Southampton Pines, East Quogue, New York at 2:00pm

Forward from Ned Dougherty

“Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?”

On the evening of Friday, February 1, 2008, I anticipated receiving a monthly and heavenly message. Instead I received a stinging message from my mother’s physician that she was going to be released from her most recent hospitalization to be returned to her home under hospice care.

My mother, Isabelle Dougherty, has been struggling with colon cancer for over three years now, and my sister and I have been caring for Mom mostly at home with intermittent hospital and nursing home stays. Since both my sister and I have assumed the responsibility of being Mom’s primary caregivers during her illness, we have been able to provide a loving and nurturing environment at home during the progression of her illness.

I had previously limited my speaking engagements to care for Mom, but now, with the progression of her illness, it is necessary for me to postpone or cancel all speaking engagements for the foreseeable future.

The St. Augustine Weekend Retreat, originally scheduled for March 1-2, 2008, will be postponed to a future date. I will be returning reservation deposits promptly. I have also postponed future events in The Villages, FL and Syracuse, NY. Please keep me in mind for future speaking events in your area, since I intend to greatly increase my schedule of events when God’s plan permits me to do so. You can email me to let me know to notify you to speak in your area when God’s plan permits me to do so. Email: ndened1@fastlanetoheaven.com

For those of you who are unfamiliar with hospice, most communities in the United States now have a hospice service that provides at-home care services to allow the terminally ill to die at home with dignity. Hospice services typically provide palliative care and services with nurses, health aids, and volunteers who provide for the physical, emotional, and spiritual well being of terminally ill patients.

Unfortunately, the East End Hospice of Long Island is currently experiencing a shortage of home health aids and volunteers, so the demands on my sister and I to provide home care for Mom is even greater now than before. If you live in the East Moriches, NY area (near the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island) and have experience as a volunteer or health aid, and would consider making visits, please call me at (800) 253-5218.

The sting of the physician’s message for me last Friday evening was like the sting of a bee, temporarily paralyzing, but healing with time. It is the sting of anticipating my mother’s inevitable passing for which I have had much time to prepare, but the sting of the inevitable is still just as brutal at first bite. The impending death of a loved one is painful, but knowing what I know, death in its finality is not painful, but a glorious victory! Someday for all of us, that sting of death will be gone forever!

I spent a restless Friday night and early Saturday morning alternating between coping and praying, and despite my experiences of the Afterlife, even questioning and challenging God, ever so briefly, on my mother’s behalf. On Saturday morning at 8:00am, I received the following message from Jesus of Nazareth instilling in me a sense of peace and serenity that only comes with acceptance of God’s will.

Now it’s my turn to ask for your prayers for my mother, Isabelle.

God bless you and your family!

Ned Dougherty

Message from Jesus of Nazareth

My son,

Today is a day of great struggling for you and understandably so. You have journeyed with me throughout your existence partly in walking with me and partly in protesting my journey with you. It is difficult for a soul, such as you possess, to do the work of the Father, because you have chosen to seek pleasures and desires in the material world in which you live.

But, alas, you know where your eternal home exists and you long to come home as all souls eventually do. Where do you go from here? You are experiencing great sorrow and loss in your life at this point in your journey, and this loss and sorrow is also part of the journey of life in which the soul is nourished and refreshed in ways that you do not completely understand.

The journey of the soul in the physical world requires you to live the experiences of love as well as the experiences of hardship. When the Father and Creator of all souls created you, He created you with great love and hope that your journey into His existence would be rewarding for you. This journey requires your cooperation to work with your Father and Creator to become a soulful being who is eternally rewarded with the fruits and gifts with which your eternal existence can be rewarded.

The journey here on Earth for all souls is a difficult one that is made more difficult for those of you who journey throughout your lives without even an acknowledgement of He who has created you.

For this reason, I have made this journey among you as Jesus of Nazareth to bring you the Good News of the Eternal Promises that have been made to you by the Father. My journey among you is as real today as it was 2,000 years ago, when I actually walked the face of the Earth to convey the Good News of the Father.

The Good News that must be conveyed to all brothers and sisters on the face of the planet is the promise of the Eternal Home that is available to all souls when you journey home to be with the Father in Heaven.

You must realize and all souls must realize that your existence here on Earth is temporary, that you are here to learn and grow, and that when your life here is over, you will return to God who is your home. While you are here, you are only experiencing a glimpse of your total existence, but this glimpse of life that you are experiencing can be difficult and troubling, and you may find yourself wondering why there seems to be so much deprivation for some of your brothers and sisters, while others among you seem to flourish in a material world.

The creature comforts that you experience here on Earth are fleeting and temporary and many of you will be experiencing hardship and deprivation in this regard, because your own personal journey requires you to make great sacrifices to become the powerful, courageous, and loving soul that the Father has always intended you to be.

Remember on this journey that you are here to please God and not yourself. You are here to convey His love to all mortals and that you will be judged by how you conduct yourselves with your brothers and sisters.

I ask you to contemplate my journey and how I chose to spread the love of the Father during my earthly life. Do you recognize that great sacrifices were made by me to be among you? Do you recognize that great sacrifices were made by my mother Mary, by my earthly father Joseph, and by all the family members and disciples who walked with me during that journey in time?

Recognize that much is also expected of you on your own journey. For those who have received many gifts from the Father, much is expected, and in this regard, greater sacrifices are expected from those who answer the calling from the Father to lead all brothers and sisters back to the Father and to a recognition that life here on earth is a temporary journey that ultimately leads to a higher form of existence for all souls in the eternal and heavenly realms. So when you find yourself in your journey experiencing difficulties that seem to be beyond your ability to handle, recognize that I am here with you on this journey, that I am walking your journey at your side, and that when the journey becomes too heavy for you to bear, that I am carrying you throughout the most difficult times to bring you back home to the Father.

If you remember these things when the times are difficult, then your life will become easier for you to bear. Although great sacrifices are being made by those of you who live in recognition of the Father’s role and my role in your journey, you will benefit from the knowledge that you are loved by your Creator, that you are loved by me as His Son, and that you are nourished by the power of the Holy Spirit, a Triune of One that is all that is ultimately bringing you home to your eternal reward.

I come to you today as Jesus of Nazareth. I come to you today to lessen your pain, to lighten your load, and to give you the inspiration and the knowledge to understand the importance of your role in the future of humanity.

I address that importance to all my brothers and sisters equally. Each and every one of God’s children has a very important role in the journey of humanity. So much has happened in this world that draws humanity away from the path of the Father, but the Father is persistent and patient with His children, and He only wants the best for you.

Do you not recognize the Father’s role in all that is good in creation? You must focus your attention on this one thought, that all the goodness in the world comes from your Lord and Creator, who has destined you to be a loving soul with a very important mission in life.

Seize this one thought and make it part of your daily life, in fact, make it the most important thought in each and every moment of each and every day and live that one thought.

May the knowledge of God’s infinite mercy be with each and ever one of you, each and every day.

From Jesus of Nazareth

Message ended 8:37am