Giving Christmas
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Opening prayer
Amen. Celebrating Christmas in a practical way so Christ may be fully awakened within our hearts When Christmas comes, people usually think of buying gifts for their loved ones. A few think of the beauties of Christmas music and church services. Many revel in the festivity of the Christmas tree, with its glimmering lights, decorations and colorfully wrapped gifts beneath its branches. As Christians we faithfully gather to remember the birth of baby Jesus and offer the infant Christ a cradle in our loving hearts. For if material festivity were to become the only purpose of Christmas celebrations it would be a real pity and nothing of spiritual value would be gained. Let us continue to strive to make our celebration of Christmas a real commemoration of the holy life of Christ, a truly spiritual and uplifting experience. Let us use this special time for spiritually remembering Christ and exchanging gifts of soul and heart qualities. Let us truly celebrate the birth of Jesus by striving to realise within ourselves his pure character, forgiveness, renunciation, devotion and most of all his great love for all. Christ is born anew in the cradle of every loving heart. So we must prepare our consciousness to receive him. We’re not suggesting that anyone omit the social observances of Christmas. Just consciously add to your social celebration of Christmas the effort to really get acquainted with the ever-living Christ, born as new wisdom and new happiness within you. Prepare yourself
to celebrate Christmas in the real way: 2. Forgive all your imaginary and real enemies as Jesus forgave his adversaries. Fill your heart with compassionate understanding for those who crucify you with unkind actions, words, or ingratitude in exchange for the good you give them. Let your prayer be: ‘Father, teach me to love my error stricken brethren, who know not what they do. Let me not by unkindness drive them deeper into evil, but rather let my love persuade them to better ways of living. 3. Govern all the actions of your life with the honesty and fearlessness of Jesus. 4. Overcome sorrow-producing temptations by self-control — even as Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan. Develop a preference for all things good. Forgo the temporary pleasures that derive from the misuse of our five senses and pursue the lasting, true happiness of the soul. 5. Give to others good for evil, understanding for misunderstanding, kindness for unkindness. Within yourself, substitute peace for disquietude, calmness for restlessness, and lasting happiness for material pleasure. 6. Exchange spiritual gifts by giving outstanding good qualities by example to those who need them and by regularly praying for an open heart to receive the soul-qualities of Jesus and the great saints who all love you for your own good. 7. Learn to make Christ known within yourself by seeing him reborn within you as ever-new, ever-increasing joy of your daily deep meditation on him. Experience Christ through your awakened wisdom in the magnificence of all nature, in everything that wears true beauty, and in everyone who is saturated with the fragrance of Christ-like qualities. 8. Exchange gifts and loving acts of service as offerings to the Christ in all; and on the Christmas Tree of your calm consciousness — richly decorated and glistening with divine soul qualities — place for him the gift of your heart. There receive from Christ the gift of himself. 9. Behold the omnipresent joy of Christ in all saints, in all people, in all creation and in the cradle of your thoughts and temple of your soul. 10. Live Christ’s
unifying influence at home, in business, in the church, in society,
in politics and in international understanding; and Lord Jesus will
always be with you.
Before
singing the carol it is suggested that we encourage the congregation
to imagine that Jesus is listening to them so they should really
put their hearts and souls into singing the carol with all the love
and devotion they can. Heightened devotional feeling for Christ
will form a vital part of the meditations on him to come. How we can meditate to know Christ within us. ‘Be
still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10) We are fortunate to have a long history of Christian meditation practice and contemplative prayer. Indeed, anyone who has meditated deeply on the truths within the Bible will find countless references in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that prove meditation is an ancient practice. So what is Christian meditation and how may we practice it effectively so that we may fully awaken Christ within us and know God the Father directly? The highest commandment Jesus gave was ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.’ (Matthew 22:35-40) To understand the significance of this we need to first consider that if God wants anything he can create it — just like that. He has no need of anything from us; with the exception of one thing: our love — he gives us the freewill to give our love to him or withhold it. The greatest gift he can give us — his beloved children — is himself. That means fully revealing himself and his kingdom to us, which is why Jesus has said the highest commandment is to love God with all your heart and soul. God also likes to play hide and seek with us and he likes to test our love. He likes to see if we love him more than his gifts and more than earthly temptations. Yet if we go on daily making efforts to develop our love for God then one day, when the nectar of our love is so sweet and so irresistible the Lord of the Universe will have to come like a honey bee and drink from it and then he will never leave our awareness for the rest of eternity. We will have the friend behind all friendships, the father behind all fathers and the mother behind all mothers.
