Yesterday marked the second Sunday of Advent in the Christian tradition and lineage. Not only is it a time to, in the words of Jan Richardson, "Stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder.". . . it is also a season in which we tend to the light of Christ within ourselves.
In her teachings from Exploring Advent through the Eyes of Jean Gebser and G. I. Gurdjieff Teaching Cynthia Bourgeault talks about how the light so central in advent is the light shining through all of creation. The light which clarifies, harmonizes and reveals the Whole much like the light which pours through every piece of a stained glass window revealing the fullness of the image/picture in all its glory.
Cynthia reminds us that each one of us is a piece of glass in the stained glass window of the Whole. We bear and intensify this light. And in fact, just like Mary who said, "My soul magnifies the Lord," so too do all our souls. Cynthia says we can join Mary in saying “my soul makes God bigger, more radiant, more manifest, more clear” for “this is what all our souls do.” “We all magnify the Lord through the bits and pieces of our little part.” We are like magnifying glasses which intensify something, making it visible, more clear, larger, more radiant. In that way when we magnify something we increase it... its luminosity and energy, and that is what Mary is saying. So let us not forget that we, like Mary, are a bearer and magnifier of God.
Advent blessings,
Heather
Readings from this week's pauses:
Wholeness in Motion Body Prayer Here I am, as I am In this world, as it is Supported by the planet Floating in the muti-verse Awake To my state of being – Babette Lightner If I hope to know You I must seek an unknowing that is not a lack but my only gain, taking me beyond the press of demands and desires to an emptiness where there is room for You to be born beyond all that I demand to know and desire to find, for You birth the Word in my silence and burn as light in my darkness – Meister Eckhart Yeshua says... I am the light shining upon all things. I am the sum of everything, for everything has come forth from me, and towards me everything unfolds. Split a piece of wood, and there I am. Pick up a stone and you will find me there. – Gospel of Thomas logion 77, transl. Lynn Bauman If You Want If you want the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.” Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us. Yet there, under the dome of your being does creation come into existence eternally, through your womb, dear pilgrim— the sacred womb in your soul, as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is His beloved servant never far. If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street pregnant with Light and sing –St. John of the Cross (1542 – 14 December 1591) from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, transl. Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin Compass, 2002)