A spiritual rehabilitation center — the unfolding vision of the Palan Shrine

(Part 2 of a series on The On-Going Spiritual Message to the Nation: Pray)

In November 1992, in response to our request for His own message to be put up at the Mt. Pinatubo Hidden Temple Shrine, Our Lord of Love and Redemption, spoke through mystic — Mrs. Punay Kabayao Fernandez — declaring Palan as a ‘spiritual rehabilitation center’. With such a short koan (Zen riddle) was Palan’s role defined for us.

Right at the outset, the Palan Shrine was never your usual grotto-on-a-hill affair of the familiar Lourdes pattern. First, Our Praying Blessed Mother with eyes closed but looking very much alive and a dimpled smile on her face had some unusual symbols: a star of David, a galactic belt, a chalice and candle on her hands. Second, Our Lord of Love and Redemption, very massive and manly, also had special symbols on Him: the star of David, as on Mary, a cross on His hand and pigeons around Him. More radical was Mary’s insistence that the Shrine be ecumenical — for people of all faiths and not just for Catholics.

These many unique features invite our serious reflection of Our Lord’s declaration: Why spiritual and not religious? Why rehabilitation and not conversion?

The real message — life eternal

The answers we seek to Our Lord’s puzzle will come to us with urgent clarity when we view the Palan Shrine against the backdrop of vast changes that are prophesied to occur on the Earth beyond 2000, when a new cycle of life on the planet will begin. Visionaries from past and present, from St. John in Revelations and Nostradamus up to Edgar Cayce and Ruth Montgomery, have all prophesied these changes and events are proving their accuracy.

The same predictions, but in greater detail, are contained in a 1991 book, Mary’s Message to the World, compiled by Anne Kirkwood, a non-Catholic messenger of Blessed Mother Mary. She is a professional nurse from Texas. This has essentially the same message as that of Our Praying Blessed Mother and Her Son of the Palan Shrine.

"My words are for all people, all nations and all religions…"

If the whole universe and the vast spirit world are now laboring to prepare and save us, it is easy to see why Our Lord spoke of "spiritual rehabilitation" instead of religious change. Our Blessed Mother Mary has after all declared the Palan Shrine to be for people of all faiths, and in Kirkwood’s book, Mary constantly repeats this ecumenical message.

"My words are for all people, all nations and all religions. I have come not just for Catholics and I cannot be limited by cultural differences because I am commissioned by God, the Creator. God is limitless and is above all religions and dogmas of man. There is only one God and He is God to all people; no matter what name they use to identify God, He is the same."

"Dogma and ritual are not as important as the worship, which is done in your heart and mind. If it is of benefit to enter a church to pray and meditate, then by all means do so. Use whatever position, words or place that enable you to pray. If it helps to pray the rosary, then use this method. But places, words, beads and churches are not the issue. Your ability to commune with the One God is of utmost importance."

"Pray, pray for the world — not only for your people and loved ones, but for all people and all nations. It is good to pray daily and to follow the teachings of your religion. But, be aware that the most important element is your seeking of God through your heart and mind. It must go beyond the teachings of one religion and enter the lofty principles of the Spirit."

Inner transformation needed for ‘spiritual rehabilitation’

We realize that the process of inner transformation needed for the coming times is not really conversion to any particular religion, but "spiritual rehabilitation".

An ageless body of Spirit teachings, which transcends religions but forms the hidden bedrock of their origins, reveals to us the context within which we must understand "rehabilitation" in Our Lord’s message. This ancient wisdom teaches us that Man’s spirit is essentially one with the greater Spirit God and His creation. God is really the ground of our very being, the very stuff of everything and everyone in and around us. The experiential, not mental, realization of this true Self, this "kingdom of God within", will bring us "the peace that surpasses all understanding." Such an illumination or series of illuminations, for most, truly liberates us. No more will death’s fear haunt us, for we have seen, and have become one with the eternal Spirit. Gone too will be our abiding loneliness for when we experience the many melding into the ever-blissful One, our world truly becomes a friendly, loving One.

