3rd Passiontide 2022, In Death Life Begins

 3^rd Passiontide

John 8:1-12 

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but as soon as day dawned, he was already in the Temple court, where the people flocked to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees led in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand in the middle and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say?" They said this only as a trap, in order finally to have a reason for accusing him. 

Ninetta Sombart

But Jesus bent down and started to write
something into the earth with his finger. When they kept on pressing him with questions, he stood up and said to them, "Whoever among you is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her." And again, he bent down and wrote into the earth. 

When they heard this, their conscience began to stir within them, and they went out, one after the other, starting with the eldest. And only Jesus was left and the woman who stood in the middle. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one passed judgment on you?" 

"No one, sir," she said. 

Then Jesus declared, "Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." 

And Jesus began to speak to them again: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but have the light in which there is life."

 3^rd Passiontide Sunday

April 3, 2022

John 8:1-12 

The light and warmth of the sun can be absorbed or reflected. A dark object absorbs the warmth. A light, polished surface stays cooler because it mirrors light back. 

Our minds and hearts can also absorb or reflect. We can listen, absorb, take in. When what we take in enters not just our minds but our hearts, they can become warm. In so doing, we ourselves are likely to be transformed. The genius of the language says that our hearts melt. 

And we can also listen and reflect back. Usually, we reflect back our own soul's reaction. We reflect our ego's rush to judgment. An immediate judgment may be a kind of self-protection coming from the soul's defensive armoring. Being too quick to deflect with our thinking, we bypass absorbing into our heart what is said and possibly being transformed. 

Deborah Harris

In this gospel reading, Christ shows Himself to be someone whose heart and mind work together in a healing way. He does not reflexively reject the woman because she broke the law. He takes her into His great heart, the warmth of His broad understanding of the ways of human behavior, of social interaction, of karma. He then reflects back to her not judgment but rather gives her the strength of His warm understanding and His encouragement to do better. He absorbs her life into His. He carries her in the light of His life. 

The poet Nelly Sachs wrote, 

How long have we forgotten to listen!

He planted us once to listen

Like lyme grass by the eternal sea ....

Although we have business

that leads us far

From his light….

We must not sell our ears….

Press, oh press in the day of destruction

The listening ear to the earth,

And you will hear, through your sleep,

You will hear,

How in death

Life begins.* 

The deeds of each one of us are written into the earth. But the earth has become Christ's body. He absorbs all of our deeds. He carries us in His great heart. He gives us the encouragement and the strength to do better so that we can walk in the light of His life. 

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

*Nelly Sachs (1891-1970), “How Long Have We Forgotten to Listen!” in Women in Praise of the Sacred, Jane Hirschfield. 

2nd Passiontide 2022, Skill They Can Learn

 2^nd Passiontide

John 6:1-15 

After this, Jesus crossed to the far shore

Woloschina

of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberius, and a great crowd of people followed him because they had seen the signs of the Spirit he had performed on those who were ill. 

Then Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

When Jesus raised his eyes to the world of the Spirit and beheld how crowds of people were coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread that all these people may eat?" He asked this to test his understanding and presence of mind, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 

Philip answered him, "200 denarii [or, seven months wages] would not buy enough bread for them each to have only a little." 

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "A boy is here with five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are these among so many?" 

Jesus said, "Let the people sit down in groups." There was plenty of green grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave to those seated, likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. 

Now when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." So, they gathered them, and they filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 

Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, "Truly, this is the prophet who is to come into the world." When Jesus became aware that they intended to come and make him king by force, he withdrew again to the mountain alone by himself.

2^nd Passiontide

March 27, 2022

John 6:26-35 

There are different kinds of thorns. One kind is a permanent woody part of the plant itself, such as the spurs on a citrus tree or hawthorne. Another is a removable part of the plant's skin—such as the prickle on a rose. It does not belong to the plant's deepest layers. Nevertheless, these prickles, like the stinger of a bee, can embed themselves and infect. 

