2nd 3rd or 4th
Michaelmas
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 6:10-19
What it comes to in the end is this: grasp the power that
streams to you in the experience of Christ in the soul and in the powerful
regency of his pure spiritual strength.
Put on the power of God as one puts on full armor,
so that you may stand against the well-aimed attacks of the adversary. For our
struggle is not to fight against powers of flesh and blood, but against
spirit beings mighty in the stream of time,
against spirit beings powerful in the molding of
earth substance,
against cosmic powers whose darkness rules the
present time,
against spirits who carry evil into the realms of
the spiritual world.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you
may be able to stand your ground on the day when evil unfolds its greatest
strength, and victoriously withstand it.
Stand firm, then, girded with the truth, like a
warrior firmly girded. Connect yourself with all in the world as is justified
in the spiritual world, and this connection with the spirit will protect you
like a strong breastplate.
And may Peace stream through you, down to your
feet, so that on your path you spread peace, as the message that comes from the
realm of the angels.
In all your deeds have trust in God. This trust
will be like a mighty shield; with it you can quench all the flaming arrows of
the evil one.
Take into your
thinking the certainty of Christ’s healing deed. It will protect your head like
a helmet.
And the spirit, which has become living in you, you
shall grasp as one grasps a sharp sword. The sword of the spirit is the working
of the Word of God.
May this armor clothe you in all your prayers and
supplications, so that in the right moment you raise yourself in prayer to the
spirit, and at the same time practice wakefulness in inner loyalty.
Feel yourself united in prayer with all other
bearers of the spirit—also with me, Paul, so that the power of the word will be
given to me when I am to courageously bring the knowledge of that holy mystery
which lives in the message of the gospel.
2nd Michaelmas
Ephesians 6: 10
-19
Sunscreen protects us from the sun’s burning rays. Umbrellas
protect us from the rain, coats from the cold.
Today’s reading recommends that we clothe ourselves
appropriately also for the spiritual atmosphere in which we find ourselves.
Paul suggests that we clothe ourselves in the power of God. What is this power?
It is the power of divine love. This love accompanies our awareness of a truth;
the truth that we all have come from a world of spirit; that we have come
wrapped in God’s unshakeable love and faith in us. We have been sent to earth
to learn how to pass on this kind and quality of love to others.
 |
| Michael, Roland Tiller |
Self-inflating hubris, self-defeating despair, and contempt
for others are some of the well-aimed attacks of the spiritual adversaries, who
mean to separate us from this divine power of love. Knowing that God loves us
unconditionally, we stand in peace; we shield ourselves with the trust that,
within everything that happens, even within adversities and tragedies, there is
a seed kernel of the good, implanted in these events by divine love. This seed
of the good is growing and evolving toward the future. And this evolving good
is moving toward healing the rift between us human beings, and between
humankind and the divine spiritual beings.
In the words of John O’Donohue:
Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of
your senses.
Receive encouragement when new
frontiers beckon….
May warmth of heart keep your
presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an
inner dignity of soul….
May you experience each day as a
sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.[1]
[1]
John O’Donohue, “For Presence”, in To
Bless the Space Between Us, p. 42.
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