Dear Mr. Swedenborg

As a Roman Catholic that has been deeply touched by the words of Emanuel Swedenborg, Susan writes to him directly. She has been contemplating the reverence for Mary within her church and she's had some new ideas about this. Swedenborg clearly denounced hailing Mary as without sin, but what if he began looking at it from Susan's perspective? Would he feel the same way? -Editor

January 18, 2013

Dear Mr. Swedenborg,

I am one of your biggest fans! I read your series Arcana Coelestia as if I were memorizing it. No idea has ever hit me so hard or so changed my way of thinking. I recognized your truth as just what I had been longing to know. You explained it very well, btw. I loved the flow of beautiful detail and your kindness in taking so much time to make it clear. You had me from,

“From the mere letter of the Word of the Old Testament no one would ever discern the fact that this part of the Word contains deep secrets of heaven, and that everything within it both in general and particular bears reference to the Lord.”

I am exaggerating, of course, when I say you had me from your opening sentence. It took me months to ‘get it,’ but eventually I did.

I should mention that I am Roman Catholic. Oh, now, please don’t wince when you read that; the church has improved since your day. I never took offense when I read what you said about us because...well, because I know historically we had a lot of problems and the criticism helped clear them up. Also, you were engaging in some literary license to make your points by using things we already know about, such as the Catholic Church. In Apocalypse Revealed 631 you said,

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