Friday, January 18, 2019
Sunday, December 16, 2018
The Season of the Broken Heart
I once quoted a line of a "mystic" to one of my Christian fundamentalist friends, trying to shake him from his "me and Jesus" victory parade, realizing that his faith was not shallow, but ego driven. The line was:
"Unless your feet have been baptized (immersed) in the blood of your broken heart, you have not entered upon The Way."
In his victory parade, and what the Father's have called "the Happiness Seeking Delusion" he had no time for the profound implications of the smallest and most complex verse in the Gospels that reads, "Jesus Wept."
How could the very Source of Life, the Creator of All Things, standing in the full reality of the Eternal Godhead, at the same time stand before the tomb of his dear friend, Lazarus, whose entire family were his extended family, friends so close they were family, Lazarus' mother, Lazarus' aunt. How could the Eternal God stand before a tomb where Lazarus lay three-days dead, KNOWING that in mere moments he would imbue that dead corpse with life and call Lazarus ALIVE from the tomb, how could HE, with that knowledge, WEEP? I have heard fundamentalist, you know the kind, the kind that say, "you should not weep, you should CELEBRATE because they are in a better place."
No one could have had better and more complete knowledge of the fact that Lazarus rested "in the Mercy of God" but even in that COMPLETE knowledge, as he stood in Mortal Flesh, his heart beating, his blood flowing, his emotions reeling, his eyes tearing, "JESUS WEPT" he did not CELEBRATE.
Some shallow Christian Fundamentalists say, "because Jesus Wept, we don't have to, shouldn't need to, etc" thus separating their very expression of and "reality of soul," (reality of their own psyche) from their true humanity. In this place, on this earth, in this time we battle "death in our members." WE ALL DO. We struggle as Saint Paul stated, for our mortality to be swallowed up in immortality, our Death conquered in LIFE. Those who celebrate pridefully and not in the sodden sandals of Our Lord, risk trusting their pride and losing The Way.
So again I say, "Unless your feet have been washed in the blood of your broken heart, you have not entered upon The Way." What is the purpose of that broken heart? To give us the humility to put away every illusion and lie, and grasp in our deepest self, ONLY what is REAL, RIGHT and embued with Eternal Life. So as a sinner, whose feet are again being baptized in the blood of my own heart, I say, "Lord Jesus Christ, who wept at the death of Lazarus, have mercy on me also, and those we love and walk us into the land of the living, where death holds no more threat, where we can say with Saint Paul, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
This is a WAR folks, I have stated that fact thousands of times in my writings and in my videos, "THIS IS A WAR." It is a war against every LIE, every fantasy, every illusion, and delusion that is death engendering; and contrary to popular opinion, those who cling to LIFE, lose it. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it," so Jesus said. What does losing one's life for Jesus' sake mean? It means stomping on the selfishness of our own hearts and at each moment consciously choosing to do what LOVE demands. "God is Love" and to be bound to him, is to be bound in love.
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
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Warmongering
The orchestrated warmongering of the Western Powers
The 1917 Russian Revolution was orchestrated, beginning in 1914, from the British Embassy in Saint Petersburg, and the American Embassy in Kiev, and stoked by the anti-monarchial , warmongering tabloid western media. Following the overthrow of the Czarist government, the revolutionary government itself was taken over by extremists, and the world was to face seventy years of communist genocide against Orthodox Christians. The anti-Orthodox views of these Western powers is well documented, and continues to this very day as witnessed by the betrayal of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, the Gaza strip, and now the Ukraine. And now, the Untied States backed terrorism against the canonical Orthodox in the Ukraine only continues what has become a long standing hatred by the Western powers, of Orthodoxy.
Under President Obama, Washington’s propaganda machine set about to convince the world that the Ukrainian separatists used an expensive anti-aircraft missile system, together with Russian help, to down a civilian aircraft with almost three hundred innocent people on board, this in spite of the fact that the separatists had no incentive to shoot down an airliner flying at 33,000 feet. The fact that the Ukrainian junta does have Buk anti-aircraft missile systems and a Buk battery was operational in the region and deployed at a site from which it could have fired a missile at the airliner, is being completely ignored. One Russian general familiar with the weapon system offered his opinion that it was a mistake made by the Ukrainian military untrained in the weapon’s use. The general said that although Ukraine has a few of the weapons, Ukrainians have had no training in their use in the twenty-three years since the Ukraine separated from Russia. The general thought it was an accident due to incompetence.
