Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
Intent: Serenity
The readings for today, drawn from the Song of the Great Mother (the Magnificat) and the Corpus Hermeticum, speak of the need to acquire, along our spiritual path, the ability of letting go and an authentic sense of gratitude.
The Song of the Great Mother, which Orthodox equivalent is the Magnificat can be seen as an example of trusting the will of the Divine Spirit and letting it work its magic within us; as Our Holy Mother incarnated as Mary the Mother of Jesus did when she learnt of Her role in the Cosmic Play of the Incarnation of the Aeon Christ amongst humanity.
But at the same time, the Magnificat is a challenge to us Gnostics. How well do we trust the Divine Light working within us and in our lives as Mary did? How much do we trust ourselves and others? How does worrying about things we have no control over affect the quality of our relationship with the Divine and with others? Are we capable of letting go of our past trauma and painful experiences and live a new and resurrected life every day? Do we follow the voice of the Indwelling Spirit every time we speak, or do we let the negative experiences in our life talk in place of it?
The reading taken from the Corpus Hermeticum also makes a link between this ability of letting go and spiritual gratitude:
“Now it is impossible to be devoted truly without the philosophy of Gnosis; he who has learnt what existing things are, and how they are ordered, and by whom, will give thanks for all to the Creator…”
The link made in the Corpus Hermeticum may not be apparent at first, but if we think about it some more, it begins to make sense. Isn’t it when we are thankful for what we have that our focus turns from the things that we cannot control, to the positive things in our lives? When we are in awe and grateful for all we have, doesn’t our perception of life become more positive and aren’t we more likely to trust in life? Aren’t we also more capable of seeing how the compassion and love of the Divine Light has worked miracles in us and in others?
This ability of letting go and being grateful for what we have also has an impact on our understanding of our spiritual path. Carl Jung once wrote: "If our religion is based on salvation our chief emotions will be based on fear and trembling, if our religion is based on wonder our chief emotion will be gratitude."
Let us therefore pray, as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church, that we may be filled with awe and gratitude; not fear and desperation; and that this awe and gratitude may lead us to a true serenity; and let us pray that we may so abandon our worries that the Divine Spirit may work its myriad of miracles in us and in those around us. Amen.
The Song of the Great Mother, which Orthodox equivalent is the Magnificat can be seen as an example of trusting the will of the Divine Spirit and letting it work its magic within us; as Our Holy Mother incarnated as Mary the Mother of Jesus did when she learnt of Her role in the Cosmic Play of the Incarnation of the Aeon Christ amongst humanity.
But at the same time, the Magnificat is a challenge to us Gnostics. How well do we trust the Divine Light working within us and in our lives as Mary did? How much do we trust ourselves and others? How does worrying about things we have no control over affect the quality of our relationship with the Divine and with others? Are we capable of letting go of our past trauma and painful experiences and live a new and resurrected life every day? Do we follow the voice of the Indwelling Spirit every time we speak, or do we let the negative experiences in our life talk in place of it?
The reading taken from the Corpus Hermeticum also makes a link between this ability of letting go and spiritual gratitude:
“Now it is impossible to be devoted truly without the philosophy of Gnosis; he who has learnt what existing things are, and how they are ordered, and by whom, will give thanks for all to the Creator…”
The link made in the Corpus Hermeticum may not be apparent at first, but if we think about it some more, it begins to make sense. Isn’t it when we are thankful for what we have that our focus turns from the things that we cannot control, to the positive things in our lives? When we are in awe and grateful for all we have, doesn’t our perception of life become more positive and aren’t we more likely to trust in life? Aren’t we also more capable of seeing how the compassion and love of the Divine Light has worked miracles in us and in others?
This ability of letting go and being grateful for what we have also has an impact on our understanding of our spiritual path. Carl Jung once wrote: "If our religion is based on salvation our chief emotions will be based on fear and trembling, if our religion is based on wonder our chief emotion will be gratitude."
Let us therefore pray, as One Gnostic Community and One Universal Gnostic Church, that we may be filled with awe and gratitude; not fear and desperation; and that this awe and gratitude may lead us to a true serenity; and let us pray that we may so abandon our worries that the Divine Spirit may work its myriad of miracles in us and in those around us. Amen.