there was a further part to this vision (which I later found out is classed as 100% spiritually valid for a Catholic according to both St John “Don” Bosco (who was granted visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory) and Mother Angelica (RIP) (she went Upstairs herself exactly around Easter,).
The house contained an unusual “guest room”, with a single bed. It appeared to be laid out more for the use of someone in later years. On the wall above the bed was a 1970s era intercom control panel/loudspeaking telephone (of the sort found in a very posh hotel for calling up room service etc).
This contained a large window which looked out onto a woodland track full of unusual shrubbery with multi coloured flowers (a surreal mixture of plants found on earth – I since learned that (at least for some Germans especially Lutherans) original “Christmas Tree” was based on the tree Adam and Eve ate the apples from, of course apples don’t normally grow on those trees! The Bible isn’t particularly zoologically or biologically accurate on some aspects and Luthers translation in fact mangled it further and left out some important bits.
Through the windows I could see no motor cars or any other traffic/people, some (domestic) cats were running around outside (none of these were our pets though, presumably they belonged to other families).
It was unclear of the exact distance between the guest room and my parents house, although both buildings appeared to be in some way connected .
This room appeared to be also laid out for someone who might wish to pray in private, but whilst being good enough to get into Heaven was of another faith or denomination.
Other than my parents, it was only our white cat (the one I meowed with!) that I saw in the house, he was running around and later sleeping on a large pile of cushions in a spare room (he was usually forbidden from doing this!), much of the house (even by the standards of its “minimalist” North European design) seemed to lack furniture other a big glass table that were popular in 1970s (we indeed had one back then), which was where Dad had set down the mobile/cordless phone handset (the Ericsson above was the nearest approximation I could think of but it was also similar to various long range cordless sets linked to ISDN systems especially in DE and NL from late 1980s onwards).
There were however no car keys, betting slips nor ashtray, lighter and cig packets on the table; and not even a television set anywhere to be seen, yet Dad seemed happy to do without all of these. It really did look like the house was for a young couple who had “just been let in” presumably the rest of the furniture arrives later (as well as the pets) and in the meantime they are supposed to occupy their time with wandering in the woods and prayer (as there is not need to be afraid of bears, snakes or tigers as they are all friendly)
I couldn’t see what was beyond the windows in the room where my parents where, as there was about >100 Klx of light on that side, too strong for human eyes to cope with (this is also a very common factor mentioned in Catholic visions of Heaven).
Nor could I work out back then what the guest area was for (I even wondered if it was a subtle warning to look after myself a bit better, or I would eventually end up in the same place, although I am no way good enough yet to get to Heaven anyway).
Over the last years my Nan in Malaysia’s health had been steadily declining (including going down badly with dementia), although she also retained her (Lutheran) faith.
In October she passed away, during the exact same week this happened…
Pope jokes in ecumenical meeting: Who is better – Catholics or Lutherans? – ROME REPORTS
She had never been particularly happy with my Mum marrying Dad (as he was a Catholic and a different nationality but forgave her in 1977 when I spoke to my Nan for the first time on the telephone. it was around that time I became fascinated by the concept that just two copper wires could be connected to a radio transmitter 300km away and then 10000km more and you could speak directly to someone at the other end which sparked my interests (and career) of today…
So the guest room would be exactly the sort of thing my Nan would appreciate (even if she is presumably in a different district of Heaven where the Lutherans go to).
As the Pope said : “wenn Sie sind alle zuzammen” :
Also found this from the year I was conceived (the lyrics below fit in with my family situation).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGSo_9l6qQs
Deine Mutter und dein Vater
waren erst einmal dagegen.
Du sagtest:”Er wird nun immer bei mir sein
auf all meinen Wegen.”
Und ich glaube, was du damals sagtest,
das gilt auch noch heute, es bleibt für uns so schön,
Und daß wir Zwei uns lieben,
das können alle Leute seh’n.
