2nd Sunday after Easter 2022, Strength to Deeply Love

 2^nd Sunday after Easter

Sanz-Cordona

John 10:1-16
 
"Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
 
"To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open. When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger's voice."
 
Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

 
Then Jesus went on. "Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.
 
"I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

"I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Whoever works for wages and is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not their own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For they are only hirelings and care nothing for the sheep.
 
"I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.
 
"Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd."
 
2^nd Sunday after Easter

May 1, 2022
John 10:1-21
 
A doorway is an opening that leads from one space to another. The door can either open or close off the access. In our everyday lives, we encounter many doors; not only the physical ones in rooms and buildings but also the portals between one state of soul and another.
 
One such doorway is waking and sleeping. At night we are meant to move calmly and easily through the doorway of sleep. The doorway to our earthly concerns closes behind us, and we move out into the starry pastures where our souls are nourished, and our bodies refreshed. And then, at the right time, we are called back to our earthly home.
 
But fear and worry, clinging to earthly concerns, can hold us back at the gateway to sleep, or bring us rushing back too soon.
 
At the beginning of our earthly lives, we stood before a similar portal. We were called into life, onto earthly fields. And at the end, we will be called back again to our heavenly home.
 

William Dyce

Christ is the one who calls us to both our homes, the earthly one and the heavenly. For He Himself is at home both here on the earth and in the starry expanses. He is the one who leads us to the thresholds of sleep and of life. He is the one who opens the door. Day after day, night after night, life after life, we can follow His call. He walks in the spirit ahead of us. We can trust in the calling of His voice. For His is the voice that summons our deepest self. His is the voice of nurture, the voice of the purest, most accepting, all-forgiving love. 
 
So, as a ‘sleep aid’ we can say the following prayer:
 

May the events that seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With a quiet mind
Through the Father’s ground of peace
On which we walk.
 
May the people who seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With an understanding heart
Through the Christ’s stream of love
In which we live.
 
May the spirits which seek me
Come unto me.
May I receive them
With a clear soul
Through the healing Spirit’s Light
By which we see.*
 
 
And then we can awaken from the Good Shepherd’s nourishing fields of sleep, the kind of sleep that
 
I sleep where I will
wake with the
strength to
deeply
love….**
 
 
*Adam Bittleston, "Against Fear," in Meditative Prayers for Today. Available at https://steinerbooks.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781782504672/Meditative-Prayers-for-Today
 
**Theresa of Avila, (1515-1582), “Clarity is Freedom” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 279

2nd Sunday after Easter 2021, Drink In the Life

 

2^nd Sunday after Easter

John 10:1-16

“Yes, I say to you: Anyone who does

not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold somewhere else, he is a thief and a robber. He who enters through the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out.

When he has brought them out, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow; they flee from him because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Jesus used picture-language with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Sanz-Cordona

And Jesus went on.
“Yes, I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. I AM the door. He who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I—I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, and who is not a real shepherd, and does not care about the sheep, abandons the sheep, and runs away when he sees the wolf coming; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD and I know who belongs to me; and those who are mine know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I offer my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must also lead them, and they will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one shepherd.

3rd Sunday after Easter

April 18, 2021

John 10:1-21

In this Gospel story, the shepherd is the one who calls, who gathers, who leads his own to food and drink. The wolf, by contrast, scatters and devours.

We all have a bit of wolfishness embedded in our nature. We are opportunists who devour what others have cared for.  We are at least occasionally snarly and divisive.

Stephen B. Whately

But at times, we are also shepherds. We may have occupations or families that we love so that we are not mere day laborers. We work so that others may eat. We gather where all are content to be together.

Christ is the ultimate shepherd. His is the voice we hear calling us, the voice of the shepherd who walks in the spirit before us. It is He who leads us to true nourishment. He leads us to the celebratory meal, sharing himself—the bread of his body, the wine of his blood, his life which He gives away voluntarily. It is He who creates this place where hearts and minds gather and are strengthened. In the words of the poet Rilke we can hear Christ calling:

         I am, you anxious one.