In the Passiontide prayers from the altar, we ask God not to focus on 'the sting of evil' in our hearts. The deepest core of our hearts, made by God, is good. But our hearts have been stung by the thorn of the adversary and are infected with evil. We are acutely aware of our common illness, which inflames us and causes us to wound others. At times, we may feel our inner selves to be lying on the ground, sick unto death. Our hearts need to be healed of their infections. The goodness of our core needs to be strengthened and nourished. 

Christ, the divine Physician, came to nourish and strengthen our heart's core. He gives us the twelvefold bread from the stars, from his Father in the heavens, to nourish, strengthen and heal us. 

We stand in awe before the gift He offers us, the bread of Himself. We may be inclined to rush in, almost greedy for healing. We may want the whole loaf. But He says in the words of Rumi: 

Nibble at me.

Don't gulp me down.

How often is it you have a guest in your house

who can fix everything?*

 

To us, Catherine of Sienna adds:

A thorn has entered your foot. That is why you

weep at times at

night. 

There are some in this world

who can pull it

out. 

The skill that takes they have

learned from

Him. ** 

We take in the bread and wine to become strong, to be healed, so that the good in the depths of our hearts may endure. At the same time, we take it in not only for ourselves. We take it in so that we, in turn, can help in the healing of others.

 

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

* Rumi, "Nibble at Me," in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p.64

** Catherine of Sienna, "That Skill," in Love Poems from God, Daniel Ladinsky, p. 190.

1st Passiontide 2022, Go There Now

First Passiontide

Luke 11:14-36 

Ravenna

Jesus was driving out a demon from a man who was mute.
And it came to pass that as the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. However, some of them said, "He drives out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons." Others sought to test him by asking for a sign from heaven as proof of his spiritual power. 

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself will be desolated, and house will fall against house. And you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub? Now, if Satan divides [were to divide] his powers within himself, how will [would] his kingdom be able to stand? You have not considered this when you claim that I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub. If I drive out demons with the power of Beelzebub, with what power do your sons do it? Your sons will be your judges. But since, in fact, I encounter the demons with the authority of God's hand, it follows from this that the Kingdom of God has already come to you.               

"When a strong man in full armor guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, the victor takes away the armor in which the man had trusted and divides it up as spoils. 

"Whoever does not unite with my being is against me, and whoever does not gather in inner composure with me [or, work for inner composure with me] scatters. 

"When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places seeking a place to rest; and if it cannot find it, it says, 'I will return to the dwelling out of which I have come.' When it returns to this dwelling, it finds it cleaned and adorned. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself and enters and dwells in that person. And their final state is worse than the first." 

1^st Passiontide

March 20, 2022

Luke 11:14-35  

We all have a home, a space we live in. We may share it with others.
We may also invite guests for a visit. But it would be a strange situation if, at the end of the visit, the guest announced that they were planning to take up permanent residence and refused to leave. For we know that it should be our own choice whom we live with. 

Our body is also a kind of home, the home for our spirit. The deaf-mute’s spirit evidently suffered from one of those permanent guests who had decided to make his body its dwelling place. It had even succeeded in binding and gagging him. The Gospel identifies this “guest” as a demon. And Christ describes the nature of such beings: they need a human body in which to dwell; they are able to gain entrance if someone is not strong enough to protect themselves. And even if they succeed in ejecting the demon, it won’t give up; it will return— with reinforcements if necessary. 

For demons feed off of what the human being has inside—the precious light of human thoughts, the warmth of human feeling, their strength of will. Christ goes on to proclaim what it is that protects us from being invaded: the wisdom that acknowledges the existence of the Son of Man and the willingness to do the work necessary to invite Him in as a guest, to furnish Him a dwelling place in our inmost heart. 

The poet Tom Barrett says: 

Pause with us here a while.

Put your ear to the wall of your heart.

Listen for the whisper of knowing there.

Love will touch you if you are very still. …

 

If you had a temple in the secret spaces of your heart,

What would you worship there?

What would you bring to sacrifice?

What would be behind the curtain in the holy of holies?

 

Go there now.*

---

* Tom Barrett, “What’s in the Temple?” in Keeping in Touch

www.thechristiancommunity.org

 

6th Trinity I, Seeds of New Life

February Trinity I

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Karl Heinrich Bloch

Matthew 17:1-9 

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others. 

