Spirit Speaks

Spirit Speaks a deep conversation about how Spirit speaks through us. I talk with Father Carel-Piet Van Eeden Ph.D., D.Emed who is with the White Robed Monks of St. Benedictine about ways to invite the spirit to speak through us and how we can use the messages of Spirit in our life. I read a poem I wrote about Spirit.

Transcript

Oh,

It's wonderful to be here.

I'm Reverend Cindy Palos on Maui and I'm talking to a very dear friend,

Father Corel,

Pete Van Eden,

Who's with the white robe monks of St.

Benedictine in South Africa from here to there.

Aloha,

Father,

How are you?

Yes,

Cindy,

I'm very well,

Thanks.

How are you doing?

I'm so feeling like spirit wants to speak.

I'm so excited to be able to share our experiences that we've had.

When my sister passed away last summer,

July 29th,

You did a mass for her.

And then I felt her spirit and spirit was speaking through me.

And it's interesting because I write every day after I meditate,

Father.

And I never quite know what's going to come out.

I mean,

Literally I start writing and I'm not sure,

But there was this month of amazing messages I just started posting and you saw some of them and put music to them.

And I was so thrilled because I can write a little bit of music,

But I mainly do words.

And when your music came,

Something clicked.

I was,

Wow,

How wonderful.

Wouldn't this be a nice way to honor my sister is to put this out as music from her.

And I think the first one I wrote was in the hands of God.

And then I wrote when spirit speaks and then there were others,

But it was really interesting how we connected that way.

Definitely.

I remember well reading the first one,

Which was in the hands of God and the music just came and I've been training in music for many years,

But I hadn't written for a long time.

And I remember you and I had a discussion about eight to almost 10 years ago as well about this dream of working together.

And it never really manifested until those words appeared and the music came and it was such a beautiful,

Beautiful journey because the music hasn't stopped since then.

We had to stop the album at a couple of songs,

But the music is still there and it is so humbling because you see that it sounds very simple in my head or the music and it's anybody can do it.

It doesn't sound extremely special if that makes sense.

And yet where we are now it is very powerful.

Well an element that made it so beautiful was connecting with Steven Melillo who's done 1249 I believe pieces orchestrations,

Movie soundtracks,

Many beautiful pieces.

And then when he started doing orchestrations based on your music,

It brought on this other level of life that was so beautiful.

And the topic we're going to talk about today is when spirit speaks and the language of spirit and spirit speaks to me in words.

I think my sister's spirit especially came through and influence that and spirit spoke to you through the music.

And Steven is also a man who is able to capture was able to capture our vision of what we had in mind and he was able to bring it together with this really beautiful uplifting spiritual music that just lifts your heart and soul.

Yes,

Definitely.

I think for me the best description of Steven's work with what we did is he created this bowl of perfection into which the voice can fit and to lift that voice into exactly what we need to spread the message.

I like that term.

That sounds almost like a chalice.

I really like that term.

That's so nice.

I mean,

Thank you that bowl of spirit.

Wow.

How sweet is that?

Well,

I wrote one of the songs of the words that I wrote and you put music to was one I thought we could talk about today because when I get these messages,

I know that there's actually their teachings for me in a way.

I know they're kind of there to guide me and it's really wonderful when I find something that speaks to me.

And I really felt this one spoke to me and I wrote when spirit speaks I listen and from the soul I hear light that carries frequencies that from God now appear when spirit reaches out to me.

I go inside that space the robe that has been offered hold such amazing grace.

There is a sacred chalice that is offered in your name.

The sacrament is given to lift what words cannot say when spirit speaks I listen and go inside that inner space where there's a way to connect and communicate and pray.

I ask dear Lord my savior to speak to me each day and to inspire and lead me by messages you bring my way when spirit speaks I listen in great humility and wonder at the miracle that works so mysteriously.

And you know it's interesting father I don't memorize poems that well but now that I've heard it now that I've heard it in song I can remember the words better.

That's beautiful and it's the first time that I've heard you read this poem and a couple of things are coming up immediately and I'm actually chicken we call them chicken skin here but it's called goosebumps in Hawaii it's called chicken skin but by the rest of the country it's called goosebumps I don't know what you call it in South Africa.

