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Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through Christ and for Christ.
Christ is before all things,
and in Christ all things hold together. …
For in Christ all the fullness was pleased to dwell …
whether those on earth or those in heaven.
- Colossians 1:15-17, 19, 20
Are you not the Christ?
- Luke 23:39
We teeter on the threshold of Advent, leaving behind the apocalyptic scriptures to hear precursors of the Incarnation of God among us. What new life awaits us in the ashes of the old?
Is Jesus the only Christ you know? Now is the time to awaken, to clear the lens of our cultural and religious conditioning and know Christ through the eyes of enlightened hearts -- as more than a gendered person in history, but a present reality, a living experience in our everyday lives.
As a current-day prophet, Ilia Delio calls us out of the wilderness: "Christ is more than Jesus. Christ is the communion of divine personal love expressed in every created form of reality -- every star, leaf, bird, fish, tree, rabbit and every human person. Everything is christified because everything expresses divine love incarnate. … We cannot know this mystery of Christ as a doctrine or an idea; it is the root reality of all existence. Hence we must travel inward, into the interior depth of the soul where the field of divine love is expressed in the 'thisness' of our own, particular lives. Each of us is a little word of the Word of God, a mini-incarnation of divine love. The journey inward requires … surrender of our partial lives to become whole in the love of God. … [T]hen we can open our eyes to see that the Christ in me is the Christ in you. …” (Center for Christogenesis blogpost, October 16, 2017)
Are you not the Christ? And your neighbor? What is in the way of living this?
Meditations
“The contemplative journey is the most responsible of all responses to God because so much depends on it - the future of humanity, the healing of the wounds of humanity, our own deepest healing. It’s not just a method of meditation or a practice to find personal peace. It’s basically a total acceptance of the human condition in all its ramifications, including its desperate woundedness … Humans are fully capable of becoming God, not in the fullest sense of the word, but in a very real way, where the light, life and love of God are pouring through them, channeling a source of healing, compassion and reconciliation wherever they go and whatever they do. They are rooted in the divine compassion and mercy and are manifesting … the pure light of the image and likeness of God within them, which is the assimilation of the mind and heart of Christ in everyday life.”
- Thomas Keating, Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ
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We awaken in Christ's body
as Christ awakens our bodies,
and my poor hand is Christ,
Christ enters my foot, and is infinitely me.
I move my hand, and wonderfully
my hand becomes Christ …
Do my words seem blasphemous? –Then
open your heart to Christ
and let yourself receive the one
who is opening to you so deeply.
For if we genuinely love …
we wake up inside Christ's body
where all our body, all over,
every most hidden part of it,
is realized in joy, as Christ,
and Christ makes us, utterly, real,
and everything that is hurt, everything
that seemed to us dark, harsh, shameful,
maimed, ugly, irreparably
damaged, is in Christ transformed
and recognized as whole, as lovely,
and radiant in Christ’s light
Christ awakens as the Beloved
in every last part of our body.
- Symeon The New Theologian, as quoted in The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell
To Practice
- Reread these passages aloud in the manner of lectio divina, allowing the sensations and vibrations to penetrate your heart. What is revealed for your journey now?
- Practice waking up in Christ’s body this week. Gaze with love at your hands, your feet, your face. Awaken as the Beloved. Once you have a glimpse of this with yourself, practice this gazing with others.
- Post your reflections on the community forum here. Post prayer requests here. By clicking on the Subscribe link on the right-hand side of a thread, you can receive email notifications when someone posts a comment or a prayer request.
- You may be interested in joining us for an Advent online retreat, "The Grace of the Four Consents," beginning next Thursday November 24, offered with our partner Spirituality & Practice. Scholarships are available. You can read more and register for this e-retreat here.
Join in two Word of the Week Prayer Chapels (UTC/GMT offset -6 hours). Each prayer group has a slightly different reflection, therefore some participants attend both.
- Tuesday, 8:00-9:00 AM Central (Chicago) Time
- Wednesday, 5:00-6:00 PM Central (Chicago) Time
You can use this time zone converter to assist in calculating the prayer groups in your local time.
To join use this meeting connection:
About five minutes prior to the time of prayer, you may either
or
- Open Zoom, click-on "join meeting," and enter meeting ID 445 909 4698. Passcode: COL
Or, if this time does not work for you, there are additional opportunities to support your silent prayer practice and spiritual journey on Meditation Chapel, a Zoom-enabled, worldwide community. All groups are free and open to all. Read more about the groups on The Meditation Chapel here.
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