Christian Community Homilies

Monday, May 26, 2014

6th Easter 2012, Rest in Grace

6^th Easter

John 14: 1-31

Good Shepherd

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Fatherly Ground of the World and to 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?”

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 really 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 that 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 deeds of the Father 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 for ever, 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.

Ascension, Ninetta Sombart

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 himself, and brings them to revelation in his working, is one who truly loves me. And whoever truly loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

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, “Whoever truly loves me reveals my Spirit, and my Father will love him and we will come to him and prepare with him a dwelling in the everlasting [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.

6^th Easter

May 13, 2012

John 14: 1-31

There can be many things in life that trouble us—people who are annoying, economic insecurity, illness. All of these things are minor key versions of the one big trouble, our deepest and most innate worry—the fear of death. For what we really fear is loss of our own self, loss of others.

Fra Angelico

This was indeed a valid fear in the time before Christ’s coming. For it was a true threat—humankind was losing its share in ongoing life. But since Christ’s death and resurrection, we need not fear being extinguished by death. For He has already died our death for us, and has prepared a place for each of us to be in the afterworld. “Because I live, you will live also,’ He says. John 14:19

We need only follow Him there. He gives us the pathway on earth by which to follow Him: our love for Him will guide us. ‘Whoever bears my spiritual goals within himself and brings them to revelation in his working is the one who truly loves me.’ John 14:21

What are His goals?—that we come to trust in his power in our hearts; that we come to live our lives as an expression of our love for Him; that in loving trust we come to live in Him, the giver of Peace. In loving trust our hearts are peace-filled, even in the face of loss, of illness, even of death. As Wendell Berry who lives close to the heart of nature says:

When despair grows in me

and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

….I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting for their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

[1] Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things,” in The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

Sunday, May 25, 2014

6th Easter 14, Deeper Currents

6^th Easter

John 14: 1-31

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

Aivazov

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

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?

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.

6^th Easter

May 25, 2014

John 14: 1-31

The surface of a lake can be choppy or calm. When the surface is covered with high waves, their movement arouses excitement, or even fear. When the surface is calm one can see the reflection of the heavens.

Our souls are deep lakes. We float on their surface with our awareness. In times of storm our souls are agitated; we feel anxiety and fear. Yet always with us in the ship of our life is Christ. He may seem ‘asleep’, that is, we may have to awaken our awareness to His presence.[1] Or we may see Him walking toward us on the waves.[2] In either case once we are aware of his Presence, near or far, the storm subsides. The waves of agitation flatten and we can see the calm majesty of heaven’s purpose reflected in the surface of our lives, in the calm surface of our own soul.

For He said, ’Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in the power that leads you to the Father and to me.’ John 14:1 One of those powers is the ability to find the calm center within ourselves, as quickly as possible after experiencing fear. In our efforts to pray, to calm ourselves, we awaken Christ within us. Through awakening Him in our souls, we come to an awareness of the higher purpose of the events in our lives. We come to an awareness of the deeper currents propelling our lives. And we can come to the conviction of how Christ is the Pilot, the calm and purposeful center within us. We experience what He says of Himself: I myself am the Way the Truth and the Life….Arise, let us be on our way.

[1] See Mark 4: 35 – 41 for the story of the calming of the storm.

[2] See Matthew 14:22- 33 for the story of Jesus coming to the disciples on the waves.

6th Easter 2013, The Creating One

6^th Easter

John 14: 1-31

Christ Lord of All, Palermo

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

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

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?

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.

6^th Easter

May 5, 2013

John 14: 1-31

A father comes into being through the creation of his children. There is a great divine entity who created the world and thus is Father of us all. In a certain sense, He secures and undergirds our past. He set things up in an orderly way. Things continue to operate in a lawful way, according to natural law, according to karmic law. Thanks to the Fathers our actions have pretty predictable consequences. We can count on him.

A son of course comes into being through his father. And yet he is a bit different. Christ Jesus distinguishes himself from his divine Father by having incarnated inside a human body – he occupied human nature from the inside. He brought the Father’s love to dwell within the human being, in order to seed our future. For the human being was created in the image and likeness of the Creator – he who brings something new into existence. Christ came to activate the seed of creative love in all human souls. He came to support our future.

