Mothers’ Unexpected Blessings

Even though I didn’t want to be away from home at these busy holiday times, a free resort stay in Sedona is hard to resist.

Ron and I enjoyed an unexpected stay there with our good friends before heading down to my home town in Cochise County, AZ to surprise my Mom and Dad. We couldn’t drive all that way from Texas and NOT take time to see them. Besides, it’s always such delicious fun to drop in on them unannounced.

Seeing my mom’s beautiful, surprised smile cut a beam of light across her normally serious expression is worth the extra hours spent in the car (dad manages his less enthusiastic grin). It is always wonderful to reconnect with her in physical space since our physical distance seems to affect the depth of our personal connection; there is an unspoken communication that takes place in a hearty embrace that cell service simply can’t convey.

Since we were in town for only two nights, I spent all my time with my parents and my aunt (rather than any friends) so to soak up as much of their company as possible. This desire surprisingly compelled me to attend Mass with Mom the next morning. Little did I know this rare desire to share space with my mom would bless me beyond measure.

We arrived at the chapel early. The surroundings were exactly as I remembered them.

Aside from some new paint and a renovated bathroom, the building had not changed in decades. The only change I experienced was the excitement my mom had at my joining her for this “holy day of obligation.”

Since I had outgrown religious strictures many years ago, and my devout sister is the one who she normally gets to share with her church-going friends, this was quite the treat for her to show off her “oldest” daughter. Mom’s entire being lit up with each “this is my other daughter,” filling in all those tiny fissures I unknowingly carried in my heart. After a couple greetings inside, I made my way to the courtyard and found the sun had broken through the clouds.

It was the first I’d seen sunshine all week after spending the atypical cold and cloudy time in northern Arizona. I am not one to let a ray of sunshine go unappreciated, so I walked over to absorb the glorious light. I would receive much more than the golden warmth, however.

As I stand in the sunlight with my eyes closed in grateful appreciation for the beauty of the mountains around me, I receive a clear telepathic message:

“Go to My temple.”

Instantly, a flash of Mother Mary in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel flashes through my mind.

Mom stands a little distance away from me, curiously watching me in the sun. “Momma, is that tiny little Blessed Sacrament Chapel still in the same place?”

“Yeah.”

“Can we go there?”

“Sure!” She pivots quickly and marches me right through the heavy metal doors that I remembered. Opening the next door and turning on the light, mom seats herself in a chair while I obey the magnetic pull to the large statue of Mother Mary. I kneel before Her.

A powerful pink warm radiance spills down upon my head and face as I close my eyes and sit back. I feel her hand upon my head. I begin to weep. I see a giant pearly-white rosary before me, and she places it upon me. Tears turn to sobs.

“We are here for you. You are protected.” She transmits telepathically.

Sobs turn to whole-body whimpers as the pink radiance pours through me.

Remembering that Mom will still want to make introductions, the radiance subsides, but not entirely. I try to salvage my makeup. “Do you have a tissue?”

Mom is watching me from behind and pulls out the familiar fold she carries in her purse. “Mass is going to start soon.”

“Okay, I just need to go to the bathroom first.”

I tried to cool my face down while carefully dabbing tears in front of the mirror. I didn’t want to have smears on my face, but the warmth never faded.

“Mother Mary was communicating to me, Mom.”

“Of course she was. She loves you.” Though Mom didn’t really understand what I was saying, I know that she spoke truth. “We’ve got to go sit down now. Mass is going to start.”

“Ok.” I followed my mom into the main chapel, and as we entered, we saw my aunt who seemed to be looking for my mom.

“I thought you weren’t coming!” I said, surprisingly.

“Well, I got done the things I wanted to do this morning, so I decided to come.”

I was glad to get a chance to see her again. I followed them in, but I only set my purse down in the pew. I looked to my mom, “I’ll be right back.” I wanted to complete the blessing I’d received in the sunshine.

I walk back out and stand in the sunlight. A decree comes through, cuttingly clear. My voice seems to translate the light message directly as it spills into my mind as I interact with the sunshine:

As I speak this decree, the unwavering warmth upon my face spills into my torso and lights up my heart, as if a star stretching its tips through my chest.

I walked back into the church quietly and quickly wrote down what I had received on a store receipt I happened to find in my purse. This most wonderful gift, however, was just the first of the amazing blessings.

Sitting between my mom and my aunt, I found the place in the missalette that we were to follow. Just what day was this holy day of obligation, anyway? I wondered. Mom’s finger pointed.