It is also to be noted that the Malaysian airliner and President Putin’s airliner were traveling on almost the identical route within minutes of one another. Interfax quotes its source: “I can say that President Putin’s plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at a height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft at 15:44 Moscow time. The contours of the aircrafts are similar, linear dimensions are also very similar, as for the colouring, at a quite remote distance they are almost identical.”
There was some speculation that Washington decided to rid itself of President Putin and mistook the Malaysian airliner for Putin’s jet, and before we say the American military is too sophisticated to mistake one airliner for another, let us remember that the U.S. Military shot down an Iranian airliner over Iranian air space, killing 290 civilians, while thinking we were downing a fighter aircraft of the Iranian Air Force.
Is the United States government and her Western allies, so dominated by hate-filled hawks, that we are willing to set the stage for World War III, or will we finally put aside our insatiable desire to control the whole world, together with our colonialist European Union allies? Is it really beyond comprehension that our American administration, backed by CNN, Fox News, and an array of compromised Western Media types, is hell-bent on continuing the long standing position that Russia is our enemy? Do we not see that the sanctions against Russia are, in fact, an act of war? And why are we American Christians not concerned that our government, as it did in 1914, is saber rattling against the one Christian nation that is attempting to withstand creeping secularism, atheism, and militant Islam, while holding to the standards of biblical Christianity?
Let us be vigilant in our thinking, keeping ourselves open to the truth. Blindly viewing everything our American government says leaves us wide open to the same dangers that caused the German people to fall prey to the Nazi propaganda machine, and we know where that led. Perhaps a diplomatic solution called for by President Donald Trump, could begin with the United States and her European Union allies, stepping out of the affairs of the Ukrainian people. Perhaps we could start looking at Russia as the potential ally she is, and not seeing her as the enemy she is not. And, perhaps we could consider that the Ukrainian government, facing the possible partitioning of their country, could very well believe that bringing on World War III could be the only way they can bring Western countries into their war with Russia.
I have been in pain of heart over this issue for a very long time. I've made it a point of staying away from politics, but, like the Lutheran pastors who spoke out against the Nazis, and paid the price, I must speak out, if for no other reason than to serve in the traditional role of the monk as prophet. We are dangerously close to war with Russia, and as a monk I am driven to speak the truth as I see it, unpopular as it may be. I am not being political, nor am I being unpatriotic or un-American. I am simply a priestmonk calling upon his nation to repent, return to our Christian roots, and basic Christian values we've held to as a nation, since the foundation of this great nation.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
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The 1917 Russian Revolution was orchestrated, beginning in 1914, from the British Embassy in Saint Petersburg, and the American Embassy in Kiev, and stoked by the anti-monarchial , warmongering tabloid western media. Following the overthrow of the Czarist government, the revolutionary government itself was taken over by extremists, and the world was to face seventy years of communist genocide against Orthodox Christians. The anti-Orthodox views of these Western powers is well documented, and continues to this very day as witnessed by the betrayal of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, the Gaza strip, and now the Ukraine. And now, the Untied States backed terrorism against the canonical Orthodox in the Ukraine only continues what has become a long standing hatred by the Western powers, of Orthodoxy.
Under President Obama, Washington’s propaganda machine set about to convince the world that the Ukrainian separatists used an expensive anti-aircraft missile system, together with Russian help, to down a civilian aircraft with almost three hundred innocent people on board, this in spite of the fact that the separatists had no incentive to shoot down an airliner flying at 33,000 feet. The fact that the Ukrainian junta does have Buk anti-aircraft missile systems and a Buk battery was operational in the region and deployed at a site from which it could have fired a missile at the airliner, is being completely ignored. One Russian general familiar with the weapon system offered his opinion that it was a mistake made by the Ukrainian military untrained in the weapon’s use. The general said that although Ukraine has a few of the weapons, Ukrainians have had no training in their use in the twenty-three years since the Ukraine separated from Russia. The general thought it was an accident due to incompetence.