“When you turn to me in prayer,” he says, “I will be the Creating One in all of your works. If you truly love me, you will share in my spiritual goals.” John 14:13, 14

One of his goals is to help us make our love for others creative. Indeed, only with love can we build up something new, can we bring into existence something that has not existed before. And therein lies the salvation of humankind – to create, with love.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

Saturday, May 24, 2014

5th Easter 2007, Mothering His Birth

5^th Easter
John 16, 1-33

“All these words I have spoken to you so that you will not be offended 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 rob you of your earthly existence and kill you will think they are offering service to the progress of the world. They will do so because they cannot raise their knowing to knowledge of the Father, nor to knowledge of my being and working. All these words I have spoken to you so that when the time comes you will remember that I said them to you. I did not speak to you in this way in the beginning because I was with you. But now I am going away to him who sent me; yet, none of you has yet the strength and courage to ask me about the realm into which I now enter. Your hearts are full of grief and therefore closed to the things I have said to you.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I go

away, for if I did not go away, the Comforter, who will stand by you in all trials, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment, would not come to you. But because I go, I will be able to send him to you. When he comes, he will bring to the world a consciousness of how the nature of the sickness of sin works, of how people can be reconnected with the divine world in which there is no sin, and of how the decision about human error can be brought about. Sin is human beings not really being able to trust in my being and in that which works out of my being within them. The balancing of sin holds sway in my going to the Father and in not remaining limited to appearing outwardly. Judgment works in the decision that has already been made about the prince of outer world.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But only when the Spirit comes, through whom the Truth can reveal itself to the world, will he lead you to the Truth that Embraces All. For he will not speak only out of himself, but he will speak what he hears in the realm of the Spirit, as the speaking of the eternal reality, and he will tell you what is yet to come. Thus will he reveal me among men, for out of what he takes from my being he will proclaim to you. In the realm in which my Father works, there I also live. That is why I can say, ‘He will take from my being and proclaim to you’.

In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

Dvorak

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 then, ‘after a little while you will see me’, and ‘because I am going to the Father’? They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not understand what he is saying.”

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “You are wondering what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.’ Amen, amen, the truth I say to you, you will weep and deeply mourn, and the world will rejoice in this. You will be filled with sorrow, but this your sorrow will be turned into unceasing 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 child has been born into the world.

Amen, amen, I tell you the truth; 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 ask anything in my name. Ask and you shall receive, and your joy will be complete.

Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so 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. So 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.”

5^th Easter

May 6, 2007

John 16: 1-33

The fruit trees have cast off the glory of their blossoming. All that remains are scattered petals, and promise in the hard green fruit. How quickly things change! Only last week we heard the Gospel’s message of joy, its fullness and completion. And already we move into the next phase, with intimations of loss and suffering, and a future joy. It is a remembrance of His past, when Christ predicted His own suffering and resurrection to his disciples. But it is also a foreshadowing of all future difficulties and joys, both for Him and for us.

It should not really surprise us. It happens continuously and repeatedly in the natural world, this cycle of rising and falling; in our own souls, too – spring’s elevation, the deepening fall. It is our soul’s natural breathing. The soul breathes because it too is alive.

Christ predicts these ascendings and descendings because He would like to accompany us on our soul’s ways. The Confirmation Sacrament talks of His giving life’s joys; of His comfort in sorrow, His guidance. He walks with us through all levels of our existence, because He is a human God. He has walked the human path. He has been here, is here, and will always be here with us. And with Him, the Creator God, everything always begins anew.

In the words of the poet:

Expulsion,

liberation,

last

self-enjoined task

of Incarnation.

He again

Fathering Himself

Seed-case

splitting.

He again

Mothering His birth:

torture and bliss.[1]

In Him we are born and die and rise to live again. In Him we live and move and have our being.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

[1] Denise Levertov, “St. Thomas Didymus”, in The Stream and the Sapphire, p. 86.

Friday, May 23, 2014

5th Easter 2008, Greater Truth

5^th Easter
John 16, 1-33

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I go away, for if I did not go away, the Comforter, who will stand by you in all trials, the Spirit upon whom you can call for assistance at any moment, would not come to you. But because I go, I will be able to send him to you. When he comes, he will bring to the world a consciousness of how the nature of the sickness of sin works, of how people can be reconnected with the divine world in which there is no sin, and of how the decision about human error can be brought about. Sin is human beings not really being able to trust in my being and in that which works out of my being within them. The balancing of sin holds sway in my going to the Father and in not remaining limited to appearing outwardly. Judgment works in the decision that has already been made about the prince of outer world.

In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be fulfilled.

Ascension , Kate Greenaway

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.”

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.”

5^th Easter Sunday

April 20, 2008

John 16: 1-33

In the Gospel readings since Easter, we have moved through a mighty soul landscape: the fearful astonishment of the brave women at the tomb; the disbelief and joy of the disciples; Christ’s assurances of His closeness to humankind in the great pictures of Himself as the Good Shepherd, the Door, and the true Vine of Life.

