Father Aidan's Pulpit

Questions: Is there such a thing as a Real Christian? vs. What is the Gospel of Jesus the Christ?

2011-11-25T05:46:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine, on another post, asked the question, is there such a thing as a real Christian? There were a number of interesting comments and answers in this regard.

In mulling this question over, Is there such a thing as a real Christian?, it seems to me that its the wrong question. It seems to me, that the question is, What is the Gospel of Jesus the Christ? Even the word "gospel" has been watered down to refer to a method for getting saved, an escape plan for the life hereafter, or even personal piety and individualistic religious experience.

But the word is a technical term referring to a royal announcement of a great victory, or the birth, or accession, of an Emperor. One example would be the Priene inscription from about c. 9 BC, found on the Asia Minor coast, which says,

“Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior [swthvr], both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance [ejpifanei'n] (excelled even our anticipations), surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him."

The Gospel of Jesus the Christ is a royal announcment that Jesus the Christ is Lord, Lord of the world, Lord of the cosmos, Lord of earth and heaven, by virtue of his Incarnation, Death and Resurrection; that He has inaugarted the beginnings of New Creation and Lordship, over against all other principalites and powers (earthly or spiritual- especially Ceasar at the time); and is a Summons of Allegiance to Jesus as Lord; and that there is no area of human life that is exempt from this Summons. No Herald of the ancient world would have thought that a Gospel of Ceasar would be an invitation to accept Ceasars rule if you felt like it. A Gospel is an Announcement and Summons to Allegiance, not an experience. In fact the only experience guaranteed by Jesus was to pick up our cross and follow Him.

I know this is a heavy thought but the question is not about what makes a good or bad Christian; but what we do with the Gospels royal announcement and Summons to allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord. Only when we've really dealt with this question, can we then ask the questions that surely must follow, including how we've messed this up too throughout our attempts over the past 2,000 years; or what we can do about it now.

We must first deal with the the Gospels royal announcement and Summons to allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord.

Dark and Difficult Times....

2011-11-20T22:18:00.001-08:00

"Dark and Difficult times lie ahead; soon we must all face the choice between what is Right and what is easy."

---Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter, in the Goblet of Fire

Five Recognizable Marks of the Church- Lecture by Thomas Howard

2011-10-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

Five Recognizable Marks of the Church

-a Lecture by Thomas Howard - who is a renowned Christian writer and scholar, known for his works on C.S. Lewis and another Inkling, Charles Williams.

As an Anglican I became aware that I, as an individual believer, stood in a very long and august lineage of the faithful, stretching back to the apostles and fathers. The picture had changed for me: It was no longer primarily me, my Bible, and Jesus (although heaven knows that is not altogether a bad picture: the only question is, is it the whole picture?). Looming for me, as an Anglican, was “the faith,” ancient, serene, undimmed, true. And that faith somehow could not be split apart from “the Church.” But then, what was the Church?

I realized that, one way or another, I had to come to terms with the Church in all of its antiquity, its authority, its unity, its liturgy, and its sacraments. Those five marks, or aspects, of the Church are matters that all of us, I think, would find to be eluding us in the free churches. I speak as a Roman Catholic, for that is where my own pilgrimage has brought me in my quest for this Church in all of its antiquity, authority, unity, liturgy, and sacraments. Let me touch on each of these briefly.

Antiquity

First, the antiquity of the Church confronts me. As an Evangelical, I discovered while I was in college that it was possible to dismiss the entire Church as having gone off the rails by about a.d. 95. That is, we, with our open Bibles, knew better than old Ignatius or Polycarp or Clement, who had been taught by the apostles themselves—we knew better than they just what the Church is and what it should look like. Never mind that our worship services would have been unrecognizable to them, or that our church government would have been equally unrecognizable, or that the vocabulary in which we spoke of the Christian life would have been equally unrecognizable. We were right, and the Fathers were wrong. That settled the matter.

The trouble here was that what these wrong-headed men wrote—about God, about our Lord Jesus Christ, about his Church, about the Christian’s walk and warfare—was so titanic, and so rich, and so luminous, that their error seemed infinitely truer and more glorious than my truth. I gradually felt that it was I, not they, who was under surveillance. The “glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, and the holy Church throughout all the world” (to quote the ancient hymn, the Te Deum) judge me, not I them. Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement, Justin, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Cyril, Basil, the Gregorys, Augustine, Ambrose, Hilary, Benedict—it is under the gaze of this senate that I find myself standing. Alas. How tawdry, how otiose, how flimsy, how embarrassing, seem the arguments that I had been prepared, so gaily, to put forward against the crushing radiance of their confession. The Church is here, in all of its antiquity, judging me.

Authority

Second, the Church in itsauthorityconfronts me. That strange authority to bind and to loose that our Lord bestowed on his disciples has not evaporated from the Church—or so the Church has believed from the beginning. If you will read the story of those decades that followed Pentecost, and especially that followed upon the death of the apostles, you will discover that the unction to teach and to preside in the Church that passed from the apostles to the bishops was understood to be an apostolic unction. I, for example, could not start up out of the bulrushes and say, “Hi, everybody! The Lord has led me to be a bishop! I’m starting me a church over here.” The whole Christian community—bishops, presbyters, deacons, and laity—would have looked solemnly at me and gone about their business.

The Holy Spirit, in those days, did not carry on private transactions with isolated souls, and then announce to the Church that so-and-so had been anointed for this or that ministry. The unction of the Holy Spirit, and the authority of the Church to ordain for ministry, were not two random enterprises. The Holy Spirit worked in, and through, the Church’s ministry and voice. To be sure, he could do what he wanted to do, as he had always done, being God. Under the Old Covenant, we could say that he worked in and through Israel; but of course you find these extra characters like Job and Jethro and the Magi, coming across the stage from outside the Covenant, yet nonetheless undeniably having been in touch with God. God can do what he wants, of course.

But the Church understands herself to be the appointed vessel for God’s working, just as the Incarnation was. Her authority is not her own. She arrogates nothing to herself. Her bishops and patriarchs are the merest custodians, the merest passers-on, we might say, of the deposit of faith. As a Roman Catholic, I am, of course, acutely conscious of this. When someone objects to me, “But who does the Catholic Church think she is, taking this high and mighty line” (about abortion or about sexual morality or about who may or may not come to the Lord’s Table), the answer is, “She doesn’t think she’s anything particular, if you mean that she has set herself up among the wares in the flea market as somehow the best. She has her given task to do—to pass on the teaching given by the apostles, and she has no warrant to change that. She is not taking her cues from the Nielsen ratings, or from a poll, or even from a sociological survey as to what people feel comfortable with nowadays. She didn’t start the Church, and it’s not her Church.”

As a free-church Christian, one can, of course, make up one’s mind about lots of things. Shall I fast or not? Well, that’s for me to decide. Shall I give alms? Again— a matter for my own judgment. Must I go to church? That, certainly, is my own affair. Need I observe this or that feast day in the church year? I’ll make up my own mind. Piety and devotion are matters of one’s own tailoring: No one may peer over my shoulder and tell me what to do.

Indeed, no one may do anything of the sort—ifwe are speaking of ourselves as Americans who have constitutional rights. But if we are speaking of ourselves as Christian believers, then there is a touchstone other than the Constitution by which our choices must be tested.

Our Christian ancestors knew nothing of this sprightly individualism when it came to the disciplines of the spiritual life. They fasted on Fridays, and they went to church on Sundays. Some Roman pope did not make these things up. They took shape in the Church very early, and nobody dreamed of cobbling up a private spirituality. And likewise with all sorts of questions. Shall women be ordained as priests? It is, eventually, not a matter of job description, or of politics, or even of common sense or public justice. The question is settled by what the Church understands the priesthood to be—with cogent reasoning given, to be sure. It is not a question to be left interminably open to the public forum for decade after decade of hot debate.

The Church is here, in all of its authority, judging us.

Unity

Third, the Church in itsunityconfronts me. This is the most difficult and daunting matter. But one thing eventually became clear: My happy Evangelical view of the church’s unity as being nothing more than the worldwide clutter that we had under our general umbrella was, for good or ill, not what the ancient Church had understood by the wordunity. As an Evangelical, I could pick which source of things appealed most to me: Dallas Seminary; Fuller Seminary;John Wimber; Azusa Street; the Peninsula Bible Church;Hudson Taylor; the deeper life as taught at Keswick;Virginia Mollenkott;John Stott; orSam Shoemaker. And in one sense, variety is doubtless a sign of vigorous life in the Church. But in another sense, of course, it is a disaster. It is disastrous if I invest any of the above with the authority that belongs alone to the Church. But then who shall guide my choices?

Once again, we come back to the picture that we have in the ancient Church. Whatever varieties of expression there may have been—in Alexandria as over against Lyons or in Antioch as over against Rome—nevertheless, when it came to the faith itself, and also to order and discipline and piety in the Church, no one was left groping or mulling over the choices in the flea market.

Where we Protestants were pleased to live with a muddle—even with stark contradiction (as in the case of Luther versus Zwingli, for example)—the Church of antiquity was united. No one needed to remain in doubt for long as to what the Christian Church might be, or where it might be found. The Montanists were certainly zealous and earnest, and had much to commend them; the difficulty, finally, was that they werenot the Church. Likewise with the Donatists. God bless them for their fidelity and ardor and purity, but they werenot the Church. As protracted and difficult as the Arian controversy was, no one needed to remain forever in doubt as to what the Church had settled upon: Athanasius was fighting for the apostolic faith,against heresy. It did not remain an open question forever.

There was one Church and the Church was one. And this was a discernible, visible, embodied unity, not a loose aggregate of vaguely like-minded believers with their various task forces all across the globe. The bishop of Antioch was not analogous to the general secretary of the World Evangelical Fellowship or the head of the National Association of Evangelicals. He could speak with the full authority of the Church behind him; these latter gentlemen can only speak for their own organization. He was not even analogous to the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church or the presiding bishop of the Episcopalians, neither of whom is understood by his clientele to be speaking in matters of doctrine and morality with an undoubted apostolic authority.

This line of thought could bring us quickly to the point at which various voices today might start bidding for our attention, each one of them with “Hey—oursis the apostolic voice—over here!” That is not my task here. I only would want to urge you to test your own understanding of the Church against the Church’s ancient understanding of itself as united, as one. What is that unity? It is a matter that has perhaps been answered too superficially and frivolously for the last two hundred years in American Protestantism. The Church in its unity is here, judging us.

Liturgy

Fourth, theliturgyof the Church confronts and judges me. That seems like an odd way of putting it: In what sense can anyone say that the liturgy “judges” me? Certainly it does not condemn me or pass any sort of explicit judgment on me. But if only by virtue of its extreme antiquity and universality, it constitutes some sort of touchstone for the whole topic of Christian worship.

Often the topic is approached as though it were a matter of taste: John likes fancy worship—smells and bells—and Bill likes simplicity and spontaneity and informality. There’s the end of the discussion. And certainly, as I mentioned before, God receives any efforts, however halting and homespun, which anyone offers as worship, just as any father or mother will receive the offering of a limp fistful of dandelions as a bouquet from a tiny child. On the other hand, two considerations might be put forward at this point.

First, what did the Church, from the beginning, understand by worship— that is, by its corporate, regular act of worship? TheBook of Actsgives us little light on the precise shape or content of the Christians’ gatherings: The apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers are mentioned. St. Paul’s Epistles do not spell out what is to be done. We have to look to other early writings if we are curious about the apostolic church’s worship. And what we find when we do so is the Eucharistic liturgy. This, apparently, was what they did as worship. If we think we have improved on that pattern, we may wish to submit our innovations for scrutiny to the early Church in order to discover whether our innovations have in fact been improvements.

Which brings us to the second consideration: the content of the Eucharistic liturgy. From the beginning, the Church seems to have followed a given sequence: readings from Scripture (including the letters from Paul and Peter and John), then prayers, and then the so-calledanaphora—the “offering,” or, as it was also called, the Great Thanksgiving. This was the great Eucharistic Prayer, which took on a fairly exact shape at the outset, and which you may still hear if you listen to the liturgy in any of the ancient churches. Psalmody, canticles, and hymns also came to be included, and certain acclamations like the “Kyrie, eleison!” The whole presents a shape of such rich perfection that one wonders what exactly is the task of the “coordinators of worship” on the staff of various churches. The worship of the ancient Church is far from being a matter of endless tinkering, experimenting, and innovating. The entire mystery of revelation and redemption is unfurled for us in the church’s liturgy. That liturgy is here in all of its plentitude, majesty, and magnificence, judging us.

Sacraments

Fifth and finally, thesacramentsof the Church confront me. The wordsacramentis the Latin word for the Greekmysterion,mystery. Indeed, we are in the presence of mystery here, for the sacraments, like the Incarnation itself, constitute physical points at which the eternal touches time, or the unseen touches the seen, or grace touches nature. It is the Gnostics and Manichaeans who want a purely disembodied religion.

Judaism, and its fulfillment, Christianity, are heavy with matter. First, at creation itself, where solid matter was spoken into existence by the Word of God. Then redemption, beginning not with the wave of a spiritual wand, nor with mere edicts pronounced from the sky, but rather with skins and blood—the pelts of animals slaughtered by the Lord God to cover our guilty nakedness. Stone altars, blood, fat, scapegoats, incense, gold, acacia wood—the Old Covenant is heavily physical.

Then the New Covenant: We now escape into the purely spiritual and leave the physical behind, right? Wrong. First a pregnancy, then a birth. Obstetrics and gynecology, right at the center of redemption. Fasting in the wilderness, water to wine, a crown of thorns, splinters and nails and blood—our eternal salvation carried out in grotesquely physical terms. Then pure spirituality, right? Wrong. A corpse resuscitated. And not only that—a human body taken up into the midmost mysteries of the eternal Trinity. And Bread and Wine, Body and Blood, pledged and given to the Church, for as long as history lasts. Who has relegated this great gift to the margins of Christian worship and consciousness? By what warrant did men, 1,500 years after the Lord’s gift of his Body and Blood, decide that this was a mere detail, somewhat embarrassing, and certainly nothing central or crucial—a show-and-tell device at best? O tragedy! O sacrilege! What impoverishment for the faithful!

May God grant, in these latter days, a gigantic ingathering, as it were, when Christians who have loved and served him according to patterns and disciplines and notions quite remote from those of the ancient Church find themselves taking their places once again in the great Eucharistic mystery of his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

---Adapted from a lecture given in 1993 to the Fellowship of St. Barnabas in Oklahoma City.

To Read the whole article, please see Touchstone Magazine article, "Recognizing the Church: A Personal Pilgrimage & the Discovery of Five Marks of the Church,"
by Thomas Howard:

http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=06-03-005-f#ixzz1brsfI0fX

Buyer Beware!! --Problems with Progressive Lense Glasses

2011-10-22T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I hit another mile stone indicating that I am getting older. One of the first indicators, when I was about thirty was that I started getting ties, socks and sweaters as birthday or Christmas gifts. Another,that I started experiencing a few years ago is falling asleep while watching TV- something I'd never done but fondly remember my father doing. In the last few days, its see the eye doctor and getting a prescription for, now don't laugh, Bifocal glasses! I was told that many people after they turn forty begin to have diminished reading ability, etc.

However, when I took my prescription to the lense and frame sellers, I was told that Progressive Lenses were the new bifocal without lines (actually, more of a multi-focal); and was the way to go. Its only been a few days but I am not convinced; and have been experiencing a number of problems, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, eye strain, eye pain and blurriness, etc.

With any new pair of glasses there is usually an initial time of adjusting to the new prescription. With Progressives, I am finding out that the adjustment period can take a few days to several weeks, and in some cases, a few months. I was never informed of this problem! After wearing them to work yesterday, I was ready to rip my eye balls out of socket! The eye strain and pain was like a slow torture. Everything felt blurry and I could not focus on anything longer than just a few seconds before I was hurting again. I had a hard time sleeping for several hours because of the pain.

My Reading experience is the worst! Reading is not only part of my job but one of my passions in life; and not being able to read without pain, discomfort, strain and blurriness, is simply miserable and disconcerting. I'm trying to give them a chance over the weekend but I am not at all happy with the possibility of a lengthy adjustment period before I can read again!

Buyer Beware!!

The Measure of a Man

2011-10-20T06:33:00.001-07:00

I had lunch today (this was posted elsewhere a few years ago) with my friend, Fr Jeff Olkie. During the course of our conversation, he made the comment, that "the Measure of a Man is what he does when he is Alone."

There is much that could be said about that statment but to do so would only mar a perfectly sufficient statement. Let each man examine his own heart and consider this for himself. I know I will.

Prayer-Alert--Iranian-Pastor-Facing-Execution-in-Next-24-Hours.

2011-09-29T00:07:00.000-07:00

Prayer-Alert--Iranian-Pastor-Facing-Execution-in-Next-24-Hours

http://www.persecution.org/2011/09/29/iranian-christian-pastor-death-sentence-may-be-overturned/

Toward a Hedge-Priest ministry in the Anglican Tradition

2011-07-03T00:47:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, I have been connecting with people outside of the traditional denominational institutional "Box". Some of them are atheists, New Agers, and Druids, etc. Some still feel a connection with Christ Jesus but not with Church. Some have said I am the only Christian (and even priest) they have ever felt comfortable with. I even have a dear friend (an atheist or agnostic) who refers to me as her priest! She often tells people that, "My priest says that I'm a Pagan!" -which is both a kind of joke between us but also an expression of endearment.