It is also to be noted that the Malaysian airliner and President Putin’s airliner were traveling on almost the identical route within minutes of one another. Interfax quotes its source: “I can say that President Putin’s plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at a height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft at 15:44 Moscow time. The contours of the aircrafts are similar, linear dimensions are also very similar, as for the colouring, at a quite remote distance they are almost identical.”
There was some speculation that Washington decided to rid itself of President Putin and mistook the Malaysian airliner for Putin’s jet, and before we say the American military is too sophisticated to mistake one airliner for another, let us remember that the U.S. Military shot down an Iranian airliner over Iranian air space, killing 290 civilians, while thinking we were downing a fighter aircraft of the Iranian Air Force.
Is the United States government and her Western allies, so dominated by hate-filled hawks, that we are willing to set the stage for World War III, or will we finally put aside our insatiable desire to control the whole world, together with our colonialist European Union allies? Is it really beyond comprehension that our American administration, backed by CNN, Fox News, and an array of compromised Western Media types, is hell-bent on continuing the long standing position that Russia is our enemy? Do we not see that the sanctions against Russia are, in fact, an act of war? And why are we American Christians not concerned that our government, as it did in 1914, is saber rattling against the one Christian nation that is attempting to withstand creeping secularism, atheism, and militant Islam, while holding to the standards of biblical Christianity?
Let us be vigilant in our thinking, keeping ourselves open to the truth. Blindly viewing everything our American government says leaves us wide open to the same dangers that caused the German people to fall prey to the Nazi propaganda machine, and we know where that led. Perhaps a diplomatic solution called for by President Donald Trump, could begin with the United States and her European Union allies, stepping out of the affairs of the Ukrainian people. Perhaps we could start looking at Russia as the potential ally she is, and not seeing her as the enemy she is not. And, perhaps we could consider that the Ukrainian government, facing the possible partitioning of their country, could very well believe that bringing on World War III could be the only way they can bring Western countries into their war with Russia.
I have been in pain of heart over this issue for a very long time. I've made it a point of staying away from politics, but, like the Lutheran pastors who spoke out against the Nazis, and paid the price, I must speak out, if for no other reason than to serve in the traditional role of the monk as prophet. We are dangerously close to war with Russia, and as a monk I am driven to speak the truth as I see it, unpopular as it may be. I am not being political, nor am I being unpatriotic or un-American. I am simply a priestmonk calling upon his nation to repent, return to our Christian roots, and basic Christian values we've held to as a nation, since the foundation of this great nation.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
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Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Prayer to Saint Michael - Full Text
Original Prayer to St Michael the Archangel
O Glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, and spirits of evil.Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist Thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.
Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men; his depraved mind, corrupt heart, his spirit of lying, impiety, blasphemy, his pestilential breath of impurity and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the Spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.
Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate Thee as their protector and patron; in Thee Holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to Thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, do Thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
- Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered, hostile powers.
- The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, the root of David.
- Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord
- As we have hoped in Thee.
- O Lord, hear my prayer.
- And let my cry come unto Thee
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy name, and we humbly implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel St. Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Pope Leo XIII, 1888
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Saturday, March 4, 2017
Faith comes by hearing Saint Paul said, but many hear and few believe. Only those who ACT on faith, who believe and learn of faith through experience become Faith-filled/Faithful. Can "meditation create faith" not likely despite the Western penchant for daydreaming and calling it "inspiration."
Those who think they can experience real Faith without "doing" real worship, real faithful things, fail to understand the Nature of the Body of Christ and the Reality of The Church. Instead, they become by their individual practice "spiritual" i.e., open to the spirits but not faith-filled and faithful. They become scattered and tossed about on a sea of emotions and poorly understood or self-created teachings, full of grand ideas and grand loving motivation, decades pass and little changes, except their own entrenched faith in their own spiritual power and maybe, moral goodness.
So few Evangelicals and Protestants who rail against "works righteousness" can grasp the reality that the work of the faith is not to gain "merit" as the Romans falsely teach, or to gain righteousness has THEY falsely believe, but rather the WORK of the Faith is the "experience of THE FAITH." "Faith without works is dead" or as I say, a daydream, a mere soulish experience, where one becomes meditative and exposed to the fantasies of the psyche or the teaching of demons, or some admixture according to the danger one possibly poses to Satan's reign, were one to actually become Faith-Filled and Faithful.
