Corona & The Kingdom

BEFORE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2021, CORONA WAS SOMEONE ELSE'S BATTLE. Within a week my fever increased to 106. My energy was depleted, requiring long moments of deep-breathing recovery from just turning over in bed. Like after running a race. My lungs were drip-drip filling constantly. Enter pneumonia. My scorched throat struggled to keep up the swallowing. Some of the best docs got in the game. Connected to top experts on the planet. We did what they said. It was not working for me. They pronounced: "This is a spiritual battle." My oxygen was tail-diving. A week later, not keeping up through Sunday night, we knew Monday we needed to be in the Emergency Room.

They were ready for the worst-case scenario. Ventilators. Experimental drugs. It was difficult when Stephanie had to leave. What a harrowing moment that first night. Hooked up to monitors. Incapacitated. Pining so heavily for oxygen. And my O2 alarm goes off. One minute passes. Five. No one comes. Mustering what I can I hit the device. The mic doesn't work. I can't speak anyways. Finally, someone comes in, turns up the O2 level, helps me adjust, and I face the night.

I face the night.

This chronicle of my battle is ultimately about facing the night. Each of us, our own "nights." And our crowns. The Crown. (Why my reference is "Corona.") A crown is that which each of us have designated over us. Over our souls, marriages, family, and world. Not just partially. Or once in a while. Through my battle with corona God took me deep into the night to see some things. About myself. About my family. About this closing chapter of human history.

God is all-powerful. He can accomplish immediately and directly. Why doesn't He? Herein is an invitation to bow. To recognize that He has chosen to work through human instrumentality. Most fully, through His Son, Jesus Christ. And in Him, right now, He is summoning us all the more to be surrendered. To be about His Kingdom.

As God's ineffable glory far surpasses any human debauchery, any sin, and shortcoming, we have every reason right now to be attuned to what God is powerfully speaking through a most consequential lab-manufactured microbe that has radically laid siege to this landscape of human existence as we know it. Heart. Mind. Body and Soul.

Somehow, through my corona battle, the LORD summoned me to depths of His Suffering Heart and given me a glimpse of supernatural vision. That's what follows. Entries shared on Facebook through my battle. Yes, I share for me, as these mark something God wants to more fully forge in me, in my character, but also for any with hearts so docile and availed at this moment in History, attuned to what God desires to do. And in this is an appeal to you to prayerfully consider in your own life:

Who has the CROWN? Are you eager to be all-in? How will you respond?

ENTRY 1: Wednesday, Sept. 22, 9:24A (FB LINK)

GOING ON SEVEN DAYS of being absolutely knocked out. At death's doorstep a couple times in a couple ways. 106 temp. Ox level down to 80. Barely able to breath. Hope to turn a corner soon. Amazing wife and docs. Prayers appreciated, but PLEASE... what a blessed place of complete entrustment and suffering in the Heart: How can I specifically pray for you?

ENTRY 2: Monday, Sept. 27, 5:51P (FB LINK)

NOT GETTING BETTER. ER yesterday. Heading back now. A number of knocks on deaths door. Couldn't breath. (told Grace if I died, she could sing opening song "This Is the Air I Breathe" -- good humor around here!). Ox level is again at sub-80. Temp climbed 103+. Amazing wife. Team of four great docs. Some head-scratching. Sick of all the regimens and nebulizer constantly. Very, very subduing and prayerful. No light in distance yet. But God is in the darkness. Grateful for and love all of you.

ENTRY 3: Tuesday, Sept. 28, 9:36A (FB LINK)

BELOVED FRIENDS: Mustering up little energy from ER. Battle uncertain continues. Waves of wakefulness and energy. Mindful each of us united in our own spiritual ER's. On our Journey. Three gifted docs stunned by degree to which the usual COVID protocol thrown at me have done squat: all so intent on this spiritual battle. Beautifully bathing me in prayer. THIS IN MORNING PRAYER: 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 "You are not in the dark, brothers, that the day should catch you off guard, like a thief. No, all of you are children of light and of the day. We belong neither to darkness nor to night."