Hedge-Priest: It seems I am becoming somewhat of a "Hedge-Priest"!!! lol

This term usually takes on the definitions of a: rustic, outlandish, sometimes uneducated or illiterate, poor, mean, itinerant vagabond priest, without benefice or home, but one authorized to perform the Rites and Sacraments of and by the church. For those who know me...See any resemblance? haha

However, I've also heard that the term Hedge Priest is also a variant of the terms Hedge-Witch or Hegde-Druid. A Hedgewitch, has traditionally been seen as a shamanistic person who can cross the “hedge” or boundary between this world and the other. The Hedgewitch is usually a solitary practitioner, but may be attended by assistants. Her main function is as mediator between the spirit world (the Divine) and people. She may also work as a herbal healer and midwife.

The term has also been applied to John Ball, an English Lollard Priest (c. 1338[1] – 15 July 1381), who was part of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. According to Wikipedia, "He is said to have gained considerable fame as a roving preacher — a "hedge priest" without a parish or any cure linking him to the established order — by expounding the doctrines of John Wycliffe, and especially by his insistence on social equality" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ball_%28priest%29).

Hmmm. Well, I'm just a simple Christian Priest but I do have a certain spiritual affinity and connection with both the Celtic Christian tradition and the Contemplative/mystical/monastic expressions of the Gospel and church history; and I am very interested in Inter-Religious/Inter-Spiritual dialogue. As an Anglican Priest (albeit a more Contemplative one), I love both the more traditional (Rite One) and high church expressions but also feel a much more earthy rustic spirituality-which unfortunately the institutional aspects of the church too often get in the way of.

My ministry, small though it may be, does seem to be moving more and more outside the hedge of traditional parish ministry; providing friendship and Spiritual Direction with people wherever they are in their journey.

Some of these changes are a result of my own spiritual growth process; together with certain guiding theological principles. One of these was the difference between the Roman and Celtic Model of Evangelism. The book, "The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West...Again" by George G. Hunter III, addressed and confirmed certain principles I was learning by personal or mystical insight.

In the Roman Model, the Gospel was preached primarily within the boundaries of Roman civilization and culture. The Gospel was proclaimed, if one accepted it, then one could be made a member of the church. It was a Belief before Belonging system. However, in the Celtic Model, the Gospel was taken outside the boundaries of language, civilization and culture; and was shared openly with people at the crossroads of life. It was a Belonging before Belief system.

Together with the spiritual principle of the Anamchara (or Soul-friend tradition, a borrowed druid practice), who would come alongside of people and walk alongside of them in their spiritual journey in Christ, offering spiritual counsel through spiritual friendship; not just ministry from a pulpit or lectern. and its much more personal and earthy.

Yours,

The Rev. Father Jerry "Aidan" Hix, O.S.C.

Sharings on Raimon Pannikar's Christophany

2011-06-19T02:47:00.001-07:00

It's difficult to put into words the experience of reading Pannikar. Sometimes it did feel like being submerged in waters to deep or great waves overwhelming my little life raft, taking me down, only to come up again a little while later, choking, gasping for breath; but also the thrill of a surfer riding the waves back to shore.

Father Panikkar has helped broaden and deepen my appreciation for Jesus, for Christ, for life itself. Though he may not have wrapped up his book with the conclusions some of may have hoped for, for myself, the conclusion seems to be brought down to the simple level of being, of presence, and of my practice of taking my seat of meditation and there in that space learning to empty myself (Kenosis), to let go, and allow for that warm space of abundance, of love, grace and the divine presence.

I have not always been faithful to my seated-practice of meditation. Sometimes life gets in the way. Over the past six months, I've experienced several health problems, including pneumonia; and recently my wife was gang rushed by about 60+ students during a mini-riot at the school she at, was injured, bruised all over her body, her shoulder torn out of socket, etc., that left her with one arm in a sling and trying to hobble around on a crutch with the other. She just had surgery yesterday and is in alot of pain; and she still has not been paid for worker's compensation.

Yet, in the midst of all this, even though my sitting for specific times of meditation has been blown off course a bit, there is still that gentle returning again and again to awareness (spiritual awareness like the Welcoming Prayer) of the divine presence in the midst of life's waves, somehow learning to manifest rather than just believing or mental assents. I feel somehow different and I think a large portion is the outpouring of love and wisdom I experienced in Pannikar-his book and video's I have watched, like the Window, etc.

We've been married for almost 22 years, and my wife has been through many surgeries and health issues; yet, this is the first time she's really noticed in a deep way that I was there for her, beside her, and caring for her, whether going to doctor's visits, cleaning the house, or just bringing her another ice pack. It's almost like I was invisible before but both of us have changed in our love for each other and experience of God. We are more aware of each other, of love and presence. There is a softening, gentling, deepening, expanding, breathing, experience of something other, that I am sensing withing myself; and a greater awareness of others, even little creatures and insects who are breathing the same air that I am.

No, I cannot explain it any better than Pannikar. But I think the answer lies within each one of us, within our own experience of this deepening Christophany; and as our experience of this something other in love embraces and is embraced with others who are also experiencing this deepening, together we will find the answer, both out there and withing ourselves.

-from an unpublished draft in June 2011

How faith brings wisdom and serenity

2011-05-29T03:21:00.000-07:00

See Article on Helium:

http://www.helium.com/items/2164395-spirituality-meditation

Christ's reality is not limited to saving souls

2011-05-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

A quote by Father Raimon Pannikar seemed relevant today considering how many people were expecting the rapture or end of the world.

Christ's reality is not limited to saving souls

Although history must not be neglected, neither may Christ's historical role be ignored, Christ's reality is not limited to saving souls, making them, so to speak, ascend to heaven. Christ's full reality cannot be split into three nor reduced to one function. Christ is the Only Begotten and First Begotten, Mary's son and Son of Man, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, this is why his reality transcends the categories of substance and individuality, as well as other concepts that need to be reeaximined, like those of creation and redemption.

A spiritual comment may help us understand what such a christophany accentuates. Our fidelity to and love of Christ do not alienate us from our kindred—which includes angels, animals, plants, the earth, and, of course, men and women. Christ is a symbol of union, friendship, and love, not a wall that separates. Jesus is certainly a sign of contradiction, not because he separates us from others but rather because he heals our hypocrisies, fears, and egoism, while leaving us as vulnerable as himself. Instead of rejecting others because they are pagan, nonbelievers, sinners—whereas we are righteous and justified—Jesus impels us toward others and makes us see the negative which is in us too. Insofar as we share love, sympathy, suffering, and joy with all our neighbors, we discover the true face of Christ that is in all of us. “You have done it to me” (Matthew 25:40) is no simple moral exhortation to do good; it is rather an ontological assertion of Christ’s presence in the other, in every other, in the smallest of the small—not for the purpose of discovering an “other” hidden in the neighbor but in order to discover the neighbor as part of ourselves. In fact, neither those on the right nor the left are conscious of the presence of Christ (Matthew 25:37) because what matters is the human face of the neighbor.

[Part 3 Christophany: The Christic Experience: Chapter 6—The Protological, Historical, and Eschatological Christ Is a Unique and Selfsame Reality,
Distended in Time, Extended in Space, and Intentional in Us, p. 168]

Just War Theory & Gravitation from Above- a Christian Way of Seeing

2011-05-04T02:51:00.000-07:00

Just War Theory & Gravitation from Above- a Christian Way of Seeing

Unfortunately, most who've read and responded to my article on "My Reflections of the Death of Osama Bin Laden", on or offline, have my missed my point, though my brother Jose grasped and articulated part of it. I was not making a campaign of sympathy for Osama; nor was I suggesting that his death was unnecessary. In fact, I made it explicitly clear that I believe in the "Just War" theology; that it was a Necessary Killing; and that as a former soldier I would probably have taken the shot- though I would hope I could have done it from a deeper place of "being in Christ" than mere hate and vengeance.

As a side note what is Just War Theory? It deals with the morality regarding the Use of Force, and moral reasons and conditions for "legitimate defense by military force" which justify war under those certain conditions. Some of these include:

* when it is right to resort to armed force?
* what is acceptable in using such force?
* the justice of war termination and peace agreements, as well as the prosecution of war criminals.(jus post bellum)
* the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
* all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
* there must be serious prospects of success;
* the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power as well as the precision of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

However, what I was referring to was a different level of consciousness or awareness that Christ calls us to- the Unitive Vision when our Eye is Single ("when your Eye is single you shall be full of light") and not caught up in duality and our false-self system of Ego -based grasping and aversions; and that many Christians who are called to love even our enemies (from a higher source) were manifesting hate.

Not sure who said this, but its true nevertheless: "I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

We see an example of this in Peter when Jesus bids him to walk on the water with him. Cynthia Bougeault tells it like this:

"As the narrative unfolds in Matthew 14:22–33, the disciples are making a somewhat stormy late-night boat passage across the Sea of Galilee when they suddenly see Jesus walking toward them on the water. “Do not be afraid,” he tells them; “for it is I”—or as the biblical Greek literally reads, “for I Am.” Peter, always the impetuous one, plunges out of the boat and starts walking across the water toward his master. In the language of the tradition, he is under the sway of “gravitation
from above,” his heart so pointedly fixed on Jesus that he rises briefly to Jesus’ level of being, a level of being at which the laws of the physical universe are transcended. He nearly makes it, too—but suddenly he feels the storm against his face, realizes that what he’s doing is impossible, and becomes frightened. And of course, at that moment he sinks. It is a vivid metaphor, not only to help us grasp what level of being means but also against which to measure our contemporary shortfall."

We cannot live out the true depths of Jesus Christ's teaching from the false-self system of egoic consciousness; nor from just mere going to church and singing praise songs (wonderful though those are). He calls us to a different kind of Mind, what Paul both calls the "Inner Man" of the "Mind of Christ." Having the Christ Mind is not just mental assent to Creeds and Doctrine; it is the unitive experience of the Singleness of the Eye, where we can love our enemies (which again doesn't mean being doormats) from this higher dimension of our being-which is exactly what Christ calls us to.

Christ did not come to be merely our Lord and Savior but also as the "moshel meshalim (Master of Wisdom)” and the Life-Giver. But we have over emphasized his role as Savior to the exclusion of his being Life-Giver; and have made Christianity nothing more than moral platitudes and an Evacuation Plan for the Afterlife (I got my ticket to heaven!); and so, we end up making excuses that we are not Jesus to justify our hatred-which is a contradiction of everything Christ calls us to be.

But Christ also came to Give us Life, to Awaken us to the higher reality of being in Union with God, to be Partakes of his Divine Nature, to existentially experience the transformation of our egoic consciousness to that of Having the Mind of Christ, and putting on the Inner Man. He came to "MIRROR" for us who we are to "Be" in and through Him.

As he said to the woman at the well (John 4),

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water....“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When we truly begin to "Recognize" Christ, and ask for that drink of Infinite Life, then out of our own innermost being comes forth this living water. This transformation comes from prayer and learning to be Still-to still our normal and fallen egoic way of thinking through meditation and contemplation). Be still and know God.

Maurice Nicoll speaks of the faltering steps of learning to See like Jesus when she says: “As one’s level of being increases, receptivity to higher meaning increases. As one’s being decreases, the old meanings return.”

It was out of one of those moments when I was caught up in the "gravitation from above" and could see and feel things from that deeper well of being where we begin to experience the Mind and Love of Christ that I was speaking.

If only I could learn to live in that state of being but "As one’s being decreases, the old meanings return."

My Reflections of the Death of Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-01T23:51:00.000-07:00

I felt mixed emotions at the news. It was a necessary killing but to rejoice in another mans death, still bothered me.

I once read where someone asked the Dali Lama whether is was ok to kill another if it would prevent the torture or killing of many other lives. He said only if it could be done out of a heart filled with compassion and love. But he also said, "But I don't think I could do it."

I'm not a Buddhist but both the Buddha and Jesus Christ taught non-violence. Yes, there is the theology of the "Just War." Sometimes it is necessary. But it should be "executed" from a deeper place than mere hate and vengeance. If I had to take the shot, I would probably have done it (I was a Soldier once) but I would hope that I would have done it out of love and compassion and justice for those who had died because of him and love for those who would not die tomorrow because of him; and not because my heart was full of anger, hatred and vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord.

So, yes, I felt grateful but sickened by those who rejoiced in any mans death. perhaps its just a passing emotion from my current spiritual state of awareness. But nevertheless, I feel a conflict of emotions and thoughts. Justice was served but I weep for both his death and those he had killed.

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful. It was a necessary killing. But what bothers me is the hate I sense in the people who rejoice over it. I do not hate Obama. I pity him, for he is now probably in hell. But I love and weep for those who have died and rejoice for those who will live because or not die because of his death.

I guess its just this subtle something that is changing in me over the past year. I see things from a different sense of consciousness and heart. Not that I am living a holy and righteous life. It hasn't changed my lusts, fears and weaknesses. I just feel them all from a different place that I have ever been before.

Reflections from Sacred Scripture:

-"Do you think I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live." Ezekiel 18:23

Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount(Excerpts)-Matthew 5-7

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister[b][c] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’[d] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Eye for Eye
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[h] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 7
Judging Others
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Romans 12.14
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

etc, etc, etc

Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity- Why Feminizing the Trinity Won't Work- A Metaphysical Perspective by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault

2011-04-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity-Why Feminizing the Trinity Won't Work-
A Metaphysical Perspective by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault

http://archive.cacradicalgrace.org/conferences/post_sog/trinity.html

Review on "The Rite-The Making of a Modern Exorcist" by Matt Baglio

2011-02-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

The Rite-The Making of a Modern Exorcist
by Matt Baglio

Review by Father Aidan J. Hix, O.S.C.
Thursday, February 17, 2011

C.S. Lewis once said "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them." When I was a teenager, my friend Arlon and I would read books on the Occult, demons and Possession by several supposed Christian authors such as Nicky Cruz’s book, “Satan on the Loose.” I felt both excited and terrified by the prospect of ever encountering such a phenomena as a demon or a demon possessed person.

In fact, even now, as an ordained priest, the idea seems a bit eerie! I’ve often joked around about such a prospect by saying if I was ever called upon to do an exorcism that I would call for a fleet of Fire trucks and bless each one as a container of Holy Water; then would proceed to man the water gun turret and lead the charge with all hoses on full force!

But the truth is that the problem of evil is not a laughing matter; and Matt Baglio did a wonderful job of introducing the world to darker side of faith and the battle between good and evil. He told the story of Father Gary Thomas’ journey of becoming an exorcist; and the testimonies of many who claimed to have been possessed by an outside entity and the story of their liberation, often a gradual process over a period of years.

The book provides a wide overview of the multifaceted issues concerning Demon Possession and Exorcism. He touches briefly on the historical and Biblical development of the idea of the “Devil”, Angelology, Demonology, as well as other Theological concerns; including the development and use of the Roman Catholic Ritual of Exorcism. All of which decry the sensationalist portrayals of Hollywood.

However, he does not focus only on the question of personified evil and possession from a religious, albeit Catholic perspective; but commits an entire section of the book to discuss how modern research from the scientific and medical community accounts for “anomalous healing.” This covers such exciting concepts as:
• healing vs curing
• voodoo possession as a kind of psychotherapy or Folk Therapy
• advances in neuroscience
• benefits of an exorcism in treating people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
• Reattributing techniques
• Placebo effects
• therapeutic rituals
• Expectancy
• Motivational Concordance
• Self-actualization
• Prayer as a therapeutic ritual
• Quantum Entanglement & healing from a distance
• The Spiritual Brain and Mystical Experiences
• Differentiating the source from psychosis to possession

Matt Baglio’s book goes along way in debunking the sensational misunderstanding of the Catholic practice of exorcism. Most exorcisms are quite mundane with very little physical manifestation, though some can be quite violent. Although there are still stories of abuse and deaths of victims of possible possessions due to medieval like practices, the practice in the American catholic church is that a candidate for exorcism must have a complete physical and psychological/psychiatric evaluation and the permission of a bishop prior to an exorcism ever being done.

Interestingly, a major part of the ongoing process of deliverance ministry is assisting the afflicted person being “proactive” in their own recovery by a return to the spiritual disciplines of going to church, prayer, the Sacraments (especially Confession and Holy Communion) and putting their faith in God. It reminds us that this is a ministry to people who are hurting and afflicted; and not merely engaging in the sensational or paranormal.

I believe Matt Baglio’s book, The Rite, is one of the best books I’ve ever read on this aspect of Pastoral Ministry; and should be part of every pastor’s arsenal. It certainly touched me deeply and dispelled many of my fears and concerns; and reminded me of the power of faith and the hope we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Demonic Oppression, Deliverance, Liberation and Spiritual Transformation

2011-02-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

Demonic Oppression, Deliverance, Liberation and Spiritual Transformation

A Summary of my Sermon
By Fr. Aidan Hix, O.S.C.
St. David’s Anglican Church
Fairfax, CA
Sunday, 2-13-2011
6th Sunday after Epiphany

Lessons:
Ecclesiacticus 15.11-20;
Ps. 119.1-16 or 9-16; 1 Cor. 3.1-9;
Matt 5. 21-37

SETTING THE STAGE

In light of the new movie, “The Rite” starring Anthony Hopkins, (based on the book “The Rite- The Making of a Modern Exorcist” by Matt Baglio), portraying the subject of personified evil and demon possession, I was rather surprised to discover such a connection with The Lord’s Sermon on The Mount. The Sermon on the Mount, especially the beginning passages know as the Beatitudes, are even lauded as beautiful prose and wisdom sayings by people of many different faiths.

