4th Trinity I, Another and Another

Feb. Trinity I

(7^th Sunday before Easter, Sunday before Ash Wednesday)

Luke 18:18-27, 31-34 

Hoffman

One of the highest spiritual leaders of the people asked him, "Good Master, what must I do to obtain eternal life?" 

Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but One—God alone. You know the commandments—you shall not destroy marriage, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not speak untruth, and you shall honor your father and your mother!" 

He said, "All these I have observed strictly from my youth." 

When Jesus heard this, he said, "One thing however you lack: Sell all of your possessions and give the money to the poor; thus will you achieve a treasure in the spiritual world—then come and follow me! 

He was sad about these words, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw him thus, he said, "What hindrances must those overcome who are rich in outer or inner possessions, if they want to enter into the kingdom of God. Sooner would a camel walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man be able to find the entrance to the kingdom of God!" 

Those who heard this said, "Who then can be saved?" 

He said, "For humans alone, it is impossible. It will be possible, however, through the power of God working in them."… 

Then he took the twelve to himself and said, "Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything which the prophets have written about the Son of Man will fulfill itself: He will be given over to the peoples of the world; they will mock and taunt him, they will spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, but on the third day he will rise up from the dead." 

Yet his disciples understood nothing of all this. The meaning of his words remained hidden from them, and they did not recognize what he was trying to tell them.

4th February Trinity

February 27, 2022

Luke 18:18-34 

The blossom is the glory of the plant. Rich color, fragrance, and beauty open themselves to the sun. But what happens next?
The petals wither and drop away. Tiny hard green fruits appear, containing even tinier seeds. Yet within that seed is condensed the entire power of the life of the whole plant. 

This is also a basic pattern, a basic rhythm of development in our own human lives: a rich period of glorious development, followed by an apparent loss. Yet for us too, such a loss of glory is a necessary prelude. For Life is consolidating and condensing itself, gathering force and strength. Life is preparing a new phase, a next form; for the law of living things is a continuous changing out of forms. Old forms break apart so that new ones can arise. The death of one form is only a temporary state, for Life itself predominates. 

In this reading, Christ recognizes that the rich young man is ready to lose the richness of his blossoming in order to take the next step on the transforming path of Life. And Christ encourages him by saying, ‘After you have voluntarily given away the old form, come and follow Me!’ 

For Christ Himself walks before us on this path of the transformation, this transubstantiation of forms. This is the path of letting go the old and taking up the new, of dying and becoming. Christ knows that this is the law of living things because He Himself is Life itself—the power of Life in all creatures. He too has voluntarily immersed Himself in the changing of forms, which is so often accompanied by birthing pangs. He willingly subjects Himself to the human condition, to the suffering that accompanies the breaking of the form, even unto the death of the bodily form, so that a new form can arise. For with Him a new form will indeed arise. On Holy Thursday he will pour His soul into a new form of His body—bread and wine. On Easter Sunday He will form a living resurrection body. And at Ascension, the whole earth will become His body. 

We can willingly and trustingly follow Him on this path of the shattering of old vessels and the creating of the new. Because He is the Way, and the Truth of Life. (John 14:6)

So now, as the poet says, 

            Why cling to one life

            Till it is soiled and ragged? 

            The sun dies and dies

            Squandering a hundred lives

            Every instant. 

            God has decreed life for you

            And He will give

            another and another and another.*

---

* Rumi, in Fragments, Ecstasies.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd Trinity I, 2022 I Am the Fire

February Trinity I

Matthew 13:24-32

Jesus put before them another parable: "The kingdom of the heavens is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and slipped away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

The servants came to the master of the house and said, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?"

"An enemy has done this," he replied.

So the servants asked him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?"

"No," he said, "if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First, collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn."

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of the heavens is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

 3^rd Trinity I

February 20, 2022

Matthew 13: 24-32 

Wheat and Weeds

In today's reading, Christ suggests that it would not be wise to pull weeds out by the roots in the middle of the growing season. Instead, He looks ahead to the harvesting, when it will be easier to sort the food and future seed from the weeds.