AND SO MUCH of my subdued, delirious, deep prayer still Holy Spirit haunted by this... humbly offer for each of us: https://gregschlueter.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-ultimate-election-dream-about-end.html

PRAYERFULLY UNITED and love you all.

ENTRY 4: Wednesday, Sept. 29, 12:16P (FB LINK)

GOING ON 15 DAYS. In the hospital. Upper level of O2 dependency. Looking at more serious steps in future. So sorry I can't respond to all your beautiful, amazing expressions of prayers and support. I'm riding waves. Some horrible, others very peaceful. So blessed to know I'm in the Father's Hands, and not wanting to miss a moment of suffering for His sanctifying me, our families, friends our world at this time. So mindful of compromise in my soul, seeking Rom 12:1-2 "Be transformed..." Why wait for something like this? This is the very best place I can be. This thing is just plain weird. Every scientist/doc saying my case is just so "spiritual battle." Just wanting to lean into it and receive it. Love your spouse. Love your family. Put first things first. Don't waste time. Apologize and forgive. Reconcile. Listen from the heart. Get rid of all stuff and be restored to Him. Don't wait. Do a LIT time as a family this week. That will touch the heart of God and let you be so touched by Him. That's my energy for this hour. All for love of you. Thank you. Praying for you. Gotta crash....

ENTRY 5: Wednesday, Sept. 29, 10:43P (FB LINK)

SOMETIMES JUST ROLLING OVER. Or moved with words that must be spoken. Takes 30 minutes to get back in O2 safe zone. Huffing and puffing. Like the last leg of a fast race. To say: Better we engage in every battle and struggle on this earth... that our pure pursuit of Our Savior Jesus Christ and His Kingdom be uncompromised, unblemished, holy through all Eternity. This is the ER we share on this earth. Now. And I have a long ways to go. So compromised are my depths. I don't want to surrender the fleeting for the eternal. The Comforter for the merely comfortable. This is good. This is so good. And I'm so blessed to be trying hard with you in it. All my love and prayers with you tonight. I don't have more energy to be awake, but please list and let us labor together in the Heart of Jesus who sees, hears and is already answering your deepest need and prayer. Above all, apologize. Forgive. Reconcile. Be filled with His Holy Spirit. Love you all.

ENTRY 6: Thursday, Sept. 30, 12:19P (FB LINK)

DAY 15. GOT FIRST SHOWER in three days. Ozone layer restored. Just glanced and briefly saw 99% O2 for a moment! Looking up. Thank you, Jesus! So blessed by Devin Schadt's "CUSTOS" total consecration to St. Joseph. So united with Renewal Ministries gathering going on with Pete Herbeck and Ralph Martin. So blessed by Encounter School of Ministries leaders and friends... amazing listening to their prayer and guidance while knocked out. And so humbled and grateful to have this platform to seek the heart of God together. As He allows and moves. (That's how He rolls in me) Came across this post two years ago, seeking to be more guided by the saintly wisdom of St. Rose of Lima and the mystical truth of being forged by suffering. Be blessed in it with me. Forged in Him with me. My heart leading into St. Rose's words. Love you all so much. Unite it all in Him today.

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Anyone with eyes to see should note: The Kingdom in its fullness is yet to come! Women still suffer in childbirth. The holiest of people, even under the prayerful hands of the greatest miracle workers, still suffer and die. In fact, we regard the sanctity of many saints precisely by their endurance of suffering! Eleven of the apostles suffered martyrdom. Saints Paul and Padre Pio bore the wounds of Christ. Saint Mother Teresa experienced years of a tremendous Dark Night.

Yes, while signs and wonders accompany them, as a testimony to the Kingdom, while we Catholics in particular ought to avail ourselves much more fully to the power of the Holy Spirit on this side of things, what good is a healed arm in hell? Are signs and wonders meant to be a spectacle?