However, as I simply sat with this Sermon during my times of meditation over the past few weeks, I started re-reading the context by going back to the passages of scripture just prior to Jesus sitting down on the hill and beginning to teach. Beginning with Matthew 4.12-5.3, the story reads as follows:

“12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-- 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying…”

It was in the context of Christ’s ministry of Teaching on the Kingdom of God, Healing the afflicted and Delivering people from the bondage of Demon Possession, that He sat down and began to teach them High Principles of Spiritual Liberation and Transformation. In the Gospel of Luke 4.15-21, Christ specifically identifies himself with this ministry:

15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them,"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

All we have to do to awaken to the reality of Evil, is to watch a movie like The Rite or watch the evening News. History is full of personified evil. Think of Nero, Diocletian, Hitler.

We seem to have a better grasp of the heaviness of evil than we do the power of Christ’s message of Spiritual Liberation and Transformation; and that is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about! What Christ was pointing to was not mere moral platitudes but experiencing the life changing experience of the Spirit, an Inner Renewal and Awakening, a call to the restoration of the pre-lapsarian state of Man. As Paul puts it, ““Thus it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”-1 Corinthians 15:45; and in Romans 5:12-21:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification* leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.“

Below are just a few of the headlines and outline of my sermon from Sunday.

I. There are several different dimensions of Impartation & Revelation in Christ’s Teaching, from the moral requirements of the Law to Hidden shades of meaning He imparts only to His Disciple’s.

A. He reminds them to follow the tenets and morals of the Law.
• 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

• You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…

B. He taught in Parables to the Crowds; but He instructed his Disciples in the Secrets of the Spiritual Life

• “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables”; or
• “With many such parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them; and when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples”
• [please note the emphasis on "when they were alone" or "them that are without."]);
• Jesus tells His apostles: “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now;”

C. These dimensions of revelation and impartation of the Mysteries of the Faith are mentioned by St. Paul.

• “I came to you bearing the divine testimony, not alluring you with human wisdom but with the power of the Spirit. Truly ‘we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,’ but it is no human wisdom. ‘We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world’ began, and which none even of the princes of this world know. The things of that wisdom are beyond men’s thinking, ‘but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit … the deep things of God,’ ‘which the Holy Ghost teacheth.’ These are spiritual things, to be discerned only by the spiritual man, in whom is the mind of Christ. ‘And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ…. Ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.’

• Carnal Man (of the body/flesh)- one governed by the urges & aversions of the body
• Natural Man (of the soul/psychikos)-natural human qualities- governed by emotions & intellect
• Spiritual Man (pneumatikos)- one governed and transformed by the Holy Spirit (the Saints).

D. These dimensions of revelation and impartation of the Mysteries of the Faith are mentioned by the Early Church Fathers.

• St Clement of Alexandria. One quote from Clement in his Stromata, says,

“”The Lord … allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if one say that it is written, ‘There is nothing secret which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,’ let him also hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall appear manifest to the few…. The Mysteries are delivered mystically, that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in his voice, but in his understanding…. The writing of these memoranda of mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of grace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall the archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus.”

II. So, What’s the Point?

A. The Law teaches us the basic principles, values and morals of the Faith (summed up in the 10 Commandments):

B. The Prophets teach us about the Inner or higher spirit of the Law

C. Christ reveals the highest dimensions of the Law & principles of transformation.
• 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them….
• 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
• Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times….
• But I say to you…..

Matthew 5:21-24,27-30,33-37
Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and `whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
"You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be `Yes, Yes' or `No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

D. Some of the higher principles:
• He requires us to put aside Anger
• To take the initiative in Reconciliation
• Make Friends with your accuser
• He requires us to have control not only over outer things of the Law but over the Inner workings of the heart, like Lust and Sexual Desire
• To take extreme actions (removing the offending member)-Spiritual Disciplines & Following a spiritual practice and awareness of Divine Presence

III. How?
• It requires a change of Consciousness
• The Kingdom is near (at hand)
• The Kingdom is within Us
• He came to mirror for us who we really are in God.

We need to awaken to the reality of the spiritual life and transformation Christ calls us to. He did not come to merely Redeemer/Savior (because of this doctrine we tend to put off until the hope of heaven in the hereafter our personal responsibility of living a trasnformed life in the here and now) but he also came as Life Giver- to give us life now and to mirror for us who we are as the Imagio Dei (Image of God).

A Mystical Awakening, A Spiritual Indwelling, A Transformed Being, A Spiritual Community.

CONCLUSION.

(T.S. Eliot, The Little Giddings, 4th Quartet)

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

Opening the Box and setting the Spirit Free

2011-02-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

Wow. I am an avid reader but have rarely come across an author that has condensed so much into so little. Every sentence is filled with energy and resonates from the page. Its hard to keep up with and more difficult to respond too. But thanks to Cecile for unpacking and restating!

Going back a day or so in the readings, Panikkar says, " Christophany does not pretend to offer a universal paradigm..." but "does off an image of Christ that all people are capable of believing in..." and that "the meeting with Christ is irreducible to a simple doctrinal or intellectual approach."

I am experiencing in Panikkar a continual softening of those area of my life where I was conditioned to hold things more rigidly or pressed down into a little box. Panikkar opens the box and lays it flat allowing greater movement, phania (manifestation) and experience of the very ingredients formerly contained in the little box but now is open to the movement of the Spirit, creating a greater "mystical vision" and at least cracking the third eye to open, even if just slightly! lol.

Beannachdan (Blessings),

The Invitation (Oriah Mountain Dreamer)-by Oriah

2011-02-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

"The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments."

Poem by Oriah

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/
http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/oriah-mountain-dreamer.html

The Darkness Cometh- a poem of spiritual warfare

2011-02-10T04:40:00.000-08:00

A cowled priest looks through the fire
Beyond this realm of mortal eyes
Where mystery, light and darkness are
Dragons devour the innocent and weak, and
Angels fly over damned souls.
Put on the Hauberk and wield the sword!
Raise the sails, forward to battle.
The Darkness cometh.
The Day has not yet dawned.

-poem by Fr Aidan

A Spiritual Journey of Disillusionment and Re-Enchantment-My Review on Mark Townsend's book, "The Path of The Blue Raven-From Religion to Re-Echantment"

2011-02-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

A Spiritual Journey of Disillusionment and Re-Enchantment-My Review on Rev. Mark Townsend's book, "The Path of The Blue Raven-From Religion to Re-Echantment"

February 9, 2011
By The Rev. Fr. Jerry "Aidan" L. Hix Jr.

I was introduced to Mark by a mutual friend a few months ago; and in addition to reading his book (The Path of the Blue Raven), he has also been kind enough to correspond with me about his journey. As a priest in the Anglican tradition, who has also experienced some of the disillusionment with ministry and the down side of institutional religion and bureaucracy, I found in Mark, a Comrade in Arms; and the knowledge I was not alone in my own journey.

Although I tend to remain rooted in the more traditional expressions of the Christian faith and the working out my own struggles with disillusionment within the context of the institutional Church and do not always agree with Mark's perspectives or conclusions, I can relate, sympathize and empathize with the process of his Spiritual Journey of Disillusionment to Re-Enchantment .

I also am extremely encouraged by his honesty, sometimes brutal honesty about himself, his shortcomings and failures; and his openness and "heartfulness" to dialogue and share the journey as friends and brothers, even though we might strongly disagree at times with each others views. That speaks volumes to me about his character and his gift of "presence" as a priest and fellow pilgrim on the journey.

All of which makes this book such a wonderful expression of the Spiritual Journey, as told not only by Mark but by others from different religious and/or spiritual traditions! It not only introduced me to many of the earth based spiritualities I had been ignorant of but also reawakened in me the "earthiness" of Jesus and the earlier Christian faith of my own spiritual tradition.

I believe its especially important in Today's world where the meeting of the world's religions and cultures are drawing closer and closer together, that we learn about each other and how we can both respect our common ground, as well as respecting the differences. Mark's book was a wonderful tribute to the encounter of different spiritualities and how we can reinvest ourselves in lives filled with wonder and enchantment!

Thanks and Blessings to you Mark, respectfully,

Father Jerry "Aidan" Hix, O.S.C.

[Review also on Mark Townsend's Amazon Profile]

Recent Poems by Fr Aidan

2011-02-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

The Grey in my Beard
by Jerry Aidan Hix on Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 5:09am

My beard is mostly grey now
My back stiff against the winds of time
Injuries take longer to heal
As years pass by like days

Our children are almost grown
Our once energetic Jack Russell
spends most of his days sleeping
waiting for the boys to come home from school
But what silence waits to break the heart
when school days are gone
and the boys only return for family visits?

There is a growing ache inside of me
Did I spend too much time chasing tomorrows dreams
to recognize the joy that was before me?
No more, pick me up Daddy or take me to the park
They seem to need me less and less now

Why does it take so long to realize what we had
when its too late to enjoy what we have?
Only memories swing on the playground at the park
Like ghosts whispering in the cold winter chill.

My beard has turned to grey, and
The years pass by quickly like the sunset of another day.
-Fr Aidan Hix, 2-03-2011

Squeezing of the Grape
by Jerry Aidan Hix on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 3:29am

I enjoyed a glass of Port wine tonight
As it burned my raw throat
the day after bowing before the porcelain bowl
But I was comforted by the sting and the potent draught
I drank deeply from the glass again, and slept.

My heart feels restless
We are restless til we rest in Thee!
Perhaps, but my sail has not billowed
in that wind for awhile

I am a hollow reed waiting to be played
What breath shall make music of my soul?
Perhaps I am off key, ruined, only to be discarded.
Rumi speaks of the Reed Flute's Cry!
When its cut off from the reed bed.
I am cut off and wait for my fulfillment.
My Return.

Let the divine wind blow through me!
Clear away the mire and the dross!
Bore away another hole if necessary
But play at least one mournful song
before casting my reed into the fire.

The grape was crushed and squeezed
before it ever filled my glass.
I enjoy the sweet raw fruit
and the juice that wets my parched lips
But the fermented wine sets my heart on fire
and lulls me into a gentle sleep.

-Fr Aidan Hix, February 2, 2011

The Lord of the Storm-
by Jerry Aidan Hix on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 4:09am

The Lord of the Storm

Like a ship set free of her moorings and berth
To sail the high seas through the calm and tempest
The River of Life and the dark Womb of Creation releases us
A spark in mortal flesh, we slip forth on our way

Oft’ times the seas are calm, all is sublime
The Day Star shines its radiant head, golden mane burning
Sails raised high upon the mast, billowing in the wind
Our vessel cuts through the salty brine, churning up foam, toward the far horizon.

Whence cometh the storm tossed sea, with its tempest and gales?
Dark clouds and thunder, the booming of drums in the deep
Relentless waves pound against us, to weaken, wreck and ruin!
Our Bark creaks and groans under the crush and heavy strain, something breaks
White knuckled, clutching the solid mast, we ride against the wind.

The ship breaks upon the craggy shoreline, impaled on jutting rocks
Thrown into the churning sea, the surge overwhelming
Rising waves lift us up like an offering to angry gods
Then plunge us down into the dark maw, to swallow us whole
Prayers offered up to God, seem only to blow back hard upon our upturned faces

Look up, now, Our Captain comes riding his watery chariot, on the crest of stormy seas
Eyes ablaze, torches in the dark and the deep, the mane of his hoary head blows
Wildly in the wind and cold salty spray
Reach, take his hand, and climb up in the storm torn chariot!
All is now calm and tranquil, here, in the Eye of the Storm,
Where the Lord of the Storm dwells.

{A Poem by Fr Jerry “Aidan” Hix, inspired by a dear and precious friend and my adorable cousin Deanna

Down by the Riverside-A Prayer for my Uncle Troy
by Jerry Aidan Hix on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 11:07am

Down by the Riverside
Where I played as a boy
The river rushes past me
In its wake, both sadness and joy

I watch the gulls fly ore the foam
Memories floating upon the water
I'd gone fishing in a boat with my Uncle
and the ghost of my dead Father

My flute plays a mournful song
As I sit alone upon the harsh rocks
Where water breaks as the tide comes in
I sit alone like the old abandoned dock

My Uncle is sleeping now
We pray for Him to Awake!
Please rise and take me fishing, Uncle!
Do not step off the dock into the cruel wake.

Down by the Riverside
Where I played as a boy
Let the waves wash over me
I want to fish even one more time
With my Dear Uncle Troy!

Grant me this prayer, this request dear Lord
Let me fish again, with my second father,
My dear Uncle Troy
Arise and Awake!
That is my prayer. Amen

What Name Defines Me?
by Jerry Aidan Hix on Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 3:06am

What Name Defines Me? and the Power of Namecraft

At birth my parents Named my Jerry
What does it mean to Name someone? something?
Once it was the power craft of priest or shaman
To create you into family, tribe or clan
Now it is often rendered without ritual and empty
As you grew a spiritual name or totem was bestowed
I was given two.

Jerry
It was my fathers name
But no one living remembers why
and I was never told.
I gave it to my son in honor of my father, my hero
The name flows from many places
Meaning Ruling Spear, Sacred Name, May God Exalt

Aodhan.
When I was made a Priest, I was given the name Aidan
Little Flame
Light of Christ
Light Bearer
But my heart is more inclined to darkness, divine darkness,
The Darkness of God
My little flame casts shadows all around

Jyoti Das.
Lover of the Light of God!
But where his light burns in darkness
In Clouds of Unknowing
Along the Path of Unmaking

Many Names of Affection
Husband,darling, dear,
Father, daddy, papa
Son, brother, uncle and Friend

Recently a friend said to me
I think I'll call you Seinfeld,
You are entertaining in the same kind of way!

I am all of these and more
Yet none of these and less

Light drives back the womb of darkness
But silhouettes dance on the wall
Ouroborus! The Serpent bites his tail.
From darkness to light, birth and knowledge
From Light back to darkness, death, abandonment
Then comes Resurrection! Life and Enlightenment!

What Name Defines Me?
...I Am.
But The I Am Summons me.
Seek Me in thyself as your deepest Thou
Seek Me in thyself as thy Thou
Seek Me in thyself as your I.

Until I Am, i shall seek for Thee.
A lover and bearer of The Divine Light
On a shadowed path with only a Lamp unto my feet
Where with Moses and other Hoary Headed Wanderers
I ascend the Mountain into the Dark Clouds of God
In the Face of the Son we behold darkness and
I shall be known as I Am known.

-A poem? or random thought inspired by one who called me Seinfeld,
by Fr. Aidan Hix+
11-20-2010

Learning to hold The Mystery lightly

2010-11-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

Recently, a friend was sharing how Richard Rohr was a spiritual friend or anamchara to Mark Townshend. Here were some of my meditations on some of the changes in consciousness I have been experiencing.

It's a small world isn't it? lol. I've also enjoyed some of Rohr's books and lecture's. Its cool to know he was Townshend's mentor as well. One of the things I like about Rohr, Keating, and McColman, etc., is their ability to hold the tensions of working from within the historic and traditional streams of Christianity and yet moving into deeper and spiritually progressive waters.

However, I think you will find me much further to the Right than Townshend. I grew up in the fundamentalist/evangelical/pentecostal camp. I am sure that I still carry much of that old baggage but I do find myself on a journey of transformation and change in consciousness and heart in how I am learning to hold things in tension and balance. I am a work in progress at best. lol.

I believe its important when one has chosen a particular spiritual or religious path to be faithful to that path and mine the depths of the esoteric dimensions beneath the merely exoteric dimensions; while simultaneously, (at least after one has come to a certain place of discipleship and spiritual growth in their respective path), to be open to learning, discussing, sharing and integrating from other wisdom traditions, knowing the points in common (such as the Snowmass Points of Agreement), while also understanding the differences and remaining faithful to one's own spiritual path.

Part of the problem within Christianity, at least for me personally, are the two polarities of the exoteric traditional/ conservative/ institutional side of Christianity which holds (at least one version) of historic Christianity with rigidity and arrogance. While, many of the more progressive and liberal tendencies have gone to the other extreme and compromised the integrity of the historic path. For myself, I feel inspired to learn how to hold to the traditional Christian spiritual path; while at the same time, going beneath the merely exoteric dimension to the esoteric aspect of this tradition, largely found in the writing of mystical Mothers & Fathers of the Church; and being open to entering into inter-religious/inter-spiritual dialogue, learning, sharing and integrating from these other wisdom traditions.

As part of this journey, I have also intentionally entered into friendships with people who may hold diametrically opposite views from my own. It is partly through these relationships that I am experiencing the tensions, the stretching and expanding of my spiritual life. At times this is difficult and painful. One of the things I liked about the Snowmass conferences, as recorded in the "Common Heart" book, was that they didn't pretend or ignore their differences. Sometimes, they had heated arguments about these differences; but they continued to meet with each other, to discuss and share times of sitting in silent meditation together, practicing meditation according to their own traditions; and many of them became great life-long friends, even though they might be diametrically opposed to each other's views. Sometimes, through these tensions, we can learn, grow, and experience transformation and changes in consciousness. I know from my own experience, that although I hold to and practice my faith and spiritual work predominantly through traditional Christian systems of belief, ritual, values, and spirituality, that I know longer hold to these things with quite the same consciounsess, attitude or heart.

One person recently shared with me regarding such things,

"it betokens a movement of the church beyond camps and factions, as something in your being hungers for the good that is accentuated (but not possessed) in any of these camps: from the evangelicals, emotional intimacy with the holy; from the classic (though often rigid) Anglican liturgical tradition: dignity and reverence before the Mystery. How to put the two together? And I agree with you that the fundamentalists of the left are as narrow as the fundamentalists of the right: full of judgment and self-righteousness...

