Divine Intervention: February 16, 2005

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The Cathedral of Light: A chapter from Laurie Conrad’s new book Meetings with Angels & Other Divine Beings, to be published in 2005. A Mystic’s Journal: Entry February 16, 2005


Wednesday, February 16

Because of the last Journey entry, I have decided to include this chapter from my new book Meetings with Angels & Other Divine Beings:


The CATHEDRAL of LIGHT

In my mind, the inner visions or experiences are more precious and valuable than outer visions or clairvoyant ones. The inner experiences seem more Real, and have a more lasting impression. I believe this is because they are the result of direct perception, and not indirect or projected-into-the-outer-world perception. And I also think that the inner experiences given in the spiritual Heart are even more precious than those experienced in the head.

Not knowing the true meanings of these experiences, however, I willingly would defer to those who have more knowledge than I. These are merely my impressions and feelings on the matter.

I believe the experiences given to us in the spiritual Heart are the most precious, and the most accurate, because that is where the individual soul meets the Divine, meets God. This is the meaning of “direct perception” - the physical body - the brain - is not involved, in the usual sense. Therefore, our personal symbology, the result of our psychology, is also bypassed, because the brain is not involved. The images we see in the spiritual Heart are true and unadulterated. They are the initial impressions and images given to the soul by God, without the filter of the individual mind.

In any case, these are my thoughts.

The Cathedral of Light was shown to me in the spiritual Heart, some months after my car accident, perhaps five months later. I was still extremely injured, and I was resting on the living room couch in a deep meditation. All I could really do in those first months after the accident, perhaps even the first year, was to lie on the couch with my eyes closed and meditate. During that time, I could not inwardly form words yet, so I could not say the formal prayers given by the Church. I still could not easily, or at all, understand words spoken by others, because of my head injuries. Nor could I really speak. All I could comfortably do was to rest on the living room couch with my eyes closed, barely able to move, and meditate.

As I mention elsewhere in this book, during this period I also lost all my outward clairvoyance - I could no longer see into other realms, nor see the Divine Light behind the forms of this material universe. Life had never been so devoid of outer meaning. Mainly resting in the inner self, perhaps often in a semi-coma, the outer world seemed very far away - and also very peripheral to true Being and true Life. This is difficult to explain, but when people came in to watch me, care for me - their thoughts and words, which were still almost impossible for me to follow, seemed superfluous to their being and mine. I very much wanted to tell them this, but could not, because I could not yet form the words. At some point I thought to myself, “one day, when I am more Healed, I will tell them”, but strangely I never did - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that even later, when I had regained words, the words cannot truly convey what I felt and experienced then. But I realized, during that time, that our words and thoughts pull us away from our true being. It was like watching skaters on a lake in winter, twirling around on the ice, while the beautiful lake lay below, and all life’s meaning - was in the lake.

In any case, one late afternoon Jesus appeared to me inwardly, in the spiritual Heart, while I was resting with my eyes closed, on the blue couch with the small embroidered flowers and little embroidered squares. He appeared to me inwardly, but at some distance away from me in that vast inner space. He was fairly life-sized, and He was holding something in His Hands that was of such intense Light, I could barely look at it. He came closer, still holding that Brightness in His Holy Hands. As He came nearer I could see that it was a small Cathedral of some sort, entirely made of intense, brilliant Light, a sort of Light we do not have here on earth. And He then walked into me, still holding the Cathedral. He placed the Cathedral in my Heart, and as He did this, my Heart began to burn. My heart began to burn with an incredible heat, a heat like our coal stove gives off during the coldest winter months. My heart still sometimes burns in this way, and I can still sometimes see the Light there, and almost always when I think back on this Experience.

I was made to understand that this Cathedral of Light represented the Trinity.

Our Lady, the Madonna, and Saint Joseph then appeared, first at a great distance, then coming towards me - and They each gave me a ring. This scene was all further away from me in the Heart, and I actually met Them there, where They were, to receive the rings. I had no idea what this meant, nor did the specific meaning of the rings seem important. The beauty and sacredness of the experience erased all questions. The idea that Gifts of such value could be given to me at the very nadir of my physical usefulness to the world - these spiritual and mystical Gifts of untold worth - was beyond my understanding. In my astonishment, I could only stand there in utter humility and gratitude. It is still beyond my understanding and certainly beyond my worth. I can only think that the rings symbolized graces given to me for my suffering. And I trust that on the soul level of my being, I understood the meaning perfectly.

This experience with Our Lord was, I think, the most vivid I have ever experienced.


1 What I am calling meditation is what Saint Teresa of Avila calls mental prayer.

2 Years later, I read a brief account written about a Catholic saint, or holy soul, in a small book. He said that following a long and sincere series of devotions to the Stations of the Cross, Our Lady and St. Joseph had appeared to him. Each had given him a ring. He offered no explanation as to the meaning.