Jesus has said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' (John 14:6). Understanding these words is the key to understanding Christian meditation and awakening Christ within us. (Those who succeed in awakening Christ within experience the meaning of these words first hand.) The first coming
of Christ was at the birth of creation. Christ is God’s infinite intelligence that is present in all creation. The infinite Christ is the ‘only begotten son’ of God the Father and is the only pure reflection of Spirit in the created realm. God the Father is God both outside and inside creation that is eternal and unchanging. This is why Jesus used to refer to himself in two ways: as a 'Son of man' and as a 'Son of God'. When he talked of himself as the 'Son of man' he was referring to his body and when he was talking of himself as the 'Son of God' he meant his soul fully united with Spirit or Christ Consciousness. Jesus spoke of this consciousness when he proclaimed: ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10:30) and ‘I am in my Father, and the Father in me.’(John 14:11)
A person can only know God the Father once he or she has succeeded in knowing the Christ Consciousness or the only begotten son. This is the true meaning of ‘...no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’ One who has united his or her consciousness with the 'Christ Consciousness' is able to feel themselves equally present in the leaf on the tree as well as the far distant stars, for their consciousness is omnipresent. Such a person feels themselves within all people and they love all equally. The Christ consciousness that animated that little baby body which was called 'Jesus' and became fully awakened in him is what we must strive to know. It is within all people as their soul, which is made in God's perfect image. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16) The soul can be considered to be an individualized unit of God’s consciousness — a little wave on an infinite ocean. Hence Jesus’s concurrence with the Old Testament statement ‘Ye are Gods’(John 10:34). Crucially our soul consciousness is normally buried by the mud by ego consciousness. The ego can be considered as mistaken self-identity which causes the illusional sense of being separate from God, which in turn produces only fragmented states of our soul consciousness. In other words we identify ourselves as mortal bodies with individual personalities as opposed to our true nature as immortal souls with eternal life. The two states of awareness can be referred to as ‘Son of man’ consciousness or mortal body consciousness and ‘Son of God’ consciousness or immortal soul consciousness. This is why
Jesus has said that the Kingdom of God is within. To have Christ fully awakened within us requires us to purify that ego-consciousness and restore soul awareness. Jesus told us how to do that by telling us that: 'Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God'. (Matthew 5:8) To love God
more and more we need to purify our hearts. Meditation is a practical
way to do that. They say unto him, ‘The son of David.’ He saith unto them, ‘How then doth David in spirit call him ‘Lord,’ saying, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?’ If David then call him ‘Lord,’ how is he his son?’ (Jesus refers to Psalm 110:1) And
no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from
that day forth ask him any more questions. Jesus spoke
to the Pharisees from his realization of the ‘Christ’
as the Universal Consciousness present in all vibratory creation,
and fully reflected in his own body, known as Jesus — and
also that the Christ Consciousness was manifest to David through
a vision, described in the Book of Psalms.