...The old divisions and camps are breaking up, and a new, Imaginal mind is emerging, which is able to hold Mystery lightly (rather than rigidly), because the Mystery is founded in intimate presence, held from a different kind of consciousness...I think it's a sign that what you're seeking has already found you and begun to bushwhack the path, from the inside out."

Well, these were just some random thoughts running amok in my mind after reading your comments about Rohr's role of spiritual friendship in the life of Townshend. How wonderful and exciting. I am but a work in progress and have not yet come into the full flower or balance in these things; but it is my hope, as my journey continues, to learn to "hold Mystery lightly (rather than rigidly), because the Mystery is founded in intimate presence, held from a different kind of consciousness."

Blessings for now,

Aidan+

Panikkar & Conditioned baggage that prevents the Christophanic Experience...

2010-10-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

Conditioned baggage that prevents the Christophanic Experience...

Intellectually, I find it hard at times to wrap my mind or heart around the shades of meaning in some of Panikkar's statements, such as, "I am not saying that Christ is the fullness of life but that this fullness, effective since the beginning, is one that the Christian tradition calls Jesus the Christ," to a seeming contradictory quote, "“For in him the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9);" and his note: "[3] It is sadly significant that the phrase “the body of Christ” (Col 2:17) has disappeared in numerous translations", etc. There are these tensions in Panikkar between not rejecting traditional christology to what seems to be a rejection of it.

Perhaps, its incorrect to say it's an intellectual struggle. It's more of an emotional twinge, pain or knot stemming from the challenge "against" my own rootedness in traditional Christianity; and the stretching I feel as Panikkar is trying to tease, coax, or even at times aggressively expand my boundaries and vision. His challenge is:

"it is the task of the third Christian millennium to transcend abrahamic monotheism without damaging the legitimacy and validity of monotheistic religions. This task, initiated at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1:22), entails not a denial of the divine but an opening to the great intuition of the Trinity—the meeting point of human traditions."

Perhaps if we, if I, can separate the cultural, ecclesiastical or otherwise conditioned baggage by which I philosophically interpret "Christ" from the "desire for fullness and life, for happiness and the infinite, for truth and beauty that goes beyond religious and cultural contingencies,' then can discover that more important christophanic experience of Christ. As Panikkar says,

"What remains is Christ: real symbol of divinization—that is the Fullness of Man. (Some would prefer that I say “symbol of human Fullness,” but this would not be correct; the fullness of Man is more than a human fullness. The complete Man is Man divinized; that unique being, athirst for the infinite, is not himself until he reaches his destiny.) Man is more than his “human” nature."

As St Paul Prays in Ephesians:

that we may be filled with the "utter fullness of God" (3.19) and

that we may "all reach the unity in faith...and form the perfect man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself" (4.13).

The Deepening Experience of Christophany and the Native American Flute

2010-10-20T04:39:00.001-07:00

In the process of being challenged and stretched by Panikkar's christophanic vision, I take some comfort in his statement that he proposes "a deepening of classical christology." It's not a rejection of 2,000 years of Christian experience or thought but a "deepening." Rather than condensing Christ into dogmatic statements carved in stone, it is the spirit of the law- of experiencing Christ that deepens us.

It seems, in my mind, to be similar to the difference between Biblical and Hermeneutical study and Lectio Divina. The former is important, providing grammatical, historical, cultural context and theological reflection. Lectio, however, fleshes out the bare skeleton, gives breath and comes to life. One enters into the experience not just read about it. It is in this "deepening" that I feel "the yearning for the fullness of life."

Panikkar has mentioned "The Fullness" several times so far and again here. It was a gnostic term used to refer to the spiritual beings or forces believed to intervene between humanity and God; and Paul uses this term in several places to refer to the "fullness of God" dwelling bodily in Christ.

Recently, after many years since falling in love with the sound of the Native American Indian flute, I ordered one for myself and started learning to play. Primitive and tribal flutes, like this one, are not played according to western musical theory, reading music, or learning notes and scales. It's a harmonic experience of playing according to what one feels. Although there is pentatonic, Diatonic and Chromatic scales, primitive cultures did not have a way to record music, so each song, though perhaps similar, is individualistic and new. The length of the flute determines the key. There are a few basic techniques of fingering, vibrato and breath control but once these are learned, anyone can begin to play with the sounds and play what one's likes or feels. And the Native American flute has a block and a groove cut into it to channel the air over the fipple hole where the air stream is split creating sound, so it splits the sound for you, unlike western style flutes which require you to learn difficult techniques of splitting sound with your lips and a reed. There is no real right or wrong way to play, except learning these few basic techniques. Just play what you feel. It's a kind of spiritual experience. Of course, I am still screeching alot but having lots of fun with it.

This seems akin to Christophany versus Christology. They both have their own special characteristics. But christology, like western music theory, requires years of study and practice; whereas, christophany, like the Native American Flute can be experienced, perhaps after learning some simple basic practices, like Centering Prayer. and the "deepening" naturally progresses as you play. It also seems that these two different approaches to music (western or harmonic) and spirituality (theological or christophanic) can be complimentary and deepen the experience of the other.

All I know is, I've tried to learn to play multiple instruments in my life (drums, guitar, bass guitar, piano, etc) but for many reasons I did not stick with it; and as I became more focused on ministry and the academic preparation for ordination, the less time I had for anything else. I missed out on time with my wife and children. Each diploma I worked so hard for, seemed empty after receiving it.

But in contemplative prayer, though sometimes it is difficult to make myself take the one seat of meditation and become my own monastery, I am experiencing a "deepening;" though sometimes, it only comes after a season of being painfully stretched beyond my comfort zones. and with all my screeching and missing notes, I am for the first time, loving my experience of learning to play an instrument. Of course, once in awhile, I hit a note a little too wrong, and my dog tries to bite the flute!

Panikkar- Christ, My Istadevata

2010-10-17T02:04:00.000-07:00

Most of the excerpt from Panikkar on the "I" and "Thou" is metaphysically esoteric, difficult to intellectually grasp; and the subtle mystical experience of transformative awareness or sapiential awakening I have been experiencing through CP of Paul's experience "when he confesses, “It is no longer I who live now, but Christ who lives in me!” (Gal 2:20)" is difficult to express in words. But I was deeply touched by Panikkar's statement,

“Yet, in moments of difficulty, suffering, and testing in my life, I was led spontaneously to invoke You, Father, Divinity – and even more frequently, Christ, my istadevata.”

I also found the glossary definition of "istadevata" in the back of the book helpful-

"Icon of the divine which best corresponds to every person's culture, idiosyncrasies, and circumstances; the concrete symbol through which we experience the ultimate mystery that many call "God."

And his footnote- "An istadevata is the most human way of carrying us close to this experience. We need to find the divine icon with which we can communicate."

Jesus The Christ is my istadevata; but I am discovering that The Christ and the experience of Christ within me (and others) is much bigger than the little portrait I have known.

"The you that I am (and not the me) is Christ’s dwelling in the deepest center of my being."

-Aidan+

Panikkar- Phenomenological Tensions and Tangents

2010-10-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

Pannikar's phenomenological tension between "having and being", advaitic relationship, where he cannot identify himself with either his body or his mind, leads to a profound realization of the truth of the experience of contingency wherein we can “discover the tangential touch between immanence and transcendence, where “I am the point of the tangent in which those two poles [World and God] meet: I stand in between,” is a lot to chew on.

According to the traditional Biblical story of the creation of humanity in the image and likeness of God; and our subsequent fall from that relationship, is the issue of sin (hamartia) and the need for repentance (metanoia). This of course has been convoluted through the centuries from Augustine's idea of Original Sin and Calvin's concept of Total Depravity; and has caused much pain and suffering in the Western tradition of Christianity, catholic or protestant. I think the Eastern Orthodox understanding is much closer to what Panikkar is trying to get at or at least my take on it.

According to Kyriakos C. Markides' book, "Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality", can be summarized as the Threefold Way (or three identifiable stages) of the soul's journey toward union with God. I'll try to summarize from my notes from this book:

Hamatria or sin (which means to “miss the mark” or to be off your mark) does not mean the violation of some moral injunction as it is often taught in the west but means a life cut off from God. The Fall of Man in Adam does not mean that we’ve become totally depraved but that we’ve been wounded and broken and cut off from God. We've lost sight of God or our consciousness of direct union with God. This ignorance or forgetfulness is our fundamental “illness of the heart”. We were created in the Image and Likeness of God. We never lost that. All men, even though due to the "Adamic fall", have lost our consciousness of God, still have the very image of God within us. We all have "the Christ" within our very nature but because of the fall, we have been separated from conscious union with God.

Metanioa. Eventually/hopefully, the prodigal son realized his separation from His Father and decides to return, trusting in his Fathers compassion and forgiveness. This is when the soul goes through metanoia or repentance which is a radical transformation of the heart and mind. It doesn’t just mean to feel sorry for our sins (the loss of conscious union with the divine) and say a sinners prayer (which isn’t in the Bible anyway. lol). “To repent is to awaken from the deep sleep of ignorance (or unconsciousness), to rediscover the soul, to gain the meaning and purpose of our lives by responding to the incomparable love of the One who is not of this world.”

Catharsis- the systematic struggle to purify their hearts to make them vessels of the Holy Spirit. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”- Jesus. For as long as our hearts are hostage to worldly passions and desires we cannot really experience the fullness of divine grace. This Grace resides deep within us but in our blindness we are unaware of its presence.

Askesis is the methodology of purifying the heart so that it may begin to become aware of God’s presence deep within us. Askesis is a set of spiritual exercises or disciplines for overcoming egotism; and acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit. (To buffet the body- St Paul). These methods of askesis includes- fastings, confession, holy communion, self-observation, alignment of thoughts and actions with Christ’s commandments, study, ceaseless prayer, meditation, etc, etc.
Also, this is the only level we can do anything about. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling for God works in us. The following two stages are purely the work of Grace. This one is too but we are actively involved in it. The next two is strictly a work of grace.

[KENOSIS- However, I would insert here that Panikkar and Cynthia Bourgeault and Jesus Christ himself promote a different approach. Not askesis but Kenosis- the radical emptying of ourselves through non-concentrative methods like Centering Prayer].

Fotisis- means illumination. It’s the enlightenment of the soul, the awakening to what we truly are. One of the things Christ came to do was to mirror for us who we truly are. To experience the Uncreated Light of Tabor, i.e., The Taboric Light.

Theosis or Deification- the ultimate attainment of the human soul- the original split between the self and God is overcome and the soul experiences Divine Union with God- a return to the primordial state of man. Salvation is not so much about getting our ticket to heaven. Its about a restored consciousness of our oneness with God:

"In Christian spirituality, the soul upon deification maintains its autonomy within the oneness of God. The self does not get diluted into the All. What is annihilated is the sum total of egotistical passions and desires, not our uniqueness as persons created in the image of God for eternity." -Bishop Maximos (Anastasios) of Cyprus.

Anyway, this seems a much more holistic understanding of story of the creation of humanity in the image and likeness of the divine, our fall from consciousness of this divine union, and our restoration or re-awakening to consciousness of our union with God. Its already present but we've lost consciousness of it; but through such practices like Centering Prayer we are gradually led to a place of re-awakening to what we are by nature, or as Panikkar puts it, to discover" the tangential touch between immanence and transcendence, where “I am the point of the tangent in which those two poles [World and God] meet: I stand in between...”

Well, anyway, this has been my meditation on this passage from Pannikar. It seems much truer to my own experience of God, at least since began the contemplative journey under the teachings of Fr. Thomas keating. Before this, I grew up under the cloud of total depravity and the saved-lost-saved-lost concept or Arminius. I was damned by Calvin and was perpetually in fear of losing my salvation because of Arminius! I must have been"saved" a billion times during my childhood. But understanding that "salvation" in Christ is about awakening to the realization and consciousness of union with God, "I am the point of the tangent in which those two poles [World and God] meet: I stand in between" gives me great hope and liberation from the tyranny of fear and shame I once knew.

Panikkar- The Path, Milta-Manifestation

2010-10-15T03:55:00.000-07:00

...it seems, just as there are so many different people and perspectives on just this little list who choose to come together on the basis of spirituality and even to encounter Christ in this myriad of different ways, is indicative of the "phania" or manifestation(s) of Christ that Pannikar is alluding to.

In the Greek/English tradition of the Bible, John 1.1, has been rendered, " In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Somehow, as Pannikar alludes to, it is the logos or word that has taken precedence in Christianity. Logos gives the impression of a single "word" being spoken to us from God; and this word has been reduced even to a book, the Bible, as THE Word of God. The Bible for many has become an idol and in our attempts to be true to the divine call (orthodoxy), we have ignored the mysticism of Jesus Christ; and even the mystical essence of Christ.

However, in the Aramaic translations of scripture from the Peshitta texts, the word in John 1.1 is not "logos" but "milta" which gives a broader range of meaning, such as, "‘Word’, "Sound", ‘Manifestation’, ‘Instance’ or ‘Substance, (I believe I even read somewhere it may be translated as "light"), etc., which may be rendered,

"In the beginning [of creation]
there was the Manifestation (milta);
And that Manifestation was with God;
and God was [the embodiment of] that Manifestation."

This idea of phania or milta as a divine emanation, manifestation, substance, reminds me of a yoga practice (I forget the name of it just now) where you gently cover your eyes, nose, lips, and ears with your fingers and thumbs, and listen and feel the interior hum within ourselves. Its kind of like listening to the sound of the ocean through a conch shell, except more of a hum. You can hear and feel this gentle hum or what the Hindu's call the "Aum" or "Om" which is the sound of God or sound of creation. "Om Nade Ishvara Vanamah" (Praise to God's Sound of Creation. Alleluia!). When they chant the "Aum" it vibrates up and down the three resonance chambers of the body (head, chest, and abdomen), it begins and ends with "Aum", from birth to death. It's about resonance and vibration. All of energy, even light vibrates (think of waves, etc.). There is something to be said here about the Yoga of Sound or in the Christian tradition, the spirituality of sound, such a chanting. Cynthia Bourgeault alludes to this in some of her books, especially the one on chanting the psalms.

Perhap the Path of Phania is simply about this Divine Manifestation, The Christ, and our becoming in tune with the divine resonance. As Panikkar says, its about experience- Christ's Experience of th Divine, Our Experience of Christ, and Our Experience of the mystical:

"One can concentrate on the individual (historical) Jesus and come to the conclusion that “he is the Way,” or on the person of Jesus and exclaim, “You are the Truth,” or go still deeper into the adhyatmic level and discover the Christ and realize that “You are the Life.” The third is the mystical experience that we have to appropriate if we wish to experience what Jesus experienced, namely, the reality of the Christ".

Pannikar- Myth & Language

2010-10-14T01:55:00.000-07:00

Anyway, as for the current reading from Pannikar, there are several thoughts going through my mind and heart, particularly with myth and mystical language.

Myth. In regard to Myth, I am reminded of C.S. Lewis' own struggle with myth and the Bible; and it seems relevant in regard to what it seems Pannikar is driving at. In a letter of October 18, 1931, Lewis writes,

"Now what Dyson and Tolkien showed me was this: that if I met the idea of sacrifice in a Pagan story I didn't mind it at all: again, that if I met the idea of a god sacrificing himself to himself . . . I like it very much and was mysteriously moved by it: again, that the idea of the dying and reviving god (Balder, Adonis, Bacchus) similarly moved me provided I met it anywhere except in the Gospels. The reason was that in Pagan stories I was prepared to feel the myth as profound and suggestive of meanings beyond my grasp even tho' I could not say in cold prose 'what it meant'.

Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myth: i.e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things'. Therefore it is true, not in the sense of being a 'description' of God (that no finite mind could take in) but in the sense of being the way in which God chooses to (or can) appear to our faculties. The 'doctrines' we get out of the true myths are of course less true: they are translations into our concepts and ideas of the wh. God has already expressed in a language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Does this amount to a belief in Christianity? At any rate I am now certain (a) That this Christian story is to be approached, in a sense, as I approach the other myths. (b) That it is the most important and full of meaning. I am also nearly certain that it really happened."

Thirteen years later, Lewis, in an essay called "Myth Became Fact" (1944) adds,

"The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens--at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle. I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed. To be truly Christian we must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth (fact though it has become) with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myth. The one is hardly more necessary than the other."

This is something I have been struggling or working with in my own life, though in the reverse of Lewis, as I am trying to look at the mythical, archetypal and symbolic power of the Christian myth (fact though it may be). But the struggle is the same. How we approach such myths determine the lense of how we view the world and reality. "Myth for Panikkar is that through which you experience and understand and not that which you experience and understand. It is the universe of meaning in which one finds oneself; it is the horizon of one’s being and understanding." If we reduce myth, specifically the Christian myth, to mere creedal assents we often miss the transforming power of myth. Its the difference, again, between a Christology and a Christophany. However, as Pannikar later suggests, its not and either/or but a both/and. They are complemntary but alone we lose something in the process. "We must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth... with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myth. "

The Cultural Lense of Myth. Myth is the symbolic value through which we view or rather, "experience and understand" life and the world. However, it is necessary to discern "the myth that is operative in a particular culture." This is a very important point. Not only has most of the Christ event been reduced to creedal affirmations and mental assents, the mythic portrait of Christ that was fashioned in western culture has been filtered through the language and philosophical constructs of the Greco/Roman culture, society, language and ideas, especially, the Platonic and Aristotelian. However, as we try to enter into Inter-religious conversation with eastern cultures with different mythic constructs,we often run into problems. Rather, than trying to share a Christophanic experience with, say, Buddhists or Hindu's, we too often have tried to convert them, not only to a different religious perspective, but to the importation of a western cultural trappings. Western and Eastern culture and worldview are very different. It's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. This was one of the points of Dom Bede Griffiths- that in order for us as Christian's to truly enter into Inter-religious Dialogue, the Christ myth must be shared and translated through the filter of eastern constructs not western/European civilization and Greco-Roman language and philosophy. Western thought tends toward the scientific Aristotelian categorizations which reduce an experience into all of its smallest parts. What is left is a Christology often devoid of the original exprience, instead of a Christophany that goes beyond it. And this is precisely, why Pannikar's idea of Christophany is powerful. The eastern mind is not as interested in, say, our theological constructs but would be more interested in how to experience the Christ myth themselves, if they're interested at all. Pannikar's Christophany brings both western intellect and eastern emphasis on experience together.

