About The Game of Leela: Sacred Path to Eternity by John J Pietrangelo
THE GAME OF LEELA
WRITER: John J Pietrangelo / Phone: (520) 647-4637 / EMAIL: ANAMI@CENTURYLINK.NET
LOG LINE: Father Ambrose, a young priest from America, goes to the Vatican to help an ill participant attending the Papal Conclave of Cardinals after the reigning Pope suddenly dies. A stunning vision seen by members of the Conclave compels them to vote Father Ambrose as the next Pope, not knowing his destiny will fulfill a Medieval prophecy, changing the Catholic Church’s earthly mission forever.
SUMMARY: Clairvaux, France 1148 CE – Saint Malachy is dying and utters the prophecy:
“Before the end, trickery will abide, for the two shall serve as one in preparation of the final judgment: the one, named in honor of the olive branch; and the second, extender of the olive branch in feigned capitulation unto the wide world. Thus, the two will count as one in the succession of popes. Following these two, the last in line, Petrus Romanus, shall, indeed, be the savior of Holy Mother Church.”
Modern day, Brooklyn, New York – Twin brothers, Peter and Paul D’Alessio Romano are born into an Italian immigrant family. As young men, Peter chooses the vocation of a parish priest, while Paul is drawn to unraveling the archaeological mysteries of the past.
The Catholic world is in shock after the reigning Pope has died suddenly from a fatal gunshot wound. All Cardinals worldwide gather in Rome to attend a Papal Conclave committed to electing a new Pontiff. Peter, now Father Ambrose, is called to the Vatican to be an assistant to an aged and ill participant. The Conclave is stalemated in its attempts to elect the next pope. The Cardinals are stunned to witness a scintillating glow emanating from the young, unknown priest from America as he cares for his long-suffering ward. Moved by the Holy Spirit, they break from tradition to elect this humble priest, by acclamation, the next Vicar of Christ.
The newly appointed Pope Peter II is still learning the ways of the threads of power within the church when he is kidnapped by an Islamic terrorist cell. While imprisoned, he finds a common spiritual resonance with one of his captors who later helps him escape. The Pope’s kidnapping is soon discovered to involve some unknown plotters within the Vatican.
Meanwhile Paul, as brother of the Pope and now an accomplished archaeologist, is given access to the most sensitive areas of the Vatican Library’s collections of historical documents. In the vast underground chambers beneath the Vatican he is led to a long-forgotten cache of ancient Aramaic scrolls, and begins the drawn-out process of translating them. Paul urges the new Pope to read and consider what he has found.
“The Revelation of a Living Teacher of Righteousness according to John bar Zebedee. A record of the mysteries vouchsafed unto me by my Master, Rabbi Y’eshua bar Yosuf, that which surely must be recorded for posterity, being Truths not of this world but of a higher order, from the mouth of He who held the keys to our redemption and emancipation. This is my testimony written down for me by my amanuensis, Prochorus….If the whole of the earth were my paper, and the multitude of trees my pen, and the copious seas of the earth my ink, they would be insufficient to write the Glory of a Living Teacher of Righteousness. But blessed is he who reads the insufficient words of my testimony, and keeps those things which are written herein close to their hearts.”
While the Pope’s most trusted confidants work to identify the Vatican plotters, Pope Peter feels compelled to explore the common spiritual roots that undergird all Western religions. Paul continues to find more scrolls containing the original precepts of the Teacher of Righteousness that reveal the true path the soul must take to achieve reunion with the Creator. Paul helps his brother to see that these long-hidden revelations of an internal path to God were suppressed by the Church in favor of a politically controllable, externally dependent path to salvation.
Pope Peter continues his internal investigations into the inner workings of the Vatican Bank and other powerful institutions within the highest echelons of the Church. In a desperate attempt to stop him from uncovering their corruption and stripping them of their long-standing secular powers, the plotters are successful in poisoning the Pope.
The Pope survives and the plotters, mostly Cardinals governing the Roman Curia are identified and imprisoned. A fire mysteriously breaks out in the medieval prison in which they are confined. A perpetrator’s deathbed confession deepens Pope Peter’s growing disillusionment with the Church, and its capricious earthly mission. In search of answers, he returns to the study of the scrolls. Within a short period of time, the inkling of an improbable concept for the rebirth of the original precepts of the Teacher of Righteousness begins to take shape.
Seeking a spiritual retreat, he escapes from the Vatican and makes his way to Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, to contemplate his world-changing ideas. While there, he experiences mystical visions of ancient spiritual teachers which compel him to conclude that the Church has corrupted its mission of spiritual enlightenment and salvation, and that it must return to its original roots.
In what will be his final address from the famed Vatican Balcony, Pope Peter lays out his vision, his plan to divest the Church of its power, wealth, and control over the people in favor of a rebirth of its mission. As Pope Peter’s words of hope and encouragement for his enlightened vision draw to a close, a blazing meteor shower appears in the heavens, eliciting gasps and cries colored with awe and foreboding from the crowd gathered in the piazza below. Within moments, fear transforms into faith. The people, believing the meteor shower to be a sign from heaven, embrace the Pope’s new vision for the Church, a vision they now accept will free their souls and put their search, their very relationship with God, firmly and potently in their own hands, hearts, and minds.
Abdicating his position as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Peter returns to the Island of Patmos and experiences further mystical visions, and receives instruction from a spiritual teacher he was first visited by in his youth. These deeply haunting experiences confirm his conclusion that the Church’s focus on power and control had corrupted its mission of spiritual enlightenment and salvation. He becomes resolute that his decision to recreate the Church by stripping away its secular powers was justified.
Now, realizing that the ancient prophecy of Saint Malachy had effectively been fulfilled, the former Pope, Peter Ambrose D’Alessio Romano, retreats into secular life, singularly devoted to his personal pursuit of inner enlightenment and divine discovery. His brother, Paul, continues his work with the newly created foundation to help people discover the way to enlightenment as it was originally told to John bar Zebedee by Rabbi Y’eshua bar Yosuf… and written down by his amanuensis, Prochorus, in the ancient scrolls as the Divine set of rules for the Game of Leela, the mystical journey back to one’s spiritual home.
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Author Bio:
John J. Pietrangelo is a college graduate with a Master’s Degree in
Educational Psychology. He has devoted more than fifty years of his life
researching the multifarious religions from across the globe. Through
his studies, he has gained in-depth knowledge of psychology, philosophy,
religion, history, music, and a broad spectrum of metaphysical and
spiritual teachings. He is now retired and resides in Arizona. The Game
of Leela, Sacred Path to Eternity is his first attempt at writing a novel,
wherein he has placed the distillation of countless hours of study and
contemplation. anami@centurylink.net