This reading, of course, was not intended as agricultural advice. It is a parable, a metaphor, which we can apply to ourselves and our lives. What is it that we are growing in our interior lives? What 'crops' are we cultivating in our souls?

The adversary forces attempt to choke our soul life. Humanity's enemy has sown the weed seeds of negative thoughts and judgments; feelings of fear, hatred, and anger; impulses toward unhealthy or destructive actions. They are just as deeply rooted in the way our souls are constituted, as are the positives. Premature attempts to remove the negatives may end up harming or destroying the positives as well.

For example, rooting out all negative judgments may end up weakening our capacity for healthy discernment. Eradicating all negative emotions may lead to opening ourselves (and others) to abuse. Christ seems to be saying that there is a time to let these weeds stand until we can 'harvest' and sort them. In the middle of things, it is enough to note that the soul-weeds are there and not let them destroy the crop of nourishing thoughts and feelings.

At the very latest, we will experience a harvesting at the end of our lives. Yet even now, we can stand in Christ's presence and, together with Him, sort our thoughts, feelings, and actions into those that have a future and those that do not. We can look back and glean our soul content at the end of each day. When one life phase is finished and a new one begins, we can sort through our soul contents, deciding what to keep and what to toss into the purifying fire. We can perhaps hear Christ's strong I AM in a poem attributed to St. Brigid:

I am the fire on the hearth

that bakes the bread

I am the fire on the altar

that consumes the offering,

I am the fire in the forge

that anneals the soul.

Give me your hatred, and I

will refine it into compassion;

Give me your vengeance and I

will forge it into forgiveness;

Give me your pride and let

it feel the sacrifice.

I am the fire of life!

I am the fire of death!

I am the fire of love.*

 

*St. Brigid of Ireland

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2nd Trinity I, God's Leaves

  

2^nd February Trinity I

Luke 8:4-15 

And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he [Jesus] spoke in a parable: 

Van Gogh

"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path. It was trodden upon, and the birds of the sky [or, air] ate it up. Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it [the sprouting green] withered because it had no moisture. Yet other seed fell under the thorns; the thorns grew with it and choked what came up. And some fell upon good soil, grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold." When he had said these things, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!" 

His disciples asked him what this parable might mean. And he said, "To you, it has been given the gift of being able to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the others, it is given in pictures and parables, for they see and do not yet see, and hear, although they do not yet understand with their thinking.

 

"The meaning of the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. That which fell upon the path are those who hear it; afterward, the tempter comes and tears the Word out of their hearts so that they cannot find healing through the trusting power of faith working in them. 

"Those on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, take it up with joy; but they remain without root. For a while, the power of their faith works in them, but in times of trial, they fall away. 

"What fell under the thorns are those who hear the Word from the spirit, and as they go on their way, the sorrows and the riches and the joys of life choke it, and they bring no fruit to maturity. 

"And the seeds that fell in the good soil are those who hear the Word, and take it up into their hearts, feel its beauty, become noble and worthy and patiently keep it alive, tending it there until it brings forth fruit."

2^nd February Trinity

February 13, 2022

Luke 8:14-18 

Where does the sky begin? 

When we look up on a clear night, the sky has infinite depth. During a clear day, again, the infinite blue. But when there are clouds, the sky comes lower. In fog, it lowers to nearly ground level. Therefore we might well say that the sky begins where the ground ends. Its lowest level is the air around us. And we are all of us sky-dwellers. 

In the parable, the sower scatters his Word-Seeds from the sky.
They shower down around us, into us. Whether and how long they grow depends on where they fall. 

Some of Christ’s words fall into the everydayness of life. They are crushed underfoot in our busyness. In our ordinary overcrowded earthly way of thinking, the sky-birds of the adversary make them disappear. 

Some of Christ’s words fall on the rocky soil of an open but shallow heart. They live for a while, but without depth, they cannot be maintained and soon die away. 