(Colliander, The Way of the Ascetics)
Saturday, January 28, 2017
A Bruised Ego, in the presence of TRUTH.
When I found the theology, mindset, and discipline of the Ancient Christian Church, I experienced a period of, for want of a better term, depression, not sadness, I was elated at what I had found! It answered every single confusing theological question with which I had wrestled for practically my whole life. Yet it was insulting to realize my modern and sophisticated questions had been asked and answered, many times over the centuries, and the only reason I struggled with them was because they were absent in my "religious and philosophical circles" and it took me decades to reach to the real answers outside of "me and the bible." Something else had taken the place of true theology and true philosophy in the world in which I was raised and lived a great portion of my life.
And, at the same time, the more I was awakened to a view of my own life, I was shocked by it. I had always loved Jesus Christ like a cherished older brother, but I had NEVER stood in AWE of him. I could see the crooked paths (plural) of my life, my failings, not just in a narrow moral sense, that is sins and failings common, to one degree or another, to us all, but attitudes, ideas, and assumptions that were so wrong.
The fifty protestant and evangelical sophisms that were the book covers of my personal theology, were something that HAD TO BE self-created because there were so many protestant varieties. It created, and needs be, an arrogant individualized spirituality, mindset, and theology. Yet that path of discovery for those decades was exciting, FUN, actually. Discovering this and that, as I walked across (intellectually ) all the world's great theological traditions and studied their great tomes and listened to their teachers - I learn an encyclopedia of GOOD things.
Every faith tradition had collections of beautiful thoughts, philosophy, and degrees of spiritual understanding. The most poverty-stricken, of course, being Islam, but even the Koran has beautiful and poetic passages. While I took that virtual intellectual journey, in real life I moved from Pentecostal, to Lutheran, to Methodist, to abstaining from organized religion, to Lutheran, to Old Catholic, to Orthodox Catholic. And as I said, IT WAS GREAT FUN. I learned very much and enjoyed every new thing I learned.
You see, on this journey, I wasn't very challenged by it all, because since it was self-created, ego created from a smorgasbord of competing theologies, it wasn't challenging AT ALL. A little of this, a little of that, a wink and smile dismissal of something else. The rule was simple, "accept what felt right and seemed reasonable, and reject what is disturbing and seems unreasonable." While of course like ALL Protestants, being uniquely led by the Holy Spirit. What could be easier than that?
Yet, there it was, the confusing array of conflicting theological ideas, with their deep questions that only find answers in narrow rational and truncated "alternative faiths" called "denominations." If you are a Lutheran you are expected to believe X on some primary tenets of the faith, and a methodist in some crucial tenets officially believes the polar opposite! as does a baptist or pentecostal etc. And what to make of those innovative "revelations" like Christian Science, Christian Theosophy, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons, and the thousands of tiny sects and denomination, Fire Baptized, Hard Shell and Soft Shell Baptist, Liberal Baptists, Armenian Baptists, Seventh Day Baptists, Once Saved Always Saved Baptists, and Congregational Methodists (a contradiction in terms) the conflicting versions of Presbyterianism, what was the difference between Holiness Theology, and Pentecostal Theology, and Charismatic Theology and the Jew for Jesus, Judaizer? There are HUGE differences between these last four, on primary questions. Did you know that? There is nowhere in this for one to THOUGHTFULLY "hang his hat" so to speak.
Of course, the simple-minded says "you hang your hat on belief and trust in Jesus" and unite in his "mystical body" but one has to ask, WHICH Jesus? Because contrary to the popular ecumenical MYTHOLOGY, each of these groups teaches a DIFFERENT Jesus, different in varying degrees, but none the less, DIFFERENT, with as diverse paths to their Jesus as there are different versions of him. These people talk about "unity" in the Body, without a grasp of WHO Jesus is and WHAT is His Body.