Catching up to the Mass proceedings, I see that the first reading is from the Book of Genesis 3:9-15, 20 in which Eve blames the serpent for tricking her to eat the forbidden fruit.

I quietly chuckle. Somehow, the serpent appears in some fashion to assure me when I have a sacred experience. I can not help but smile at this wink from my Presence as the radiance continues to move through me.

As the mass continued, so did the radiance I was receiving from Mother Mary. The goings-on of the Mass faded around me as my own sacred Mass happened within me.

The pink light above me grows and grows, pouring into my heart, radiating my face from beneath. My heart is ablaze with radiance. I can see my heart’s Innocence personify as a young girl pulling back the veils, but my current self cannot see what lies beyond the veils (this is yet to be revealed).

I feel the energetics of the Great Mothers as they appear before me. Mother Mary, Isis, Mary Magdalene, Grandmother Anna – all the Sacred Mothers, even ones unknown to me. I see them all align as they merge into One Divine Mothers’ Presence, Mother Mary at the forefront.

I see Her now, all merged into one Grand Being, and with a single voice of a thousand voices, I hear and see pendulum movement above me, faint colorful streaks of smoke fall around me. Great Mother swings an incense burner as Her voice creates lines of light geometry around me:

My awareness began to tune into the homily, which was hard to understand through the priest’s thick African accent. He began weaving his interpretation of all of the various Bible selections offered at this Mass. He connected them to a story from his village in Africa, to the ecstatic writing of a more contemporary work. Though it was hard to understand his narrative with his unique pronunciations, I could see that my mother thoroughly enjoyed what he was saying with her many smiles and nods.

I smiled privately at what he and my mom would think at the ecstatic experience I was having right in their midst.

Time for the Lord’s Prayer.

Aunt Estella and Mom take my hands as we join in “Our Father.” By this time, my hands are like ice as the energetic purification continues through me. I join my mothers in saying the prayer, and as we release our hands in completion, I see my aunt take her hand from mine and rub her right hand into her left.

“Your hands are freezing!” she whispered. I just smiled, enjoying the purification that was taking place within me. I could sense that they were cold, but I didn’t actually feel cold.

Soon, Communion was offered.

My mother really wanted me to go up and receive a blessing from the priest. She suggested it before Mass had begun that morning, but I told her I would “feel into it.” When our pew was next to join in the procession towards the altar, I couldn’t resist my mother’s eager urging to join her.

“Just place your arms around your chest in an X like this,” she motioned. She looked so excited for me to go that I couldn’t refuse.

I clasped my still freezing hands together and walked toward the altar where the priest distributed the wafers to open hands before him. As I got closer to the priest, I realized it was the Radiance of the Mothers placed upon me that would actually be blessing him. I smiled, then bowed my head as he placed his hand before me; I could feel energy move up through my head and into his hand.

I walked away smiling at the blissful irony of what had just happened.

Returning to the pew, I sat in silent reverie, still enjoying the radiance moving through me, continuing to absorb the purification through my limbs.

As we left the church, I continued to feel this splendor moving through me. I walked as if on a cloud. Mom, Aunt Estella and I approached the priest who focused his attention on a baby in a stroller before he acknowledged us.

“Hello Father Andunchezor, this is my “other” daughter, Celeste.” Mom practically curtsied before him. “She and her husband surprised me with a visit!” she bounced.

“Ah, wonderful!” The shorter-than-expected man flashed a sincere smile.

“Hello,” I smiled, feeling the light emit from my face.

“How are you?” He didn’t seem to sense the radiance. No one did, but I was unbothered by that.

“Blessed,” I beamed. “So very blessed.”

“Yes, we are all so blessed!” he exclaimed with no realization of the exchange between us earlier. While the parishioners visited with him, I could feel the radiance begin to wane.

As I left the doors of the chapel behind me, I felt the door to heaven within me begin to gently close. I walked down the steps with nearly all of my senses returned to normal, but somehow the fragrance of what transpired still lingered in my personal atmosphere like the unexpected perfume upon one’s sweater from the night before.

I close this piece in most humble gratitude to all that occurred on this holy day of observance of the Immaculate Conception of Mother Mary. I end this year with the hopeful expectation of an “immaculate conception” of a New Year full of creative accomplishments in the development of a sacred business, and that the gifts of these blessings continue to unfold their splendor.

May the many whiffs of unexpected fragrance of Divine Mothers’ Love await each of us this coming year, and the Radiance They offer bring each of us closer to the Sophia-Christ of our quintessential Divinity!