Some of His words fall into the thickets of our lives. They accompany us on our journey for a while, but life’s fullness chokes them out, and His words cannot gain a full and independent life in us. 

Yet some of Christ’s living Word-Seeds fall into open hearts, into souls that have been plowed and cultivated, deepened intentionally or perhaps by suffering. Into such a human earthly heart, Christ’s sky-words fall. And there, the soul and spirit tend and nourish them, and they grow and develop their potential to become immensely fruitful. 

And that is how we attain God’s eternal life—by receiving his Seed-Words and growing them skyward within us. For the sky begins at the ground level of the human heart. 

Teresa of Avila says:

 

Our bodies

are the leaves of God.

  

.... but our souls, dear, I will just say this forthright;

they are God

Himself,

 

we will never perish

unless [in us] He

does.* 

 

* “ I Will Just Say This,” by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), in Love Poems From God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 271

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

 

1st Trinity I, 2022, Rest in Prayer

1^st  Trinity I

Matthew 20:1-16 

Codex aureus Epternacensis, 11th century

"The kingdom of the heavens is like a man, the master of his house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Agreeing to pay them one denarius a day, he sent them out
into his vineyard. 

"At about nine o'clock, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'Go also into my vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.' So they went.

"He went out again at about noon and at three o'clock and did the same. At five o'clock, he went out and found others standing there, and he said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?' They said, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said, 'You, too, go into the vineyard.' 

"And when evening came, the master of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' 

"Those who had been hired at five o'clock came forward, and each received one denarius. Therefore, when it was the turn of those hired first, they expected to receive more. However, they, too, also received one denarius each. They took it, but they began to grumble against the master of the house. 'These men who were hired last only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' 

"However, he answered one of them, saying, 'Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree with me for one denarius? Take what you have earned and go. I wish to give to the one hired last the same as I give to you. Have I not the right to do as I wish with what is mine? Or do you give me an evil look because I am generous?' 

"Thus will the last be first and the first will one day be last." 

1^st Trinity I

February 6, 2022

Matthew 20:1-16 

If I want to lift a weight, I have to exert continuous effort to keep it raised. If I let go, it immediately falls. This is how things go in the kingdom of the earthly—objects are subject to the downward pull of the law of gravity. They require continuous effort to keep them raised. 

In the kingdom of life, however, another law prevails. Sunlight continuously draws enormous masses of matter skyward in the form of water vapor, trees, and plants. The sky kingdom operates according to the laws of levity. Even our bodies respond to its upward pull. 

Today's gospel reading is about working not in the earthly kingdom but in the life kingdom. Different rules apply here. The workers are thinking only in earthly terms—the amount of effort expended determines the rewards received. But we are all working not only on fields of earth but in fields of heaven as well. What is important in the heavenly kingdom is that the work be done by all, to the best of their ability, according to heavenly time, and not for the purposes of personal reward. 

The heavenly kingdom, like the sun, sends us its warmth. It draws us upward. For millennia, human beings have been like vines, producing fruits of devotion, love, and prayer. Catherine of Sienna sees the ripening fields of humanity and says:

The sun hears the fields talking about effort

and the sun

Van Gogh

smiles,

and whispers to me:

"Why don't the fields just rest, for

I am willing to do

everything

to help them

grow?"

Rest, my dears, in

prayer.* 

Behind today's parable about labor, effort, and reward lies a further theme: in the heavenly kingdom of life, for whom is the harvest intended? The parable says that the Master who owns the field is the kingdom of the heavens itself, with all its divine beings. The angels, and even God, need our willing cooperation in the work of the harvest. They are awaiting the harvest of the soul-spiritual substance we have to offer. 

And so, to the realm of uplift, light, and life we offer our purest thoughts, the love of our hearts, and our willing devotion. We offer ourselves to the Master's harvesting of souls so that we become the wine of angels, the strengthening and gladdening of God. Then, likewise, all receive what they need as the day's sustenance. 