Ignorance of his real nature is man’s ‘original sin’

In Proverbs 8, Wisdom speaks of the Self — "The Lord formed me in the beginning before He created anything else. For ages past, I am. I was there when He made the blueprint for the earth and the oceans. I was always at His side like a little child. I was His constant delight, laughing and playing in His presence. And how happy I was with what He created — His wide world and His family of mankind."

However, the human condition is such that for too long has man clouded over and obscured the pure light of his true Self with materialism preoccupations and scientific arrogance. This ignorance of his real nature is man’s "original sin" and the source of the many "devils" that torment him, as well as fracture his being into many petty selves constantly at war within him. For while his soul seeks higher planes, Spirit’s other vessels — the gross body, his proud mind and volatile heart — each has its momentary sway over him. From this fragmented chaos comes disease and misery in man, hatred and war among men.

To be whole and happy, man must return to his Spirit center and undergo the spiritual disciplines, which will yoke together his many small selves back to their One true Self. This process must begin with the re-education of man on the lofty principles of Spirit teachings which show him the very meaning and purpose of his life on this and other planes of existence. At the same time, the disciplines of prayer, meditation, worship and work shall all serve as therapy to heal his heart and mind and prepare him for direct communion with the One true God.

Such is the task of spiritual rehabilitation to which Our Lord of Love and Redemption has dedicated the Palan Shrine.

A new earth and a new sky

And what of the new age for which Palan is to prepare us? "There will be a thousand years of peace." That was all that Nostradamus could foretell of the coming new era. Happily, our Blessed Mother Mary shows us more of these wonderful times in Kirkwood’s book. She says that this Earth will settle into a new orbit around a binary solar system, one which will have two suns. With the planet’s turning, the oceans and lands have already changed and soon we will have new stars to guide us. Then, we will truly have a new Earth below and a new Sky above.

Once conditions stabilize on this planet, new life will bloom and its suns will quicken the evolutionary process serving to change planets and animals. A new man will emerge. He will be a much more mental being, with new powers unfolding within him. He will be able to read minds, thus making quarrels and wars obsolete. For not only will men avoid further reductions in their greatly decimated numbers, but even their innermost motives cannot be concealed and will be known to all.

Man will be able to communicate telepathically with each other, with animals and with those on other planets.

Even the spirit world will be open to him and Jesus will walk among us again.

From these contacts, man will advance much more rapidly than 20th century technology. He will learn to tap his inner powers to levitate and lift heavy objects with his mind. New forms of energies for communication, travel and work will be revealed to him. Such changes should not surprise those familiar with spiritual teachings.

For did not Our Lord Jesus himself promise that "greater things than these will you do" in the coming age when His disciples marveled at His many miracles?

The stage for future civilization

Palan as a "spiritual rehabilitation center" is surely an initial insight into the unfolding vision of its shrine. Our Praying Blessed Mother herself revealed as much when she spoke through the mystic Elizabeth Huffer of California through me in May 1992: "For it is not only a sanctuary in the visible, but a magnificent sanctuary in the spiritual. It covers much, much ground than what shows in the physical. So as you add to this each day with who you are and what you pray, this extends out, very far out, spreading across even much more land."

Our Blessed Mother went on to confirm Palan’s important role in the coming era — For there will be a day when another sphere of activity takes place, for the earth will turn on its side. But never fear, that land will hold the light. And all that you hold dear will rise again. You see dear one, you are setting not only what is right in the eyes and heart and mind of God. You are setting the stage for future civilization. It is a mighty task to where your conscious mind cannot conceive of what you have done. But it will flower. Many, many thousands of flowers will grow from there, before this Earth, this world is done."

(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at exec@obmontessori.edu.ph or pssoliven@yahoo.com)