Lent Week 1

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday each year. Many Christians choose to give up something for Lent; wine, chocolate etc. In other words, they deprive themselves of something that they enjoy. Another approach is to see Lent as a time to take something up. Perhaps it is to smile at more people during the day. Or we could make a point of meaningfully thanking people for the things they do for us. It could be a time when we remind ourselves that the Christ is in everyone we meet (whether they realize it or not). In this way we celebrate the Life of this earth.

First Week of Lent

Seeing His Glory

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” John 1:1-14

Rev Mario Schoenmaker wrote a book “Meditations for the Days of Lent” in 1992. It was intended to be a guide to personal preparation for Easter. He began with the Prologue to the Gospel of St John which he said we should all learn off by heart and recite often.

His first meditation pointed to a very important esoteric principle, that of Christ becoming human.

“Christ’s purpose in going to the cross and experiencing the death of a human being was to identify himself with all human beings.”

“This particular passage of St John shows us the Logos, the Word, the very thought of God in its creative nature. This creative Word became flesh and lived as a human being among us.”

Our task is to see the glory of what took place. Glory, doxazo, means glorified, shining like a star. The star within us is our astral body and when we can override its instinctual behavior our light shines. Our I Am, that radiant light, has revealed the truth, the truth that sets us free.

This means that our consciousness is raised and our spiritual perception is awakened. We see the spiritual elements within every physical manifestation. The glorification, doxazo, occurs when we purify our soul of its bias which arise from our opinions, judgments or views.

Our task is to achieve this state of glory by using our soul with conscious awareness. This means we think, feel and act with awareness. Our soul shines with splendor and brightness when we purify it by controlling our ego. When it is purified, our I Am can work without restraint in our being; unpurified, our astral will continually obscure our I Am.

Then we achieve “glory as of the only Son from the Father.” The word ‘son’ is not in the Greek text, there is only the word monogenes which is often translated as “only begotten”. The literal translation is ‘one-born’ … or self-born! That is the secret of the I Am, it must be self-born.

This is our task during each period of Lent, to find ways to give birth to our Self, our Higher Self. The following weeks of Lent will show us how to do this.

The Rose Cross – artist unknown