Perhaps a more practical way of illustrating this is the difference between Western (Roman) evangelical methods and early Celtic Christian Methods. In the Roman model, the particular portrait of the Christ myth was normally limited to proclaiming "The Gospel" within the boundaries of Roman culture and civilization; and belonging to the church community was contingent upon one's acceptance of this Gospel. It was a method of Believing before Belonging. The Celtic Church on the other hand, went beyond the boundaries of Roman culture and civilization to "pagan and barbarian" societies. They built their churches and monasteries near villages or social groups, learned their language and entered into a relationship with them. The "converts" belonged to the church before they ever believed. It was a method of Belonging before Believing.

This seems to me to be one of the power's of Pannikar's Christophany. It is sensitive to both the western mythical portrait of Christ and its subsequent Christology; but goes beyond it to the experience and sharing of that myth in a way that is Inter-religious, empowering and transformational, both personally and culturally. It realizes that the experience of Christ in larger than any single portrait; and that we can not only begin to discern the largeness of the Christ myth; but can enter into the portraits of Christ for ourself. We can experience Christ or have a Christ experience ourselves and not just read about. We can experience even the experience Christ experienced of Abba. It also helps us to be more sensitive to symbols of "emerging myth of our times."

I apologize if I have drifted too far afield from our readings. But these thoughts are symptomatic of some of my concerns for how to both experience and share the changing or enlarging portraits of Christ that I am experiencing, thru both my CP practice and the tapestry that is unfolding through the experience of being touched by the word and presence of such spiritual masters like Fr Keating and Raimon Pannikar. As the portraits change, our reasons and methods of sharing also change. If the sapiential awakening and recognization events I am and others are experiencing through them is so powerful, I can only imagine that the original experience of Christ was even more earth shattering. And these deep and overwhelming waters we are experiencing in Pannikar are there to take us beyond a mere Christology to the very experience of Christ and Abba, that we may ourselves be transformed and perhaps be mirrors ourselves of this experience for others.

Raimon Pannikar's- Christophany- The Fullness of Man

2010-10-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

I have just started reading Raimon Pannikar's Christophany- The Fullness of Man, together with a group. here are my first thoughts...

We have only just begun our journey into Pannikar but already I feel we are swimming in deep waters. Awhile back I was reading a book by Dr. Craig T. Isaacs "Revelations & Possession: Distinguishing the Spiritual Experience from the Psychological", where he describes the experience many have of reading Carl Jung,

"Reading Jung has been described as diving in the ocean. Often one will read his work and believe they have understood it, only to be dragged back down deep in the ocean, struggle to breathe believing all is lost, only to surface and again find one’s bearings. So, too, Jung will be intelligible, then we will get lost, only to find a statement we can grab onto like a raft in the sea, and then hold onto it with tenacity for fear of being drowned again. For this reason Jung has often been misunderstood because his thought has only been taken in part. However, we must not take only a few statements he makes, hold on to them like life rafts and move only from them; rather, we should attempt to comprehend the whole that he is putting forth. Therefore, for both our understanding of this process of the development of consciousness, as well as to further expand upon the concept of objective spirit, it is necessary to pursue a greater understanding of spirit, especially as presented in Jung’s thought."

This quote about the experience of reading Jung seems quite appropriate here as we begin our journey into Pannikar's Christophany, perhaps even more so.

Due to many factors, in my personal life, family, marriage, ministry, and changes in polarity from my own spiritual practice of contemplative prayer and related studies, I have already been feeling this experience of having the floor of old ways of believing, belonging and being swept out from under my feet; or having the vessel of myself being wrecked against these waves of the ocean that seems to drag me down deep, only to resurface, gasping for breath and trying to find my bearings again. All the while, trying to hold onto a plank of flotsam and jetsam. Sometimes the plank I am holding onto seems to be my own spiritual practice or the writings of Keating, Griffiths, Bourgeault, etc., while at other times the experience of both my spiritual practice and reading authors of such deep thoughts seem to be the wave itself washing over me to destroy the old securities and consciousness.

Even now, in the beginning, in the Foreword to Christophany, we already meet deep waves of Pannikar's thought and can almost feel the palpable force of his being and presence as a manifestation of the very things he alludes to. He writes not only from his intellect but from his being. It pulls us down to depths, to meet him where he is. This is the difference between Christology and Christophany. The former is the making of dogmatic statements or moralizing's based on the life and sayings of Christ but usually misses the deeper meanings of Christ which lead to transformation of consciousness and being; whereas, Christophany presupposes that we cannot only experience Christ for ourselves but can also have the same experience Christ claimed to have with the mysterious being he called Abba.

Although I already feel I am being pulled down to unfamiliar depths, I also feel a kind of sapiential awakening and recognization. And I am becoming so much more grateful to have a plank such as the ---- list to hold onto as I plunge again and again into the deep ocean's of change and shifting polarities; especially now, as we are (or at least I am) entering what I already feel to be deep waters- a place where deep calls unto deep.

-Aidan+

The Wisdom Jesus

2010-10-10T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading The Wisdom Jesus-Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message by Cynthia Bourgeault

"If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of radical wisdom and compassion, whose aim is nothing less than the transformation of human consciousness."

http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/author/856.cfm

Ancient Ancestor's Conversation

2010-08-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

The following is from a conversation on Ancient Ancestor's on Theology, Virtue and Spirituality on a Facebook forum.

Since many, however, of those who profess to believe in Christ differ from each other, not only in small and trifling matters, but also on subjects of the highest importance, as, e.g., regarding God, or the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit; and not only regarding these, but also regarding others which are created existences, viz., the powers(5) and the holy virtues;(6) it seems on that account necessary first of all to fix a definite limit and to lay down an unmistakable rule regarding each one of these, and then to pass to the investigation of other points. For as we ceased to seek for truth (notwithstanding the professions of many among Greeks and Barbarians to make it known) among all who claimed it for erroneous opinions, after we had come to believe that Christ was the Son of God, and were persuaded that we must learn it from Himself; so, seeing there are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ, and yet some of these think differently from their predecessors, yet as the teaching of the Church, transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles, and remaining in the Churches to the present day, is still preserved, that alone is to be accepted as truth which differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and apostolical tradition.---Origen, De Principis

No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The Deity, therefore, is
ineffable and incomprehensible. For no one knoweth the Father, save the
Son, nor the Son, save the Father. And the Holy Spirit, too, so knows the
things of God as the spirit of the man knows the things that are in him.
Moreover, after the first and blessed nature no one, not of men only, but
even of supramundane powers, and the Cherubim, I say, and Seraphim
themselves, has ever known God, save he to whom He revealed Himself.
God, however, did not leave us in absolute ignorance. For the knowledge of
God’s existence has been implanted by Him in all by nature. This creation,
too, and its maintenance, and its government, proclaim the majesty of the
Divine nature. Moreover, by the Law and the Prophets in former times
and afterwards by His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior
Jesus Christ, He disclosed to us the knowledge of Himself as that was
possible for us. All things, therefore, that have been delivered to us by
Law and Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists we receive, and know,
and honor, seeking for nothing beyond these. For God, being good, is the
cause of all good, subject neither to envy nor to any passion. For envy is
far removed from the Divine nature, which is both passionless and only
good. As knowing all things, therefore, and providing for what is profitable
for each, He revealed that which it was to our profit to know; but what we
were unable to bear He kept secret. With these things let us be satisfied,
and let us abide by them, not removing everlasting boundaries, nor
overpassing the divine tradition.
---- John of Damascus

Father Aidan:
Thanks Fr Jay for the quote. Forgive me if I point out part of this quote near the last few lines which alludes to a "secret" aspect to the Christian Faith. John says,

"He revealed that which it was to our profit to know; but what we were unable to bear He kept secret."

You can read my random thoughts on the subject by looking for the article I posted on the Wall of this forum or by going to my blog site at: www.fraidanhix.blogspot.com

There does appear to be a secret aspect to Christianity in the earliest years. Of course, this was obviously abused and gave way to heretical forms of gnosticism. However, in the earliest strata it seems the common message of the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ was shared with all; but that there were deeper aspects of the Gospel, the meat of the word as opposed to those who could only bear the milk of the word, that were reserved for those who had matured or been called to a deeper or more committed life.

Jesus himself says in several places that he only spoke in parables to the masses but to the disciples he explained the secret of the kingdom openly or that there were things he longed to shared but that they could not contain or bear them at that time. John, at the end of the Gospel also alludes that there were many more things that Jesus did and taught than could be written down.

Anyway....just some random thoughts that there is a delineation between those who are on milk and those who ready for meat.

Fr Jay:
maybe we need some "deeper", "meat" people to comment on this. :)

the whole theme of scriptural revelation is progressive revelations.
God did not reveal to adam, yet, some aspects of His personality. moreso, He did not clearly showed Himself to the Old Testament people His Trinitarian existence. at least as comprehesible as can be. yet, i believe they are adequate revelations of His Person.

can we say these O.T. guys are still on Milk?
would that make us ready for meat?

Father Aidan:
No, I wouldn't necessarily make such a distinction between Old Testament and New Testament Revelation being a comparative issue of milk and meat. There were many OT person's that did operate at a deeper level of spiritual and transformative understanding, such as Elija, Elisha, Daniel, and other prophets; but that is not the same thing as progressive revelation.

What the scriptures seem to refer to is that all are called to the common Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ (and yes, even here we are dealing with some kind of revelation, insight or illumination of the Gospel that produces faith unto salvation); but that there are deeper levels of transpersonal and transrational spiritual growth, transformation, that the new convert or nominal believer would only trip over and possibly cause them to stumble. We are possibly dealing with the secrets or mysteries of inner work and spiritual practices such as those as practiced by the desert fathers or monastics of Mt. Athos (Hesychasm)- meditation techniques such as the Jesus Prayer that is done in conjunction with breathing techniques and cardiac rhythms. These things are not taught to novices who do not have the spiritual or theological formation and maturity to discern between psychic experiences and those of the Divine Energies of God.

For example, many monastic who have experienced what they thought was the Uncreated Light or Taboric Light of Christ were actually led into Prelest or delusion because what they actually experienced was only the created light of their own inner man or imagion dei (image of God). But they were deluded into idolizing their own inner light. Such things necessitate years of spiritual practice under the guidance of a spirit filled and experienced Christian Elder or Spiritual Director.

St. John of the Cross clearly stated that during times of deep mediation monks or nuns were not to become attached to anything, even if the hear voices, see angels, levitate, or have prophetic words. To all experiences in meditation or the prayer of stillness one is to say "Nada, Nada" (not this, not this) and to simply rest in the silence of God's presence trusting that God is able to accomplish the deep work of healing and transformation without our thinking about it, attaching ourselves to the experience, etc.

This is one of the problems of the pentecostal and charismatic movements where people identify their gift, calling or ministry with God and idolizing these things. There must be discernment and non-attachment to anythings, giving all experiences to God.

So, there is need for being under the guidance of an experienced Christian elder or teacher. There are simply some things that babies in Christ will not understand, are not ready for, for as Christ said, they cannot contain them now. Such teachings, practices or experiences can prove destructive to them. A baby cannot eat meat but will choke and die. A baby needs milk or baby food, to eat and digest until they grow mature enough to do so.

Seriously though, where once such mystical dimensions of the spiritual life were reserved almost exclusively to monastic and hermits, there is a growing movement of both seekers and Christian's who are single or married and living in the world who are learning and practicing the contemplative/mystical dimensions of the Gospel. It is no longer reserved for the cloister but is being repackaged and made available for secular and domestic Christians, lay and clergy.

These teachings from early Christianity, the Church Fathers and Mothers, saints and mystics are being repackaged and made available for todays Christians. Many of the who have made strides in this area are: Fathers Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, William Menninger, John Main, Dom Bede Griffiths, and Basil Pennington, etc.

Some of the specific forms and outreach organizations are: Centering Prayer & The Contemplative Outreach; Christian Meditation and the World Communion of Christian Meditators; and Christian Insight Meditation.

Another author is Kyriakos C. Markides who has written several books on Eastern Orthodox Spiritual Traditions of Mt. Athos. His books include:

The Mountain of Silence- A Search for Orthodox Spirituality
Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality
Riding with the Lion: In Search of Mystical Christianity

Although some of these authors go beyond traditional Christianity into Inter-religious Dialogue and cross traditional spirituality, there is more books, Christian teachers, and organizations to provide a framework and guidance for ordinary Christians living in the world.

We as clergy need to educate ourselves in these teachings and practices so we can be teachers and guides for seekers and believers on the journey; and be the filters for people so they do not become confused by the confusing array of such possibilities which could lead them astray or into New Age and Eastern forms of mysticisms. But if we don't do it, this lack, this vacuum in the conventional church world, will be a stumbling block for seekers and people who feel called to these deeper mysteries of personal transformation in Christ; and they will be more likely to stumble their way into false teachings.

We need to be there filters and teachers. Which means we must educate ourselves in and about these teachings and practices; and begin practicing them ourselves from a deeply rooted in the history, experience and tradition of Christian Contemplative and Mystical traditions and teachings.

I've been on this journey for over twenty years; an have been practicing various aspects of these spiritual practices and disciplines. I would be more than happy to help anyone I can on their journey. I am certainly no spiritual master! and am still on milk myself I am sure but any help I can give I am willing to do. Besides, if we dont, then people will go elsewhere to find help, and all too often its been in the New Age and Eastern religions. We must step up and do this.

Inner Christianity and the "Esoteric" Tradition

2010-08-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading Richard Smoley's book, "Inner Christianity- A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition."

Hmmm. A moment of pause. Smoley provides an interesting overview of esotericism and mysticism both within and outside of Christianity. It deals with the idea that there is a "Hidden or Secret" dimension to Christianity and the Gospel, that is reserved largely for those with a special vocation to higher spiritual realties that are found in conventional Christianity; and have been initiated into these mysteries. I tend to agree more with Carl McColman's view in his "Book of Christian Mysticism", where he states,

“…students of Christian mysticism lose their way when they get too caught up in quests for secret knowledge, or hidden teachings that are supposedly they key to higher realities that somehow have been lost (or suppressed) by Church Authorities. I am willing to go with the idea that many of the key principles of Christian Mysticism have been marginalized, ignored or even ignored…The Keys to Christian Mysticism have been hidden in plain sight” (page 17).

I certainly agree with that people, whether gnostics or even some modern charismatics, and anything in between, can get caught up in quests for secret or hidden knowledge. This may be one of the dangers of mysticism in general and a deficit of not having an experienced teacher or guide on the spiritual journey.

However, there does seem to be a genuine element of secrecy and hiddeness within the earliest stratas of early Christianity. I don’t have time now to cite specific chapter and verse here but would like to offer a few examples. Some of these “secrets” may include- the obscurity (intentional or unintentional) of Jesus’ childhood, Christ telling things in parables to the crowds but explaining the meaning of such parables to the disciples (“Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables”; or “With many such
parables spake He the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake He not unto them; and when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples”[please note the emphasis on "when they were alone" or "them that are without."]); Jesus tells His apostles: “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now;” “Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine”; or such terms as “The Mystery,” or “The Mysteries,” used to designate the sacred circle of the Initiates or connected with Initiation: “The Kingdom,” “The Kingdom of God,” “The Kingdom of Heaven,” “The Narrow Path,” “The Strait Gate,” “The Perfect,” “The Saved,” “Life Eternal,” “Life,” “The Second Birth,” “A Little One,” “A Little Child” ["Then said one unto Him: Lord, are there few that be saved? And He said unto them: Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able."] The list may go on.

St. Paul also makes similar comments, such as:

“I came to you bearing the divine testimony, not alluring you with human wisdom but with the power of the Spirit. Truly ‘we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,’ but it is no human wisdom. ‘We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world’ began, and which none even of the princes of this world know. The things of that wisdom are beyond men’s thinking, ‘but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit … the deep things of God,’ ‘which the Holy Ghost teacheth.’ These are spiritual things, to be discerned only by the spiritual man, in whom is the mind of Christ. ‘And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ…. Ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.’ ‘As a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation,’ and ‘ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.’ ‘Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the Mysteries of God.’”

There are many examples fro Church history, such as St Clement of Alexandria or Origen. One quote from Clement in his Stromata, says, “”The Lord … allowed us to communicate of those divine Mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with God. And if one say that it is written, ‘There is nothing secret which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall not be disclosed,’ let him also hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even what is secret shall be manifested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And to him who is able secretly to observe what is delivered to him, that which is veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden to the many shall appear manifest to the few…. The Mysteries are delivered mystically, that what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in his voice, but in his understanding…. The writing of these memoranda of mine, I well know, is weak when compared with that spirit, full of grace, which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an image to recall the archetype to him who was struck with the Thyrsus.”