So goosebumps in English but in Afrikaans it'll be wunderflies which is chicken skin basically you're saying interesting yes and when we listen I mean as a member of the the white-robed monks of Saint Benedict we have two rules in our order and the first rule is the rule of Saint Benedict and the first word of Saint Benedict's rule is listen which is such a powerful powerful thing that that is almost the whole the monastic side is listening and waiting for for the voice of God so it is such a powerful powerful word and we can't do that if the mind is active and if it's running around the whole time and we then ask God where are you why aren't you answering my prayers yet we don't take that time every single day to just become quiet and spend time in any way that that works for for for us but just spend that time alone with the Lord so it's it's it's such an apt song to to start off with for for me and it's a very special one for me well and there's listening and there's listening you know and I do a lot of interviews and it's always interesting to hear when you communicate now take that break it down to commune decade because if you're really listening there's a communion that happens which I find in meditation I'm able to get from spirit and from God now again it's so interesting because you can pray but oftentimes that's a communication again it's communing but many times it's communication where you're expressing something to God then in meditation and I started thinking about this years ago in meditation you listen and when you put them together you then absorb and you can integrate once you absorb it into your being then hopefully and with skill and time you learn the tools to put it to work in your life and now that can be the hardest part I mean for me meditation and prayer is really easy because I've been doing it all my life but use those tools in your life is interesting and you do that even though you're a father you have a daily work regimen and you do things for the church and and for what you're doing in your practice but you also have your other work you do and and how is it when we get these these this input and listen or get messages how do you find and how do you end up putting it to work in your life so for me my morning starts at 4 a.

M.

