First Passiontide
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| Très Riches Heures |
Luke 11: 14-35
Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was
mute. And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man who had been mute
spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, “He drives out
demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” Others sought to test him by asking
for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power.
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Any
kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against
house. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? And you
claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now if I were to drive out demons
by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers do it? Therefore, they shall be your
judges.
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, it
follows that the kingdom of God has already come to you.
When a strong man in full armor guards his palace,
his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him,
the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted, and divides it up
as spoils.
He who does not unite with my being is against me;
and he who does not gather in inner composure with me [work for inner composure with me] scatters.
When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders
through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it
says, ‘I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.” When it returns
to this dwelling it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven
other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that man. And
his final state is worse than the first.”
As he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised
her voice and said, “Blessed is the mother who bore you and nursed you.”
But he said, “Truly blessed are those who hear the
divine word in their hearts and tend it there.”
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| Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba, The Cloisters |
The inhabitants of Nineveh will rise up in the days
of crisis and decision against the men of this present generation and will
pronounce judgment over them. For they changed their ways after the
proclamation of Jonah. But know this; here is more than Jonah.
No one lights a light and then puts it in a hidden
place or under a vessel, but rather sets it on a lamp stand, so that all may
see the light shining.
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| Martin Ferdinand Quadal |
Protect yourself that the light does not become
darkness in you.
If your body is now filled with light, so that it
no longer takes part in darkness, everything will be completely illuminated, so
that, with lightning brightness, the light irradiates you completely from
within.
1st Passiontide
March 3, 2013
Luke 11: 14 – 35
In other cultures, each house had a small shrine. This was
the place where the image of the god lived and was honored. It was the center
of the home culture.
What was once outward has now moved inward. We each have a
center – the deep shrine of the heart. It is there that Christ dwells in us.
But who else lives with us in the home of the body? Are our soul and body a
noisy gathering place for other spirits? Do we remember to worship at the
shrine of the heart?
The reading speaks of one occupied by a spirit of deafness
and muteness. Christ encourages us to listen at the shrine of the heart: ‘Truly
blessed are those who hear the divine word in their hearts and tend it there.’ Luke 11:28
We, together with Christ in our deepest selves, can
strengthen and expand our own sovereign occupation of our souls and bodies.
Gathered in inner composure with Him who is Love, we can fully occupy our own
body and soul. Thus we leave no room for spirits of division and darkness,
demons of hatred, doubt and fear. Composed with Him who is at peace with the
world, we can radiate Christ-light within, from the center, from our
Christ-core in the shrine of the heart. The poet reminds us:
On a gray day, when the sun
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has been abducted, and it’s chill
end-of-the-world weather,
I must be the sun.
I must be the one
to encourage ….
to remind [myself] …..
I must issue forth a warmth
without discrimination, and any
guarantee
it will come back to me.
On a dark day I must be willing
to keep my disposition light, ….
I have to be the sun,
I have to shine as if
sorry life itself depended on it.
I have to make all the difference.[1]
[1]Thomas
Centolella,“Solar”, in Views from along the Middle Way. Poem in its entirety:
On a gray day, when the sun
has been abducted, and it’s chill
end-of-the-world weather,
I must be the sun.
I must be the one
to encourage the young
sidetracked physicist
working his father’s cash register
to come up with a law of nature
that says brain waves can change
the dismal sky. I
must be the one
to remind the ginger plant
not to rest on the reputation
of its pungent roots, but to unveil
those buttery tendrils from the other world.
When the sky is an iron lid
I must be the one to simmer
in the piquant juices of possibility,
though the ingredients are unknown
and the day begins with a yawn.
I must issue forth a warmth
without discrimination, and any guarantee
it will come back to me.
On a dark day I must be willing
to keep my disposition light,
I have to be at the very least
on stray intact ray
of local energy, one small
but critical fraction
of illumination. Even
on a day
that doesn’t look gray
but still lacks comfort or sense,
I have to be the sun,
I have to shine as if
sorry life itself depended on it.
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