So, as I gained understanding, I enjoyed seeing cherished old theologies, spiritualities, and mindsets expose for their failure, for their "errors" i.e., heresies. Yet, there I was drinking in the Ancient Christian Faith as fast as I could, and I quickly became bored and missed the excitement of the "hunt." You see, all the innovative and creative theological and philosophical thinking was accomplished many, many centuries ago. THEY did not need ME. And in fact, some of the most mundane people understood so much more than me. It was humiliating.
Emily Dickinson wrote a poem (her intent eludes me) but for me, it perfectly expressed my experience of the Ancient Faith. I felt a funeral in my brain, there was so much that had to DIE. The ancient Saints and a couple modern ones were stomping around in my head, killing "treasured understandings" - ego invented understanding. I had so many ideas I did not need, so many opinions on crucial topics that were useless and needed to DIE. At the same time, I felt absolutely at home in my faith for the first time in my LIFE, unembarrassed by my church's teaching, knowing it could fully be defended before any atheist or heretic, and without resort to irrationality. As Thomas Aquinas rightly said, "For those with faith, no explanation is necessary. But for those without faith, no explanation is possible." So I could relax and on all those crucial teachings say, "The Church Teaches" and she does. MY unique explications were no longer needed or even HEALTHY. In my brain, that felt like DEATH.
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
By Emily Dickinson
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through -
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum -
Kept beating - beating - till I thought
My mind was going numb -
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space - began to toll,
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here -
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then -
IN honor of those saints stomping on misused brain matter, here is a requiem for those dead cells.
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When I found the theology, mindset, and discipline of the Ancient Christian Church, I experienced a period of, for want of a better term, depression, not sadness, I was elated at what I had found! It answered every single confusing theological question with which I had wrestled for practically my whole life. Yet it was insulting to realize my modern and sophisticated questions had been asked and answered, many times over the centuries, and the only reason I struggled with them was because they were absent in my "religious and philosophical circles" and it took me decades to reach to the real answers outside of "me and the bible." Something else had taken the place of true theology and true philosophy in the world in which I was raised and lived a great portion of my life.
And, at the same time, the more I was awakened to a view of my own life, I was shocked by it. I had always loved Jesus Christ like a cherished older brother, but I had NEVER stood in AWE of him. I could see the crooked paths (plural) of my life, my failings, not just in a narrow moral sense, that is sins and failings common, to one degree or another, to us all, but attitudes, ideas, and assumptions that were so wrong.
The fifty protestant and evangelical sophisms that were the book covers of my personal theology, were something that HAD TO BE self-created because there were so many protestant varieties. It created, and needs be, an arrogant individualized spirituality, mindset, and theology. Yet that path of discovery for those decades was exciting, FUN, actually. Discovering this and that, as I walked across (intellectually ) all the world's great theological traditions and studied their great tomes and listened to their teachers - I learn an encyclopedia of GOOD things.
Every faith tradition had collections of beautiful thoughts, philosophy, and degrees of spiritual understanding. The most poverty-stricken, of course, being Islam, but even the Koran has beautiful and poetic passages. While I took that virtual intellectual journey, in real life I moved from Pentecostal, to Lutheran, to Methodist, to abstaining from organized religion, to Lutheran, to Old Catholic, to Orthodox Catholic. And as I said, IT WAS GREAT FUN. I learned very much and enjoyed every new thing I learned.
You see, on this journey, I wasn't very challenged by it all, because since it was self-created, ego created from a smorgasbord of competing theologies, it wasn't challenging AT ALL. A little of this, a little of that, a wink and smile dismissal of something else. The rule was simple, "accept what felt right and seemed reasonable, and reject what is disturbing and seems unreasonable." While of course like ALL Protestants, being uniquely led by the Holy Spirit. What could be easier than that?