 

*"Rest in Prayer," Catherine of Siena, in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 195

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

4th Epiphany 2022, Your Presence Shine

 4^th Epiphany

John 5:1-16 

Sometime later, there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem, near the Sheep's Gate, a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which is surrounded by five covered porches. Here lay a great many invalids, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, waiting for the water to begin moving. For from time to time, a powerful angel of the Lord descended into the pool and stirred up the waters. The first one in the pool after such a disturbance would be healed of whatever ailment he had. 

And there was a certain man there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and became aware that he had been ill for so long, he asked him, "Do you want [have the will] to become whole?" 

The invalid answered him, "Lord [or, Sir], I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 

Then Jesus said to him, "Rise up, take up your pallet, and walk." At once, the man was healed and picked up his pallet, and walked. 

Lynne Eastin

However, it was the Sabbath on that day. Therefore the Jewish leaders said to the man who was healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your pallet." 

But he replied, "The man who healed me said to me, "Take up your pallet and walk!" 

And they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'take it up and walk'?" But the one who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, as there was a crowd in the place. 

Later, Jesus found him in the Temple and said to him, "Take to heart what I say: Behold, you have become whole. Sin no more, lest your destiny bring you something worse." 

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had healed him. That is why they persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he did these things on the Sabbath.  

4^th Epiphany

January 30, 2022

John 5:1-18 

Often things happen without our knowing how. A movement, a change, or transformation seems to happen behind a curtain. We only see the result. 

The will is such a mystery. In the broadest sense, it is connected to movement. Through our will, we stand up, walk, and work. But the workings of this mysterious power are mostly hidden from us. 

Today's reading involves an invalid. Interesting word—in-valid. The man's will, his ability to stand up, to walk, to work, had been 'invalidated.' Christ asks him, "Is it your will to become whole, healthy?" 

This question suggests that the man needed to become more conscious of his own will. What is it that he wants? How devoted is he to achieving his goal? His answer: "I have no one to help me. I can't do it alone." So Christ helps him. Christ infuses His own healing, integrative will into the man's weakened will, giving it strength. 

In the Act of Consecration of Man, we express our awareness of our own

weaknesses of will and need for healing. We come to the altar, which is both a banquet table and a worktable. We bring our humble offerings, the selfless purity of our best and most hope-filled thoughts, our noblest feelings, along with whatever amount of motive force we can muster. And Christ adds His own healing will to them. This gives our offerings the upward thrust and power of levity that allows them to rise to the Father. Together the Father and His Son transform our will offerings. They are returned to us as healing medicine for our invalid souls, healing energy for a failing world. 

So in the words of John O'Donohue: 

May you find the wisdom to listen to your illness:

Ask it why it came. Why it chose your friendship.

Where it wants to take you. What it wants you to know.

What quality of space it wants to create in you.

What you need to learn to become more fully yourself

That your presence may shine in the world.*

 

*John O'Donohue, "A Blessing for a Friend on the Arrival of Illness," in To Bless the Space Between Us, p. 60.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

3rd Epiphany 2022, Glad Hearts at the Marriage Feasts

 3^rd Epiphany

John 2:1-11

 

Brenda Fox

On the third day, a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
 
When the wine ran out, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
 
And Jesus answered her, "What shall be done by me and what by you, O Woman? [ or, "A power in common works between you and me, O Woman."] [or, "Something still weaves between you and me, O Woman."]  The hour when I can work out of myself alone has not yet come."
 
Then his mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
 
There were six stone jars set up there for the Jewish custom of ceremonial washing, each containing twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with fresh water."
 
And they filled them to the brim. And he said, "Now draw some out and take it to the Master of the feast. And they brought it to him.
 
Now when the Master of the feast tasted the water that had become wine, not knowing where it came from—for only the servants who had drawn the water knew—he called the bridegroom aside and said to him, "Everyone serves the choice wine first, and when the guests have drunk, then the lesser; but you have saved the best until now."
 