Today’s reading highlights the complexities of the Greater Truth of Life. Once again along the path, the darker note of suffering is sounded. Christ foretells that His disciples will suffer. But He assures them that they will not be abandoned. For even if they cannot find Him, even if they lose Him, His Spirit of Truth will accompany them. He speaks of the path toward the Truth that Embraces All. “I have so much more to tell you,” He says, “but you cannot yet bear it.”

Perhaps there is a connection between our suffering, and our ability to bear the Great Truth. For suffering, nobly borne, deepens and strengthens the heart. Suffering helps the soul to become strong and weight-bearing. The infinite suffering of Christ Jesus is certainly connected with His being able to bear and order the life of the whole world.

Our hearts and souls are to grow into His Life, to grow strong, strong enough to be able to bear the Great Truth. We are ultimately to become vessels for the Truth that Embraces All. This path we walk toward bearing the Great Truth is a creative process, and creative processes involve travail. Christ compares it to a woman giving birth—pain mixed with joy, suffering creating strength.

We need not fear pain and hardship. Our suffering in this world brings us strength of soul, strength of heart. And another name for strength of heart is — courage. “Take courage,” He says to us. “I, who AM the Way, the Truth, the Life, I AM stronger than all the suffering in the world.”

www.thechristiancommunity.org

Thursday, May 22, 2014

5th Easter 2009, Visible Form

5^th Easter
John 16, 1-33

Whitsun

In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be fulfilled.

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.”

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.”

5^th Easter

May 10, 2009

John 16: 1-33

When the wind blows, we feel it on our skin; we see its effects in the trees. But it is astonishing to realize that we cannot see the wind itself. The wind itself is invisible.

There are actually lots of things we have experienced that are invisible. As with the wind, we perceive their effects, but not the things themselves: love, goodness, beauty, truth are things that we know because we have experienced their effects. We have felt the embracing warmth of love, the nobility of goodness, the radiance of beauty, the impartial strength of truth. Those of our loved ones who have died still exist; but their existence is like the wind—invisible to us.

Our own souls are another of those invisible entities. In fact, there is more of our own being that is invisible than not. Most of our real being resides in the realm across the threshold of visibility, in the realm of truth and goodness, in the realm of those who have already crossed, in the realm of Christ.

Christ is Someone whose being also resides in a realm hidden from us. But we can still perceive His presence—in the love that shines forth from others; in the strength of human dedication to the truth; in the noble promptings of our conscience.

Christ calls us to enter consciously the invisible world and to open there the eyes of our souls, to become aware of the Invisible Ones, face to face. Perhaps this is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a 20^th century martyr, meant when he said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” To die means to awaken in the invisible realm.

On earth, in the Act of Consecration of Man, Christ takes on a visible form to help remind us of the reality of His existence. He takes on the form of circles of bread to nourish our invisible souls; the flow of the juice of the vine to strengthen our invisible spirits. He keeps us alive in the realm of the Invisible.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

5th Easter 2010, Playing Chess

5^th Easter John 16, 1-33

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is for your salvation and healing that I go

Unknown

In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

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 will take your joy from you. On that day, you will be so deeply united with me that you will no longer need to ask me anything.

Amen, amen, I tell you the truth; 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 ask anything in my name. Ask and you shall receive, and your joy will be complete.

Pray from the heart, and it will be given to your heart so that your joy may be fulfilled.

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.”

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.”

5^th Easter

May 2, 2010

John 16: 1 – 33

There is a fairy tale that tells how the devil made a great world mirror, in which everything was distorted unrecognizably into its opposite. This mirror shattered into billions of pieces, and specks flew into people’s eyes. It made them see the wrong side of things. If the specks penetrated into their hearts, they turned to ice. [1]

In today’s reading Christ feels compassion for the disciple’s hearts; for his impending crucifixion will activate such the mirror shards and, for a while, things will not appear to them as they truly are. But He also promises that this condition will be temporary. For after a short time, He will send a Healer who will remove the specks, and show them the Truth. Their vision will be healed of its ills. Although each of them will only see from a partial perspective, from a certain angle, they will indeed see truly.

We human beings are all partial. We are on a path of evolution toward greater wholeness, toward alignment with the greater and great levels of Truth. Moments of suffering and moments of enlightenment follow each other in greater spirals. For, in the words of St. John of the Cross,

you were playing chess with someone who

had infinite power and infinite knowledge

and wanted to make you a

master of the game,

where would all the chess

pieces be at every

moment?

Indeed, not only where he wanted them,

but where all were best for your

development;

and that is every situation

of one’s

life.[2]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

[1] Hans Christian Anderson, “The Snow Queen”.

[2] St. John of the Cross, “Development:, in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 322.