Today's Term: Rapture
Sometimes used as a synonym for ecstasy. But St. Teresa distinguishes it as a special kind of ecstasy, sudden in its onset, whereas ordinary ecstasy is quiet. She compares it to a "strong giant," or "a whirlwind carrying everything away." A more developed form of it, of special intensity, is called "flight of the spirit." In this the soul seems to leave the body and fly toward heaven. The body is sometimes carried from the earth by the soul's vehemence, which is the phenomenon of levitation.
(From a Catholic Dictionary by Donald Atwater )
I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, whether he was in or outside his body I cannot say, only God can say--a man who was snatched up to the third heaven.
(II Corinthians 12:2)
Rosemarie, OCDS
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