Jesus made the indisputable point that David would not have used the title ‘my Lord’ in speaking of a son. For a father to speak deferentially to a son or descendant would be completely out of keeping with the patriarchal culture to which Jesus and David belonged. David clearly perceived the distinction between the Universal Christ and its manifestation in human form as the Messiah. The interchange of the intelligence between the transcendent and immanent ‘Lords’ (Cosmic Consciousness and Christ Consciousness or God the Father and God the Son) manifested only temporarily in the consciousness of David by means of a vision. But since the Christ Consciousness was steadily and fully reflected in the life of Jesus, he let himself be called ‘Christ,’ but explained that the Christ Consciousness in him could not accurately be called the son of David.
As Saint
John said: ‘As many as received him, to them gave
he the power to become the sons of God.’ (John 1:12)
The plural number in ‘sons of God’ also shows distinctly
from the teachings he received from Jesus that not the body of Jesus
but his state of Christ Consciousness was the only begotten son;
and that those who could clarify their consciousness and receive,
or in an unobstructed way reflect, the power of God, could become
the sons of God. They could be one with the only begotten reflection
of God in all matter, as was Jesus: and through the Son, Christ
Consciousness, ascend to the Father, the supreme Cosmic Consciousness.
When we meditate we are aiming to flow our attention inward and be still, whilst remaining fully alert and attentive. If we can achieve this successfully we can let further processes occur spontaneously — we don’t need any other technique or method. We simply allow the innate urge of our soul to be restored to full ‘Son of God’ consciousness’ to determine the meditation process. Calmness is one of the greatest gifts of God; it is the eye of Spirit, the pure intuitive perception of the soul. In this way our attention and awareness are brought together with the Ultimate Reality and we become fully aware of the true essence of our being as immortal soul with eternal existence. So if you can meditate easily and naturally without complicating the process with ritual and procedure that is the direct way to awaken Christ within your consciousness. But if you
find it difficult to still your mind then you may find it beneficial
or useful to use ritual or practical techniques. There are a variety
of different meditation techniques. The most common is to use prayer
as a prelude to meditation. We simply pray with our deepest love
and devotion to God for success in meditation practice, then when
the prayer is finished one simply rests, waits and watches —
then meditation can proceed spontaneously. The secret is to wait
and watch but be alert, intent but don’t be frantic or impatient.
Wait and watch in the deep silence. Another popular technique used by millions of people around the world is to repeat a prayer word or phrase mentally as a focus for their attention. Many of you will already be aware of the World Community of Christian Meditation inspired by John Main. John Main was a Benedictine monk who was taught mantra or ‘prayer word’ meditation by one of our Eastern Yogi cousins. John Main later found many parallels with early Christian writings; most notably those of the Desert Father John Cassian who wrote about the principle of repeating a phrase in order to reach continual prayer. The Desert Fathers were hermits, ascetics and monks who lived a life of solitude, prayer, labour, poverty, fasting and charity. By following the example of Jesus’s life with great love and devotion many were said to have experienced being one with Christ.
O living infinite Christ, present in the body of Jesus and us all, please manifest yourself in the trueness of your glory, in the sovereign power of your light, and in the omniscience of your wisdom. Out of the womb of all creation, be born in the cradle of our consciousness that we may worship you in truth and understanding in the all revealing light of wisdom. Please take away from our minds the weight of indifference and forgetfulness. May we drink the nectar of your ever blessed presence. You are the only pure reflection of God within us, manifest yourself unto us; for you and we and God are one. Please help us to realise this. Oh Lord, from this day forward teach us how to fish for you in the deepest waters of our souls. Amen.
Once the whole
body is relaxed, keeping the spine straight, we place the tongue
at the roof of the mouth and let the breath flow freely. If it is
uncomfortable to place the tongue at the roof of the mouth then
let it rest in the mouth normally.
Remaining fully alert and attentive we may sit in the silence and all that remains is to be conscious of what we are as soul. Purity, peace, happiness beyond dreams, are sparkling and dancing within your soul. Seek that peace within you and let it join the transcendent, infinite peace without. Seek to immerse yourself in that Eternal Light. Become one with that ever-living light of Christ peace and joy. Let us now
meditate for fifthteen minutes mentally repeating the word 'Maranatha'
with our deepest love and devotion to our beloved Christ.
