light without needing to speak of it. 🌅 5. The night becomes memory You don’t forget it, but you stop fighting it. It becomes part of your knowing — the way roots remember the soil that shaped them. ...
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Mystical Experiences: Visions

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  Visions are among the most striking of mystical experiences. They can come as a single, vivid image that imprints itself on the mind, or as a living sequence—like a film unfolding before the inner eye. Some arrive with accompanying words, forming a hybrid of vision and locution. Others are purely visual, silent yet eloquent. The saints and spiritual writers—from Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross to Thomas Dubay—agree that visions are not rewards for holiness but instruments of grace. They are meant to teach, correct, or console, and they require discernment as much as wonder. 🌿 The Three Main Types of Vision 1. The Single Image A single, unmistakable image that conveys meaning without words. It may appear suddenly, often in prayer or contemplation, and carry a clear directive or insight. Example: Years ago, Elizabeth Mahlou saw the image of a colleague whom she barely knew imprinted on her last bottle of holy water from the Baptismal Site every time she happened to look a...
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Precerpt from Grandma's Ninja Training Diary: Strength Comes In Many Forms - Some You Don't Expect

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  My 46-year-old son, Shenan, has CHARGE syndrome: malformed ear canals, balance issues, respiratory compromise. on oxygen. 4'7", a lifetime of medical trauma. And yet — he is stronger than the average 30‑year‑old American man. He lifts. He carries. He moves. He works. He doesn’t fear effort. He began shoulder pressing 10 pounds, and now he can handle 80 -- the same for all the upper body and lower body machines. He comes close to matching me on the upper body (not yet on core and lower body, but he is working it at the gym, where he goes whenever I go). He has lived through things that would flatten most people, and he still shows up with more functional strength than men twice his size. People see disability and assume weakness, but disability often builds strength — real strength, the kind forged by necessity and resilience. Shenan is not fragile. He is a force. Grandma’s Ninja Training Diary  is the inspiring true story of a septuagenarian grandmother who dared to dream b...
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