John 3: 22-36
After this Jesus and his disciples came to the land of
Judea. There he stayed with them and baptized. John also baptized; he was at
Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there, and
people came to him and were baptized. For John had not yet been imprisoned.
Then a dispute arose between the disciples of John
and the Jews about the path of purification. And they came to John and said to
him, “Master, he who came to you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness –
here he is, baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
John answered, “No human being can grasp spiritual
power for himself that is not given to him from the higher worlds. You
yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent
before him.’
“He who has the bride, he is the bridegroom. But
the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, he is filled
with joy at the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine is now full. He must
increase, but I must decrease.
He who descends from above, out of the spiritual
world, is elevated above all beings of the earth. Whoever is only of the earth,
whose being arises from the earthly, his word is also earthbound.
But whoever accepts his testimony, sets his seal to
this: that God is true [truth] [that there is
no higher truth than the reality of God]. Whoever God has sent, his words are filled with
the power of divine thought, for God gives the spirit to human beings not
according to human rules, but according to the creative power that he awakens
in man.
The Father holds the Son surrounded in his love,
and has given everything into his hands. Whoever trusts in the power of the Son
within himself, he grows out of the earthly into timeless life.
Whoever cannot trust in the power of the Son within
will not behold the world of life; rather the working might of the spirit world
must one day burn him like a fire that will consume him.”
I hear you singing, dear, inviting
me to your limb.
www.thechristiancommunity.org
2nd St. Johnstide
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| Baptism, Sombart |
July 1, 2012
John 3: 22-36
Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is high summer. The earth
is in the sun’s embrace. Meanwhile the other side of the earth is in midwinter.
With both sides of its being, the earth is looking to her sons and daughters.
Her greatest wish is that the soul of humanity be joined with the Sun-Spirit,
just as she herself has joined with Him. In joining with Him we will become
fruitful, and fulfill our divine destiny.
It is no accident that the gospel reading mentions a bride
and bridegroom. For it is the time when the soul of humanity is to wed its
Beloved.
St Francis of Assisi said:
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| Baptism, Habegger |
I am coming , for all that we do is
a
preparation for love.
I hear you singing, my Lord,
inviting me to your throne.
We are coming, dear, for all the
toil you have
blessed us with is a preparation to
know and hold the
sacred.
I hear you singing, my soul, but
how can it be that
God’s voice has now become my own?
“That’s just a wedding gift for our
Divine Union,”
my Beloved
said. [1]
[1]
“A Wedding Gift”, St Francis of Assisi, in Love Poems to God, Daniel
Ladinsky, p. 44. Picture by Titian.
