104. By Means of the Word, There Is Light Even for People Who Are outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word

THERE can be no union with heaven unless somewhere on our planet there is a church where the Word is present and the Lord is known by means of it. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and there is no salvation apart from the Lord.

It is adequate if there is simply a church where the Word is present even though that church may consist of relatively few people. Even so, by means of it the Lord is present everywhere in the whole world, because by means of it heaven is united with the human race. As for the union being by means of the Word, see §§62-69 above.

2998. The existence of such correspondences has for many years been made something so familiar to me that scarcely anything could be more so. This has happened to me even though man's condition is such that he does not know of the existence of that correspondence and does not believe that he has any connection with the spiritual world. Yet all his connection is from that world and without it neither he nor any part of him could continue to exist for a single moment. On that connection depends the whole continuance of his existence. I have also been given to know which angelic communities belong to which particular part of the body, and also to know what they are like. I have been given to know, for example, which communities belong to the region of the heart, and what these are like; which ones belong to the lungs, and what these are like; which communities belong to the liver, and what they are like; and which ones belong to the sensory organs, such as the eye, the ears, the tongue, and the rest, and what those communities are like. In the Lord's Divine mercy these will be dealt with as a separate subject.