Don’t you sense me, ready to break

Into being at your touch?

My murmurings surround you like shadowy wings.

Can’t you see me standing before you

Cloaked in stillness? *

And we answer:

… you take pleasure in the faces

Of those who know they thirst.

You cherish those who

Grip you for survival.

…and drink in the life

that reveals itself quietly there. **

 

* Rilke, Book of Hours, Macy and Barrows, p. 66.

** Ibid, p. 61.

 

https://www.thechristiancommunity.org/blog-posts/

2nd after Easter II, April 29, 2020, Brilliant Angel Feathers

2^nd Sunday after Easter

John 10:1-16

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.

When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Brueghel, Bad Sheperd

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; I offer my life for the sheep.

Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

2^nd after Easter II

April 29,2020

John 10:1-16

In this parable of the Good Shepherd,

Tissot

we might not like seeing ourselves cast as sheep. We might prefer the parable of the single lost sheep,* the one who is so important to the shepherd that he leaves the rest of the flock to go searching for it. But in today’s picture, Christ is speaking about his relationship to those who find themselves in communities, those who are gathered together. And he is looking at the ways in which His flock, His community is either protected or threatened.

What is it that holds His community together, gives it cohesion? It is Christ himself who holds His community together. The will of the group is to follow in trust Christ’s will: his being, his love.

It is He who knows what we need—when it is time to go out and be fed and when it is time to stay safe in the fold. We, the flock, know that we can trust and follow His voice. He knows us, individually and collectively. He speaks to us in the sacraments, in prayer. He continues to offer His life for us, to us, in physical and spiritual communion. It is He who cares for, protects, and guides the life of His community.

Christ gathers us into a community to protect us from the wolves of solitude, illusion, and untruth. Those wolves divide and scatter, snatch and devour. Christ keeps us together, saying, in the words of the poet:

Someone

Fra Angelico, Sheep and Goats

Will steal you if you don’t stay near,

And sell you as a slave in the

Market.

I sing to the nightingales’ hearts,

Hoping they will learn

My verse.

So that no one will ever imprison

Your brilliant angel

Feathers.

Have I put enough spiced manna

On your plate?

…If not, please wait

For more light is now fermenting. . . **

*Luke 15:3

**Hafiz, “Spiced Manna”, in The Gift, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 210

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2nd Sunday after Easter 2020, Come Unto Me

2^nd Sunday after Easter

  John 10:1-16

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.

When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow

Yong Sun Kim

after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.

Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

2^nd Sunday after Easter

April 26, 2020

John 10:1-21

Jorge Sanz-Cordona

A doorway is an opening that leads from one space to another. The door can either open or close off the access. In our everyday lives we encounter many doors; not only the physical ones in rooms and buildings, but also the portals between one state of soul and another.

One such doorway is waking and sleeping. At night we are meant to move calmly and easily through the doorway of sleep. The doorway to our earthly concerns closes behind us, and we move out into the starry pastures where our souls are nourished, and our bodies refreshed. And then, at the right time, we are called back to our earthly home.

But fear and worry, clinging to earthly concerns, can hold us back at the gateway to sleep, or bring us rushing back too soon.

At the beginning of our earthly lives, we stood before a similar portal. We were called into life, onto earthly fields. And at the end we will be called back again to our heavenly home.

Christ is the one who calls us to both our homes, the earthly one and the heavenly. For He Himself is at home both here on the earth and in the starry expanses. He is the one who leads us to the thresholds of sleep and of life. He is the one who opens the door. Day after day, night after night, life after life, we can follow His call. He walks in the spirit ahead of us. We can trust in the calling of His voice. For His is the voice that summons our deepest self. His is the voice of nurture, the voice of the purest, most accepting, all-forgiving love. 

So, as a ‘sleep aid’ we can say the following prayer:

May the events that seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With a quiet mind

Through the Father’s ground of peace

Jorge Sanz-Cordona

On which we walk.

May the people who seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With an understanding heart

Through the Christ’s stream of love

In which we live.

May the spirits which seek me

Come unto me.