If we want to awaken Christ within us fully then the intensity of our efforts to meditate regularly and form the spiritual habit of meditation is vital. With practice we can learn to maintain concentration, which will help to calm and eventually still our mind. Jesus explains
this perfectly in the parable of labourers: 'And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And said unto them; "Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you." And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 'And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" They say unto him, "Because no man hath hired us." He saith unto them, "Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." 'So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, "Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first." 'And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 'And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, "These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day." 'But he answered one of them, and said, "Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" So
the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called,
but few chosen.' (Matthew 20:1-16.)
'The master called truth-seekers who stood idle, having renounced attachment to material possessions to serve their greater desire for God but were yet lacking fulfillment. He told them, "Come in the first morning of my appearance on earth, I invite you to work in my vineyard of self-discipline, and I will give you wisdom for your labour." 'And the master went out in the third hour and saw more truthseekers and would-be renunciates standing inactive in the market place of material activity, unable to find God and the right Master to lead them on the right path. So the master spoke to them, "Go into the vineyard of my discipline, and whatever wisdom is rightfully your due according to your spiritual labours shall be given unto you; and those truth seekers followed him." And the master went out six and nine times with the same message. Finally he went out at the eleventh hour and he asked them to work in his vineyard of discipline and assured them that they would receive wisdom according to the intensity of their work. 'Then the master of the vineyard called the steward — God’s divine law of cause and effect or reaping what we sow — and commanded that the spiritual labourers from the last to the first be given their liberating wages of wisdom. Owing to their spiritual intensity the disciples who came last received the same divine illumination as those who joined the master first. But those who came first reasoned that they should have received more and voiced their feelings: "O good master of the household of God, we expected to be given more of your store of divine wisdom, for we have been with you longer and have bourne longer the heat or trials and self-discipline than those who came last. How is it that you have given equally to the latecomers and to the earliest spiritual labourers?" 'The Master answered. "All truth seekers, being the divine children of God, are given the same liberating wisdom whether they come first or last — provided their spiritual enthusiasm is intense. Go your way in peace and be satisfied with what you have received, even though you have had to labour for it longer. According to the will of the Heavenly Father it is lawful for me to open the way to divine attainment for all who have ardent hunger for spirituality; whether they come first or last they equally deserve to receive the same liberating realization. Because God's wisdom flows through me, I intuit his perfect justice, which actuates my impartiality. Therefore, the last to enter the spiritual path may, through intensity, become the first to receive wisdom; and the first, if besotted with half-hearted enthusiasm, maybe the last to receive emancipation.” That is why many may be called to a master because of their spiritual desire, but few are chosen to receive liberation in Christ’s consciousness unless and until they fulfill the requisite intensity in their deep meditations and earnest practise of spiritual discipline. Every devotee of Christ has equal, impartial opportunity; each determines when he or she shall be chosen to become ‘Sons of God’.
