3rd Advent 2019, Out To Meet Him!

3rd Advent

Matthew 25, 1-13

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The kingdom in the heavens will be like ten maidens who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom; but five of them were foolish and dull of soul and five were alert and sensible. You see, the foolish ones took their lamps without taking any oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil with their lamps. The bridegroom being delayed, they all got drowsy and lay down. Then at midnight, the cry went up: “Here comes the bridegroom, everybody out to meet him!” Then all those maidens got up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.”

And the sensible ones answered, “No, the oil would not be enough for us and for you as well; you’d better go to those who sell it and buy oil for yourselves.” After they went off to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Then later the other maidens came along saying, “Master, master, open up for us.”

But he answered, “I tell you once for all, I do not know you.”

So be alert of soul, because you do not know the date or the hour.

3^rd Advent

December 13, 2019

Matthew 25: 1-13

Human consciousness grows and expands. When we were children, we simply took events as they came. But as adults, we can be a bit more far-seeing. We can plan and prepare for the events that we can see coming.

Burnand

Today’s reading gives us an announcement about an event that is most definitely coming. It stresses the importance of being ready. All ten maidens know to expect the bridegroom. They are to be his welcoming committee. They just don’t quite know exactly when. The wise ones carry everything they need with them, just in case. The foolish ones miss their appointment because they have to go shopping.

Christ, the soul’s bridegroom, is coming. He needs the light of our well-stocked inner lamps so that we can travel with him to the great feast. He needs the light of our wide-awake awareness, our presence of mind. Otherwise, the door of the heart is shut for him. The poet describes our inner state:

We live in a world of motion and distance.

The heart flies from tree to bird,

from bird to distant star,

from star to love; and love grows

in the quiet house, turning and working,

servant of thought, a lamp held in one hand.*

*Philippe Jaccottet, “Distance”, in The Selected Poems of Philippe Jaccottet, translated by Derek Mahon

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2nd Advent 2019, Be Alert!

2^nd Advent

Mark 13: 24-37 (Madsen)

In the days after those hardships, the sun will be darkened, the moon will no longer give its light, the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers of the heavenly spheres will be thrown off course. Then the coming of the Son of Man will be visible in the realm of the clouds, invested with power, illumined by the light of revelation of the world of spirit. And he will send out the angels to gather in all those who feel themselves united with him, from all four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Learn from the parable of the fig tree: When the sap rises through its branches and it puts forth leaves, then you see that summer is near. So also when you see these things coming about, you shall be aware that the revelation of the Son of Man is near, at the very door. Yes, I say to you: Even before the time of human beings now living shall have come to an end, all this will begin. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. No one knows anything about that day or that hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Be observant and be awake; for you do not know when the time will be. It is like when a man goes on a journey and leaves his house. He gives his servants authority, gives each one his task and tells the doorkeeper to be alert. So you too, be alert. You do not know when the master of the house will come, whether in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow in the morning. Take care that he does not find you sleeping if he comes suddenly. And what I say to you applies to all human beings: Be alert!

2^nd Advent

Mark 13:24-27

December 8, 2019

One can watch a rose in the process of blossoming over time: what was enclosed inside the bud opens and unfurls in a profusion of petals. In the center is a crown with pollen. With pollination the crown is gradually drawn down and inward again, becoming the cluster of seeds enclosed in the fruit.

Our experience of the world at any moment is often divided into polarities like inner and outer. But if we look closely, we can see that, over time, like the rose, inner becomes outer and outer becomes inner, in a kind of breathing.

Today’s Gospel reading has something of this same quality. It starts with a profusion of outer signs, in sun, moon, and stars. The Son of Man appears ‘in great radiance and glory.’ He seems to come from outside, ‘in a cloud.’ And yet His qualities, His uprightness, His soul rising to the spirit, can also be absorbed inwardly by human beings. The outer becomes inner. He gives inner strength and uprightness and awakens prayer.

Burnand

The reading makes it clear that the quality and accuracy of our perception is of utmost importance. For perception is the doorway, the entryway into our souls. We are to keep the threshold clear and free. We are to keep a calm and open watch at the doorway of the soul and recognize the signs: just as new leaves signal summer’s return, so do dire outer signs signal the approach, the nearness of the Divine Human Being. We are to perceive His presence and open the door for Him. We are to invite Him into the soul’s house, take Him in, for He is our heart’s calm center.

The mystic Meister Eckhart wrote,

What is the prayer of a heart grown calm

in the peace of God?

From such a purity one no longer prays

as we are wont to pray.

…A heart in calm detachment asks

for nothing, nor has anything

it would wish to shed.

Its prayer is finally only for uniformity

with God. This is its entire prayer.

…With such a disposition you

can easily accept honors and ease.

Should hardships and disgrace arrive,

you will bear them also, and be

oddly pleased to bear them.

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Meister Eckhart, “The Prayer of a Heart Detached”, and “Unburdened”, in Love’s Immensity, Mystics on the Endless Life, Scott Cairns, p. 99.

1st Advent 2019, Grace Approaching

1st Advent

Luke 21:25-36

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth, the nations will be constricted with anxiety and doubt with the advent of these spiritual revelations, as before a roaring sea and waves. And men will lose their inner strength of soul out of fear and foreboding of what is coming over the living earth: for the dynamic powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, in the sphere of life, with dynamic power and great radiant glory.

And when these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up [raise] your soul to the spirit, for your deliverance draws near.

And he gave them a comparison, saying, ‘Observe [behold] the fig tree and all the trees when they

burst into leaf. Seeing this, you know yourselves that summer is near. So also when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Amen, the truth I say to you: this present age of Man’s being shall not pass away until all has happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Guard yourselves lest the perceptive power of your hearts be smothered by excess of food and drink and by over-concern with the cares and worries of life, and the light of these spirit events break upon you suddenly like a snare…for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. So be awake in the spirit at all times, praying, so that you may have the strength to live through all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

1st Advent

December 1, 2019

Luke 21:25-36

When a seed is planted, the first thing to happen is a kind of cataclysm, a disintegration. It swells; the hull cracks; the seed itself splits apart as the sprouts break forth, one diving down to root itself in the earth, the other rising into the light.

This is what life does. Real life, real progress and evolution break us apart. They change us, sometimes fundamentally. Life pushes us out of our comfortable place of the merely potential into the uncomfortable stretching and growing toward fulfillment.

At this time of the year, humanity is God’s Bride. He has impregnated us with His hope for us; with His trust in us; with His love for us. We are to grow and carry His Spirit-Child within us, His Son who will be born into our hearts at Christmas. Like any other fruitfulness, this brings us both joy and discomfort. The poet describes how it is for us:

There is a grace approaching
that we shun as much as death,

it is the completion of our birth.

It does not come in time,

but in timelessness

when the mind sinks into the heart

and we remember.

It is an insistent grace that draws us

to the edge and beckons us surrender

safe territory and enter our enormity.

We know we must pass

beyond knowing

and fear the shedding.

But we are pulled upward

none-the-less

through forgotten ghosts

and unexpected angels,

luminous.

And there is nothing left to say

but we are That.

And that is what we sing about.*

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*Stephen Levine, “Millennium blessing”  in Breaking the Drought

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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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