Ascension Sunday 2022, Who Is Living Life?

Ninetta Sombart

 Ascension

John 16:22–33 

"So you have to suffer pain now. But I will see you again, and then your hearts will be filled with joy, and no one can take that joy from you. Up to now, you have not prayed in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart that your joy may be fulfilled. 

"All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you openly and unveiled about my Father so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness. Thus will I proclaim to you the being of the Father. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself will love you because you have loved me and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father, and I have come into this world.

I leave the sense world again and return to the world of the Father, of which you say that it is the world of death." 

Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God." 

Jesus answered, "Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to his own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. But I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me. 

"All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world."

Ascension

May 29, 2022

John 16:24–33 

All creatures in rivers, lakes, and seas are surrounded by water; water fills the spaces between them. All the cells of our own bodies are bathed in fluid that fills the spaces between them. The water of life flows within us. 

On Ascension Day, Christ assumed a new form, a new kind of body. He became an in-between. 

He is in-between the physical material world and the living weaving world of life; in-between the life in us and the inner world of our souls; in-between our souls and the objective world of the spirit; in-between humanity and God. 

Rilke senses this:

I sense there is this mystery:

All life is being lived.

Who is living it, then?

Is it the things themselves,

or something waiting inside them….

Who lives it then? God, are you the one

who is living life?*

 

Bamberg

Since His Ascension, Christ is like a super-sensible sea in which we live. He surrounds us. And He is inside us. 

He is present in spaces, in pauses, in moments of stillness. He is there, in the space between our thoughts and our feelings, in-between our urges and our actions; he is in the core of our being, our heart, and in-between, among us. “Where two or more gathered in my name, there I am in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).

 He is our sea within and a sea without. “Pray, “he says, “connect with me, from the center of your heart, and life will be given to your heart…Despite fear and hardship, accept my sea of courage, for I have overcome the world” (John 16: 24, 33). 

We are now living in Christ’s new life. His light, his life, and his love are flooding the world, flooding us. We are the cells of his new body. 

 

*Rilke, “And Yet Though We Strain” in Book of Hours, Barrows and Macy, p. 113.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org.

 

5th Sunday After Easter 2022, The Way I Loved

 5^th Sunday after Easter

John 14:1-31  

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Fatherly Ground of the World and Me. In my Father's house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, how could I have said to you, 'I go there to prepare a place for you'? And when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again and take you up into the realm of my Being and working, so that where I work, you also may work. And you know the way where I am going." 

Then Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 

Ain Vares

Jesus answered, "I myself am the Way—the Truth— and the Life.
No one finds his way to the Father but through me. If you had known my Being, you would have recognized my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him." 

Then Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father; that would satisfy our deepest yearning." 

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Does your heart's voice not tell you that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you are not just my own. But the Father, who lives eternally in Me, continues to do His works in them. Build your faith on the power of my Being that lets you know: I in the Father, the Father in me. Or at least learn to trust through looking at the works themselves that have arisen. 

Truly, truly I say to you, whoever trusts in my Being will also do the works I do—and greater deeds will he do because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask for in unity with me, I will do it so that the Father's deeds may be revealed in the working of the Son. When you turn to Me in prayer in the power of my name, I will be the Creating One in all your works. If you truly love me, you will share in my spiritual goals. And I will ask the Father, and He will send to you another Counselor, who will stand by you forever, even the Spirit of Truth. The earthly world cannot receive this Counselor, for it cannot perceive his working and does not recognize him. But you know him, for he will live with you and will work in you. 

I will not leave you desolate—I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. On that day, you will truly know what it means that I am in the Father, and you in Me and I in you. 

Whoever bears my spiritual goals within themselves, and brings them to revelation in their working, is one who truly loves me. And whoever truly loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and will reveal myself to them." 

Then Judas (not the Iscariot) said, "But Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the people who are in the world? 

Jesus replied,

Roland Tiller

"Whoever truly loves Me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and prepare with them a dwelling in the everlasting [or, an eternal dwelling]. Whoever does not love Me cannot reveal my Spirit. And the spirit power of the word that you hear is not from me; it is the speaking of the Father who sent me. 

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the health-bringing Spirit, the Counselor whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, nor let them be afraid. 

You heard Me say to you, 'I am going away, and yet I am coming to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am. 

I have told you now before it happens so that when it happens, you may find trust. I no longer have much to say to you, for soon, the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me. 

But I act in accordance with the Father's purpose, as it was entrusted to Me so that the world may know that I love the Father. Do the same. Arise, let us be on our way.

 

5^th Sunday after Easter

May 22, 2022

John 14:1-31 

The sun is visible to us as a clearly defined, round object in the sky. At the same time, the real sun is actually bigger than that. Far beyond that visible object in the sky, the sun's life-giving light and warmth radiate out in all directions into the universe. It would be accurate to say that we on earth are, in fact living within the sun. We are attached, enlivened by invisible rays, to the heart of our universe.

Our own hearts are a place where the essence of our being both concentrates itself and pours itself out into the world. We shine on whatever we love. We are attached to others with our heartstrings. Our love makes our heartstrings vibrate, sing out warmth, kindness, strength, and light. In love, our hearts grow large, great-hearted, whole-hearted, and radiant. 

Christ, the Spirit Sun, says in effect to us: 

'Let not your hearts be troubled; do not quiver and shrink in fear. Does not your heart's voice tell you that I am in my Father's light, His life, and His love and that the Father shines out in me? The world shall see how I love the Father, how I shine forth, pour out His light, His life, His love. If you love me, you will rejoice…you will love one another, as I love you.' 