Intensity
in all our religious practices is the only way. Intensity consists
in striving to make every day's meditation deeper than yesterday’s
and every tomorrow's meditation deeper than today's. Those who don’t
meditate regularly and deeply are restless whenever they do meditate,
and give up after a short effort. But if you make a greater effort
day-by-day, the ability to go deep will come. How
we can meditate to know Christ within us – continued Prayer word or mantra meditation is quite simple to practice. The key is to maintain concentration but be relaxed and attentive. Some of you may have had difficulty maintaining your conscious awareness on the process of repeating the prayer word without it wandering off into worldly thoughts or losing it to subconscious motion picture shows. Ordinarily, you don’t know how restless your mind is until you try to practice concentration and meditation. It is only when you sit quietly and begin to meditate that you see the myriad thoughts coursing through your mind. But if you continue to sit still and practice meditation refusing to be distracted by the restlessness of your thoughts, you will find suddenly that your mind has become calm. The mind is like a child; you have to patiently humour it without getting upset by it. Gradually it will come under your control. Some of you may have struggled with your body through physical discomfort and other distractions; but if you can go deeper into meditation, not only will your thoughts settle down but your body will become calm also and joy will come into the temple of your heart. When joy comes, you know you are contacting God. Some of you
might find it helpful to employ the mind’s faculty of imaging
and use guided visualization in order to help concentrate the mind
and stop it wandering. If we observe someone who is deep in concentration focusing their will on achieving something they often furrow their brow. That’s because the point between the eyebrows is the seat of concentration. It is also known to our brothers and sisters in Eastern Philosophical Traditions as the third eye — or the door — and that is what Jesus is referring to when he says 'the eye' rather than 'the eyes'. When it is single (singularly focused on God) the body is filled with the Holy Spirit and ever-new-joy and peace is felt. When concentration in the third eye is perfect and unwavering a bright star can be seen that is many, many times brighter than the sun. When this is seen the meditator should seek to become fully absorbed in it gently contemplating its meaning and origin.. 'And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.' (Revelation 22: 4-5)
Clergy
or church volunteers would obviously need to have selected a suitably
sized portrait(s) of Jesus in peaceful times and placed it so it
can be seen by all the congregation before the start of the Christmas
meditation. Lord Jesus, Please teach us to redeem our matter-bound mind that we may give it to you in prayer and ecstasy, in meditation and reverie. Divine beloved teach us to behold your face in the mirror of our stillness within. Open the windows of faith that we may behold you evermore in your mansion of peace and bliss. Amen. Let us now sit in the correct position for meditation keeping our spine straight, our feet flat on the floor and our chin parallel to the floor. With your eyes shut gently place your right or left index finger at the point between the eye brows so you can feel where to begin to visualize the image of Christ. Keeping your eyes steady and maintaining your concentration remove your finger and place both your hands on your lap with your palms turned up the way. Hold Jesus at the point between your eyebrows continuously with great love and devotion. Breathing slowly but without forcing the breath; try to make his image as clear on the out-breath as on the in-breath. Use your will power to make his image as clear and as constant as you can. Between each breath hold steady Jesus’s image so that he never leaves the mind screen even for split second. Simultaneously you may want to repeat a mantra or prayer word to further concentrate the restless mind. Remember don’t force the breath, just let it flow gently. This takes significant mental effort but that’s good. If during the practice you will feel yourself sinking deeper and deeper into a relaxed state you may begin to feel inner joy. 'My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.' (Psalm 104:34) Be aware of it but don’t react to it. It is unhelpful to break your concentration to try and measure the results of your meditation efforts.
How we can meditate to know Christ within us – continued Now let us look at some of the finer points to be aware of when meditating as well as common obstacles that hamper successful meditation: Life does obviously
not solely depend on food or exercise but is sustained from within.
Similarly strength comes from within and not from muscles. By tensing any muscles in the body life energy can be put forth in the body and by relaxation life energy can be withdrawn. When we are meditating we want our life energy to be withdrawn from the body as much as possible and moved to the spine and higher brain. That’s why people who don’t relax their body before meditation find it difficult to meditate properly. Deep concentration is possible only in a state of complete relaxation. To help overcome any unconscious muscle tension in the body when we first begin meditating it’s important that we use deep breaths and consciously relax all the muscles in body properly. When meditating we need to sit completely still as moving the body even a little causes the life energy to flow to our muscles, which will be counterproductive to our meditation efforts. If we refuse to let our body move in the first five minutes of meditation we’ll find it should relax of its own accord. The more you ignore its demands and concentrate on the Lord, the more you will burn with joyous life, like a globe afire. Then you will know that you are not the body. Another common problem is to allow the body to slouch or the head to droop forward. This will dull our awareness and likely induce subconscious dream-like activity and sleepiness. It may take some time to strengthen your back and neck muscles to allow you to maintain the correct position but that will happen with practice — if you make the effort. If you have neck or back problems you may benefit from using pillows to support yourself but try not to lean into them. Correct eye position is useful to master. Keeping your eyes closed try to keep your eyes steady slightly turned upward as if you are looking at a point an arms length away that’s level with your head. That will help you keep your attention focused at the point between the eyebrows, which helps maintain alert concentration and awareness.
