1st February Trinity 2018, He Reaches for You

1^st or 2^nd February Trinity
Luke 8:4-18

 
And as a great crowd had gathered, and ever more people streamed to him out of the cities, he spoke in a parable:
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 (air) ate it up.

The Sower, van Gogh

Other seed fell upon the rocks, and as it sprouted, it (the sprouting green) withered, because it had no moisture. Still 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: “He who has ears to hear, let him 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 seed which 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.

No one lights a light and hides it under a vessel or under a bench; instead, he places it on a lampstand so that all who come in see the light. For nothing is hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing is secret which shall not be known and proclaimed.So attend to how you listen. For he who has enlivened in himself the power to bear the spirit, to him more will be given. He however who does not have this power, from him will be taken that which he thinks he has.

2nd February Trinity
February 4, 2018
Luke 8: 14-18
 
In spring the soil in a garden is turned, opened, so that seed can be sown into the worked earth.
 
The ground in the garden of the heart also requires periodic turning. Hearts opened through turns of destiny, hearts opened through the will’s conscious intent, are fertile ground. The seed of the living spirit, the word funneling into the heart through the ear, received through intentional listening, germinates in the prepared ground of the soul.
 
But germination is just the beginning. The gospel makes it clear that this is only a first step. The Spirit Word wants to grow, to develop strength, to blossom and ripen. Keeping the Spirit Word alive and growing in the garden of the heart takes some effort on our part. It takes tending, patience, time.
 
In a simpler age, reading from the Good Book, hearing the Word of the Spirit at the end of the day was one way to keep it alive in the soul. This allowed the Word to take root. The “riches” of modern life tend to crowd out such a practice. But many find helpful the practice of refreshing the Sunday reading at home during the week.
 
Once the Spirit’s Words, the mystic trees that grow mankind’s future, are sprouted, the soul garden houses living beauty. The soul becomes a noble and

Alfred Soord

worthy place. As Rilke says:
               
The deep one, whose being I trust,
                …breaks through the earth into trees,
and rises,
when I bow my head,
faint as a fragrance
from the soil. *
 
Our tending helps to ripen His trees’ shining fruits. The fruits that feed mankind’s future are the light of understanding, the continuing life of our souls and spirits, the nourishing of love. His fruits, ripening in our hearts, nourish us. They nourish all whom we encounter. And our fruits of soul, ripening in our hearts, nourish—Him.
 
Be modest now, like a thing
ripened until it is real,
so that he who began it all
can feel you when he reaches for you.**
 
* Rilke’s Book of Hours, pg. 101
**, pg. 96

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4th Epiphany 2018, Beloved's Arms

4^th Epiphany
Luke 13: 10-17

Once he was teaching in a synagogue

on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit weakening her for eighteen years: she was bent over and could not stand upright [lift her head all the way up]. When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said to her, “Woman, you are released from your illness!”

He laid his hands upon her, and at once she was able to straighten up. And she praised the power of God. Then the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days for doing work; on those days you can come and let yourselves be healed—but not on the Sabbath.”

But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Does not every one of you untie his ox or his ass from the manger on the Sabbath and lead it away to the water trough? But this daughter of Abraham, who was held bound by the dark might of Satan for eighteen years, wasn’t supposed to be released from her bondage on the day of the Sabbath?”

All his opponents were put to shame by these words, and the people rejoiced over all the signs of spiritual power that happened through him.

4^th Epiphany
January 28, 2018
Luke 13: 10-17

Plants unfold according to their own time. They bud, blossom, fruit when their time is ripe. In commercial settings, much is done to control that flowers bloom according to a market schedule. But commercially grown flowers often lack a certain thriving fullness, a radiance that naturally grown ones have.

The ill woman in the gospel rises, unfolds, blossoms in the healing light of the Christ sun. It took eighteen years for the fullness of the moment to arrive.  The synagogue leader complains that this has not been properly scheduled. But grace, love that heals, arrives in its own time. The only appropriate response is gratitude. We may feel that we want grace to arrive on our own timetable. But the reading makes it clear that control is vastly inferior to the working of grace.

St John of the Cross asks a question of God and God gives an expansive answer:

“What is grace” I asked God.

 And He said,
“All that happens.”
Then He added, when I looked perplexed,
“Could not lovers
say that every moment in their Beloved’s arms
was grace?
Existence is my arms,
though I well understand how one can turn
away from
me
until the heart has
wisdom.”

Grace, love, existence itself—so much to be grateful for.

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*St John of the Cross, “WHAT IS GRACE”, in Love Poems from God: by Daniel Ladinsky, p. 321

3rd Epiphany 2018, Integrate the Feminine

Woloschina

3rd Epiphany
John 2, 1-11

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, “Something still weaves between me and you, 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 which Jesus performed among men 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.

3rd Epiphany
January 21, 2018
John 2: 1-11

Often the way and manner in which a thing begins become the template. How things begin can imprint a kind of signature on how they will continue.

This wedding at Cana is the first sign of Christ’s working. He works with the earth, with the feminine, with humanity.

The mother, the feminine soul, sees the need for more wine; she is aware of the social implications. And she represents perhaps an awareness of the empty spiritual state of humanity. At this point, Christ is a kind of newborn, fresh from His Baptism. His feminine side is still operating from outside himself, through the mother. Yet in trust, she leaves up to Him what he will do -  ‘do whatever he tells you,’ she says. And

He draws up pure, fresh, effervescent water from Mother Earth herself. The water is so full of life, so stimulating, that it is indistinguishable from wine.

In time He will integrate the feminine into Himself and will be able to work ‘out of himself alone.’ He himself will become the Vine that reaches deep into the earth. He will change the waters of earth into the wine of His blood. He will pour it out in offering to both to the earth and to all of humanity.  He, today the wedding guest, will tomorrow become the Bridegroom. He will become the King’s Son at the marriage feast. He will wed the Soul of Humanity. Together, He and we will bear much fruit.

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