Yet, there it was, the confusing array of conflicting theological ideas, with their deep questions that only find answers in narrow rational and truncated "alternative faiths" called "denominations." If you are a Lutheran you are expected to believe X on some primary tenets of the faith, and a methodist in some crucial tenets officially believes the polar opposite! as does a baptist or pentecostal etc. And what to make of those innovative "revelations" like Christian Science, Christian Theosophy, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons, and the thousands of tiny sects and denomination, Fire Baptized, Hard Shell and Soft Shell Baptist, Liberal Baptists, Armenian Baptists, Seventh Day Baptists, Once Saved Always Saved Baptists, and Congregational Methodists (a contradiction in terms) the conflicting versions of Presbyterianism, what was the difference between Holiness Theology, and Pentecostal Theology, and Charismatic Theology and the Jew for Jesus, Judaizer? There are HUGE differences between these last four, on primary questions. Did you know that? There is nowhere in this for one to THOUGHTFULLY "hang his hat" so to speak.
Of course, the simple-minded says "you hang your hat on belief and trust in Jesus" and unite in his "mystical body" but one has to ask, WHICH Jesus? Because contrary to the popular ecumenical MYTHOLOGY, each of these groups teaches a DIFFERENT Jesus, different in varying degrees, but none the less, DIFFERENT, with as diverse paths to their Jesus as there are different versions of him. These people talk about "unity" in the Body, without a grasp of WHO Jesus is and WHAT is His Body.
So, as I gained understanding, I enjoyed seeing cherished old theologies, spiritualities, and mindsets expose for their failure, for their "errors" i.e., heresies. Yet, there I was drinking in the Ancient Christian Faith as fast as I could, and I quickly became bored and missed the excitement of the "hunt." You see, all the innovative and creative theological and philosophical thinking was accomplished many, many centuries ago. THEY did not need ME. And in fact, some of the most mundane people understood so much more than me. It was humiliating.
Emily Dickinson wrote a poem (her intent eludes me) but for me, it perfectly expressed my experience of the Ancient Faith. I felt a funeral in my brain, there was so much that had to DIE. The ancient Saints and a couple modern ones were stomping around in my head, killing "treasured understandings" - ego invented understanding. I had so many ideas I did not need, so many opinions on crucial topics that were useless and needed to DIE. At the same time, I felt absolutely at home in my faith for the first time in my LIFE, unembarrassed by my church's teaching, knowing it could fully be defended before any atheist or heretic, and without resort to irrationality. As Thomas Aquinas rightly said, "For those with faith, no explanation is necessary. But for those without faith, no explanation is possible." So I could relax and on all those crucial teachings say, "The Church Teaches" and she does. MY unique explications were no longer needed or even HEALTHY. In my brain, that felt like DEATH.
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
By Emily Dickinson
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through -
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum -
Kept beating - beating - till I thought
My mind was going numb -
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space - began to toll,
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here -
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then -
IN honor of those saints stomping on misused brain matter, here is a requiem for those dead cells.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
What does it mean to pray, “Thy Kingdom Come”
From ancient times and when Jesus Spoke these words, he knew the meaning was the reign of the sovereign God. The coming of the Kingdom was not an eschatological wish, but a process of pushing back and conquering all assaults upon the Image of God, all blight upon His Name, all blight upon us, upon His image WE hold.
We were created in the Image of God and from the very first ancient evil forces older than us have been locked in a singular struggle to destroy humankind. It is not just the destruction of our souls Satan seeks, but the annihilation of the human species also. So everything that is destructive and death engendering is in the playbook of evil. Evil has that one wish, the destruction of everything that is LIFE engendering, true, honest, just, pure, lovely and lovable, virtuous, good, worthy of praise.
When we pray, “Thy Kingdom Come” we are praying a prayer larger than Christ's Body, the Church. We are praying a prayer larger than religion, with concrete meaning in society, in civilization, in politics, in economic affairs and well as meaning for our own souls.
We are rejecting evil and embracing every good in this place, the universe, the earth. After all, it was created by God and remains good. It is damaged, it is suffering from the very evil I have described, but it is just wounded, not intrinsically evil of itself, as so many tainted by Gnosticism believe. They speak as if matter itself is evil, an attack upon God and in need of Hell Fire.
Php_4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
We are not just to “think” on the good, as Saint Paul teaches, but also to act on the Good, as Blessed John Paul II taught, having faced the dark night (and for some of us literally the Dark Knight) we are to ”Arise and be on our way.” Engaged in the work of the Kingdom, upon this earth NOW. WE ALL have a job to do. Some of our jobs are pretty "worldly" but God is the judge not other and we must faithfully follow our vocations, no matter how worldly.
