Mysteries, Marvels and Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints

Paul looks within and sees not Paul but Christ. Are Paul and Christ two separate things? They are two separate things from the perspective of creation, yes, but from the perspective of the transformation of awareness, no.

It was St. Francis who said, “Wherever you go, preach the gospel; when necessary use words.” Depicted as the only Christian saint looking down to the earth rather than upward to God, he has always held a deep appeal for me. It was St. Francis who gave up the life of a rich merchant’s son that had been ordained for him and decided to go forth on a d

“Navigating by the compass in a sea of clouds over Spain is all very well, it is very dashing, but—” And I was struck by the graphic image: “But you want to remember that below the sea of clouds lies eternity.” And suddenly that tranquil cloud-world, that world so harmless and simple that one sees below on rising out of the clouds, took on in my ey

People who have traveled far along the contemplative path are often aware that the sense of separation from God is itself pasted up out of a mass of thoughts and feelings. When the mind comes into its own stillness and enters the silent land, the sense of separation goes. Union is seen to be the fundamental reality and separateness a highly filtere

Among the best documented of the many instances of bilocation attributed to St. Francis of Paola, for example, was a case that happened in 1507. As the holy man was fulfilling his duties at the church altar, people who had come to see him found that he looked as if he was in a deep state of prayer, and they decided not to disturb him. When they lef