Holy Nights, Jan 2, 2022, Being Recognized

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;

Love fills the soul with healing goodness;

Iris Sullivan

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 2, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 

Paul describes love as a soul’s way of being and acting. 

Jan de Kok

He speaks of the loving soul’s open spaciousness, a soul that is aligned with truth, balanced and patient. A loving soul foregoes meanness and selflessly supports decency. In other words, a soul is filled with love is full of goodwill. 

Love works as a healing force, both the love we receive, but more importantly, the love we generate and give. 

Love’s antitheses—spiteful envy, arrogance, and selfishness—bespeak a soul whose will is ill, a soul in need of healing. 

The mystery of the Act of Consecration of Man, the communion service, demonstrates the process of learning how to love. 

First, we receive God’s love by listening, receiving a portion of the life of Christ in the Gospel. Then we undertake to make a real inward offering. We gather our purest thoughts, our most Christ-ened feelings, and our most energetic will, and we pour them into the chalice along with wine and water, offering them all to the Father as a chalice of healing. 

Our modest, meager act of love toward Him is made strong and potent by Christ’s love joining ours. In Communion, the love we offered to the Father returns to us multiplied, as the gracious, peaceful love that Christ embodies in the bread and wine. It is His love that we take in, that enters us. We receive the healing medicine for our will’s illness. 

This is an enactment, a kind of foreshadowing of what will one day be fully realized. Right now, we can only enact love partially, in outline, as in a mirror. But one day, we too will, in goodwill, work face to face with the Master of Love, in Whom recognizing and being recognized are one.

 

Holy Nights, January 4, 2015, Healing Goodness

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;

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, 2015

1 Corinthians 12:31- 13:13

On the altar we still see the words: Peace on earth to all of good will. What is it that makes us into people of good will? That which turns our will toward goodness, that which makes our will beneficial, is Truth.

Lies create ill will; they literally create a will that becomes ill, sick and ailing. Truth creates wellness. Truth creates good will, healthy will. And a truthful good will creates love.

Love does not allow falseness

Love does not harm what is decent

It drives out self seeking….

Love does not rejoice in injustice, only in the truth.[1]

This is an old idea. Psalm 15 says:

Lord, who can be trusted with power,

and who may act in your place?

Those with a passion for justice,

who speak the truth from their hearts;

who have let go of selfish interests

and grown beyond their own lives;

who see the wretched as their family

and the poor as their flesh and blood.

They alone are impartial

and worthy of the people's trust.

Their compassion lights up the whole earth,

and their kindness endures forever.[2]

---

[1] Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 13:5, 6

[2] (The Psalms, translations by Stephen Mitchell)

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]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

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

Holy Nights 2010, Chalice of Healing

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;

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 3, 2010

1 Corinthians 12:31 - 13:13

Paul describes love as a soul’s way of being and acting. He describes love as verb.

He speaks of the loving soul’s open spaciousness, a soul aligned with truth, balanced and patient. A loving soul foregoes meanness and selflessly supports decency. In other words, a soul filled with love is full of good will.  Love’s antitheses—spiteful envy, arrogance and selfishness—bespeak a soul whose will is ill, a soul in need of healing.

Love works as a healing force, both the love we receive, but more importantly, the love we generate and give.

The mystery of the Act of Consecration of Man, the communion service, is that demonstrates the process of learning how to love. First we receive God’s love by hearing, receiving a portion of the life of Christ in the Gospel. Then we undertake to make a real offering. We gather our purest thoughts, our most Christened feelings, and our most energetic will, and we pour them into the chalice along with wine and water, offering them all to the Father as a chalice of healing. Our modest, meager act of love toward Him is made strong and potent by Christ’s love joining ours. In Communion, the love we offered to the Father returns to us multiplied, as the gracious, peaceful love that Christ embodies in the bread and wine that enters us. We receive the healing medicine for our will’s illness.

This is an enactment, a kind of foreshadowing of what will one day be achieved. Right now we can only enact love partially, in outline, as in a mirror. But one day we too will, in good will, work face to face with the Master of Love, in Whom recognizing and being recognized are one. 

www.thechristiancommunity.org