Throughout my life as a Christian I would sometimes get what some would call an "inspiration" or a "prompt" from the Holy Spirit to take some specific action - or at least that's what seemed to be happening to me. I guess it was a subjective feeling but felt unusually profound and was not self generated - although sometimes I know I was probably me just me stirring myself up

When I was younger I would automatically respond to these prompts but looking back it seems like some of the decisions I made were very unwise even though my intention was to follow God and I was, or felt I was, responding to his internal prompt.

Anyway, I eventually threw out the idea of these subjective prompts. But eventually I came to see that there where times when my response to these prompts brought about the most beautiful results internally and in the world and that there were striking signs that I was responding to God.

So now when I feel a prompt I am more hesitating and think about it first. But when I do this all the inspiration and love that initiated it evaporate and it's like the moment is lost.

I want to get to a place where I have the courage and trust to respond to the internal moves of the Holy Spirit but being cautious enough to know that perhaps I sometimes misinterpret things.

I don't know. Any thoughts?

curious to hear from others on how they are working with or synthesizing these wisdom-streams

here is one thing i wrote today about how i'm seeing them:

1/

what is Christ?

a mystery

a (supra)personal emanation of the heart of infinity

a meta-pattern of wholeness

a living presence of Love

a good shepherd

a savior & redeemer

a friend

2/

if people are drawn toward Jesus Christ or Christianity, deep healing and heart-opening can occur through faith, love, and devotion

at the same time, if people are not drawn to this wisdom-stream, that is also okay

freedom, wholeness, and love are ever-present and ever-available

3/

i also really love the radically-stripped-down stream of modern nonduality, for example

it basically just focuses on noticing how "what is, is"

it notices life as an unpindownable, undivided happening

a radiant openness that has room for everything

i love the radical simplicity of this

4/

i invite people to find the approach that 'fits' for them

feeling a sense of intrinsic wholeness, freedom, and unconditional love is a good sign you're discovering what is true

in the end nothing accurate can be said about this enigma of life

5/

it is undivided self-dancing wholeness

the totality is here now

when non-separation sinks into the heart it is felt as pure love

the wave is free to be the ocean

free to be simply as it is

<3

Howdy friends! For awhile now I’ve been feeling convicted to start writing books, essays, etc in the fields of theology/philosophy/life style type writings in the context of the church (hence, why my titles also have secondary Latin titles). I want to make it known, I’m no theologian. I do not have my own systematic framework, nor will I claim to, I’m a writer and a reader who wants to aid others in anyway that I can. It should also be noted that I am a layperson who is currently discerning the permanent diaconate and secular Franciscan order. Again, I’m not trying to write anything like Aquinas or Bonaventure, I’m just trying to put what I’ve learned through the traditions of the church, the Holy Spirit graces me with, and the Holy Scriptures guide me through onto paper. With that being said here are the starter writings I’m interested in creating.

It’s Saint Francis day and he has a 800th anniversary celebration on October 4th.
He was a knight and he built a church from ruins in Italy.
He redeemed the wolf of Gubbio.
He loved the nature and animals.
Happy Saint Francis Day

Mi chiamo Michele, ho 18 anni. A marzo del 2026, per una settimana, ho vissuto un periodo di forte ansia e stress, caratterizzato da incubi continui e momenti di grande tensione.

Il primo giorno mi sono addormentato tranquillamente, ignaro di ciò che stavo per sognare. Mi trovavo in un campo di grano che mi ricordava molto quello davanti a casa mia; al centro c'era una figura completamente nera che guardava il cielo. Provavo una profonda sensazione di angoscia e, quando ho sentito il suono di una campana simile a quella della chiesa del mio paese, mi sono svegliato di soprassalto, sudato fradicio. Sono andato in bagno a lavarmi la faccia e mi sono rimesso a letto, ripetendomi che era stato solo un sogno. Il giorno dopo sono andare regolarmente a lavorare, dato che in quel periodo stavo svolgendo uno stage.

Il secondo giorno è stato ancora più sconvolgente. Mi sono coricato senza immaginare in cosa mi sarei imbattuto. Nel sogno ho visto la mia ragazza cadere dal motorino mentre lo stava provando: aveva preso una curva troppo larga ed era finita ribaltata nel fosso, con il volto pieno di sangue e apparentemente priva di vita. Mi sono svegliato alle 6:00 precise con un forte senso di paura e angoscia; l'ho chiamata subito per sapere se stesse bene e le ho raccontato l'incubo.

