Before 29 & 30

Lifeline® provides access to states of consciousness beyond those experienced in the Gateway Voyage® and Guidelines® programs. Its primary emphasis is service to those here in physical matter reality and those There who have made the transitions from the physical and who may benefit from assistance.

Service There is accomplished through becoming knowledgeable about Focus Levels 23 through 27.

Focus 23 is often perceived as an area in which certain souls, for a variety of reasons, may become “stuck” following their transitions from physical life. I there learn to comfortably make contact with such souls and offer assistance to help them move to Focus 27, the area Bob Monroe described in Ultimate Journey as the Park, or Reception Center, or Way Station. Upon arrival in Focus 27, they are met by loved ones and guides who direct them to the specific areas of the Reception Center most appropriate for their next stages of development.

Ther, I explore Focus Levels 24, 25, and 26 (the Belief System Territories) and investigate facets of my own current beliefs and structures for operating within the world. Most frequent questions which arise take the form of “What is my most limiting belief?” and “How do my present beliefs support me in exploring as freely and fully as I would like?”

Perhaps the most significant impact of this journey comes from the personal revelations that frequently evolve from those “Rescue & Retrieval” activities. Beyond the considerable satisfaction of helping others move forward, one realizes that at the same time (s)he is also retrieving lost parts or fragments of themselves, and thus coming into more wholeness, completion, and balance.

One, then, gains familiarity with additional Focus levels:

• Focus 22: where humans still in the physical have partial consciousness, remembered as dreams, deliria, and patterns induced through chemicals;
• Focus 23: inhabited by humans who have recently exited physical existence and have not adapted to such change;
• Focus 25: the Belief System territories where those who have exited the physical are residing in a particular belief system;
• Focus 27: the Reception Center, Way Station, or Park, designed to ease the trauma and shock of the transition out of physical reality, and to assist those there in evaluating options for their next steps in growth and development.

29 & 30

Ordinary Time: June 29th

• Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, apostles
• Old Calendar: Holy Apostles Peter & Paul

Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides. To them, Rome owes her true greatness, for it was under God's providential guidance that they were led to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their martyrdom, the centre of the Christian world whence should radiate the preaching of the Gospel.

St. Peter suffered martyrdom under Nero, in A.D. 66 or 67. He was buried on the hill of the Vatican where recent excavations have revealed his tomb on the very site of the Basilica of St. Peter's. St. Paul was beheaded in the Via Ostia on the spot where now stands the basilica bearing his name. Down the centuries Christian people in their thousands have gone on pilgrimage to the tombs of these Apostles. In the second and third centuries, the Roman Church already stood pre-eminent by reason of her apostolicity, the infallible truth of her teaching and her two great figures, Sts. Peter and Paul.

Ordinary Time: June 30th

• Day of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time;
• Optional Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
• Old Calendar: Commemoration of St. Paul, the apostle

This memorial is in honour of the nameless followers of Christ brutally killed by the mad Emperor Nero as scapegoats for the fire in Rome. The pagan historian Tacitus and St. Clement of Rome tell of a night of horror (August 15, 64 A.D.) when in the imperial parks Christians were put into animal skins and hunted, were brutally attacked, and were made into living torches to light the road for Nero's chariot. From 64 to 314 "Christian" was synonymous with "execution victim."

Nero's Torches (Leading Light of Christianity), 1876, Henryk Siemiradzki

According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, June 30th is the Commemoration of St. Paul. The Church emphasizes St. Peter's prerogatives on June 29th feast and on the 30th recalls the special mission of Paul as Apostle of the Gentiles.

First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of the "Apostle of the Gentiles" (cf. Romans 15:20). Paul had not yet visited them at the time he wrote his great letter in A.D. 57-58.

There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of controversy between Jews and Jewish Christians, Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in A.D. 49-50. Suetonius the historian says that the expulsion was due to disturbances in the city "caused by the certain Chrestus" [Christ]. Perhaps many came back after Claudius's death in A.D. 54. Paul's letter was addressed to a church with members from both Jewish and gentile backgrounds.

In July of A.D. 64, more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumour blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, a "great multitude" of Christians were put to death because of their "hatred of the human race." Peter & Paul were probably among the victims.

Nero & Christian Dirce, Henryk Siemiradzki

Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the senate, Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68 at the age of thirty-one.

29 & 30 Symbols

Symbols of Cephas-Peter: Two keys saltire; pastoral staff and two large keys; inverted cross; inverted cross and two keys saltire; crowing cock; fish; two swords; patriarchal cross and two keys saltire; two keys and a scroll; sword.

Often portrayed as Bald man, often with a fringe of hair on the sides and a tuft on top; book; keys; man crucified head downwards; man holding a key or keys; man robed as a pope and bearing keys and a double-barred cross.

Symbols of Saül-Paul: Book and sword, three fountains; two swords; scourge; serpent and a fire; armour of God; twelve scrolls with names of his Epistles; Phoenix; palm tree; the shield of faith; sword; book.

Often portrayed as a thin-faced elderly man with a high forehead, receding hairline and long pointed beard; man holding a sword and a book; man with 3 springs of water nearby;

Paul & the Malta snake

Symbols of the First martyrs: Red is the colour for martyrs; a red rose symbol of martyrdom; crown, symbolizing victory over death and sin; a white horse with a white banner and cross and sword; fire or flames; palm, a symbol of victory.