A Christian priest in a Soviet Gulag pinned the words, “In the wondrous blending of sounds it is Thy call we hear; in the harmony of many voices, in the sublime beauty of music, in the glory of the works of great composers: Thou leadest us to the threshold of paradise to come, and to the choirs of angels. All true beauty has the power to draw the soul towards Thee, and to make it sing in ecstasy: Alleluia!
“The breath of Thine Holy Spirit inspires artists, poets, and scientists. The power of Thy supreme knowledge makes them prophets and interpreters of Thy laws, who reveal the depths of Thy creative wisdom. Their works speak unwittingly of Thee. How great art Thou in Thy creation! How great art Thou in man!”
These good things have not only the power to draw the soul toward God but also, the power to push back evil. They are tools of the “coming of the Kingdom” as all goodness, and all good actions and life engendering creativity also is.
The reign of God upon the earth, though powered by the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the people of God, extends far beyond that confine, capable of shining Light in every dark and evil corner. When we wrap it in stone and institution and limit it to “inside there” we destroy its community, society, and world changing power. The power to increase HIS reign, and push back destruction, chaos, disease, tyranny, confusion, genocide.
When a drunken degenerate politician accidentally acts for the good, helps create a degree of goodness towards a Liberty loving society, he is with us and has unwittingly advanced the Kingdom. When a scientist creates a true health engendering medicine or therapy, she has acted in the furtherance of the Kingdom. Who would doubt that the very worldly woman, called “Sister” Kenny, who was never a religious a day in her life, was not acting in the furtherance of the Kingdom of God when she pushed back the carnage of Polio with more success and less unintended consequences than any medical doctor or scientist on the face of the earth and to date, even these seven decades later her therapies stand!
When even what is ugly and evil is clearly exposed, a task that brings no pleasure and uplifts no one, it is still a furtherance of God's Reign, since daylight destroys deceit. “Where ever the bounds of beauty, truth, goodness are advanced, there the Kingdom comes” the forces of darkness are pushed back, disease and hatred, demonic distortion and hypnotic delusions, are pushed back.
Who may by their vocation and avocation, hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God? The Doctor, the nurse, the pastor, the priest, the policeman, the soldier, the automobile designer, the auto mechanic, the writer, architect, engineer, the reporter, and yes, even as Pope Francis recently said, “Even the Atheist, when he acts for the good.”
Mothers, Fathers, your JOB is to cause the Kingdom to come in your own lives, so that it may come in your home and in your children and grand children, at your jobs, at your play, at your clubs, at your vocation and avocation. Every human task that is begun with “May your Name be Hallowed, that Thy Kingdom Come and Thy Will be done, and finished with the Gloria” . . . “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen - - That task has become prayer, and PART of the coming of the Kingdom of God, even if it is fixing a leaky pipe, feeding an animal, or exposing political corruption and the conspiracies of Lucifer. As Christians this is our job to consciously DO, to engage on every level. For the non-believer and yes even the atheist, she may unwittingly cooperate. However, the more we are faithful, refusing all falsehoods, all illusions, and all delusion, consciously reaching for the good, we “influence” others toward sanity.
Progressively losing this truth, that ours is the work of the Kingdom here and now, sections of our social services have turned destructive. Sections of our government have turned destructive. Sections of our entertainments have turned destructive. Sections of our educational systems have turned destructive. Sections of our infrastructure are crumbling, some of our bridges are failing, some of our industry is failing, blowing up, burning, parenthood is failing, and greater and greater levels of the chaos of the kingdom of darkness arise.
WE HAVE FAILED in our primary task as the ENGINE of the Coming of the Kingdom, FUELED by the Holy Spirit of the Blessed Trinity, nourished upon the Precious Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, guided by Our Father in Heaven, to Hallow his name, and spread his Kingdom in our wake, as the prophet of old told of such people:
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.”
“Blessed are those inhabiting Thy house, Yet do they praise Thee, whose strength is in Thee, Highways are in their heart. Passing through a valley of weeping, they make fountains of wilderness. They make strength of it, they go from strength unto strength.”
They go from the strength of “Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.” to the strength of “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen.”
Our Father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins;
for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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