Anyway, I am not trying to make a case to justify gnosticism or secrecy but to question whether there was a genuine aspect of secrecy in the Gospel tradition- a common message of salvation in Christ for all; but also the deeper or more spiritual teachings of Christ for those who had matured in Christ from being babes feeding on the milk of the word to more mature adepts who were then given stronger meet.

If this is so I can certainly see the potential for abuse and elitism; but can also understand from personal experience the problems with sharing even the contemplative/mystical aspect of the Gospel with people who are either not there in their own journey or not yet ready for it, things which may only confuse someone who has not had the foundations in Bible, theology and spiritual formation. Even in the Cloud of Unknowing I seem to recall that the contemplative practices were reserved for monastics who had spent years being educated in these foundations of faith and in practicing the active dimensions of a life of prayer.

There is much to be said about this idea of a hidden or secret side of the Gospel. But its also the stuff heresies and cults are made of, things that can lead a person astray in the world of magic or New Age ideas. There is a need to further elaborate on this concept of a secretive tradition in early Christianity, the benefits and dangers of it, the marginaliation or suppression of such teachings being reserved for more experienced believers; and the dangers and benefits of making the mystical tradition more readily available to the masses today through such things as Centering Prayer and Christian Meditation, and various other forms of Mysticism and contemplative prayer.

Random Thought- Seeing Our Relationship to Abba

2010-08-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

Just a Random Thought...

I have been meditating on our calling as individuals and corporately as a church to be in Union with God. Jesus' Prayer for us is that we may all be one with God, "just as you and I are one, Father (Abba)" (Jn 17.22)

This is indeed a lofty calling and seems so far removed from the possibility of those of us who lead ordinary lives to achieve.

We are conditioned by Sin (whatever it is that separates us from God), culture, and even Church to view ourselves as already separate from God. The Divine is out there somewhere, far far away; and we are here; and between us is a great chasm. We must therefore live perfect lives and offer great sacrifices before God will even hear us, let alone allow us into some kind of experience of Divine Union. Its better not to even think about it, just get on with the business of living, making money, raising a family, and building a retirement fund for our old age, and maybe buying a burial plot so we have place when we die.

Even the Disciple's who were with Jesus and witnessed His experience of God saw themselves as separate. "Teach us to pray," they asked.

But Jesus turned the world upside down; and said when you pray your are to no longer see yourselves as separate from God but begin to see yourselves as Children of God Already! So, when you pray, say, "Our Abba..." (Our Daddy). And Our Abba/Daddy God will not give you a serpent when you ask for bread nor a scorpion when you ask for an egg but will surely grant you the Divine Breath of Life (Holy Spirit) when you ask Him for He is your Abba.

Let us flip the world upside right and begin to see ourselves as already united in God with Jesus and walk in that freedom. That is when the real journey begins.

On Spiritual Direction

2010-07-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

In modern times, Spiritual Direction has become a specific form of professional therapy by trained therapists in spiritual direction counciling by certified directors. On this note, I am not.

But in more ancient times, spiritual direction was about soul-mending done within a relationship between a pastor (whether Abbot, spiritiual Elder, saint or other types of minister). As Henry Nouwen says,

"Making one's own wounds a source of healing...does not call for a superficial sharing of personal pains but for a constant willingness to see one's own pain and suffering as rising from the depth of the human condition which all men share."

It is a healing relationship of being a wounded healer, of being a Soul-friend to others and aiding them on the spiritual journey. It is a spirituality of imperfection and brokenness. It's a relationship of a spiritual coach who walks on the journey alongside another.

It is in this since that I am involved in spiritual direction; as well as sharing about various spiritual disciplines and practices which may be beneficial to the seeker on the journey.

Collision of Opposite's

2010-07-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

I've been reading "The Naked Now-Learning to See as The Mystics See" by Fr Richard Rohr.

One place I connected with was Rohr's comments on "collision of opposites" and being "a values conservative and a process liberal;" and a correspondent's comment of having "more in common with my buddhist friends than childhood friends who have converted into the christian traditions."

I grew up as a fourth generation pentecostal and evangelical/fundamentalist. I really tried to fit into the more ecstatic/shamanistic approach to God in this way but never really made the connection, though I did have at times more subtle religious experiences within that context. Even as a child I was drawn to the spirituality exemplified in David Carradine's portrayal of Qui Chang Kang, the Shaolin Buddhist Monk in the TV classic Kung Fu. I started reading Brue Lee's Tao of Jeet Kun Do and Lao Tzo's tao Te Ching, etc., and began intuitively integrating those teaching into my Christian framework and spirituality. Later I was drawn to the catholic/liturgical/sacramental view of transcendence, mystery, and transformation, especially in Eastern Orthodox writings, saints, and mysticism, such as praying the Jesus Prayer both as a perpetual mantra and contemplatively according to the breath or heart beat.

I'd already immersed myself in the writings of Eastern Orthodoxy and western mystics like St. John of the Cross to Thomas Merton. Yet, even though deeply drawn to ancient Christian mystical tradition, these experiences seemed so far removed from my own experience, reserved only for Saints who had already been divinized. Even the "how to" manuals of the philokalia seemd just too difficult and lofty to be within my reach.

That began to change about ten years ago when I stumbled onto the writings of Father's Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating and John Main. These men presented me with a gift, a simple paradigm for understanding and experiencing for myself, little by little, what all those sages, saints and mystics had been writing about. I started to get it. A light went on and I began to awaken to the reality that I could begin, even now, to enter into those experiences of the saints, that they weren't so far removed after all.

Together with this new understanding, my own practise of Centering Prayer, and the teaching of such other mystics like Dom Bede Griffiths and Brother Wayne Teasdale (and now I think Richard Rohr) my world view of Christ (the Cosmic Christ), the world and spirituality, etc., has been expanding, pushing the old boundary markers further and further out. Levels of intellectual and experiential awarness and states and stages of consciousness growing in expanding concentric circles of growth and understanding.

Its been rather frightening at times. There's been subtle and not so subtle shifts of consciousness, awareness, and spiritual polarity. I've found myself having more in common with practioners of Buddha or Yoga (not in regard to theology but in regard to technique, method, psychology of dealing with the inner life, and at the level of the journey of experience) than most of my Christian friends who don't seem as interested in the contemplative expression of Christ and the Gospel, etc.

Although I hold to traditional Christian beliefs and values, I find that my reasons for it now have more to do with a holistic approach to life and integration and transformation as found in the Teachings of Jesus; and although I might hold to certain values along with "conservatives" my reasons, awareness and attitudes are no longer the same, or at least they are changing. I am growing more uncomfortable with the underlying attitudes of certain conservative stances of criticism, judgementalism, hatred, separation and exclusivity and finding that even if I am in opposition to certain more liberal views, I am closer to being on the same footing spiritually, at the level of the heart with some who would identify as liberals! (Again, this is not in regard to doctrines but on the level of a genuine Christian inclusivity as taught by Jesus. This doesn't mean an abandoning of traditional values but a change of heart in how those values and beliefs are experienced and expressed in our relationships with people). Terrifying stuff! A Collision of Opposites!

I'm not certain of what it all means. I know there are boundaries that I'm not willing to cross or go beyond. But the more I study the Church Fathers, Saints and Mystics; together with my own spiritual practise of prayer and meditation, the more I realize the boundaries of what Christ accomplished has much greater horizons than I ever realized. I am experiencing a change of heart and awareness through my practise, a letting go of things and expansion of heart and consciousness. I may still struggle with certain areas of my life, my vices, but there is at the same time all of these changes. Its scary (to let go of things or simpy awaken to the realization that my heart has changed without any conscious decision), yet is also exciting.

Well, I suppose I could ramble on and on. (My sons swear I could preach spontaneously for over an hour about anything, even something as random as a potatoe chip! lol.) But I'll sign off with these few thoughts.

Blessings,

Fr Aidan+

A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield

2010-07-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading "A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life" by Jack Kornfield (a former Buddhist Monk, Meditation Master, and Psychologist).

Its one of the best books I have ever read on the spiritual life- dealing with our inner demons and all that arises within, transformation and... extending grace to all areas of life. A must read for anyone serious about the spiritual life, regardless of your religious perspective. As St Thomas Aquinas once said, all truth comes from God. Although I am a Christian, I felt deeply enriched by this book on many levels. It opened up my awareness of different approaches to, well, "Awareness" of the many things which Arise within all of us- fears, attachments and aversions, etc., and on learning to Let Go of these things and find peace and joy extending to all areas of our life.

Sometimes it also helps to see our own faith from a different perspective; to look at things from a different lense. It helped me understand better many of this things from the mystical and esoteric teachings from Scripture and the Church Fathers, Mystics and Saints that I had not really understood before.

http://www.amazon.com/Path-Heart-Through-Promises-Spiritual/dp/0553372114/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278588047&sr=8-1

Sermon- On The Two Great Commandments

2008-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sermon- On The Two Great Commandments
Proper 25 10-26-08

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today, as we approach the Gospel message about love and the person of the messiah, I can only imagine the context from which Christ spoke those words. The loneliness he must have felt and the violence and hatred that surrounded him. Israel was then a State under Martial Law, Roman soldiers keeping guard or marching patrol everywhere you went. Then there were the religious anc civil leaders, such as the Pharisees, Saducees, and Herodians, vying for position; or posturing themselves for political power plays. And the people were afraid but trying to stir up feeble hopes that the prophesied Messiah, the deliver would come and start a revolution, overthrow Rome, and re-establish the ancient Throne of King David.

And when the fullness of time came, God sent his son into the world. The teaching ministry of Jesus was set on the stage of political unrest. He came preaching a news of hope and love, and that now the kingdom of God was within reach.

But the political and religious leaders of Israel were terrified that Christ's teaching would stir up the people to revolt and bring the wrath of Rome down upon them all; or worse yet, would interfere with their own political agendas for power and position within the allowances of Rome.
As we've seen, they had been conspiring together to set Jesus up, to attack his popularity with the people, to find incriminating evidence in his teachings that were at contradiction to the Mosaic Law, and even conspiring to have him murdered.

The Pharisees had been watching him, as to how he handled the Saducees in the passage before our todays reading; and now, gather a small army, a crowd, to challenge Jesus. Isn't that just like our sinful human nature, when we feel wronged, we need the justification of all who would listen to us. We want everyone on our side and we seek to gather as many as we can who will side with our perspective, our version of the truth. Then we gang up on the one who is opposed to our opinons and agendas.

As they approach him, they send out their Emissary to speak in their behalf, to question him, seeking to twist his words and discredit him before the people. The designated speaker, a lawyer, begins by calling him, "Teacher- "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses?" The term "teacher" here is different from what we might think of today, as a school teacher or even a professor. Anyone, whether they are endeared to a particular school instructor or professor, could properly address someone with such a title. But in the context of this passage, Teacher or Rabbi or Master, was not merely a title of position but a term of endearment to those men and women who were faithful devotees of such a Master. But here the lawyer, was not devoted to Jesus but quite the otherwise and so approached him with disdain and disrespect, giving the false pretension of discipleship. As Origen, an early church father once said,

"All who say Our Father who art in heaven ought not to have the spirit of slavery in fear but a spirit of the adoption of sons. However, whoever does not have the adoption of sons and yet says, Our Father, is lying, since he is not a son of God, while calling God his father."

Now which is the greatest commandment in the law? The law dealt with many things, some more important than others. It dealt with issues of common life, such as women's menstruation; or such moral dilemmas as human sexuality in marriage, or violations such as adultery, homosexuality, or fornication. But the religious leaders had distorted the law; or rather, had moved away from the spirit of the law to the letter; and had compounded the complexity of the regulations for living life.

"The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the members of the human body; and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year, the total being 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue."

Out of all these nuances of the law, which is the greatest, O great teacher? Perhaps, they thought Jesus might give a new interpretation or amendment of Mosaic Law that they could crucify him with. They certainly sought to twist his words and bring his ruin.

But Christ pierces through their darkness and refocuses the issues at stake. He honors the law by redirecting them back to the heart and spirit of the law; and states that upn his two answers, the entire law code was established.

"You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like unto it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments, depend all the law and the prophets."
In other words, you've missed the point with all your convoluted interpretation and additions to the Law. My law is simple, to love. In English we don't always catch the finer nuances of ancient word meanings. We have really only one word for love, were Greek had several. There is eros or sexual love and passion. This can be a beautiful kind of love between a husband and his wife; but is so often distorted and perverted into something shameful. Then there is phileo or brotherly love. This is not merely the love for members of one's family but a certain kind of "Espirit de Corps"- the spirit and love for comrades in arms, for members of a group or fraternity. Just think of when you hear on a police scanner that an officer is down, every armed law enforcement officer who hears that call will rush to the scene and lay is life down in order to save a fallen officer. That is a special kind of love as well. But Jesus is here speaking of Agape love- is pure love that involves every faculty of the human person- love which stems from our soul and strength, from every fiber of our being, without conditions. It brings all the other kinds of love together, focuses them like a laser, and projects the pure light of divine love. St Paul eloquently desribes this kind of love in 1 Corinthians 13:

"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;* but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages* and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.* All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."

It is this kind of Agape love, divine love, which we are called to render to God, to ourselves for we were created in his image, and to others.

The question we must ask ourselves, if we truly call Jesus our Teacher, our Master, and Our Lord, as one of his disciples, and not with the false pretensions and lip service of the lawyer in this Gospel story, is do we truly love God? Is Christ our God first in our life? Or do other things take precedence?

Perhaps it is only a type of eros we feel toward God- the feelings of ecstacy or excitement in worship, which can be a kind of sensual experience of God.

Perhaps it is only Phileo or brotherly love we have for God. Hey, I'm a believer! I'm part of the Jesus Group. I'm a Jesus Freak. And so we love God because we are part of his fraternity, the church; and so we love each other, in a brotherly fashion as comrades in the Lords Army.
But Jesus is directing us toward something much deeper, more mystical, more spiritual, more true, more real, and more genuine than these other kinds of love. It isn;t that these other kinds of love are disregarded. No, in Christ all these kinds of love- sensual, brotherly, and divine love, are brought together, are combinded and summed up and extended further.
Does our love for God come with conditions that we've placed on it? I'll love you if- whatever our conditions are, are met. What about each other.

Jesus said, in John 15:13, that "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." It is not a love about getting our agendas or conditions met. It is not a love based on feelings or being part of a group. It is a self-giving, self-sacrificing love which is all about the other person. Its a total giving of oneself for the sole benefit of another.

It is only when our lives are focused first on God that we can give and recieve divine agape love. It is only when we are sharing and experiencing the love of God and his presence that we can in turn share this agape love with another. But simultaneously, if we do not love each other, then we are really not loving God. And if we don't have a healthy love for ourselves, then we can not love God or others as ourselves.

This is a deep mystery; but it is upon these two laws that everything else God has designed for our lives depends on. In Marks version of this Gospel story, it says that even the Lawyer was moved to acknowledge the truth in what Christ said. In reply, Jesus said he was not far from the kingdom of God.

Jesus spoke these words in a violent and turbulent situation and out of great personal loneliness; and he lived them all the way to the cross for you and I. His commandment for us is to love,
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other... Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples...If you love me, obey my commandments."

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." Let us go therefore into the world to love and serve the Lord. Amen.

Rosary of the Heart

2008-10-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Jesus once asked his disciples if they could not pray with him for one hour. Part of the spiritual struggle has always been to make time for God in our daily lives and to establish a consistent discipline of prayer.

The ancients didn't have modern clocks and watches to keep track of their prayer time, so they would count count beads or sometimes even pebbles being placed in a bowl, as they mentally or verbally recited prayers, or as they breathed, or in accordance with the rythm of their heart beat. Thus, they were able to set aside time for prayer and devotion to God.

One of the early Christian bishops, I believe it was St Augustine, once said that the first or primary language of God was silence; and the Psalmist says that we must be still and silent to know God. Jesus, even speaks of turning into the closet of the heart and shutting to door to worldly distractions and there praying to God in secret or in our secret place- the cave of the heart.

In 1 Kings 19.11-13, there is the story of God speaking to Elijah in the cave where he was hiding. "Go out and stand before me on the mountain," the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave."

Experiencing the word and presence of God does not come in the thunder and blast, nor earthquake and fire, but in the depths of the cave and in a still, quiet, voice. Do we take the time to enter our inner cave of the heart, our secret closet, to be still and enter the silence of God's presence? Although rituals, symbols and liturgies of worship and prayer can be wonderful aids in devotion and spiritual growth, the fuller experience of God comes when we go beyond these forms and words into silent attentiveness to God.

This is the way of quiet, wordless and formless prayer, where we simply rest and abide in His Presence. It is here, in the inner court of our bodily temple- St Paul says we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit- where we offer to the Lord the most basic and primal sacrifice and act of worship we can make- the beat of our heart and rythm of our breath. In Genesis 2, it says, "7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (neshemet ruach chayim- "the breath of the spirit of life" ); and man became a living soul." When we came forth from the womb, we took our first breath; and when we die, we will exhale, letting go of the breath of the spirit of life. Offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God can be no more real and fundamental than offering our pulsing blood and breath.

Silent attentiveness to God in rythm to our heart and breath, is our rosary- the Rosary of the Heart.

Camping with the Boys June 2008

2008-06-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

Although my wife was unable to go this year, our Family Vacation was a Camping Trip to the Stanislaus National Forest. We camped in the Meadow View Campground near Pinecrest Lake, from Friday morning June 12 thru Wednesday June 18th.

