Rock on
Merry Christmas,
LSP
So here we are at the beginning of a new year, it's rolled around yet again and we're still standing, for the most part. All well and good, but what will tomorrow bring? Good question.
It may bring rain or it may bring snow or any old thing, such is our old enemy, the Weather. Perhaps it will bring stagflation, Weimar style and we'll all be hauling our crypto home in wheelbarrows as one bullet = >1000 USD$. Maybe there'll be war because, after all, too much peace ain't good for the bottom line and, of course, there'll be plague, we know this. Wear your masks, serfs, and don't you dare question a rigged midterm, you hate extremists. Mirror of Illusion? Cubed.
Whatever, welcome to the hideous new normal, but think on this. At Christmas we celebrated the advent of Christ into the world, the Word made Flesh, and the eternal light which shines in the darkness becoming flesh, a man, for our salvation. The Light has come down to earth to be the Light of the World and we behold, through the eyes of faith, his glory, full of grace and truth.
Stand fast to him, our redeemer, in this new year. Flee from sin, from the Herods who would destroy him and be filled with confident, joyful hope. All the raging, insane powers of Hell, to say nothing of the world and the flesh cannot defeat the divine life present within us. If, and that's just it, if we remain faithful.
Adeste,
LSP
There's such beauty to Christmas Eve, anticipation of the Feast with all the intimacy of the thing itself; presents, family, friends, glittering lights on the tree and on, and joy seems to fill the air. Quite right too, we're celebrating the most miraculous and glorious of things, the birth of Christ, the Word made Flesh, and with it the advent of salvation.
What can we do but bow down in adoration, praise and wonder before the mystery and the Missions did just that, celebrating in fine style. Then it was back to the Compound with the specialist who opened a "tactical stocking" and something called a "gaming laptop." Apparently these are important for today's troops.
Blue took it in stride and may have got a Christmas special himself. Hmmmm. And so we advanced to contact, in good way.
Merry Christmas!
LSP
"I am the bread of life," says Christ in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel. It's a remarkable statement. Jesus claims that he is the spiritual food which came down from heaven, sent by his Father. That he is true manna, "not such as your fathers ate and died, he who eats this bread will live forever."
He, Jesus, is the very food which endures for everlasting life, the fulfillment and embodiment of the Law represented by the 5 loaves of the miracle performed the day before.
He is the glory of God which passed by Moses, who was hidden by God in a cleft in the rock, and spoke through the unquenchable fire of the burning bush. He is now unveiled, present, incarnate, "and we beheld His glory, a glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Glory that's given to us in sacrifice for our atonement on the Cross, "the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Bread which we receive by faith, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” And that's just it. Do we dare to believe, to put our humble, perhaps desperate and fearful faith in the Son of Man who came down from heaven that we might live. To put it another way. Do we labor for earthly food, for bread and power, or for the heavenly food which is the life of God himself?
Christ faced this temptation in the wilderness and answered Satan, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God." He said no to "all the kingdoms of the world and the glories therein," and went to the Cross, which became his throne. He invites us to do the same, "take up your cross," so that we, in him, will have life, divine life.
Of course you might want to choose bread and power instead, thus cunningly marking yourself with the number of the beast. Your call, good luck. But remember, it's all a Big Pharma congressional larf until you wake up and a demon's gnawing on your inner thigh.
God bless,
LSP
I don't care about Willie's bizarro hindoo theology. Drop of rain, again and again and again? Really? I just like the tune.
Cheers,
LSP
V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.R. And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of grace,The Lord is with Thee;Blessed art thou among women,And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.Holy Mary, Mother of God,Pray for us sinners,Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.R. Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary, etc.
V. And the Word was made Flesh. (genuflect you heathen)R. And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, etc.
V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the Incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his (cross yourselves, pagans) cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
They were "wise." They represent the inner dynamic of religion toward self-transcendence, which involves a search for truth, a search for the true God and hence "philosophy" in the original sense of the word. Wisdom, then, serves to purify the message of "science": the rationality of that message does not remain at the level of intellectual knowledge, but seeks understanding in its fullness, and so raises reason to its loftiest possibilities.
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Advent brings Christmas, judgement runs out into mercy. For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God. We are not, even, condemned by his severity and redeemed by his compassion; what judges us is what redeems us, the love of God. What is it that will break our hearts on judgement day? Is it not the vision, suddenly unrolled, of how he has loved the friends we have neglected, of how he has loved us, and we have not loved him in return; how, when we came (as now) before his altar, he gave us himself, and we gave him half-penitences, or resolutions too weak to commit our wills? But while love thus judges us by being what it is, the same love redeems us by effecting what it does. Love shares flesh and blood with us in this present world, that the eyes which look us through at last may find in us a better substance than our vanity.
Neither the tragic experience of violence and reduction of the human person, nor the proclamation of noble ideals have prevented the continuation of aggression and war, the exaltation of power and the exploitation of one another. Nor again have the domination of technology, the extraordinary achievements of science, and economic progress brought social justice and the peace that we so desire. Instead, in our time, the indulgence of the affluent has increased and globalization is destroying the conditions of social cohesion and harmony...
In the Church, we experience freedom through Christ, in Christ and with Christ. And the very summit of this freedom is the place of love, which “does not seek its own” but “derives from a pure heart.” Whoever depends on himself, seeks his own will, and is self-sufficient—whoever pursues deification by himself and congratulates himself—only revolves around himself and his individual self-love and self-gratification; such a person only sees others as a suppression of individual freedom. Whereas freedom in Christ is always oriented to one’s neighbor, always directed toward the other, always speaks the truth in love. The aim of the believer is not to assert his or her rights, but rather “to follow and fulfill the rights of Christ” in a spirit of humility and thanksgiving.
This truth about the life in Christ, about freedom as love and love as freedom, is the cornerstone and assurance for the future of humankind. When we build on this inspired ethos, we are able to confront the great challenges of our world, which threaten not only our well-being but our very survival.
The truth about the “God-man” is the response to the contemporary “man-god” and proof of our eternal destination proclaimed by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016): “The Orthodox Church sets against the ‘man-god’ of the contemporary world the ‘God-man’ as the ultimate measure of all things. “We do not speak of a man who has been deified, but of God who has become man.” The Church reveals the saving truth of the God-man and His body, the Church, as the locus and mode of life in freedom, “speaking the truth in love,” and as participation even now on earth in the life of the resurrected Christ.”
Excuse me? |