With a session of contemplative pray and and in that time what you do is contemplative prayers you you have your reading the the lecture divina and then you spend 20 minutes opening up almost like a plant and and they say the venus fly trap and you wait for God which is such a beautiful way of seeing it so it is a challenging exercise but after that mass follows where you then talk to God and and that's where the communion follows and then I go into my day yes and I'm blessed enough to work in in a medical practice where we want to bring in spirituality we've we've lost the idea that if you go see the doctor that you are still a spiritual being and they they are physical links with the spiritual and the disease so so we we see these silos and we try and bridge those silos then and that's where whatever happens in the morning is a beautiful prelude into the the day because we don't separate secular life anymore from spiritual life everything is a spiritual exercise if you're an accountant and you're doing books it is still a spiritual exercise and and that's yeah the way that that I perceive it I think that is the way that it it is the best practice to have in the living of it and you know it's interesting because in this poem I wrote about the robe when I saw a vision of mother Mary she was wearing this beautiful blue midnight blue deep blue robe with stars on it and and and and then I was it was conveyed to me through spirit that this robe is the robe of protection and and you know it's interesting I practice all my life and once when I was studying Zen they wanted me to wear the robes of Zen and I said well what happens when I take my robes off you know I'm still needing to feel like I'm the same whether I wear robes or don't but and so I had this thing about robes but then I changed it when I had this vision of Mary and how the robe of protection doesn't have to be a physical robe it can be taking on that spiritual robe that you wear that there's another level of robes I mean when we drop our body and and move on I believe many beings have robes that they wear just as mother Mary does right and it is their robe that is their energy fields of a kind right with the color of their energy field of the whatever stars or whatever energy field she's coming from or they're coming from or we will come from so that came in in the robe of spirit when I said that in the poem and also you know it's interesting I think this came through actually because we were working together because I talked to also which I feel strongly about the sacred chalice I said that there is a sacred chalice that is offered in your name and obviously you work with this all the time the sacrament is given to lift what words can't say and and again I found that chalice to be a very powerful literal field of energy that you can receive from that you literally can receive a blessing of a sacrament from God as well you want to address robe or sacrament first sacrament is such a big thing for me but let's begin with the robe because you know before we start mass the priest gets robed and you go through a set of prayers that's not just throw something on and run off to to to the altar you go through praise you ask for blessings so so in the sacristy the part of getting dressed is a part of protection I didn't know that wow yes I'll actually send you the prayers they are so beautiful and so so you ask for pray you ask for protection while you get dressed and you ask that that you be pure and so so then we go up to the altar and we start with mass and in the the eucharistic prayer where we then raise the chalice something that for me is really important is the fact that the chalice is empty at the beginning of mass so we cannot ask for God to fill us if there's already anything in that chalice and and that is such a beautiful beautiful thing I mean it's a clean chalice which then gets filled with what is to become the blood of Christ and of course in the catholic tradition it is not a symbolic thing that happens and for us it really becomes the blood of the Lord that then is is offered for us and we share that in communion and into ourselves and we take the the sacrifice of the Lord into ourselves with the redemption that it brought and for me that redemption is unconditional love beautifully said you know and some teachings I've read about in mystical Christianity that the blood of Christ actually carried now I'm talking about Jesus Christ as a man the blood of Christ carried a frequency in an energy field that was very very powerful and that this was part of what happened when he did die on the cross and his blood poured forth that that blood was carried such strong energy that at that time there was a shift from his blood alone that was very very powerful and so thinking about that field of energy that that transforming blood which was tied into the highest light carried such a power that there's some that believe it really changed the frequencies and energies at that time of what was going on in the world so when you're I'm trying to you know visualize that energy of actually becoming and bringing that energy field into your chalice and when you said about the chalice being empty there's an old zen story and I don't know have it memorized but the idea of it was there was a student who was working so hard and so long and always reading every book and everything and he went to the abbot and the Roshi at the at the temple and and he started talking saying he's been searching so hard and so long and it goes on and on and on about how and what would happen and and and how he really needs to see what enlightenment is and and so there's a tea cup there and as he's talking the Roshi abbot starts pouring tea and pouring tea and pouring tea and pouring tea and pouring tea until it's overflowing over the cup and down on the ground he's the students said well stop stop it's it's going everywhere he says you know until your cup is empty you can't get an answer if you're always putting all that out you're not open to receive and and that's really something that's a beautiful message because it's interesting I I get these messages every day and then I have to decide up to me what I'm going to do with them this one pretty clearly spoke that it wanted to be with your help something that would be a message that would come out through song but then I have thousands of I literally have thousands of them and it's like okay it's one thing to get a message but then using what you have in the message and being discerning enough to know which one is going to be the message that could go out there not only for you as an individual but for you in communion which is the message and the sacrament that comes in that will be the right thing maybe just the tone of your voice or the energy you carry as you do your sacrament that will stick with someone or make a difference in their life no definitely for for me the the time that we we experiencing now has completely emptied my chapel of people and and so we do mass every sunday is is online and it's it's both a blessing and a curse because mass to me is a very personal thing now though the camera is there it is a communion with myself and god and I forget that other people are there so there's no really is and graces and I've been lucky enough to set up the the the it part so that I can let it run and I can say mass and incorporate music if I'm in the in the mass but there are no distractions the sad part of course is that communion with god we want to have it with other people so at in time I I hope that the the chapel will be filled with people again but at the moment people hear the message and that communion is shared across the world we have some amazing people who log in to to view mass because we are a slightly different order you know we we don't have all the rules of if you if you believe this way or if you if you see life in a different way that you are not welcome in our church everybody is welcome here because that's the second rule that that we follow is that Jesus never said no to anybody so the communion that that I have here is shared by whomever needs to to hear it and then you will get a message from Portugal or from the Philippines just saying we watched mass and thank you just for the the ability to be together and then for me one of the most amazing things that that started happening is the fact that we offer mass up for people and one day I made the decision let's let's open it up energetically and prayed about it and since that day there's been almost a daily request please can you say mass for us or just keep us in prayer and it is the most beautiful thing to to be able to serve the Lord and to help our fellow man listening to when spirit speaks I know you said mass from my sister Pamela and it made a huge impact on me and I know you said mass for me and Stephen Melillo and he said it meant so much to him and yes indeed it does I think we put mass out there is something that is way beyond the average person's realm and when you started doing that it was making it reachable understandable it made it personal in a way that connected the fact that indeed we could even be included in that it meant very very much and and it is something that is very special and addressing the private form of communion with God versus when we're on zoom or whether you're streaming it I've been teaching on insight timer app and I started doing some live ones and it was so interesting how different I felt versus just me talking into a microphone or doing it privately versus thinking there's someone else there that might be watching and my first in think was to kind of limit it limit myself because it for me felt so interior and so private because I've I do it in private and you don't want anyone to take this most intimate energy you have with the love of God and and I love God so much that I don't want anyone to misunderstand or take away from my love of God you know and so I found myself holding back how I really would do it all by myself versus when someone else is watching and then my doubts would they understand this or would they understand that so so I think it's beautiful that you've been able to address that as well and did you go through some of that same feelings when you were doing your masses by yourself versus when it's streaming yes most definitely and I mean this this morning's mess was about Abraham who had to sacrifice his own son and because he wanted to be closer to God and that was the requirement and to to me that is we have to sacrifice the the thing that we hate to sacrifice and that is our own self and our own ego and once that happens I mean it's also not something that happens once it is a daily it's almost every minute you must be aware of the fact that the ego is there and but at some stage if we're lucky we we get that opportunity to hand it all over to God and then it doesn't matter because we are in perfect harmony with the universe and and with this this universal symphony and we play our part beautifully said Lord make me an instrument of your peace right and let me and and when you do that you sent me actually a beautiful video once of Saint Francis Peace Prayer and and I got so much out of it and then I was going to do it on a talk on rotary and I found out that Saint Francis didn't actually say that and that it was actually written later I guess much later maybe a hundred two hundred years ago by one of his disciples and then I thought well isn't that amazing that some disciple and they don't know exactly the year I don't think but that some disciple felt it so strongly that it was able to get that message out there and all these years later you know and again that's an example of letting the ego go right people will accept Saint Francis and think it's Saint Francis prayer because he's Saint Francis but they wouldn't and will never know who actually wrote that beautiful prayer right and and the big question is and does it matter that's it no I don't think in God's eyes it matters maybe in man's eyes but that that being that instrument and being a messenger and being someone offering themselves as a servant and I think you're right it's and I hope people understand this this isn't a one-time thing when you're doing this and you've been touched by God you do this every day just as you do and I do we do this because it is something that we've offered ourselves to and it's not like you get it and then it's over it's it's a daily practice I do think of the pope and and the trials and tribulations and what he goes through you know here and I I think he does a beautiful job again he's calling himself Francis but he's done a beautiful job but boy there's it's not like you just say okay I'm the pope and it's over I mean the challenges actually get more and more and more when you try to take it on and then if we want to take it from the pope to Jesus you know and to what you have to do to sacrifice yourself to that being willing to give yourself up totally to that with the ultimate faith and the ultimate test how'd you go and is that not becoming the empty chalice yes yeah yeah and and and and those lessons that you learn and and and I've been learning a lot I mean you continue to learn and sometimes as you're on the path they get seem to be more you know challenging and when you go through what you've gone through in South Africa and we go through and cove it around the world we've had more lessons than ever that I can think of in this last year and bringing it back because we only have a minute or two left I think that that you know when I wrote In the Hands of God in the words they were for yes coming from my sister but they really were about what the so many have gone through in America 500,