‘I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.’ (1 Corinthians 15:31) We’ve
already covered the mental aspects of meditation and the need to
patiently use our will power to bring our mind back to our practice
every time our awareness wanders. But we need to be aware of our
subconscious mind and its function of recording our regular activities
as habits. This function is vital as it allows us to live in the
world skillfully without having to continuously relearn often repeated
actions. But we must consciously replace recordings of bad habits
with recordings of constructive good habits. If your mind has been
trained to wander restlessly through the maze of myriad worldly
thoughts over the many years of your life, then you must patiently
retrain it to obey your conscious will; and in remembrance of the
indwelling Lord cease wandering. Practise makes perfect —
there is no way to avoid this. That’s as it should be because
we need to strengthen our will power to concentrate deeper and deeper
and the only way to strengthen our will power is to exercise it.
How? By use
of concentration and willpower to bring that stream of conscious
and subconscious thoughts under your control. When as a result of
concentration and meditation, your mind comes under your control
— when you can step out of the stream of restless habit-compelled
thoughts into an inner calmness and quietude — you can attune
the mind to constructive positive thoughts of accomplishment. Then
it is necessary to use your will to follow through. For instance,
when you make up your mind in the morning about what you are going
to do that day, you have to use sufficient will power, garnered
from concentrated thoughts focused on your intention, to follow
through on those plans before the day is over. Thereby, you are
actually accomplishing success, not merely wishing for it. ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ (Matthew 18:20) Encourage each other onward and help one another in moments of weakness and indifference, and you’ll find Christ is much easier to find than if you are always trying to meditate on your own.
When meditating it always helps to remember why you’re doing it — you’re doing it to know God. Always remember to pray and meditate with deep devotion. Do not let your meditation efforts become mechanical or you’ll forget God. No-one can awaken Christ within by their own efforts alone. We need God’s grace to do that. Get devotion! Remember the words of Jesus: ‘I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes.’ (Matthew 11:25) God is conscious of your needs. If you appeal to him with unconditional love and sincerity, he will answer. Do not be discouraged if he does not answer right away. That is his test. If in spite of his silence you still believe he is listening, and you still keep on talking to him, he will respond. He will answer through results. But do not look for the results. Just say, ‘God, I love you with all my might, with all my sincerity, with all my heart. And Lord, if I am seeking something less than you, forgive me and help me to think of you alone. Without your wisdom, how could I understand anything? Without your love, how could I love at all? How could I will to do anything without your power, which is behind my will and my love and all my feelings? Why are you hiding from me? I must convince you that I love you, that I want you alone. You must reveal yourself, for I cannot go on in my life alone. You are my life, you are my Father, you are my Mother, you are my everything. Reveal yourself unto me!’ If you go on like this, with sincerity, he will answer. God knows everything that you are doing. You cannot fool him. The thing he most dislikes is when you try to dissemble with him or you are insincere. Sincerity touches his heart in the greatest way. Where there is sincerity, there is God’s response. What have you to be afraid of? Do not think you have to be perfect; that is foolish. Before God, everyone in this delusive finite world can be considered a ‘sinner.’ Just pour out your heart to him, in the humble simplicity of a loving child.