This, the beginning of the signs of the spirit that Jesus performed among human beings, happened at Cana in Galilee and revealed the creating spiritual power that worked through Him. The disciples' hearts opened, the power of faith began to stir in them, and they began to trust in him.

3^rd Epiphany
January 23, 2022
John 2:1-11
 
 
The choicest wines are the result of a long process. The right grapes, long

Coptic

ripened, harvested at peak, aged for a long time. It is a process of controlled decay and preservation—it keeps the juice from spoiling and creates a drink that gladdens, a drink that even has medicinal properties.
 
The state of spirituality in Christ’s time was like wine: harvested, aged, preserved. The problem was that for hundreds of years, there had been no new harvest. No prophet, no new inspiration. No new spiritual wine to gladden, to strengthen, to heal human hearts. The choicest of spiritual wines had been served long before; now, there remained only the lesser.
 
Christ came to establish a new kind of spiritual wine, out of a new kind of winemaking: wine taken from the lifesprings of the earth herself; wine processed by the highest spiritual being; wine infused with new healing spiritual power for human hearts.
 
And it has its effect. ‘The disciples’ hearts opened, and the power of faith began to stir in them, and they began to trust in him.’
 

Coptic

They began to trust that something new was happening on earth—a new process that would wed the human soul to its intended spirit bridegroom. A new wine was being produced, a wine that would heal the wound that separates us from God.
 
This process is recreated anew in The Act of Consecration. We have come together to celebrate the ongoing wedding feast of humanity; we drink the wine taken from the life-springs of the earth herself; wine transformed by the highest spiritual master, infused with new healing spiritual power for human hearts. We drink the wine changed by Him into strengthening, healing medicine, gladdening hearts at the marriage feast of the human and the divine.
 

2nd Epiphany 2022, Veracity and Love

2^nd Epiphany

Luke 2:41-52 

Every year his [Jesus'] parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they took him with them. Now, after they had gone there and fulfilled the custom during the days of the feast, they set off on their way home. But the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought he was among the company of the travelers. After a day's journey, they missed him among their friends and relations. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 

William Holman Hunt

After three days, they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And those who heard him were amazed at his mature understanding and his answers. 

And when they saw him, they were taken aback, and his mother said to him, "My child, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." 

William Holman Hunt

And he said to them, "Why did you look for me? Did you not know that I must be and live in that which is my Father's?" 

But they did not understand the meaning of the words he spoke to them. And he went down with them again to Nazareth and followed them willingly in all things. 

And his mother carefully kept all these things living in her heart. And Jesus progressed in wisdom, maturity, and grace [or, favor] in the sight of God and humans.

2^nd Epiphany

January 16, 2022

Luke 2: 41-52 

Durer

At twelve, the boy Jesus undergoes a great change.
Overnight he is transformed from a sweet and simple child into a wise and mature young man. His parents don't know what to make of him. They chide him; he answers innocently, yet with some surprise, that he thought it obvious where he belonged. At the same time, he returns with them cheerfully and willingly. 

There are nodal points in all our lives, points where something shifts. Something new emerges; the old dissolves, and the new consolidates. It happens to us; it happens to those we love and think we know, even to adults. 

This reading gives us two lessons: the first is that no one stays the same. We all develop (or else we gradually devolve). 

Therefore the second lesson is that it is helpful to approach each person we encounter with a kind of open and neutral curiosity—as if we had never met them before, even if we think we know them well. Otherwise, they are trapped in a cage we have made for them, a cage of assumptions and expectations, of disappointments, even of disapproval. Such an open, curious, and unprejudiced practice from the heart supports the other in becoming what they truly are. 

With open-hearted curiosity, we can offer them a broad but impartial mirror in which they can see the truth of themselves reflected clearly. We are offering them a form of Christ-love, for He said, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.'* 

Bernardo Luini

So as the poet Hafiz said, 

Now is the time to understand

That all your ideas of right and wrong

Were just a child's training wheels

To be laid aside

When you can finally live

with veracity and love.**

 

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

* John 8:32

** Hafiz, "Now is the Time," in The Gift, by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 160.