This
is the beginning of the new word from the realm of the angels, sounding forth
through Jesus Christ. Fulfilled is the word of the prophet Isaiah:
Behold, I send my angel before your face.
He is to prepare your way.
Hear the voice of one calling in the loneliness of
the human soul
Prepare the way for the Lord within the soul,
Make his paths straight, so that he may find
entrance into Man’s innermost being!
Thus
did John the Baptist appear in the loneliness of the desert. He proclaimed
Baptism, the way of a change of heart and mind, for the acknowledgement of sin.
And they went out to him from all of Judea and Jerusalem and received baptism
from him in the river Jordan and recognized and confessed their failings.
 |
| Sombart |
‘After
me comes one who is mightier than I. I am not even worthy to bend down before
Him and to undo the straps of His sandals. I have baptized you with water, but
He will baptize you with the fire of the Holy [healing] Spirit.’
In
those days it happened: Jesus of Nazareth came to Galilee, and was baptized in
the Jordan by John.
And
at the same time as he rose up again out of the water, he beheld how the
spheres of the heavens were torn open, and the spirit of God descended upon him
like a dove.
And
a voice sounded from the world of the spirit:
‘You
are my son, the beloved —in you is my revelation.’ [‘Today I have conceived
(begotten) you.’ Luke
3:22]
July 5,
2009
This being human is a guest-house.
www.thechristiancommunity.org
Mark 1, 1 – 11
Through the fire of the sun, seeds are forming in the cups
of the flowers.
Once the seeds fall to earth and are watered, they will burst
open and a new life will begin.
In today’s reading, Jesus, the purest and most perfectly
developed seed of humankind is dipped into the waters and opens. At the same
time, the healing spirit descends into the seed of mankind, needy of healing on
the field of earth, and a new kind of life for us begins.
It all started with a human soul that was open, open to
change, open to becoming something, even someone, else, someone totally new.
And therein lies the healing. In opening ourselves in study and prayer, in
conversation, we are allowing ourselves the opportunity to change heart and
mind. We are allowing something or someone else to enter into our souls. We are
allowing ourselves to be fructified, baptized by sun-fire, so that something
new can develop and grow in us. Even in everyday life, we can practice this
opening daily. Rumi said,
This being human is a guest-house.
Every morning a new
arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you
out for some new delight.
…meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1]
Rumi, “The Guest-House”, in Say I Am You: Poetry Interspersed with Stories of Rumi and Shams,
Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks, Maypop, 1994.