May I receive them

With a clear soul

Through the healing Spirit’s Light

By which we see.*

And then we can awaken from the Good Shepherd’s nourishing fields of sleep, the kind of sleep that

I sleep where I will

wake with the

strength to

deeply

love….**

*Adam Bittleston, Against Fear, in Meditative Prayers for Today. Available at http://shop.steinerbooks.org/Title/9781782504672

**Theresa of Avila, (1515-1582), “Clarity is Freedom” in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 279

1st Sunday after Easter, 2020, Open the Door

1^st Sunday after Easter
John 20: 19-29

On the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!”And while he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Full of joy, the disciples recognized the Lord. And again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit through which the world will receive healing. From now on, you shall work in human destinies with spiritual power so that they shall have the strength to wrest themselves free from the load of sin, and at the same time to bear the consequences of their offenses.”

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not there with them when Jesus came. Later the disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “If I do not see in his hand the marks of the nails, and do not put my finger in the place where the nails were, and place my hand in his side, I cannot believe it.”

Eight days later, the disciples were again gathered in the inner room, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Stretch out your finger and see my hands, and stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Be not rigid in your heart, but rather feel and trust in my power in your heart.”

Then Thomas said to him, “You are the Lord of my soul; you are the God whom I serve.” And Jesus said to him, “Have you found my power in yourself because you have seen me? Blessed are those who find my power in their hearts, even when their eye does not yet see me.”


1st Sunday after Easter
April 19, 2020
John 20: 19-29

A door presupposes a wall. The door frame, the threshold, is an opening in what is otherwise a barrier between one side and the other.  But the door itself can be opened or closed, even locked. It is a metaphor for choice: Open? Closed? When locked, it becomes like the wall itself – a barrier.

The disciples had kept the doors locked for fear of the authorities. The locked doors were also metaphors for the state of their hearts locked in fear. But Christ had said of Himself, “I AM the Door.” He himself became the entrance to the locked room, to their closed hearts. He enters the room, enters them, bringing with him a deep atmosphere of peace. And the disciples recognize and receive His healing spirit. Eight days later, he will show to Thomas other more intimate doorways. He will show him His own wounds, the doorways through which

Grunewald

He was assaulted. He accepted them, suffered them, so that in His descent into hell, they too could be transformed into doorways of light. Light, warmth, and life now radiate from His wounds, light that can germinate trust within human hearts, light for our path forward. And so the poet advises us:

Open the door of your heartaches.
And step through the door of your betrayal.
Pass through the hole that is left in your heart
Pass through because it is a door.
… Open the door.

Grunewald

….
Anything that needs us, or calls us to God is a door.
…Open the door.
….
Same old story - all strong souls all first go to hell
Before they do the healing of the world they came here for.

Open the door.*

* Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “Abre La Puerta, Open the Door”

Posted by Cynthia Hindes

5th November Trinity 2019, Power to Create

November Trinity

The end of the Book of Revelation 22: 12-21

Jean Fouquet

“Watch, I am coming soon, and I will have my rewards with me so as to give to each person what his deeds amount to. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the goal.”

Blessed are those who cleanse their garments so that they will have power in the realm of the Tree of Life, which overcomes death, and may go through the gates into the Holy City. Outside shall remain those who are bound to low senses, those who serve evil powers, who walk impure paths of soul, who spread death around them, who give themselves up to demonic forces, and who, through their ways and deeds, falsify their true being.

“I, Jesus, sent my angel to report these things to your assembled communities. I AM the root and stock of David, the star who unfolds his brightness in the morning”.

And the Spirit and the Bride, the Holy City, say, “Come!

And may he who hears also say, “Come!” And may the thirsty come and may everyone wh

Maronite

o wants it get to drink the Water of Life freely, as grace.

Everyone who hears can find his inmost being strengthened in the prophetic words of this book. Whoever does not yet sense its greatness and truth, God will lead him to full knowledge through the trials of destiny which are written in this book.

And whoever diminishes the words of this prophecy, God will remove from him his share in the Tree of Life that overcomes death, and his share in the Holy City written about in this book.