He speaks to our hearts. His creating Words pour trust and strength into our hearts. The music of His heartstrings plays great-heartedness, peace, and courage, the song of his love. We are living within His heart. He is teaching us to play His life-giving music. 

Catherine of Sienna, one who loved Christ, says: 

God's art is mine. I did not want his divine talent.

It simply grew in my heart from

the way I

loved.* 

 

*"Until Your Own Dawn," by Catherine of Sienna, in Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 208

4th Sunday after Easter 2022, Forming the Seeds

 4^th Sunday after Easter

John 16:1–33 

"All these words I have spoken to you so that you will not go astray [because you discover what destiny falls to you through being connected with me]. For they will exclude you from their communities, and the hour will come when those who kill you will think they are offering service to God. They will do all this because they have not known my Father or me. All these words I have spoken to you so that when the time comes, you will remember that I told you about it. In the beginning, I did not need to say such things, for I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me; yet, none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'  Now that I have said these things to you, sorrow enters your heart. 

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I leave you, for if I did not go away, the Helper, [the giver of spirit courage, who will stand by you in all trials, or, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment,] would not come to you. When I now go away, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will call humankind to account for the decline into sin, for the working of human's higher being and for the great world separation; for the decline into sinfulness, because they did not fill themselves with my power; for the working of their higher being, because I go to the Father and you see me no more; for the great world-separation, because the decision has already been made about the ruler of this world. 

"I have yet much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will be your guide on the way to the Truth that Embraces All. he will not speak out of himself, but what he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you what is to come.  he will reveal me, for what he draws out of my being, he will proclaim to you. Everything that the Father has is also mine. That is why I can say, 'He will draw upon my being and proclaim to you.' 

"In a little while, you will see me no more, and again a little while, and you will see me." 

"Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by saying 'In a little while you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me,' and 'I am going to the Father'? They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a short time'? We do not understand his words." 

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him,

Dvorak

and he said, "You are wondering that I said, 'A short time and you will see me no more, and again a short time and you will see me.' Yes, the truth I tell you, you will weep and lament while other people will rejoice. You will be filled with sorrow, but this your grief will be turned into joy. A woman giving birth must bear pain, for her difficult hour has come. But when the child is born, she no longer considers the anguish because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world. 

"So it is with you. Now is your time of grief. But this your grief will become the power of Spirit-Birth, for I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one can take that joy from you. On that day, you will no longer need to ask me anything. 

"Yes, I say to you; from now on, what you ask of the Father in my name, He will give to you. Until now, you have not been able to pray in my name. Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be full. 

"All this I have given to your souls in imagery. But the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in pictures but will tell you plainly about the Father, [so that you can grasp it in full, knowing consciousness]. On that day, you will ask out of my power and in my name. And no longer will I ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and have known in your hearts that I have come forth from the Father. I have come forth from the Father, and I have come into this world. I am leaving the [sense] world again and going to the Father, [of which you say that it is the world of death]." 

Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking in clear thought and without imagery. Now we know that all things are revealed to you and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. By this, we believe that you came from God." 

Jesus answered, "Do you now feel my power in your heart? Behold, the time is coming and has already come, when you will be scattered, each to their own loneliness. You will then also leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is eternally united with me. 

"All this I have spoken to you so that in me you may find peace. In this world, you will have great fear and hardship. But take courage. I have overcome the world."

 4^th after Easter

May 15, 2022

John 16:1-33

 

In spring, the fruit trees blossom like a revelation from heaven—purity of color and heavenly fragrance. But, in a short time, the revelation is lost; petals drop; the glory disappears. Yet at the places where the petals shone, there now appear tiny green fruits. The tree sacrificed the glory of its petals in order that fruit could form. 

Once upon a time, we human beings shone with the glory of heaven; but we lost our glory as we descended to earth. With the loss of our awareness of our heavenly origins, we are threatened with barrenness. Without conscious sacrifice, it is possible that our lives will bear no fruit. 

Christ, the Divine Human Being, descended into earthly human existence. His radiant purity shone at his Baptism. He sacrificed the flower of his divinity. Through his death, he offered his divinity to us. He transplants it into us so that our lives can once again become fruitful and that humankind will have a future. He transplants the radiant blossom power of His being into the human spirit. In awakening to Him, we can become pure of heart, radiant with life. 

All this He accomplishes, like the woman giving birth, through His pain, a pain that continues to be fruitful, a pain that is becoming an immense and deep joy. Christ's continuing pain and sacrifice ensure that our losses, our pain, and our sacrifices will be fruitful and create joy. Christ's continual self-offering ensures that the loss of our original innocence will be transformed into a more conscious power of purity, into a power to grow rich future-bearing spiritual fruit. 

Angelus Silesius said, 

The Godhead is my sap; what in me greens and flowers

It is His Holy Spirit who all the growth empowers.* 

In the Act of Consecration of Man, we make a conscious offering, a conscious sacrifice along with Christ. We offer our purest thoughts, feelings, and intentions. We do this so that our lives, our souls, and spirits, joined with His, can grow and be transformed. We do this so that our soul fruits grow and ripen into the future. We do this not only for ourselves but for all of humankind, for the whole earth. For together with others, together with Him, our many offerings are forming the seeds of humanity's new future, a City of Peace, a shining new earth. 

*"The Godhead Brings forth Growth," Angelus Silesius, in The Cherubinic Wanderer, transl. by M. Shrady, p. 43