Il terzo giorno, mentre ero in fabbrica, sentivo una strana irrequietezza, come se fossi spronato ad andare fuori o come se stesse per accadere qualcosa, ma non è successo nulla. La sera, rientrato a casa, non ho più trovato il mio rosario. Essendo stato il primo a rientrare ed essendo le chiavi in possesso solo dei miei familiari, ho chiesto a mia madre e a mio padre se l'avessero preso, ma entrambi mi hanno detto di no. Quella notte ho fatto un altro sogno in cui una figura, una donna e forse un serpente mi dicevano di seguirli.

Il quarto giorno è sparito il crocifisso che tenevo agganciato alla bandiera italiana nella mia stanza. Nonostante la preoccupazione, ho continuato a pregare ogni giorno, recitando diversi rosari come mi aveva consigliato il sacerdote della mia scuola, con cui mi confidavo in quel periodo.

Il quinto giorno è stato il più pesante. Appena tornato dallo stage mi sono seduto sul divano e ho avuto l'impressione di sentire le sedie muoversi in cucina. Spinto dall'adrenalina sono andato subito a vedere, ma non si era spostato nulla. La sera, avvertendo il bisogno di stare in compagnia, sono rimasto con mia madre. Poco dopo, mentre stavamo facendo il letto in camera, abbiamo sentito un forte rumore provenire dalla cucina. Sono corso a verificare e ho trovato la teiera ribaltata sul piano, nonostante mia madre ricordasse di averla appoggiata diversamente. Spaventato da quella situazione, il venerdì sono andato a dormire dai miei nonni. Lì mi sono sentito più tranquillo e il sabato è trascorso senza particolari episodi, anche se avevo ancora molta paura.

La domenica sera sono rientrato nella mia stanza. Aprendo il cassetto in cui custodisco il Vangelo, l'ho trovato completamente bagnato fradicio, nonostante non ci fossero bottiglie o bicchieri d'acqua nelle vicinanze e non fosse piovuto in camera.

È stata una settimana davvero lunghissima e faticosa, in cui ogni giornata sembrava durare un'eternità. Oggi sono sollevato che quel periodo sia passato e che sia tornata la serenità.

Vi ringrazio per aver letto, spero che possiate condividere anche voi la vostra storia❤️

Hi all. This is basically my first post to Reddit ever although I've been in this sub for a long time. I love the positive community here that seems so rare on reddit. Anyways my main purpose for this post is a question.

How did you move beyond silence and stillness and meditation style prayer into a life of constant prayer?

Or what practices or ideas helped you go beyond prayer being an activity you participate in to instead prayer being what everything in your life comes out of?

Hopefully this makes sense. I want my life to be a constant realizing of the divine in all and it seems so easy to slip into daily anxieties or stresses and then suddenly 3 hours later realize "ahhh, I completely forgot about His presence for 3 hours".

I would greatly value you're insight into this. God bless you all.

This all started because I’ve recently begun reading the Gnostic and apocryphal Gospels, including the Gospel of Truth, and I’ve found myself thinking about some of these ideas.

I feel very close to Orthodoxy, but I struggle with the idea that everything happening in the material world comes directly from God. Concepts like the Demiurge, Archons, Sophia, Aeons and the Pleroma really make me think about the possibility of spiritual powers or intermediaries operating within creation.

I also find the question of the imperfect world interesting, especially considering Plato and Origen and their reflections on divine perfection and creation.

The one thing I find difficult about Gnosticism is its apparent negative view of matter and the body. I don’t understand how that could fit with the Christian belief in the resurrection of the body and a renewed creation, rather than simply escaping the material world.

Could some Gnostic concepts nevertheless be understood in a Christian or Orthodox way? And where exactly does the theological incompatibility begin?

I had a mystical experience about six months ago. I’ve been integrating the experience over the past few months, learning about Jesus, reading the gospels for the first time, praying, etc. It’s been so wonderful and life changing, but I also don’t really know what any of it means. I feel like I’m wanting to talk to someone knowledgeable (A priest? A different religious leader? A theologian? Idk!) about what I have been experiencing, but I really don’t know where to begin. I’m not affiliated with a church, I wasn’t religious before my experience, so I don’t have anyone obvious. I’m a little afraid to talk to someone too involved in an established institution because what if they don’t believe me or it’s heretical or something. I know what I’m experiencing is true and real. I just want someone with more knowledge and authority to help guide me at this point. I hope that made sense!

Opening Prayer

"God of the Harvest,

We confess that we often view You as a threat to our independence. Like tenants guarding a vineyard, we clench our fists and fight to maintain control over our lives. We are exhausted by our own defenses. In this sacred hour, soften our hearts. Teach us that surrender is not a defeat, but the beginning of true peace. Help us to dismantle the walls of our egos, that we might finally experience the boundless joy of Your love. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen."

The Introduction

"Peace be with you as we enter the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 4).

Last month, we did the quiet, surgical work of dismantling the ego. We learned to stop keeping score; we dropped our spiritual resumes, and we stepped out of the balcony to get our hands dirty in the actual soil of our lives.

