Fourth Sunday of Winter
“Sermon on the Mount” by Cosimo Rosselli, c. 1439.
For most people New Year’s Day is a time to take stock of the past year and to make resolutions. We often set goals at this time year such as getting in better shape, losing weight, finding a better job, etc. It is perhaps fitting that we consider secular things on a secular celebration.
But as Gnostics the Winter Solstice and Christmas has prepared us for more than this. New year is also a time to renew our relationship with the Divine. What promises have we made to that end? Isn’t what really matters whether or not we grow closer and closer to the Divine every year of our life? Can we say that we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us more now than we did at the same time last year? If not, then what is missing and how can we repair it?
With this increased closeness to God should also come greater happiness, love, and freedom in our lives. Are we more loving beings, do we feel freer inside our minds, do we spend less of our time in negative emotional and intellectual states? Are our words and actions more compassionate?
Maybe these are the kind of resolutions we should be making today.
Fortunately we are reminded by the readings of today, and particularly the Gospel reading of Saint-John drawn from the Book of Revelation, that we are not alone in this and that we are aided tremendously by His Divine Mercy:
“And God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away. Behold I make all things new.”
Therefore, let us as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church renew our commitment to Gnosis; let us all in our own ways endeavour to grow closer to the Divine, to know Him better; and by doing so help build a world in which there is less sorrow, less crying, less pain and less death. Let us help the Lord make all things new through us. Amen!
But as Gnostics the Winter Solstice and Christmas has prepared us for more than this. New year is also a time to renew our relationship with the Divine. What promises have we made to that end? Isn’t what really matters whether or not we grow closer and closer to the Divine every year of our life? Can we say that we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us more now than we did at the same time last year? If not, then what is missing and how can we repair it?
With this increased closeness to God should also come greater happiness, love, and freedom in our lives. Are we more loving beings, do we feel freer inside our minds, do we spend less of our time in negative emotional and intellectual states? Are our words and actions more compassionate?
Maybe these are the kind of resolutions we should be making today.
Fortunately we are reminded by the readings of today, and particularly the Gospel reading of Saint-John drawn from the Book of Revelation, that we are not alone in this and that we are aided tremendously by His Divine Mercy:
“And God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things have passed away. Behold I make all things new.”
Therefore, let us as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church renew our commitment to Gnosis; let us all in our own ways endeavour to grow closer to the Divine, to know Him better; and by doing so help build a world in which there is less sorrow, less crying, less pain and less death. Let us help the Lord make all things new through us. Amen!