We spent our time hiking, fishing, and swimming during the day; and talking around the Campfire at night- we even did some guided Lectio Divina meditations on different Biblical passages, including the Lord's Transfiguration and His muliplication of the loaves of bread and fish.

Fishing- Kennedy Meadows and various branches of the Stanislaus River.
Hiking/Walking trips- The Columns of the Giants, around Pinecrest Lake, and the Miwok Trail, and Calaveres Big Trees, etc.
Moaning Caverns- we also went on a guided tour of the Moaning Caverns
Swimming- we swam in the Stanislaus River near Kennedy Meadows- it was ice cold!- and in Pinecrest Lakes.

Please see the photos links for photos of the trip.

Sorcery & Science

2008-06-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sorcery & Science, Magic & Manipulation,
and Christian Charismata & Charismania

June 1, 2008, Proper 4, Yr A
Fr Aidan Jerry Hix, OSC
St Aidans Anglican Mission, Antioch, CA

Text: Matt 7.21-27
21"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
24"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

Opening-

Elijah & Prophets of Baal
Not All Shall Enter into the Kingdom of Heaven

A. Works of Spiritual Power
Charismata- gifts, ministries & genuine spirituality rooted in Christ
Charismania- manipulation, magic
Ex: Elijah & Children of Baal- 1Kg 18.14-39
Spirit- ruach, pneuma- inspiration & creativity, sub-creation
Magic- manipulation
Doctrine & Works (Jews Dogma & Christians works of service & mercy)
Blessing & Curse- obedience or disobedience

(following notes taken from Ralph Woods "The Gospel According to Tolkien"):

B. Notes on Magic Only in the work of those who are good is there providential assurance that the world is morally ordered, and only there lies a way beyond the despair that is likely to be prompted by the hard realities of both the human and natural realms.

malign magic- the product of a panicked despair
offers a quick fix for the complexities of & confusions of the good creation (slow & gradual)
Magic & divination practices condemned in the Bible
Examples: Dt 18.9-12, Ep 3.10, Ep 6.12, Act 13.10-11

C. Modern sorcery gets its impetus from modern science

serious magical endeavor began with serious scientific projects of 16th and 17th centuries
"its desire is power in this world, domination of things and wills"
CS Lewis, Abolition of Man- "The fact that the scientist has succeeded where the magician failed has put such a wide contrast between them in popular thought that the real story of the birth of science is misunderstood. You will even find people who write about the 16th century as if Magic were a medieval survival and Science the new thing that came in to sweep it away. Those who have studied the period know better. There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the 16th & 17th centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavor and the serious scientific endeavor are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they are twins. They were born of the same impulse."
magic seeks to alter the primary world- to control and master the natural world
magic is never an art but always a technique for manipulation

D. Modern Science

gradually replaced the chief aim of ancient philosophy & religions- to conform human life to ultimate reality by the way of wisdom, virtue, knowledge and self-control
CS Lewis- "There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the wisdom of earlier ages. For the wise men of the old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men- the solution is a technique....It seems to me there’s something nobler in the wisdom of earlier ages than in that of our own. Again, I don’t mean to denigrate science: science is true and it works, whereas magic isn’t and doesn’t. My point is that, by itself, scientific knowledge does not lead to a full life. We need to supplement it with knowledge from another source."
Descartes said- "the aim of modern science is to render us masters and possessors of nature

E. Modern Technology- (a disguised form of magic)-

seeks to put nature under its command
speeding up its deliberate processes
the attempt to accomplish grand ends by instant means
Immediacy- machines & magic- to speed up, reduce labor, and reduce the gap between an idea/desire & the result or effect
Magic of machine age- for those in a hurry, who lack patience, who cannot wait
Winston Churchill- ours is a "dark age, made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science."
scientific researh resulting in malign by-products
Perverted science not a Luddite- who damns & dismisses modern technology as evil & godless
the abuse of a thing does not take away its proper use

F. The Means & the Ends

the means as important as the ends
technology must be good in themselves not merely of good ends

C. S. Lewis on Myth

2008-06-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

from a letter of September 5, 1931

About his recent viewing of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale: "[the play] is merely the scaffolding whereby Shakespeare (probably unconsciously) is able to give us an image of the whole idea of resurrection, [and] I was simply overwhelmed. You will say that I am here doing to Shakespeare just what I did to Macdonald . . . Perhaps I am. I must confess that more and more the value of plays and novels becomes for me dependent on the moments when, by whatever artifice, they succeed in expressing the great myths."

from a letter of October 18, 1931

Now what Dyson and Tolkien showed me was this: that if I met the idea of sacrifice in a Pagan story I didn't mind it at all: again, that if I met the idea of a god sacrificing himself to himself . . . I like it very much and was mysteriously moved by it: again, that the idea of the dying and reviving god (Balder, Adonis, Bacchus) similarly moved me provided I met it anywhere except in the Gospels. The reason was that in Pagan stories I was prepared to feel the myth as profound and suggestive of meanings beyond my grasp even tho' I could not say in cold prose 'what it meant'.

Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myth: i.e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things'. Therefore it is true, not in the sense of being a 'description' of God (that no finite mind could take in) but in the sense of being the way in which God chooses to (or can) appear to our faculties. The 'doctrines' we get out of the true myths are of course less true: they are translations into our concepts and ideas of the wh. God has already expressed in a language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Does this amount to a belief in Christianity? At any rate I am now certain (a) That this Christian story is to be approached, in a sense, as I approach the other myths. (b) That it is the most important and full of meaning. I am also nearly certain that it really happened.

from The Pilgrim's Regress (1933) See Book 8, Chapter 8 from the essay "Myth Became Fact" (1944)

The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens--at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle. I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed. To be truly Christian we must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth (fact though it has become) with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myth. The one is hardly more necessary than the other.

from the "Preface" to George Macdonald: An Anthology (1946)

[Myth] may even be one of the greatest arts; for it produces works which give . . . as much delight . . . as much wisdom and strength as the works of the greatest poets. . . . It goes beyond the expression of things we have already felt. It arouses in us sensations we have never had before, never anticipated having, as though we had broken out of our normal mode of consciousness and 'possessed joys not promised to our birth!' It gets under our skin, hits us at a level deeper than our thoughts or even our passions, troubles oldest certainties till all questions are reopened, and in general shocks us more fully awake than we are for most of our lives.

from Miracles (1947) From a footnote to Chapter 15:

"My present view--which is tentative and liable to any amount of correction--would be that just as, on the factual side, a long preparation culminates in God's becoming incarnate as Man so, on the documentary side, the truth first appears in mythical form and then by a long process of condensing or focusing finally becomes incarnate as History. This involves the belief that Myth in general is not merely misunderstood history . . . nor diabolical illusion . . . nor priestly lying . . . but, at its best, a real though unfocused gleam of divine truth falling on human imagination. The Hebrews, like other people, had mythology: but as they were the chosen people so their mythology was the chosen mythology--the mythology chosen by God to be the vehicle of the earliest sacred truths, the first step in that process which ends in the New Testament where truth has become completely historical. . . .

It should be noted that on this view

(a) Just as God, in becoming Man, is 'emptied' of His glory, so the truth, when it comes down from the 'heaven' of myth to the 'earth' of history, undergoes a certain humiliation. Hence the New Testament is, and ought to be, more prosaic, in some ways less splendid, than the Old; just as the Old Testament is and ought to be less rich in many kinds of imaginative beauty than the Pagan mythologies.

(b) Just as God is none the less God by being Man, so the Myth remains Myth even when it becomes Fact. The story of Christ demands from us, and repays, not only a religious and historical but also an imaginative response. It is directed to the child, the poet, and the savage in us as well as to the conscience and to the intellect. One of its functions is break down dividing walls.

from "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" (1952)

[When a little boy reads of an enchanted wood] it stirs and troubles him. . . with the dim sense of something beyond his reach and, far from dulling or emptying the actual world, gives it a new dimension of depth. He does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods a little enchanted.

from a letter of September 22, 1956 . . .

a good myth (i.e. a story out of which ever varying meanings will grow for different readers and in different ages) is a higher thing than an allegory (into which one meaning has been put). Into an allegory a man can put only what he already knows; in a myth he puts what he does not yet know and cd. not come by in any other way.

from An Experiment in Criticism (1961)

1. Myths "always have a very simple narrative shape."
2. Myths are "extra-literary."
3. "The pleasure of myth depends hardly at all on . . . suspense or surprise. Even at a first reading it is felt to be inevitable."
4. We do not project ourselves into the characters of a myth.
5. Myth is always "fantastic."
6. The experience of myth may be "sad or joyful but it is always grave. . . . [and] awe-inspiring. . . numinous. It is as if something of great moment had been communicated to us."

Myth & Christianity

2008-06-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

from posts on my old blogger account:

Mythology and Christ.

Several years ago I read an article written by C.S. Lews, "Myth Became Fact." Lewi's article struck a chord, a melody, in my heart that I have not been able silence. It has set me on a path of discovery, self-discovery, and spiritual growth, which to modern conservative Christian appearance might seem at first glance to far afield from historic Christian roots; but is one, that I believe may actually be closer, upon more careful examination, to the mystical and contemplative Christian roots of the early Church.

Specifically, I've been drawn to reading and study of mythology, dream analysis and symbolism, the writings of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Morton T. Kelsey, John A. Sanford,(the latter two were Christian Priests who were also licensed Clinical Jungian Analysts), etc.

The path or chord struck is a meditation on mythology, dreams, and transcendence, albeit in Christ, which sheds light on the shadow side of our Self. Lewis said,

"Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens- at a particular date, in a particualr place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth; that is the miracle. I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed...A man who disbelieved the Christian story as fact but continually fed on it as myth would, perhaps, be more spiritully alive than the one who assented and did not think much about it."

Most of us assume that Myth refers to something which is not true or real; whereas, Myth deals with reality on a much higher or intuitive plain than so much of our theoligical diatribe and formulations. Myth is the Canon of Archetypal Symbols and Images of Man's Psychic (Gr: Psyche= soul) Content shared through the power of Story, Enactment, and Ritual. The fact that we Moderns and Modern Christians have lost through our scholastic, academic and theological De-Mythologizing the power of story, enactment, symbols, imagery, and ritual, is symptomatic of the fat that we have largely lost our soul.

The story of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy (whether read or watched) or Mel Gibson's rendition of the Passion of Christ strikes a chord in the heart, the psychic depths, which allows for participation and association with the myth through identification with the characters or a katharis experience, that a mere reading of St. Paul's theological diatribe does not. Why? Because we have been cut off from the mythical, cultic (refers to worship practices), ritualistic, sacramental, and Eucharistic practises of Early Christian mysticism, of which Paul particpated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Measure of a Man

2008-05-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

I had lunch today with my friend, Fr Jeff Olkie. During the course of our conversation, he made the comment, that "The Measure of a Man is what he does when he is Alone."

There is much that could be said about that statment but to do so would only mar a perfectly sufficient statement. Let each man examine his own heart and consider this for himself. I know I will.

A Noble Contradiction

2008-05-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

A Noble Contradiction

I went to see the movie, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, with my family a few days ago. One phrase struck my heart. The Professor, Doctor Cornelius, speaking to Prince Caspian, a Talmarin, said that he could be the "most noble contradiction in history- the Talmarine who saved Narnia. "

Narnia has been largely conquered by the Spaniard-like Talmarines and pushed almost to extinction; the Narnian's became outlawed myths and legends. Caspian is the Prince of the Talmarines and heir to the throne. However, his uncle, Miraz, after having son, tries to have Caspian murdered so that he might become King and his son the next rightful heir. Caspian escapes into the world of Narnia and discovers a world of myth become fact, the Deep Magic of Aslan; and aided by the Pevensie's, who return to Narnia from our world as High King Peter, King Edmund, Queens Susan and Lucy, fights in the Narnian Civil War to overthrow his wicked uncle and the opportunity to show his quality by returning the freedom of Narnia. In a letter C.S. Lewis, refers to such courage and chivalry as "restoration of the true religion after corruption".

But what does it mean to be Noble? One definition is the possion of "hereditary rank in a political system or social class derived from a feudalistic stage of a country's development." Certainly, Prince Caspian had heridtary rank, social position and affluence but there is more to being Noble than rank, wealth, or social status.

Being Noble is more akin to a statement from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Faramir, a Lord of Gondor, captures the two Hobbits, Frodo and Sam, who are in possession of a Ring of Power. They seek to unmake the ring in the fires of Mount Doom, thus destroying the power of the Dark Lord Sauron. Faramir has the opportunity to take for himself, Gondor and Denethor, his father and The Steward of Gondor, a "kingly gift." Faramir has to make a choice, a "noble contradiction," when he says it is "an opportunity for Faramir to show his quality," and releases the Hobbits to continue their mission.

Nobility has less to do with status or power than it does with manifesting the Quality of High Moral Character and Virtue. These qualities might include, courage, generosity, honor, and even faith. These are some of the themes of Prince Caspian.

These "Noble Contradictions" are the stuff of our Christian Faith- to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, to love even our enemies, to rather suffer wrong for the sake of Christ than to seek our own self-justiifcation, that the greatest love is when a man lays down his life for a friend.

Faith, faith in Aslan-the Christ figure of Narnia, is a strong theme in Prince Caspian. "Who believes in Aslan nowadays?" asks Trumpkin when he first meets Caspian. Those who "hold on", like the badgers, are to be praised.

There are many times and places in our daily lives when we have the opportunity to show our Quality and make such Noble Contradictions. Therefore, Let us go forth into the world to love and serve the Lord!

THE GOOD NEWS Evangelism 101 Workshop

2008-05-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,On Sat June 21st St. Edward's is hosting a most excellent workshop. The cost is $20 a participant to cover expenses. Please take a look at the attached brochure and let me know if you have any questions. This is a great opportunity to learn from an expert. Carrie Boren is amazing.

THE GOOD NEWS - Evangelism 101
A one-day workshop for individuals and churches
Saturday June 21, 2008 , 9am – 4pm
St. Edward’s Episcopal Church,
15040 Union Ave, San Jose, CA 95124
408-377-0158
goodnews@stedwards.org

Tools for sharing the good news
• As individuals in our daily lives
• As a parish in our communities

Evangelism 101 will explore
• What is the Good News?
• What is evangelism? Why do we do it?
• How to share our faith without being afraid
• How to tell the Gospel story
• How to tell our own story
• How to practice evangelism as a parish
• Ideas for parish outreach/mission

The Church is apostolic because it continues in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles and is sent to carry out Christ’s mission to all people. BCP, p. 854

Come join us for a day of equipping the church! Statistics indicate that 77 percent of people come to church and make a commitment to Jesus Christ through a personal contact with a Christian.
We can have the most incredible parish community, but, too often, it remains a secret.
This course will provide tools for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through word and deed.

About Carrie Boren :
University and an MA in education (with a focus in urban poverty policy) from Harvard University. She graduated from Oxford University with a graduate degree in theology, evangelism, and apologetics. Carrie has been a missionary in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Urban Project, has worked in public policy for the state of Texas, and is a former actor (acting on stage, television, and film). Carrie has been a part of missions in the United States, United Kingdom, and Uganda and has been a speaker in numerous parishes and other settings, such as Lambeth Palace and Oxford University.

Contact: Ed McNeill
http://www.stedwards.org/www.stedwards.org/Edsblog

Photos from St. Aidan's annual Hike in April at the Black Diamond Mines Regional Park

2008-05-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

The View

The Picnic
The Snake
King of the Mountain

Me & the Boys

2008-05-22T10:26:00.001-07:00

Just me & the boys. This is the only pics I have on the computer- I'm still learning how to use the digital camera and dowload them. They've been serving as accolytes since they were quite young. (Brian, me, Tre).

Brian & the University of California Berkley

2008-05-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

My youngest son, Brian, was recently accepted to the Young Entrepreneurs Business Academy (YEAH) Program at the Haas School of Business! The program includes a Summer Business Camp and monthly weekend classes throughout the year. It will be a great experience and help him establish a solid start to his future Resume and academic preparation for college.

Please keep him in your prayers as he begins this next chapter in his journey.

Trinity Sunday- The Doctrine & Worship of the Holy Trinity

2008-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

The Doctrine & Worship of the Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday, Yr A
Sermon Notes by Fr Aidan Jerry Hix, OSC/Priest
St Aidan’s Anglican Mission in Antioch, CA

Readings:
Genesis1:1—2:3
Ps 150 or Canticle 2
2 Corinthians 13:(5-10)11-14
or 13 Matthew 28:16-20

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see thee in thy one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Doctrine of the Trinity
The Worship of the Holy Trinity
The Test of Steadfastness in the Faith

As a child I loved and was drawn to the awe of mystery. Whether it was the romance between fire and darkness (I have always loved the dance of candlelight and shadows casting silhouettes on the wall) or reading a good mystery novel, such as the Hardy Boys, I was greatly affected by the numinous. Taking old appliances apart to see how they worked enthralled me- how all those gears and wheels turned! I was rarely able to put such things back together but I little cared for that anyway. The joy was in taking things apart and in discovery of something new, the finding out of a secret.

I was fascinated with the hidden symbols of the mind, dreams and the unconscious realms of the soul. My heroes were the prophets, priests and mystics- the shamans who lived at once in two worlds- upon earth and the realm of the spirit. Qui Chang Cain of the TV series, Kung Fu, is one example of the wielder of the mysterious realms- a martial artist and a priest trained in the Shaolin Temple and Monastery. I took these flights of fancy and awe and adapted them to my faith, for I felt the call of the Deep calling unto deep. It was such deep stirrings of the heart that finally led me to the catholic faith and the world of mystery and sacraments where the Real Presence of God was made manifest through earthly realities- truly living between both worlds, where heaven and earth overlap.

