Saturday, January 4, 2014

Holy Nights 2009, Give Light

Holy Nights
1 Corinthians 12:31- 13:13

Strive to make the best out of the gifts of grace working together.
Yet I will show the way that is higher than all others.
If I speak out of the Spirit with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, then my speaking remains as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal. And if I had the gift of prophecy and could speak of all the mysteries and could impart all knowledge and, further, had the power of faith that removes mountains, yet am without love, then I am nothing. And if I were to give away everything that is mine, and lastly were to give away even my body for burning, yet am without love, then all is in vain.
Love makes the soul great;
Sanz-Cardona
Love fills the soul with healing goodness;
Love does not know envy;
It knows no boasting;
It does not allow falseness;
Love does not harm that which is decent.
It drives out self-seeking.
Love does not allow inner balance to be lost.
It does not bear a grudge.
It does not rejoice over injustice.
It rejoices only in the truth.
Love bears all things,
Is always prepared to have faithful trust.
It may hope for everything and is all-patient.

If love is truly present, it cannot be lost. The gift of prophecy will one day be extinguished, the wonder of languages cease, clairvoyant insight come to an end. Our insight is incomplete, incomplete is our prophecy.
But one day the perfect must come, the complete consecration – aim; then the time of the incomplete is over.
When I was still a child, I spoke as a child, and I felt and thought as a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we still see things in dark outlines, as in a mirror. Some day we will see everything face to face. Now my insight is incomplete, but then I shall stand in the stream of true insight, in which recognizing and being recognized are one.
We find permanence that bears all future within it in the exalted triad:
In faith
In hope,
And in love.
But the greatest of these is love. 

Holy Nights
January 4, 2009
1 Corinthians 13:1-13

In this part of the world we have the beautiful vista of the sunrise over the mountains. At first the light silhouettes their dark massiveness. But as it climbs higher, the light begins to illuminate them. When it reaches its zenith, all is flooded with light and warmth.
Sanz-Cardona

The human being is like a morning landscape. The solidity of the body is a silhouette against the light of the spirit. But from a deep memory of the body’s origins in realms of warmth and light, we can experience the body’s hope of its future transformation, its future flooding with light.

The soul itself, too, dimly knows its own origins to be from other realms. On earth it must experience the daily round of darkness and sleep again and again. Yet because of the steadfastness of the sun’s daily rising and setting, and rising again, the soul can have a deep trust and faith in its own return to the light realms of its origins.

And buried deep between our souls and our bodies lies that mysterious realm we call our life force. Of all our make-up, this part of us is most directly connected to the sunlight itself. And like the sun, it is radiant with light, a light that is warm and life-giving, a light that will ultimately transform the whole landscape of our human constitution. For here, where life illuminates soul, is where love dwells. Here, in the realm of the life force, lies the possibility of developing a love that lives like the sun, which shines on all alike; a love that, like the sun, radiates in steady balance; a love that does not exist in order to illuminate itself.

Hope in the future and faith in the progress of humanity are two supports for the soul. But on top of these two supports is the living altar of love. It is love that enlarges and enlightens our soul. It is love that fills the soul with the light and warmth of healing goodness. It is love that is our gift of offering to our fellow human beings, our gift of offering to God.

The poet says:
It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth—

That men and women…
Who give each other
Light, …

Will sincerely speak, saying:
“My dear,
How can I be more loving to you’
How can I be more
Kind?”[1]




[1] Hafiz, “It Happens All the Time in Heaven”, in Tonight the Subject is Love, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 45.

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