What is a greater indication of the Kingdom, one who is physically healed, or one who joyfully endures suffering for the Kingdom? Which commands greater virtue? Which is a greater testimony applicable to everyone's everyday experience? Which was most exemplified by Jesus Christ and His saints?
The ultimate healing is intimacy with our Savior. To be one in Him. Holy Communion. Which is accomplished by, in and through His Holy Sacrifice. Denying our selves, taking up our crosses and following!
If only we saw what God sees: the great healing, transforming power poured out from the Celestial Realms through our participation in the suffering of Our Savior! It is unsurpassed! We should be consoled by these words spoken by our Savior to St. Rose of Lima:
"Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.”
And in all this is the Great Mystery: God uses external imperfection to accomplish our internal perfection.

Lord Jesus Christ, in our suffering, in all the imperfection that surrounds us and marks us, may we more deeply recognize Your Hand molding us for greater intimacy with You! May we recognize that we are never closer to You than in our suffering!

ENTRY 7: Thursday, Sept. 30, 8:26P (FB LINK)

TODAY. BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE. No death's doors for me today. And I must profess: We live among so many very good people. Near and far. Filled with so much kindness, goodness and love. So much strength. Reverberating with God's beating heart. Little pulsating lights of the Kingdom. Our lives cannot contain. The world can not contain. And for all the wounded, any who this night feel like what has happened in life has left you bent... broken... beyond heal... repair... all of us... see Him. His knowing love. He is the Door. Go to Him. Open the Door. Go through. Close the Door behind. Surrender. Hold fast to Him. His Hands clasping yours so firmly as to impress His identity in your palm. His Arms surrounding you. So strong as to know it is permanent. Eternal. All that is. One in Him. And in Him, with all others. This is the Kingdom. Feel the Holy Spirit fill your lungs and lift your arms in worship. All for His Glory. Forever. This is life. There is no other. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

ENTRY 8: Friday, October 1, 10:45A (FB LINK)

LYING HERE. Beautiful sun painting the earth outside my hospital window. Rising on the souls of y'all. Little Flower reminding us: The power of doing the smallest things with the greatest love. Waves on the ocean of my soul have me yearning to be so much more given to my God. Beyond easy professions. Associations. Beyond what He can do for me. But for Who He is. Who I am in Him. (Col. 1) (I do beg the greatest grace, such an infused degree!) He so deeply desires the same for me. The fullest of who I am. Was made to be. Could ever be. Pure of heart. Uncompromised. There's nothing else.

AT MY AGE (54 ON OCTOBER 6), with all who benefit from such unprecedented comfort on command, we are with Solomon, Gates, Musk, whomever else... when do we see all else is vanity. Short lived. Even good spiritual activity can be so vapid. Another great, fleeting event... another hand of seed scattered on rocky ground. A fleeting sense of being touched, but remaining unmaleable to the Heart of Our Savior. Our relationships remaining a better or worse spiritual appearance. And often worse. For me. Spiritual narcissism. My greatest malady. At some level, gauging our value in what we think we can do for God. Our spiritual activity. So I've led this. Prayed over and seen amazing healing. Received accolades (how painful when you know the Who). Yes, seen great fruit and delight and transformation of the Kingdom, but over recent years He's challenged me deeper, "church people" deeper: "Many will come in my Name and say 'look at all these great things we've done,' only to hear Him say: 'Depart from me... I never KNEW you.'" (Matt. 7:23 / gin?sko -- same as Mary's "I do not KNOW man." Luke 1:34)

CONJUGAL. All of salvation history is the story of Our Beloved God betrothing us. Summoning us to eternal, intimate, conjugal union in Him. And in Him, with all others. How unsurpassed! Through His Passion and Cross. Suffering. Blessedness in brokenness. The One Sacrifice of Calvary for the salvation of the world... embracing the totality of our existence. Right now. All we are. All we could hope to be. Made present on every altar in the world. From the beginning. Right now. The power to bring down the gates of hell and definitively restore the Kingdom. In us. And through us, for the world.