He who lends these words their power says:

“Yes, I am coming quickly!”

Ye, so be it. Amen:

Come, Jesus our Lord

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all!

5^th November Trinity

November 24, 2019

Revelation 22: 12-21

When we go through an airport, there are certain items that are not allowed. If we have thoughtlessly brought them, we have to leave them behind before we can proceed on our journey.

Merlaya Allwood

The gospel reading speaks of certain human qualities of soul, soul baggage that we have to leave behind at the gates of the Holy City. These soul qualities are not allowed to enter, for they serve the forces of mortality and death. They cannot enter, because the Holy City, the city of mankind’s future existence, is a realm of life. It is a realm where the Tree of Life grows and blossoms and bears fruit; a realm where the Water of Life flows freely and endlessly; where the Star of the Morning shows illumines all.

This is the last week of the church year. We have come to a kind of portal. We are about to enter a new beginning. What baggage shall we leave behind?

At this threshold we meet the One who calls Himself the Door. We enter through Him. He calls himself both the beginning and the goal. He is the place where endings and beginnings come full circle and meet. He encourages us to wash our garments, to continue to purify our souls through prayer and sacraments and meditation, to purify our life’s bodies through our striving to overcome the death forces in ourselves and to create habits of virtue.

He is the root and the star. He is the source out of which we all grow and blossom and become fruitful; He is the morning star which announces the beginning of a new day. ‘Come’ He calls. ‘Let go of the old; enter into My realm of the ever-flowing, ever-creating newness. For I wish to give you My power to create.’

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3rd Easter 2019, The Great Gatekeeper

3^rd Easter

John 10: 1-21 adapted from Madsen

“Yes, the truth I say to you: Anyone who does not go into the sheep through the door, but breaks into the fold elsewhere, he is a thief or robber. Only he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls each one by name, according to its nature, and he leads them out into the open.

When he has brought them out, he walks before them, and the sheep follow after him, for they trust his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but rather flee because they do not know the stranger’s voice.”

Thus did Jesus reveal himself to them in pictures, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then Jesus went on. “Yes, the truth out of the spirit I say to you. I AM the door to the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

I AM the door. Anyone who enters through me will find healing and life. He learns to cross the threshold from here to beyond, and from there to here, and he will find nourishment for his soul. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I – I have come that they may have life, and overflowing abundance.

Yongsun Kim

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who works for wages, and who is no true shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, he sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees while the wolf snatches them and scatters them. For he is only a hireling and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. I know who belongs to me, and my own recognize me, just as my Father recognizes me in the depths, and I know the being of the Father; and I offer my life for the sheep.

Other sheep have been entrusted to me who are not of this fold; I must also lead them. They too will listen to my voice, and one day there will be one flock, one Shepherd.

3^rd Easter

May 5, 2019

John 10: 1-21

Some establishments have a person stationed at the door. They give a friendly greeting to whoever belongs there. And if necessary, they keep out the undesirable elements or at least keep an eye on them.

We ourselves also have such a doorkeeper. It is positioned at the boundaries of our selves. It helps us distinguish ‘me’ from ‘not me’. It decides if those who want to enter our lives, our souls, are there for a legitimate purpose, or whether they are ‘thieves and robbers’, that is, those who would steal our treasures: our time, our energy, our resources. A strong and discerning gatekeeper is not long deceived by appearances or empty promises.

William Hunt Holman

This gatekeeper is our ‘I’, our Self. Its task is to pay attention and to make decisions. But sometimes it is distracted, or just plain asleep on the job. And as we all know, its decisions are fallible.

Christ is humankind’s Greater Self. He has nothing but our own truly best interests in mind. He models how all respectful human beings should interact: ‘Here I am, he says. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in….’ Rev. 3:20

His voice resonates in the deepest part of our being. And he waits respectfully for us to pay attention, and to decide to open. And when we do, he says ‘I will come in… and eat with that person, and they with me.’ He brings our souls guidance, nourishment, and strength. He is the Great Gatekeeper, watching out for us, guiding us all.

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