An Acknowledgment to Ezra Sullivan, O.P.

By

John Gregory Evans

Poet & Observer of the Interior Life

A Perspective of Ezra Sullivan’s

Seek First the Kingdom:

A Reply to Germain Grisez’s Account of Man’s Ultimate End

They [separated souls who die in Christ] see the divine essence with an intuitive vision and even face to face, without having any mediating creature as an object of vision, yet the divine essence reveals to them simply, openly, and clearly; thus seeing, each has the full enjoyment of the same divine essence, and indeed, by reason of such a vision and enjoyment of their souls, those who are now departed, are truly beatified and have eternal life and rest (Ezra Sullivan).

“The divine essence with an intuitive vision” helps me to recall occurrences where upon this divine essence appeared with [locutions and visionary] vison, both hearing and seeing Presence, knowing mysteriously and intuitively something was happening. During these days and nights that were so distressing for me I found comfort knowing somehow God must have been with me but also, I was living within the Kingdom of God, even if but momentarily.

The encounters that have occurred since 1969 till the present all have had a significant impact upon my faith and vision for a new life. This new life, characterized by powerful interior analytic thinking for the divine essence within each soul’s imprint, surrounded by a global community of people, each struggling for a meaningful relationship with the divine mystery of Christ, galvanizes my own faith, even among the shadows of life.

From a thundering voice from within calling me by name [twice] flashes of what appeared interior as atomic light, my cupped rosary lighting up twice, a strong hand touching my left shoulder as I readied myself to jump face first onto a bed of razors [figuratively, with an ideation for dying] placed within the induced comatic ventilator for many days with severe double-pneumonia, rosary at the foot of my bed and seeing a light of golden azure upon the eyes of my soul witnessing a beautiful woman holding my body’s hand, raising her hand to my lips and kissing her hand [realistically, my arms and hands were tied down] where upon this moment I awoke in an ICU unit. I believe I was given another [yet, another] chance at not just life, but the abundant life of gratitude.

God is so Good! But, without man aspiring to live today within his Kingdom he has promised us, we live in ignorance, vanity, and arrogance, all of us.

References

Ezra Sullivan, O.P. “Seek First the Kingdom: A Reply to Germain Grisez’s Account of Man’s Ultimate End.” n.d. n.d. 2010. Academia.com. Web. 16 March 2020.