The Wisdom of Joseph--Son and Guide

I am honored to welcome Kathryn Davi-Cardinale, author of the inspiring personal story, Joseph--My Son, My Guide: Communications From the Baby I Lost at Birth. Kathryn is a certified grief counselor and clinical hypnotherapist residing in the San Francisco (CA) Bay Area. In her book, she shares with us how her baby, who lived only three minutes, returned years later to communicate with his mother. This week, I had an opportunity to interview the author.

WLM: What inspired you to write "Joseph"?

Kathryn: Actually, the book wrote itself. From the beginning of this unusual experience, I sensed that this needed to be a book, but I had no idea how or if it could become one. Honestly, it didn't matter to me. I have spent years doubting and coming to terms with Joseph's "inner dictations." All the while, I kept writing and documenting everything that was being given to me.

Kathryn Davi-Cardinale

WLM: What is your personal belief about afterlife?

Kathryn: I believe that we are all spiritual beings having a human experience, and that we will return to an eternal place at the end of our earth life. We change from day to day, as we grow in wisdom. We are all teachers and students to each other. I remind myself to see the grace in every person and that negative judgment only causes harm to oneself. For years I have started my morning with a prayer similar to that of St. Francis of Assisi: "Lord, make me a channel of your peace, love, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness."

WLM: How emotionally difficult was it for you to let go of your story and send it out to the world?

Kathryn: Once the messages changed from being personal to "universal," it was not difficult to let go of the story. I was told that the messages were for everyone and needed to be published. Joseph said, "Each ear will hear it differently." From that time on, I knew it wasn't about me. I was only a channel to get the messages out to those who would benefit from them.

WLM: What sort of responses have you received from readers?

Kathryn: My heart has been warmed by so many beautiful responses. Some have come from those who themselves have lost loved ones and now feel at peace, knowing that life continues.

Many readers have written or called me to share their own experiences of communication from loved ones "on the other side." Until now they had never told this to anyone for fear that people might think they were crazy. My story has given them permission to share it with me and feel normal again.

Some have applauded my courage and strength to follow Joseph's guidance in publishing his messages. That sounds strange to me, because it never occurred to me to do otherwise.

Still others have read the book more than once and gained even more insight, realizing that we all have a unique purpose in life. It seems that each reader receives what they are meant to receive for their own spiritual growth. This seems to be the true purpose of the book.

WLM: Do you see this as the one-and-only book? Or, do you have another in mind?

Kathryn: Regarding another book, I have been told that Joseph and my guides will work with me again, and I am willing. So, it seems that Joseph--My Son, My Guide is Book One in what appears to be an ongoing journey.

WLM: Do your "Joseph revelations" continue?

Kathryn: When the book was ready for publication, I received messages on and off from Joseph, thanking me for following through with it. The final message I received said, in part:
THE MESSAGES WILL CEASE FOR AWHILE, ALTHOUGH WE ARE NEAR AND AVAILABLE, IF CALLED UPON. YOU WILL FEEL PEACE. DEPEND ON YOUR OWN INTUITION AND PRAY FOR GUIDANCE. SPEAK ONLY OF GOD, TRUTH, AND LOVE.

WLM: What advice would you offer to someone out there who has an "unusual" true story to tell?

Kathryn: My advice to anyone who has a true story that has changed their life is "go for it." You never know who else is experiencing the same thing you are. Your story can help someone over a hurdle and give them courage. Always honor your own "truth." It doesn't matter who doesn't understand it. Being authentic is truly a gift you give to yourself.

WLM: What is your fondest hope for your book? 

Kathryn: My fondest wish is that Joseph--My Son, My Guide will inspire everyone to listen to and trust their personal "inner voice."

WLM: Thank you, Kathryn. I hope your book will inspire many people to follow their own truth. Visitors to this blog who would like to communicate with Kathryn Davi-Cardinale are invited to e-mail her at joseph.myguide@gmail.com.

Joseph–My Son, My Guide is available online in paperback. It is also an ebook at Amazon Kindle and will soon be available in all major ebook formats. The paperback edition can also be ordered through local bookstores.

Cover image, 'Ariyanna,' Birth of the Soul (c) Deborah Brooks (used with permission)
Author photo by Franci Lucero

Alfred J. Garrotto is the author of The Saint of Florenville: A Love Story

alfredjgarrotto.com

saintoflorenville.com

(c) 2012 by Alfred J. Garrotto

Lost Angels

[NOTE: In the Roman Catholic liturgy today, we honor three biblical angels--Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. Over the last 40 years, angels have not played a prominent role in the average Catholic's prayer and spiritual life. Into the gap stepped the New Age movement, which seems to have now run its course, or at least tapered off. To honor today's angels, I'd like to share  an excerpt from my book, The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean.]

To teach Cosette to read, and to watch her playing, was nearly all Jean Valjean’s life.
And then, he would talk about her mother.
Les Miserables, Cosette, Book Fourth, III: Two Misfortunes Mingled Make Happiness

Jean Valjean must have discovered soon after taking Fantine's child into his care that not even his heartfelt attachment to the little girl could love away her loss. Nor could he erase Cosette's earliest memories of rejection and humiliation, suffered at the hands of the Thenardiers.

Being a good father, Jean Valjean spoke often to Cosette of the mother she had never known. This elderly guardian, who knew nothing of modern parenting techniques, followed the counsel of his love for both mother and daughter. Wounded and scarred himself and grieving the woman he loved, he intuited that Cosette, too, suffered from a "primal wound" that festered at the core of their shared abandonment.

Jean Valjean possessed a special antidote with which he revived Cosette’s numbed spirit—the gift of healing stories. He recounted her mother’s eternal love and her dying wish to have her child at her side, as in former, better times. Jean Valjean held back from Cosette the truth that, in her mother’s quest to achieve that reunion, she had sold her golden hair and perfect teeth. And, with nothing left of commercial value, her body, too. In a final act of desperation, Fantine had entrusted her child to M. Madeleine (Valjean), the very man she had once blamed for her loss of employment. Piece by piece and in carefully edited versions of that history, Jean Valjean restored all that was healable in Cosette’s spirit, leaving the rest to the Ultimate Healer of Souls.

Throughout my daughters’ childhoods, I used stories and parables to shed light on the meaning of their lives. Some dealt with actual events in our family life; others combined fact and fiction. All the stories were true in their own way and intended to heal wounds I had not inflicted and could not cure.

One bedtime story in particular drew frequent requests: "Daddy, tell us about our angels!"

"The ones who made a terrible mistake?" I knew exactly which parable they meant.

"Yes, that one."

After getting them settled, I began the familiar story:

"When it was time for you to be born, God gave each of you an angel who had instructions to deliver you directly to Mom and me here in California. But something went wrong. Your angels forgot the directions, or something. Anyway, they got lost. Instead of delivering you to us, they brought one of you to El Salvador, the other to Honduras to other mothers and fathers who gave birth to you and took care of you the best they could. Somehow—don't ask me to explain it—these good people sensed that something wasn't quite right. They had received misplaced children. And so, they began to search for your true parents.

"Meanwhile, back in California, Mom and I were saying to each other: 'What could have happened to those girls?' We waited some more until we decided, 'We'd better go looking for them.' It took a long time, but first we found Monica in El Salvador! Then we found Cristina next door in Honduras. Now at last, we’re all together, just the way God planned it from the beginning."

In answer to our daughters' concern for what might have become of those errant angels, the best I could offer was: "I suppose God assigned them to new jobs that didn't require delivering children to families."