Think how wonderful
life will be when you have no compulsion to seek anything at all,
because you have found everything you seek in God! Nothing can enslave
you then. ‘But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matthew 6:33) God reveals himself to us by his humbleness. We are microscopic before him, but he patiently endures the audacity of us tiny human beings. Despite his sovereign power, he does not compel us in any way. He calls us only by his love. He loves us dearly. Otherwise he would not have sent Jesus or the great prophets and saints to show us the way home. With his infinite love and patience and humbleness, he is waiting for us to love him.
The most difficult person you have to deal with is yourself. Work for that which is in your own highest interest. How hard people labour in their factories and workplaces, and yet how many even make the least effort to know God? Why not surrender yourself to his power? Take out an hour or two from your sleep each night and meditate. Make the contact with God. What joy awaits discovery in the silence behind the portals of your mind no human tongue can tell. But you must convince yourself; you must meditate and create that environment. That happiness in Spirit is the only thing to live for. Meditate each day; and when you have contacted that happiness, then go about your work. Without that inner awareness of God’s joy, you cannot enjoy life — indeed, you are not even truly living. By such contact one may learn from God what one should do and follow his wise will. Calm your mind radio to remove restless static and then you can tune your concentrated power of thought to God and receive his broadcast.
What of it if you do not become successful in the way the world thinks of success? To be successful with God is far more important, for that success you can take with you when this life is over. You want that contact of God of which Jesus spoke. If you have that, Jesus’ promise that ‘…all things will be added unto you’ will be fulfilled anew. Meditate on God. Seek no credit from people. Do not show your devotion to others. In your heart hoard your devotion, concentrate your devotion only on him; and he shall speak to you. He shall guide you consciously. And in everything that comes, you shall see it is that power, which is loving and sustaining you. There is no greater security than this. Use your God-given intelligence to find him. You are here alone and in a hundred years from now you will not be known. Because you are here today and busy with life, you do not think that anything will happen to you. But ‘tomorrow’ will one day be gone. Don’t waste any time. Take some time away from sleep and meditate; and don’t give up. Night was meant to screen all the attractions of the world, that you might more intently explore the Kingdom of God. Don’t succumb to sleep until you have made contact with God. From tonight begin, and you will succeed. In every little gap of time that you have, talk to him. And have faith that he is listening to you. He is right behind the darkness of your closed eyes; and as you talk and he listens, you will find that life becomes transformed. You will realize why your parents and family and friends love you — because of God — and you will be day and night drinking of that love direct from his presence. No matter what weaknesses or faults you have, meditate. Talk to God again and again. And once you can get him to talk, he will never leave you. Though contact of God may seem to be the most difficult thing, it is the easiest if you will sincerely try. The one who has made up his mind to know God will find him. God you have already with you. You just have to know him and receive him in your consciousness. Remember Saint John said: ‘As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.’ Every word in the Gospels is living. Yet people read these words and still want more to stimulate them! That is because they don’t meditate on those truths to convert them into their own personal realization. So let us continuously pray that we all manifest in pure sincerity the consciousness of God. In that selfless consciousness learn to physically help people by service, to mentally help people by kindness and encouragement, and to spiritually help people by radiating the joy of God that you feel. To transmit God’s consciousness you do not have to talk much; just feel it, and automatically those around you will be uplifted. Do not seek the acclaim and testimony of people, but the testimony of God. Be loyal in your activities and continuous in your habit of meditation.
Devotional
Christmas Carol
Oh Father, break the boundaries of the little waves of our life that we may join the ocean of your vastness. Amen Let us sit ready for meditation with our eyes closed, back straight, feet flat on the floor, chin parallel to the floor and our awareness concentrated at the point between the eyebrows.
Then fill that infinite ball of love with the consciousness of bliss, unceasing watchfulness (with attention equally concentrated everywhere), the consciousness of immortality, all knowledge, peace, all pervading energy and life energy. Remain identified with this highly interesting substance as long as you can and as often as you can. Then God will be real to you and you will find his conscious guidance in everything. Accept him as the sole object of your desires, then having him you will have everything. Having everything you will not wish for anything. Attainments can’t impart permanent joy. You want a thing as long as you haven’t got it. When you have it, you want something else, and so on for ever. Find that something else that you are always seeking — that something else is ever-new-bliss-God. When you find him you will not want anything else. But as long as you are seeking that something else, remember you haven’t found him. Let us be with
God and enjoy his presence. If you can’t keep your awareness
on him then practice any one of the meditation techniques talked
about today.