I have spent most of my life exploring the mysteries of the faith and taking spiritual things apart seeking the numinous things of God. I am no scholar but I have grasped many of the cardinal doctrines of our religion but there is one mystery which has alluded me- the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. It is a cardinal doctrine of our faith but one I have little understood or been able to find relevance in or apply to my life, until recently. It is a mystery beyond mortal understanding and we are not meant to grasp fully the nature and essence of God. But God has not left us comfortless and has made himself known to us as three divine persons- of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Today is Trinity Sunday and the time during the liturgical year when we commemorate the doctrine and especially render our worship to the most Holy Trinity. Vernon Staley summarizes this doctrine in these words:

"There is one God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These three persons are co-equal in all things. " The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet they are not three Gods, but one God." x This is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, taught by the Church, and proved by the Scriptures. Whilst the Holy Scriptures teach that there is but one God, they speak of each of the three persons as divine, and thus prove to us their co-equal Godhead. The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is a great mystery. A mystery is a truth revealed by God which we are therefore bound to believe, but which we are unable fully to understand. Though the doctrine of the Trinity is above the understanding, it is not contrary to it. It is reasonable that there should be mysteries in religion, and above all that there should be mystery about the Being of God. If we could grasp the doctrine of the Trinity, we should ourselves be God. The fly on the ceiling cannot understand the nature of man, because man is so much beyond a fly in the scale of creation. But there is less interval between a fly and a man, than there is between man and God; for man is a creature, and God is the infinite Creator."
Although the doctrine of the Trinity is a great mystery about the very essence and being of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Lord has left us clues in the story of salvation to assist us in our worship of the Trinity and manifesting this mystery in our lives!

First, we must go back to the beginning of the Story. 26Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness... So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply."

The Trinity is a divine and spiritual mystery but in the economy of God spiritual reality is made manifest in the and through the physical realm.

Let us make man and women in our image
Our humanity itself was designed to reflect the mystery of the internal relationship of the Holy Trinity.
Our common daily life not merely the times we set apart for the special ceremonies and rites of the church- baptisms, weddings, funerals, and Sunday worship
Not divided into the Sacred & profane
Gnosticism: Spirit (good) vs the physical/body (bad)
The Mystery of the Trinity is Sacramental/Incarnational
Kenosis- Jesus emptied himself/ poured himself into an earthly tabernacle
suffered bodily/ raised bodily
Eucharist- took himself in his own hands and offered himself to his disciples as real food and real drink
Our own bodily resurrection
Examples
Lembas bread
Ring- anti-sacrament
Worship
Imagination/story/mythology
Lewis- Great Divorce ºspiritual = more heavy, more real
Gandalf (angel)
Contrast with evil
Wraiths/ wraith process
Orcs- captured, tormented, twisted, corrupted
evolving downward
fading- less real

The mystery of the Trinity is a relationship
Father, Son, Holy Spirit
Ex: Christ’s Baptism: Jesus, Voice of God, HS as a Dove
Our call to be fruitful and multiply
Family
Helpmate
companionship
Ex: Frodo & Sam
Merry & Pippin
Legolas & Gimli
Contrast with the self-seeking & destructiveness of evil
Saruman & Grima
Individualism
Isolationism
arrogance & pride
Called to be part of the Church & Kingdom
Call of Abraham & Family
The Tribes & Nation of Israel
The church
Kingdom of God
community
Family Church

Conclusion: The Mystery of the Holy Trinity.
It is said that on a certain occasion a preacher named Alanus, promised to make plain to his hearers on the next Sunday, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. Whilst considering the matter by the sea shore, he saw a child with a spoon in his hand walking to and fro between the sea and a hole which he had made in the sand. Alanus asked the child what he was doing. He replied, I am trying to empty the sea into this hole. Alanus said, Why dost thou waste thy time in attempting an impossibility ? The child again replied, I am not more wasting my time than thou art, for thou wilt no sooner get all the knowledge of the Holy Trinity into thy small mind, than I shall empty the great sea into this hole in the sand.1 Though a philosopher cannot explain the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, a child can believe it. This great truth is not one about which we are to puzzle our minds. We are simply to believe it, because God has revealed it to the Church, and the Church teaches it. Reason becomes lost in wonder, and gives place to adoring faith.
"The Catholic Faith is this; that we WORSHIP one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. . . . In all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be WORSHIPPED."
+

Free Classic Anglican Books

2008-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Free Classic Anglican Books!

Catholic Principles as Illustrated in the Doctrines, History, and Organization of the American Catholic Church Commonly Called the Protestant Episcopal Church (1902) by Frank N. Westcott

http://books.google.com/books?id=6Rfo9Qp_hSkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=frank+westcott+catholic+principles

The Catholic religion : a manual of instruction for members of the Anglican Church (1917) Author: Staley, Vernon, 1852-1933
http://www.archive.org/details/catholicreligio00staluoft

The body of Christ : an enquiry into the institution and doctrine of Holy Communion (1901) Author: Gore, Charles, 1853-1932
http://www.archive.org/details/thebodyofchrist00goreuoft

The Ministry of Absolution : An appeal for its more general use with due regard to the liberty of the individual by Cyril Bickersteth, M.A. of the Community of the Resurrection http://www.archive.org/details/ministryabsoluti00bickuoft

Sermon: Christ, The Hidden Theme of the Universe.

2007-11-26T07:05:00.000-08:00

Sermon: Feast of Christ the King
Sunday, 11-25-2007
Proper 29, Year C
by Fr Aidan Hix
St. Aidan’s Church in Antioch, CA

Title- Christ, The Hidden Theme of the Universe.

Inspired by "Narnia’s Secret: The Seven Heavens of the Chronicles Revealed," (Touchstone Magazine),
written by Father Michael Ward, a priest in the Church of England, and current resident warden of The Kilns, Lewis’s Oxford home.

Many of the statements in the sermon are direct quotes or paraphrases from Fr Ward's article without specific citation for each reference used. Please see the article by Touchstone for the full article wwhich inspired the sermon and meditation or Lectio Divina.

Text: Col. 1.11-20
9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.

INTRO:
#1
The Power of stories or myths is in there quality & atmosphere not merely in the sequence of events that makes up the plot and climax.
C.S. Lewis, "To be stories at all, stories must be a series of events; but it must be understood that this series-the plot, as we call it-is only really a net whereby to catch something else. The real theme may be, and perhaps usually is, something that has no sequence in it, something other than a process and much more like a state or quality." (On Stories).
Example: the quality of "Redskinnery" in The Last of the Mohicans
When the hero of the story is half sleeping by his bivouac fire in the woods while a Redskin with a tomahawk is silently creeping up on him from behind, what makes for the essence of the scene is not simply peril, but the whole world to which this kind of peril belongs; the snow and snow shoes, the canoes, the wigwams, the feathered headdress, the war-paint, the Hiawatha names. A crook with a revolver would have conveyed a significantly different experience to the reader, even though the danger he represented might have been greater.
#2
The stories of Husband & Wives
over time the very things for which we fell in love become lost, taken, for granted, forgotten, hidden
#3
How do we approach the stories & message of the Bible?
Our human condition is that we often, in our attempt to understand and control our universe, miss the very essence, atmosphere, or quality of the world we live in.
Example: Dark Matter or Dark energy to explain the missing ingredient of what hold our world together. Yet, we miss Christ, in whom were all things created.
When we approach scripture, we too often do not look for the story-the quality or atmosphere of the passage- but for the principles and precepts laid down line upon line in a sequence of events or truth statements which lead us to Doctrinal certitude.
Wow! How exciting doctrine is! But for all the indispensable necessity of doctrine and knowing what Christians are required to believe, it does not inflame our hearts with the same passion as a story.
For example, it is one thing to know the doctrine of the crucifixion but remember how powerfully moved we were by watching Mel Gibson’s, "The Passion of the Christ."
We must seek for the hidden or forgotten element in the story
NOTES:
We typically think of God or Christ as something "out there, up there, back there, or in there"
Thus, God becomes something taken for granted or forgotten
Christ is the image of the invisible God-St Paul says he is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17and he is before all things, and in him all things consist".
Image implies invisibility-
C.S. Lewis speaks of even our very thoughts about Christ were themselves held together by Christ. We cannot in that sense step outside of Christ and look at him or God as if we were some external spectator. This puts us in a miraculous predicament. Lewis says:
"The fact which is in one respect the most obvious and primary fact, and through which alone you have access to all the other facts, may be precisely the one that is most easily forgotten- forgotten not because it is so remote or abstruse but because it is so near and so obvious. And that is exactly how the supernatural has been forgotten.
Natural human tendency to oblivious of the obvious:
Lewis (Miracles): " Since that divine power if it exists, would not be one of the observed facts but a reality which makes them, no mere observation of the facts can find it."
Lewis (Letters to Malcolm): "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowned with Him. He walks everywhere incognito."
The "overlookability" of God
We must look for the cryptic of Kappa element (Kappa first letter of the Greek word meaning cryptic or hidden)
Illustration: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
"Always winter, and never Christmas." -probably the most famous words C.S. Lewis ever wrote.
Mr Beaver, referring to the Witch, says, "Didn’t I tell you that she made it always winter and never Christmas?"
Peter exclaims when coming out of the wardrobe, "By Jove!"
Who is Jove? Jove is the ruling planet Jupiter, "the wise and kingly planet, the conqueror of winter"
God is disguised as a mere god. He is God incognito.
Jupiter is the wounded planet (red spot):
Charles William poem, "Pelles bleeds below Jupiter’s red-pierced planet."
Lewis: "Williams assumes that the huge reddish spot which astronomers observe on the surface of Jupiter is a wound and the redness is that of blood. Jupiter, the planet of kingship, thus wounded becomes, like the wounded King Pelles (from Arthurian mythology), another ectype of the Divine King wounded on Calvary."
Thus, Jupiter is manifested as Aslan’s Calvary like death on the Stone Table
It destroys winter and forgives Edmunds betrayal.
Aslan is King and is introduced as "the king of the wood...the king of the beasts...he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King."
Excerpt from Father Wards article:
"And not only is Aslan King, Peter and Edmund become kings by the end of the story (The Last Battle); the story is really about how it happens. Edmund wants it to happen in his own way, by siding with the witch, who has ensnared him with her declaration that she wants a boy who would be king of Narnia after she is gone. Eventually, he realizes that she did not intend to make him King...
The true King is Aslan, who has his own plans for the children. He shows Peter, "the castle where you are to be King" and tells him, "You will be high King over all the rest." The climax of the scene at the castle Cair Paravel where the children are hailed, enthroned, crowned, and sceptered. Near the end of the story, Aslan declares, Once a King in Narnia, always a King in Narnia."
Turning to Our Lesson from Colossians 1.11-20
Our normal approach might be to read it from start to finish, looking for the series of events or principles. Lets reread the passsage:
9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins
When we do this, what to we find? Perhaps, some of the following principle and respective personal applications:
a piece of history, an ancient text, an ancient letter, written by a rather famous saint to an obscure church in a foreign land of Colosse. We might even asl, Where is Colosse? What’s so special about them?
How does this apply to me know, 2000 years later.
Paul never ceases to pray, so we should also pray
that we should have knowledge of God will, spiritual wisdom, understanding
that we should behave in a certain way, to walk worthy of the Lord
that we should be effective, bearing good fruit
that we are partakers of a spiritual nature
that we have a heavenly inheritance
that we’ve been snatch out of one kingdom and placed in the territory of another kingdom.
These principle then lead up to the climax of the passage which is about high Christology, the Doctrine or faith statements about the preeminence of Christ,
13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.
Is there anything wrong with this picture of our Bible Lesson?
Certainly not with the basic principles themselves. They are an important and indispensable part of our faith and doctrine.
The problem, is one of perspective or polarity. We too often begin with ourselves as the starting point.
We begin with ourselves, our own perceptions, experiences, needs and agendas.
Then we approach the scripture for what we can learn (principles of life)
These lead up to some climax or doctrine about God, in this case Christology
Which brings us back to ourselves and how we should be.
Its all about us, in this sense.
What did we miss?
we missed that the story is not just a sequence of events or principles but a hidden quality, a mystical elements,
we missed the atmosphere of the passage. It is much more akin to C.S. Lewi’s allegory of Aslan King of Narnia and not so much a text book lesson or lecture about divine principles
we missed that our lives are always winter and never Christmas
we missed God hidden and disguised as Jov
we missed the bleeding wound of Jupiter
we missed Aslan’s sacrifice on the Stone Table
we missed that it destroys winter and forgives our betrayal
we missed the end of the story and our call to be kings and priests
we missed that the story is really about how it happens (in Christ)
we missed Aslan or Christ
we started from ourselves and worked our way up to Christ and back to ourselves.
Christ the Hidden Theme of the Universe
Paul begins not with himself but with Christ,
He begins with his relationship with Christ in prayer
3We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you, 4having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love
which ye have toward all the saints, 5because of the hope which is laid up
for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of
the gospel, 6which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world
bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard
and knew the grace of God in truth; 7even as ye learned of Epaphras our
beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
8who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and
make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Paul shares with us not a mere sequence of events and a plot but tells us in this passage of the real theme, the true story of Narnia and Aslan, which is Jesus. He shares with us the story of the creation of the world. He tells us about the Invisible God who fashioned worlds, planets, and stars out of nothing; and hangs them like "Christmas tree ornaments in the deeps of space".
No man can see God and live yet Paul tells the story of the face of God which descended from on high, who is the very image, likeness, and substance of the hidden or kappa theme of the universe, and even our very lives.
He tells of the story of two kingdoms, one where it is always winter/and never Christmas, and one of eternal spring and summer. And these two kingdoms are locked in a great cosmic conflict over right and wrong, over life and death, over the forces of all that is good, right, and noble warring against darkness, corruption and evil, the very absence of God. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places."
7And there was war in heaven: Michael and
his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and
his angels; 8And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any
more in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he
that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was
cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. 10And I
heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the
power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our
God day and night. 11And they overcame him because of the blood of the
Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not
their life even unto death.
He tells of the conquering hero, one greater than Aslan, for whom Aslan is a mere shadow, who steps out of the true castle of the king; and we see that
the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat
thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteous he doth judge and make
war. 12And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many
diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he
himself. 13And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his
name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which are in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
15And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should
smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. 16And
he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written,
KINGS OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
He tells the story of how he rescued us from the clutch of the Dark Lord and placed us under the protection of His eternal Kingship and Rule:
17And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered
together unto the great supper of God; 18that ye may eat the flesh of
kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh
of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free
and bond, and small and great. 19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the
earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat
upon the horse, and against his army. 20And the beast was taken, and with
him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he
deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that
worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that
burneth with brimstone: 21and the rest were killed with the sword of him
that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his
mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
CONCLUSION
To discover the hidden theme of the universe, even our own thoughts, our own being or our very lives, we must begin with the story of Christ. Only then can we move backward to ourselves and appreciate the Christian Rules of Conduct, behavior, spiritual disciplines, and principles of faith, practice and morals, that Paul was writing about.
He was telling the story of our King and how we should be citizens, and even soldiers of a heavenly kingdom.
We may ask, as the Children in the Chronicles of Narnia did about Aslan, "Is he safe?"
Is Aslan safe? Is Christ safe?
"The King of Kings and Lord of Lord? He isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King!"

My Old Blogger Website

2007-08-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

My Old Blogger Website

http://fatheraidansblog.blogspot.com/

Friar Aidan- New Urban Monk

2007-08-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Friar Aidan- New Urban Monk

On Sunday, August 26, 2007 I took my vows as a First Order Secular Friar in the religious Order of St. Columba. As a friend said, I became an Urban Monk!

Men and women who enter the monastic life take the traditional vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience. However, in the Celtic Christian Tradition, monastics were often married and had families but lived a disciplined life of prayer based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, following the examples of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.

The men and women who comprise the religious Order of St Columba follow the "mixed-life" of traditional monastic spirituality and apostolic ministry. They have dedicated themselves to a life of discipline conformed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and according to the example of St Columba and the Celtic Christian Church. Our Way of life is based on the Rule of St. Columba.

The Rule of Life consists in:

1. Obedience- to the Holy Trinity, the Holy Scriptures, and the Councils and Creeds of the Undivided Church of the first millenia; a devout life as exemplified by St Columba; and one's Abbot and Spiritual Director;

2. Chastity- for single monks and nuns this means celibacy. For married members this means sexual purity and marital fidelity.

3. Poverty- for monks and nuns this means Poverty! For secular members who live in the world and have families, etc., this means simplicity, stewardship and frugality.

4. Worship- this involves praying the Daily Offices of the Church, regular attendance and reception of Holy Communion, meditation and contemplation, , etc.

5. Bible Study & Private Devotions-

6. Physical Exercise- the celtic monks were hardy and strong men and women who spent hours in vigil, prayers, intercessions, and ministry. So, we need to keep our bodies in good shape. If the body is lethargic, so will our prayer life.

7. Service- our ministry of love and service to others

8. Labor- the work needed to support ourselves, families and communities.

9. Art- may include painting, music, drawing, gardening, craftmenship, spiritual journaling, etc

10. Confession- accountability to a Priest

11. Spiritual Direction- regular spiritual guidance from one's spiritual director.
etc

Photos etc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fraidanhix

http://360.yahoo.com/fraidanhix