I asked Bernadette about what happens at the end of life and after that, and is it the same for people who never lived a spiritual life? She said that yes, it is the same for everyone except for immediately following death. We can't just live a life without God and then pop into eternal bliss; it just doesn’t happen like that. What we haven’t finished in this life, we have to finish. We will die, but then there will be a transition period. The Church calls it purgatory. It is the immediate state after death.
She went on to say it is naïve to think that an egotist or someone who feels righteous because he believes in Christ, is prepared to bear the Divine Vision. The Divine is too far beyond man to be nothing more than a skip and a jump from ordinary consciousness. Such a view makes God only a little step higher than man – not a very lofty or advanced view.
Paraphrased from retreat conversation
Dear Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI am very grateful for this presentation. The state between self and non-self after death is not described in detail in the books of Bernadette Roberts (BR). With your description, it may become easier to understand why Mary played such a crucial role in BR’s life. Since there is – according to BR - a transition between life, death and eternity, it may help to explain that Mary, as an independent force, continues to exist and exert influence. We can sent our prayers to Mary. The day when everything is transformed and we, hopefully become a part of Christ as described by BR, it will probably also be the end of Mary's independent manifestation. All become Christ, or????
Best
Niels Erik
One thing Bernadette said, and I believe wrote, about Mary is that she is the one to pray to for concerns in "time and space". Time and space are not part of the state after death, so what you say sounds right. Also, remember, if the Bible is right, in the very end of ends, "God will be all in all", meaning perhaps, no Mary and no more Christ. She told us that whatever Christ is in heaven, is where we will also be, though transformed beyond our ability now to think of it. So if Christ is transformed at the end of ends, so will all time and space and 'all in all'.
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