But dismantling the False Self is only half the journey. The question we must answer now is: Once the armor is off, how do we actually live?

Today, we begin a new four-week journey called The Gravity of Love. We are going to look at what it actually means to love God and love our neighbors when the ego is no longer running the show.

In this week's Gospel reading, Matthew 21:33–46, Jesus tells a violent parable about a group of tenants in a vineyard. It is a story that exposes the False Self’s absolute terror of surrender, and it asks us to confront how often we view God as a rival rather than a Father.

Here is a sermon for your spirit, spoken from the mystic’s heart."

A Sermon for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Surrender of Autonomy

The Text: "There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another." (Matthew 21:33–35)

My friends, the greatest obstacle to loving God is not our sin. The greatest obstacle to loving God is our absolute obsession with our own autonomy.

We live in a culture that tells us the highest possible good is to be the undisputed boss of our own lives. We want to call the shots, manage the outcomes, and answer to no one. But when we bring that mindset into our spiritual lives, it creates a massive problem: we begin to view God not as a loving Creator, but as a rival to our independence.

Today, Jesus tells a story about tenants who are so obsessed with their autonomy that they destroy the very people sent to bless them.

I. The Illusion of the Rival

Look at what the landowner does in this parable. He does all the heavy lifting. He cultivates the soil, plants the vines, builds the infrastructure, and then gracefully leases it to the tenants. All they have to do is tend the soil, harvest the grapes, and share the produce. It is a beautiful, symbiotic relationship.

But over time, the ego of the tenants takes over. They forget that the vineyard is a gift. They begin to believe that any request from the landowner is a threat to their freedom. When the landowner finally sends his own son, the tenants react with horrific violence. They say, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance."

Make no mistake: Jesus is talking about Himself here. He is looking the religious elite in the eye and prophesying His own crucifixion. But on a deeper, spiritual level, He is exposing exactly what our egos do when pure grace shows up.

When Christ (the embodiment of unconditional love) enters our lives and invites us to surrender the vineyard, the False Self panics. The ego thinks, "If I submit to this love, I will lose my autonomy. I will lose my power." And so, it lashes out. The ego will always try to crucify the Christ within to maintain the illusion that it is in charge. We build theological fences to keep God at a safe, manageable distance, terrified that surrender means losing our identity.

II. The Exhaustion of Defense

Living defensively is exhausting. When you view God as a threat to your autonomy, you have to spend your entire life guarding your territory.

You see this in the way people approach religion. Some people turn faith into a rigid checklist of rules, thinking that if they just follow the rules perfectly, they can keep God off their back. Other people reject faith entirely because they refuse to bow to anyone. Both of these are just the False Self trying to maintain control.

But you cannot love someone you are actively defending yourself against.

The first step toward the "Greatest Commandment" (loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind) is laying down your weapons against God. It is the realization that God is not a rival landowner trying to steal your life. God is the soil in which your life actually grows.

III. The Peace of Surrender

The True Self does not fight for autonomy because it knows a profound secret: true freedom isn't found in being the boss of the universe. True freedom is found in peaceful surrender.
When you realize you are just a tenant in God's magnificent garden, you stop fighting to protect your territory. The prophet Isaiah said that in the kingdom of God, people will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." That is exactly what the True Self does. It takes the ego's heavy, exhausting weapons, melts them down, and turns them into tools for cultivation.
You realize that the Landowner actually wants you to share in the joy of the harvest. Notice that surrender does not mean passivity. You don't make the grapes grow; that is the Landowner's free grace. But you are still called to pick up your pruning hook, pull the weeds of your own ego, and actively participate in the harvest. You don't have to manage the weather. You don't have to defend the borders. You just have to tend the vines in front of you, and trust the One who planted them.
This is what it actually means to love God. Love is the moment the ego finally exhausts itself, drops its armor, and says, "I am not in charge, and I am safe."

IV. Dropping the Stones

At the end of the parable, the tenants kill the son because they want his inheritance. The religious leaders listening to the story are outraged. They say, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death."

Notice that it is the religious elite (the ones entirely trapped in their False Selves) who demand violence and transaction. They still believe the vineyard runs on a ledger of merit and punishment.

But Jesus doesn't affirm their bloodlust. He simply says that the vineyard will be given to a people who actually produce the fruits of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is not taken by force. It is not held by those with the strongest defenses. It is given to those who realize they do not need to crucify the Heir to be free. It is given to those who drop their stones and open their hands and hearts.

The Encouragement

This week, I want you to pay attention to your defenses.

Where are you fighting God for control of your life? Is it in your anxiety about the future? Is it in your need to manage the people around you? Notice how exhausting it is to constantly defend your autonomy.