I'VE BEEN VERY SICK BEFORE. But not like this. As I've shared, almost unable to breath. Requiring long moments to recover in just turning over. Many great docs throwing the best COVID protocol at me and scratching their heads. So I know God is speaking. Through pathetic me (so you can know any good must be from Him!) At this time. This culture. A very immanent sense of Christ's return. A Great Illumination upon us. Where mere Christian profession isn't enough. Growing together more deeply with our adult-becoming family... working through our own historical stuff... and wanting our ceiling to be their floors. My desire. The purpose of these days. Sharing with great hopes with you.

SO, AT THE VERY, VERY HEART is our connection to our deepest, truest hunger. That's how Our Savior Jesus made us. That's where He meets us. In the Bread. His Body and Blood. His Holy Word. Forging our malleable hearts. To be one in Him. And with Him, in all others. Not to do things for Him, but allow Him in us. His Heart beating in us. A power greater than all the pretentious, distracting drivel of mainstream media (though I will still battle how much to be"there").

AS I'M EMERGING FROM this great school of suffering, truthfully, I don't want to be. I'm fearful of the great moderation of comfort. Ease. I don't want to get "better" if that really means, by what really matters, worse. Because the world needs to really get better. And I'm convinced that's only in the at once suffering and triumphant heart of our Savior.

Lord Jesus Christ, help us be with You, blessed in our brokenness, a Holy Community that lives vibrantly Holy Communion. All in. Going deeper. Overflowing with Your love to the world. I love you all.

ENTRY 9: Saturday, October 2, 9:34A (FB LINK)

I'M HOME! And once I heal and super antibodies kick in, bringing His presence to helping, healing, comforting the sick in the Name of Jesus. God be praised. Love you all.

ENTRY 10: Sunday, October 3, 7:47A (FB LINK)

SO GRATEFUL FOR THE BATTLE. So much fog of physical and spiritual war remains. Nothing as bleak as recent days, but formidable. And blessed by union with many of you in your needs and prayers.
HOURS EARLY MORNING. SOMETIMES in the subdued, deep delirium prayer in sickness, that crosses over into great lucidity, where my soul was so set free in seeking it's Beloved Inhabitant, I "saw" so clearly the big picture... the degree to which Satan and his minions weaponize so much brokenness within us... stir it up on a political landscape. Endless bickering talkshows and commentators. And how it's substance does have grave importance! But people meant to be anchored in authentic truth and peace, holy communion, so not mindful of who's holding the strings, leaving so many unmoored by whispers and lies. Abortion laws. COVID. The border. Sexuality. CRT. Foreign concerns. All the face of mostly paranoia. Doubt. Fear. Vacancy. Tethered to deeper, splintered mistrust. And heavy on personal, human let-down and betrayal. Interesting, woven together with pining senses of "faith." "God." Weak religion standing not on strength of real encounter, real relationship, real repentant surrender, but a kind of scaffolding.

And how unknowing pawns are made of all of us, God's children. Pieces on a board. Pining for Him in our depths.

AND INTERESTING, I have greatly avoided most things secular during this battle. Media. TV. Music. For my soul. The spiritual nature of this battle playing out in me. Seeking greater purity. Truth. Anchor. Discipline. As I've shared, mostly challenged by my own greater, deeper surrender to Him in suffering... source of unity in Him. Being forged by Him. But by divine providence or distraction I was led to watch some episodes of "The Queen's Gambit"... somewhat heavy if not poignant coming of age story of a young, traumatized orphaned female soul (Beth) finding her life in the confines of chess, tainted by coping-medicating; this too common portrait of modern existence so struck me... our human condition... juxtaposed by my reading another much truer, richer, fuller account of our human landscape, Twain's "Joan of Arc." Wow. St. Joan. A soul truly attuned to the streams of living water. Who we really are. What matters. So alive. So in love. The angels and saints speaking to her. Against all cultural odds. Persevering. Not without many hardships woven in. In fact, life taken by those she sacrificed for.

SO BETH AND JOAN. Same ages. Our rough choices. Both on the landscape of human discovery, deep, ultimate pursuit: our transcendence in God. Made for Him. How amazing. The purpose and possibility today. No matter what we face. In fact, in all we face. Custom designed retreat from the Heart of God made for ever greater intimacy with Him. And in Him, with one another.