The more you meditate on the Lord, the more helpful you can also be to others, and the more deeply you will be in tune with God. Selfish people remain spiritually body-bound, but the unselfish expand their consciousness. When you find your omnipresence in meditation, you will find God. If he is pleased with you, all nature will work in harmony with you. By tuning into God daily through meditation your day time activities will become more wisdom-guided and less mechanical. Far greater success in all worldly duties and activities can be achieved that way. Learn to talk to him with all your soul. Everything in the future will improve if you make a spiritual effort now.
Resuming our meditation position close your eyes and let us now a take a couple of minutes to think of all those we know who are sick, suffering, alone and lost. Let us visualize each person now happy, healthy and smiling as the healing light of Christ envelops them.
You are in all your children. Manifest your healing presence in their bodies, minds and souls. Amen.
Born in your lands of freedom of will, we received our celestial birthright of eternal, everlasting freedom. But, alas! we imprisoned and enslaved our omnipresence behind the bars of sense-enjoyment, evil, selfishness, and body-bound, narrow-eyed discrimination. Teach us, Father, to melt with the warmth of our love and understanding, the imaginary-frozen boundaries of family, society and nationality. Bless us, oh all-wise Father, that we may live in the United Nations of the world, with you as our President, perennially elected by the free choice of all the good citizens of our hearts, ruling ourselves through our own self-determining discrimination. Teach us to enrich our souls, our opulence, and our understanding, by broadening the circle of our restricted love, including in it all earth’s inhabitants, irrespective of creed or colour or class.
Beloved Lord help us to bow to the Christ in the temples of all human brothers and sisters and forgive those who would crucify us on the cross of forgetfulness of your loving presence within all people. Kindle in the Christmas fireplace of our world a glamorous light of love for all nations of the earth to drive away the gloom of wars, hatred, violence and all ignorance and misunderstandings so that those with darkened hearts may be shown a quick way to recover from the fever of war and hate so they may live in your light of lasting peace and prosperity. Beloved God, please banish disease and poverty from this world evermore by banishing all ignorance of you from the shores of people’s souls. Amen. Beloved Christ, Help us to continue to celebrate your birth within us by cleaning the cradle of our consciousness, scrubbing away the rust of selfishness, indifference and sense attachments and by polishing it with deep, daily, divine meditation, introspection, and discrimination. Help us to remodel the cradle with the dazzling soul-qualities of brotherly love, humbleness, faith, will power, self-control, simplicity, unselfishness and desire for God alone; that we may fittingly celebrate your divine birth. Amen. Naughty or good we are your children. Teach us to open the gate of meditation that leads to your blessed presence so that we may saturate ourselves with the perfume of your presence and waft with the breeze the aroma of your message of love for all. Amen.
It is preferable if parishioners are advised to fast for at least three hours or more before the start of the Christmas meditation. Needless
to say, it would also be wise to make arrangements in advance to
provide young children with supervised care so their parents are
free to meditate in peace without worrying about their children.
The more children who have parents who learn to meditate regularly
on God, the more peace and security will reign in families. We offer this program in humility and love. Please accept it in the spirit it is offered. The spiritual wealth contained in this work is offered so the Children of God may take a share — and take all they can. It is not our intention, however, to offer these truths so that they may merely become second-hand intellectual knowledge. They need to be directly experienced, realized, and thereby validated first-hand. Christmas Meditation faithfully and lovingly carried out in the name of the Lord will greatly help facilitate this process.
May God greatly bless you all! |
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