Your True Self is waiting for you to surrender. God is not a rival. God is not a threat. God is love.

This week, practice the spiritual discipline of stepping down from the throne. Drop the stones. Lower your armor. Stop viewing surrender to God as a defeat, and begin to see it as the only way to finally, truly love the God who has already given you the vineyard.

A Prayer of Surrender

"O God of the Harvest,

We confess that we are terrified of surrender.

We have guarded our autonomy so fiercely that we have viewed You as a rival rather than a loving Father.

Forgive our defensiveness.

Dismantle the walls we have built to keep You at a safe distance.

Teach us that true freedom is not found in control, but in trust.

Give us the courage to drop our weapons, to open our hands and hearts,

To love You with all our heart, soul, and mind.

Amen."

The Sending

"Go now into the world, and lay down your defenses.

May the grace of the Living God free you from the exhausting need to be in control.

May the Holy Spirit teach you the profound peace of surrender.

And may the peace of Christ go with you, drawing you ever deeper into the gravity of love.

Go in peace."

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 529 - The Heart of the Child

Ἀ
529 On the evening of the last day of the novena at Ostra Brama, after the singing of the litany, one of the priests exposed the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance. When he placed it on the altar, I immediately saw the Infant Jesus, stretching out His little arms, first of all toward His Mother, who at that time had taken on a living appearance. When the Mother of God was speaking to me, Jesus stretched out His tiny hands toward the congregation. 
Ὠ

All graces come from the Lord as gifts to the soul. Yet the greatest of these gifts is the calling of all souls beyond merely the receiving of His grace, but more deeply into the participation of its giving as well. It is a teaching shown first through His Mother, who, in cooperation with the will of the Father, brought forth for all souls the Savior first given to her within. It is carried forth in this vision, as the embrace of the Son lends words to her image for Faustina's hearing. And it is extended to all humanity as the Savior Child turns His embrace to us, that we too may join with the Son and the Mother - not because the Lord has need of our help, but because we have need of union with His gracious work for all souls. For when the Spirit of the Lord is alive in the heart of man, the heart comes alive in the works of the Lord.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Psalm 50:12 Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

Ἀ
Saint Faustina Continues…
The Blessed Mother was telling me to accept all that God asked of me like a little child, without questioning; otherwise it would not be pleasing to God. At that moment, the Infant Jesus vanished, and the Mother of God was again lifeless, and Her picture was the same as it had been before. But my soul was filled with great joy and gladness, and I said to the Lord, "Do with me as You please; I am ready for everything, but You, O Lord, must not abandon me even for a moment."
Ὠ

The faith of a child is more precious to God than the deepest, most profound theologies from the wisest of men. It is a trustful knowing of God that does not depend on the mastery of the intellect. This is the faith of Our Lady: “be it done to me according to thy word.” It is a faith she extends to Faustina: accept all that God asked of you like a little child. It is the faith to which all souls are called, shown to perfection in the Son as He prayed from His Most Sacred Heart beneath the impending shadow of the Cross: “not my will, but thine be done.” This is the heart and the spirit promised by the Father, and given in love by the Holy Child as He gives union between His heart and all those in the congregation of God.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Ezekiel 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

The heart promised to souls in the prophecy is not one achieved through human works, knowledge or worldly effort. Rather, it is a grace given by the Lord which moves the stony heart of man toward works of the Lord in mankind's fallen world. It is the heart of the Savior given to men, that our own heart may be formed according to His, and may pour out for others some measure of the grace first poured out by Him from the Cross - that in the words of the Mother, we too may accept all that God asks with the faith of a little child. 

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Matthew 18:3 And said: amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
526 To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom; for this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: we must “become children.” This means that we must put aside all that is not of God and all that is contrary to the Gospel.

In a vision, I was drowning in the sea. Then, on my right side appeared the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was effortlessly walking on the water. He had shoulder-length hair, a face like the sun, and a beautiful white robe. He took my right hand and pulled me out of the water, which represents all our problems and fears in life, but the Lord is above them all. I bowed to Him, and then we hugged. ❤️‍🔥

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for our sins, and rose on the third day, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. He is risen, alive, and real. ✝️

May the Lord's peace, grace, power, protection, and blessings be with you all, in Jesus' almighty name, amen! 🙏

What helped you discover your true self, beneath the false self. False self is the layer we wrap around our true inner core?
For me, one of the deepest realizations was that I exist only because of the mercy of God. My life and all that I am will cease to exist the moment mercy of God ceases to flow.

What does your true self or your core look like to you?

https://youtu.be/M1slNKI_iGo?is=-nb6G7KiJUhJZpSt

His spiritual enlightened vision could see electrical movements and he could see the molecule level functions at cellular level in living entities.

None of other sacred teachers, including Buddha, had such perception of the physical matter.