000 plus dead more than all of the wars that Americans have died in including World War I,

World War II,

And the Vietnam War and that's just America you know around the world this has been a time we've had to look at what the sacrifice is and what's going on and trusting and having faith in spite of the challenges and I really felt that that's part of the message of In the Hands of God because you have to at one point just and it happened with my sister I just have to turn it over to God and no amount of your thinking or trying to figure it out or is it fair is it right ever will never be answered and that's when you release it and turn it over to being in the hands of God.

Definitely and that's also with the knowledge that it's not the end I mean it's just opening eyes into a new world.

Absolutely true absolutely true it's always such a pleasure and the comfort to know that you're there you've been not just a comfort spiritually but a friend and been someone who understands in such a beautiful way that is the reason that this EP is possible because you were able to understand and I'm just thrilled about the fact that you could embrace and envision this with the same feeling that I have and that we were able to connect you being in South Africa and me being here on Maui but you've become a wonderful friend and teacher and guide along the way so I bow deeply to you I do I bow deeply to you and to that spirit that speaks to you so clearly and so powerfully that you follow as well and I know you're blessing so many in your world so that I just have to say a big big mahalo namaste and also aloha it is a massive honor and and pleasure to be able to serve and thank you for the words that started it all thank you God thank you God because that's where it comes from amen

Reviews

I loved the wisdom Father shared in this talk about Spirit
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