FINALLY, what rightly commands the affections of my soul? What low bar of ease or comfort has been compromising my destined, true intimacy with my Savior? What am I afraid of, and if so, how am I vulnerable to being one of the Enemy's pawns? Faced with every distraction, I declare with you here not wanting to spin any more wheels: You and I in Jesus Christ are not made for comfort; we're made for that deep, intimate, transcendent union in the Comforter that only comes by way of privation, pain and suffering. In Him, through Him, for Him, it is blessed for the salvation of the world. And our anchored capacity to truly speak powerfully to every broken, forlorn, pining soul otherwise spun by mainstream media and every other distraction. This is our moment of great, heavenly clarity in gifted sickness. To discover. Embrace. Be forged in contemplation, Holy Mass, the life of Jesus and His Blessed Mother in the Rosary, a life of worship.

AND SO JESUS SEEMED TO SPEAK in Evening Psalm Prayer yesterday, the Divine Office:

"Father, precious in your sight is the death of the saints, but precious above all is the love with which Christ suffered to redeem us. In this life we will fill up in our own flesh what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ; accept this as our sacrifice of praise, and we shall even now taste the joy of the new Jerusalem." "Ant. I shall take into my hand the saving chalice and invoke the name of the Lord."

PLEASE UNITE WITH ME this magnificent LORD'S DAY with so many requesting for God's healing presence, body, soul, relationship. I declare in this very moment, in your earnest hearts availed to so great a God, He is already there. Know of all my prayer and love for you this day.

ENTRY 11: Sunday, October 3, 6:46P (FB LINK)

LORD JESUS CHRIST, without You, my Anchor in You, completely in You, I am adrift. Lost. Compromised. Spinning wheels. Playing games. Make me Yours. Completely Yours. I bring to You now all the pining needs of my beloved brothers and sisters here... their hearts, minds, bodies and relationships. Awaken. Heal. Focus. Purify. Revive. You pronounce this our moment. Sacred and holy. Full of new promise and power. Before all Ages. We believe. We receive. We give you permission. We love you.

ENTRY 12: Monday, October 4, 9:26A (FB LINK)

THE WEAPONIZING OF COVID. SPLINTERING OF SOULS. KINGDOM'S COMING. We renounce vilification of those who've vaxed. Or not vaxed. We share the burden of those who felt such great pressure to surrender their health and freedom by ungodly dictates. We pray for those who heroically drew the line and forfeited their jobs instead. Both, all, we are One in Him. We are with you.

FROM MY FRONT LINES while in the hospital, I encountered more than one so disheartened by the health industry contortion she's leaving (hushed truths whispered in genuine medical interest behind closed doors); I personally experienced conflicted doctors beholden to mainstream pressures that did not correspond to peer-reviewed data that they knew worked (thanks be to God for doc advocates on my behalf who lovingly, empirically challenged); most tragic, a practitioner completely sickened by the imposition of COVID-related treatment of pregnant women with immediate, deleterious, deathly effect.

All completely ignoring CDC's own VAERS and other data. Again. And again. And again.

SATAN IS MAKING PAWNS ON THIS LANDSCAPE OF SOULS. SET ASIDE ANY DATA WE KNOW presumed manipulated, all this contrivance to the complete negation of natural immunity. Why is anyone forced to poison their body, without advance great care or remedy, with real indications of ADE and other significant related issues to vax, without the slightest regard for natural immunity? And even mandating vaccine for those with natural immunity, increasing serious complications two to three times? Why?

THE EVIL IS BEING SEEN. THE GREAT EXTENT OF MANIPULATION. And great, caring love is going to be needed. Something has been playing out quite deliberately and will continue to do so. God summons those like me... soon able to pray, go, help, heal, love. Still recovering today. On the upswing. So grateful for such caring, loving, smart attentive docs to me. And prayerfully eager to be all in.

