Lent Week 4

Dear friends, I am thinking of you at this very strange time. These Lent meditations were written in 2003 when the War in Iran and SARS Virus were in full swing – synchronicity!

I Am or Astral?

“The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass’s colt!” His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Laz’arus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing; look, the world has gone after him.” Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Beth-sa’ida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” John 12:12-21

In his meditations on the days of Lent, Reverend Mario asks us to meditate on three truths:

1. Recognize Jesus as the king of Universe,
2. let the I Am discipline our animal nature,
3. realize that everyone is attracted to Christ regardless of race, religion and status.

The I Am is very compelling; it’s qualities, freedom and love, are the most compelling in the Universe. You may think money is also compelling but money is just seen as a way to achieve freedom and love. If you ask people who have money if they have freedom and love they will often say they don’t. The one who is truly rich is the one who has connected with their I Am.

Jesus the king is the one who has been able to give the I Am rulership in his being. He was able to ride the ass’s colt, his astral, without being bucked off. He also felt equality with all people regardless of the differences of soul, of culture.

We know that we are beings of body, soul and spirit. Our evolution through Atlantis, Persia, Egypt, Rome, up till now, has allowed us to develop from the human animal expression to the pure human being. We are at present putting the finishing touches on our soul and then we will begin to develop our spirit over the next few thousand years. When we talk about developing the soul and spirit we are talking about letting the I Am have control of our soul which reduces the influence of the lower astral forces in our soul.

The astral thinks it is king, after all, it’s been around for ages – we began working with it 6-7000 years ago. It thinks the I Am is trying to muscle into its territory. The astral always wants the soul to experience the world through the body. Christ wants us to experience the soul through our spirit. This is called the battle for the soul and it is a war that continually rages in our being.

What does this mean in terms of everyday life? We interpret everything materialistically every time we are sucked into the body through the forces of the astral. We see matter as the only reality. The I Am wants us to look beneath the surface and see the hidden connections. Such activities strengthen the I Am so that astral won’t buck it off.

The materialistic view says that the war in Iraq (2003) is about America and its allies trying to remove Saddam Hussein, or that it is for commercial gain. If we look beneath the surface, we see the breakdown of an ancient culture, possibly with ties to events in Ancient Persia. We can also see a war between a group of people who have dragged the past into the present, which is the work of Lucifer, called the Devil in the Bible, and a group of people who want to bring the future into the present too soon with their hi-tech machines, which is the work of Ahriman who is a force of opposition, often called Satan.

We could go on and on putting forward the twelve sides of the issue before we judge, but there is an essential question to ask: where is Christ in all this, where is the I Am? Rev Mario told us so many times that the guiding powers, the Brotherhood, will do its work regardless. The I Am must manifest in as many human beings as possible, if it doesn’t, never mind losing a war, the earth will be lost.

While we are distracted with the war, at the same time there is a mystery Pneumonia (SARS) killing people in Asia. They have sold out of surgical facemasks in Hong Kong and they have sold out of gas facemasks in the Middle East. Look for the connections and the I Am will reveal itself.

The best way for the I Am to manifest is by creating light in love and freedom. We can do this with prayer, we can most certainly do this by gathering together for Communion. The spiritual beings gather around the light we create and those who have died gain strength from this light so that they can continue their journey. The people who die spread out like a mist in the sphere between the earth and the moon and the Angels sing to them the celestial songs which will bear them upwards. Our light and love can soothe them as they review their life, encased in the shock and horror of the way they died, and, as they try to comfort the loved ones they leave behind whose grieving holds them back.

They will see with bitter sweetness that they have lost the life they could have lived, of being part of creating a future where Christ and the I Am will reign like a king. We can pray that they will see Jesus standing in the heavens as the example of what is possible.

This Bible text explains much about what is happening in the world, the war is even happening near the very soil that received the blood of Christ. Let us deeply feel all these events, past and present in the weeks leading up to the deed of Golgotha.