Dear
Spiritual Partners,
In the beautiful book Keep A
True Lent, by Charles Fillmore the founder of Unity, he has stated that,
“Lent is a season of spiritual growth, a time for progressive unfoldment.”
In this we are realizing our unity with God. Lent begins with Ash
Wednesday and commences on Easter Morning. The word Lent comes from
the Anglo-Saxon word for spring, which is derived from a verb meaning to
lengthen. Lent comes in the spring when the days become noticeably
longer.
For many years The Center for
the Celebration of Life has had a special service on Ash Wednesday.
As the members of our community enter in they are given a sprig of an
olive branch, a piece of paper, and a pencil. The olive branch
symbolizes the forgiveness one must experience before the resurrection of
the Self can occur. The piece of paper and pencil are for writing
down what one wants to release out of their lives. We then file
outside to the burning bowl releasing that which no longer serves us and
seeing the energy rise up in a “sacred hoop” to Great Spirit.
Dr. Fillmore goes on to state,
“In Christ it is not difficult to eliminate belief in strife and
contention. If petty quarrels, jealousy, uncharitable thoughts come
into my life, I overcome them by a quiet but positive denial made in the
realization that no error has any power or reality in itself. I turn
away from the belief in negation, and my thinking changes. I rid my
consciousness of limited thoughts that have encumbered and darkened my
understanding. I break down mortal thought and ascend into a
spiritual realm, the kingdom of the heavens. In the spirit of divine
love I affirm: “Forgetting the things that are behind, I realize I
am strong, positive, powerful, wise, loving, fearless, free spirit.
I am god’s perfect child.”
Easter is the celebration of
the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Its inner meaning and
spiritual significance is the awakening and raising to the spiritual
consciousness of the I AM in each of us, which has been asleep in the tomb
of unconsciousness. As our humanness gives way to the divine the
Christ arises triumphant and victorious! Our ego then serves the
holy purpose of our spiritualized consciousness.
The Course In Miracles states:
“This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy
sign the Son of God is innocent. Let no dark sign of crucifixion
intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the acceptance of
the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not
death. And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God, and not
his sins. Offer your brother’s and sister’s the gift of lilies,
not the crown of thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain
which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering
the lilies to replace them. This Easter I would have the gift of
your forgiveness offered by you to me, and returned by me to you. We
cannot be united in crucifixion and in death. Nor can your
resurrection be complete till your forgiveness rest on Christ, along with
mine.”
In this moment let us make a
new commitment to our spiritual life; let us bathe in the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, given with the Rose of Perfection, anointing the Sacred Heart
of each soul to the Christ that we are! Namaste! The Christ in
me salutes the Christ in you! Namaste!