There, his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone as bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus. 

And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly, they heard a voice from the cloud that said, "This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him." 

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror. And Jesus approached them, and touching them, said, "Rise, and do not fear." And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus. 

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead."

 6^th Trinity I

March 13, 2022

Matthew 17:1-13 

Dandelions rise in leaves and blossom in the warmth of the sun.
The blossoms form seed globes, a miniature cosmos. The wind disperses the seeds so that they fall to the earth in a different place; so that the cycle of their living growth and development on earth can continue and spread in a new season. 

In the scene of the Transfiguration, Christ blossoms before the eyes of His three disciples. They begin to understand the cosmic, divine nature of Jesus, the Christ. They perceive how He converses with the two great luminaries of the Hebrew cosmos, Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the prophet who gives voice to the divine. 

Peter responds in the traditional way of his forefathers by offering to build external shrines for these spiritual beings. But the voice of the Father intervenes—‘This is my Son; listen to Him; take his words into your heart.’ (Matthew 17:5) And the three disciples fall to the ground. 

Christ came to establish a new relationship between the beings of the spiritual world and human beings on earth. It is to be a relationship of conscious understanding, of conversation, rather than an adherence to the law and traditional procedure. So Jesus helps them up and continues to enlighten their understanding. 

He says to them that the being of Elijah, whom they had just seen conversing with Him, had indeed already returned to earth to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. He had been John the Baptist, who by then had already been put to death. And Christ predicts that He Himself soon would be. With John the Baptist, the
process of seeding this new relationship between heaven and earth began; human beings dwelling in the cosmos return again to earth. 

Christ in us creates in us a cosmic blossom; out of our lives, seeds fall to the earth to live and grow and blossom again. Thus do our human spirits blossom in God’s warmth and light; seeds of a new life are carried by the spirit-wind, to return again to the earth in a new place and time, to live and grow further in the light of God.

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

5th Trinity I, (6th Sunday Before Easter), Thaw The Holy

Trinity I

6^th Sunday before Easter (Sunday after Ash Wednesday)

Matthew 4:1-11 

Tissot

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the loneliness of the desert to experience
the tempting power of the adversary. 

After fasting forty days and nights, He felt for the first time hunger for earthly nourishment. Then the tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, let these stones become bread through the power of your word." 

Jesus answered, "It is written, 'The human being shall not live on bread alone; he lives by the creative power of every word that comes from the mouth of God." 

Tissot

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand
on the parapet of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 

Jesus answered him, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." 

Tissot

Again a third time, the devil took him to a very elevated place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give to you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me as your Lord." 

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship
[pray to] God your Lord who guides you and serve him only.' " 

Then the adversary left him, and he beheld the angels again as they came to bring him nourishment.

5^th February Trinity

March 6, 2022

Matthew 4:1-11 

To inhabit a human body is to be subject to very basic needs: every infant first needs food, for to be in a body is to be hungry and to depend on others to supply nourishment.

Another need is for safety—the body reflexively protects itself against injury.

And a third need is for power, the ability to be effective. To fail to respond to a child’s cries is to sow seeds despair in its soul.

At his Baptism Christ entered into a human body for the first time. His spirit, like a child's, encounters the body’s basic needs, which in the hands of the Adversary become demands. But coming as He does from the heart of God, He counters the Adversary who plagues humankind from within. And because He did, we can. For Christ has become the medicine for the sickness of sin, our separation from God, that the adversary engenders in us. He makes us whole. He re-establishes for us our connection with God.

For it is God and his angels who satisfy our deepest hungers. It is God who protects us both from harm and from an inflated sense of self-importance. It is in aligning ourselves with God’s will, rather than merely our own self-will, that we achieve true power; for the power that lies in freedom from earthly compulsions creates true effectiveness. Christ gives us that power.

Tissot

As Teresa of Avila said,

…God is always there, if you feel wounded.  He kneels

over this earth like

a divine medic,

and His love thaws

the holy in us.*

 

---

*St. Teresa of Avila, “When the Holy Thaws”, in Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, versions by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 290.

 

  

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.

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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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