EYES OF FAITH. THE BIG PICTURE. PRAY IN THIS. God is summoning us to all in. (Forgive this! Not "broken record"! So true and real! Meriting proclamation!) Pining to go after Him. Our souls were made for Him. Too much compromise. Too much "religion" without core relationship. Touch point after touch point without being transformed in our depths. Not enough being attentively forged in the great wellspring of eternal faith. In our homes. More formidable faith community of individuals, marriages and families, young and elderly, under guide of such good and holy priests going after the Kingdom, striving together after holiness as a daily, ordered way of life, has been given and will be born again. This is how we fight. Church militae. This is what God provides.

From this great school of (ever diminishing) suffering, reflection and prayer, I humbly continue praying for clarity in my small role. Love you all so much.

ENTRY 13: Monday, October 4, 8:45P (FB LINK)

LORD JESUS CHRIST, Purify and increase the ardor of my heart, made for You! Deliver me from affection for any and all distraction (so prone am I!). You are our all in all. Set our hearts on fire. Awaken us and forge us in this truth... in all privation and suffering, for Your Kingdom and the salvation of the world now at hand.

EVENING PRAYER READING TONIGHT (St. Francis of Assisi):

Ephesians 1:3-10 Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens. God chose us in him before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight. He predestined us to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ, such was his will and pleasure, that all might praise the glorious favor he has bestowed on us in his beloved. In him and through his blood, we have been redeemed, and our sins forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favor to us. God has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery, the plan he was pleased to decree in Christ. A plan to be carried out in Christ, in the fullness of time, to bring all things into one in him, in the heavens and on earth.

ENTRY 14: Wednesday, October 6, 5:17P (FB LINK)

MY 54 BIRTHDAY. HOME. Fatigued but invigorated. O2 flowing. Steph and I great session with Encounter School of Ministries this afternoon (online school). Little lights of grace broke through my wafts of wakeful energy. Listening now to Billie Holiday radio. Looking forward to b-day favorite with other three home, fondue. Had a piece of seasoned string cheese left from Wisconsin visit weeks ago. So good. Love my WI Homeland. Receiving the blessings. Because God pours them out. Often amidst every storm. Why I love birthdays. The only time we honor anyone for nothing they did nor deserved. All goes to our Creator. And I'm in humble, rapt awe of Him, and His unsurpassed Gift of each of you. And I count all of you and your hearts and prayers among the greatest of such blessings. Love you all.

WHAT IS GOD SAYING?
On this landscape of human existence right now we are on the brink of the coming Kingdom. At the Door of Eternity. God is speaking. His Voice is resonating in the souls of a multitude yearning for Him. People honest enough to recognize we've been spinning wheels. Living compromised. Unsurrendered. Playing at it. Not evidencing the vital fruit of the Holy Spirit meant to claim this world.

The very heart of this is God's design and destiny of marriage family. Not simply a school of discipleship formation for the Kingdom, but marriage and family are quintessentially icons of the Trinity. For a world pining to know God, we exist to make God, who is Love, known to the world. (1 John 4:12) Marriage and family are "the cornerstone of civilization." The "future of humanity passes by way of the family." (Pope St. John Paul II) Is there any doubt then why marriage and family are the greatest focus of the Enemy's attack? Consider every single poverty of this world and recognize they derive from breakdown of the family. St. Lucia, one of the visionaries from Fatima, predicted that the final battle between Christ and Satan would be over marriage and the family. Thus, through all the above, I'm convinced now more than ever that any of us striving for holiness need "ordo." More than simply "touch points," not unlike religious orders we need a kind of lay "order" that integrates with the demands of our ordinary lives. A reasonably shared way of life. Where we can find meaningful formation and guidance as men, women, and children. To become holy. Where we can be instruments of our prayer, "Thy Kingdom come."

Thus, dear good friends, priests, and bishops so eager to discover, proclaim, live and build the Kingdom of Jesus Christ right now in the context of an apostolate (an "ordo") -- open to a potential calling to birth that kind of territory-building vibrancy for the Church and world, an invitation to you: Please be united with us in prayer, and if and as the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, respond in faith and email me: Greg@MassImpact.us.

HOLY SPIRIT, COME!

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Corona & The Kingdom

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