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It is still possible under certain conditions and with a humble and contrite heart to receive a vision from God. However, it is something you must pray for for a long time with great humility and there must be some very important purpose that you receive this vision. Also, the vision will not be what you expect, and will probably be very frightening at first, until you begin to pray about it's interpretation and analyze it with reference both to scripture and to exactly what vision you were praying for. Believe me, you do not want to communicate with God in this manner unless you are a very courageous person and very well-versed in the scriptures. God is not limited in communicating to us just through the scriptures. I have had one vision, after six weeks of isolation, semi-fasting, prayer and Bible study, and I have heard his voice on one occassion. Both times, what I saw and heard were not expected, and were laden with so much wisdom that I was still learning over a decade later from events that lasted no more than a few seconds.

I have had one vision, after six weeks of isolation, semi-fasting, prayer and Bible study, and I have heard his voice on one occassion. Both times, what I saw and heard were not expected, and were laden with so much wisdom that I was still learning over a decade later from events that lasted no more than a few seconds.

Welcome stryker.

This is for sure an new topic on these threads! :)

BigMack

St. Theresa of Avila, a famous mystic, never thought of her visions as anything but a burden and cautioned others not to seek them.

Thank you.

I think I understand what you mean; however, do you think there is possible something less dramatic or rare than what we would call a "vision"?

Something maybe closer to conscious constact with God's presence, something more akin to realizing spirit in all things, aversion to what formerly attracted us to sin, something closer to seeing the divine image in other humans, causing compassion to arise before anger and enabling love of our enemies to be a natural reaction instead of fear…

Is this transformation of consciousness real or possible for all us do you think? Is this perhaps what metanoia means?

Something less dramatic, yet deeper, more subtle…

It is still possible under certain conditions and with a humble and contrite heart to receive a vision from God.

Hello stryker, welcome to the conversation. You raise a fascinating point that to my knowledge has not yet been discussed.

Hey everyone, a new topic for discussion. Read stryker's #27, and share, if you will, any experiences you have had wherein you have had a vision of, or felt the presence of, God. Or an event you've experienced for which a miracle is the most plausible explanation.

I can think of one event myself that happened about five years ago. I was sitting in my office at work, when suddenly I was struck by the awareness of the Presence of God the Father. There was nothing visible or audible, just a powerful sense of His Being. It lasted for several minutes.

I am not a visual person at all; I'm far more "sound-oriented". There have been a number of times when my most heartfelt prayers have been answered by what I can only describe as an internal locution. Once involved a decision to take a year off of college. Another involved prayer for my son shortly after he was conceived. This was our first pregnancy, my wife was having difficulty and we were concerned about losing the baby. I prayed incessantly, and at one point suddenly had a realization that he was going to be okay. Shortly thereafter, my wife's problem went away. The final instance involved our decision as to whether or not to try for a second child. I prayed about it, and I felt God answering me, telling me that we should try that month. We conceived on the first attempt. We had a terribly difficult pregnancy, but my daughter was born healthy.

A third case involved a near-accident about 13 years ago. I was on a two-lane highway during a winter storm, the roads were snow and ice-covered. A car coming from the other direction lost control. I maneuvered to try to avoid him, but we were heading straight towards each other. There is no way we should have avoided a serious accident. But somehow our two cars both spun around in such a way that they just avoided colliding. I could never have done it that way if I had tried.

It is still possible under certain conditions and with a humble and contrite heart to receive a vision from God. However, it is something you must pray for for a long time with great humility and there must be some very important purpose that you receive this vision. Also, the vision will not be what you expect, and will probably be very frightening at first, until you begin to pray about it's interpretation and analyze it with reference both to scripture and to exactly what vision you were praying for. Believe me, you do not want to communicate with God in this manner unless you are a very courageous person and very well-versed in the scriptures. God is not limited in communicating to us just through the scriptures. I have had one vision, after six weeks of isolation, semi-fasting, prayer and Bible study, and I have heard his voice on one occassion. Both times, what I saw and heard were not expected, and were laden with so much wisdom that I was still learning over a decade later from events that lasted no more than a few seconds.

Every case is different. My experience with a vision from God was quite wonderful and uplifting ... not frightening in any way.

For those that I've bored with this story before (way back in the early part of the neverending threads), I apoligize for boring you one more time...

My wife and I had been trying to conceive for a while and were praying for God's help in this matter. In January of last year, I attended a men's conference (sponsored by the D-FW Catholic Men's Network) at the University of Dallas' chapel. I really had no idea what it was all about, but got the feeling that I should go. When I got there, I found out it was all about confession ... something I still wasn't very comfortable with even after 8 years of being a Catholic Christian.

I won't bore you with the details, but after it was all over and I went on home, I spent some time in prayer (a decade of the Rosary, the Lord's Prayer, and some one-on-one with The Man). That night, as my wife and I did our usual evening prayer before turning in, I asked God once again to fill our home with the joy and laughter of little children. At that very moment, I saw and heard two little children running and laughing in the hallway in our house and I immediately burst into laughter and tears. My wife heard it, too, and joined me in my extreme joy.

He later revealed to us what He was showing us ... my wife was pregnant with our first child! (She turns one year old Friday, btw)

What I saw that night was two children close in age. Given that information, I knew that they would indeed be close. We are expecting our 2nd child in February.

Where am I going with all this? I don't know ... I guess I was just sharing that with you to let you know that not all visions will frighten or take decades to figure out or only come after a long period of fasting, praying, etc. I was indeed full of humility and my heart was in the right place that night. When we are that clean, it's much easier to see and hear God's word.