On the Road to Enlightenment (Advent 4)
…do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’
Matthew 1
Conceived of Holy Spirit,
In the purity of simplicity,
I AM saves,
I AM restoring,
I AM renewing,
God within human,
God in the manifestation,
God in All…….
The prophets tell this,
Mary yesses this, and so it is,
That Christ is and was and is to come…….
God our redeemer, you prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your Son: grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour, so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge Collect
In the flow of God’s Grace,
We sit in our morning prayer,
Here, in the holy temple of us,
In the inmost part of us,
Where comes the Christ,
In our laying bare of self.
This One will judge what is to stay,
And what in us must burn away.
We cannot decide this,
Our judgement is compromised,
By false beliefs,
Half-understood moral codes,
Programmes for happiness,
And self-surviving, self-serving,
Self-sufficiency, mingling with,
Neediness, unconscious attachment.
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way…When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took Mary as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus Matthew 1
In the flow of God’s Grace,
Stands the one who listens,
To angels……………………………………………..
Angels never lie;
Listen to them, in the wind, in the forest,
And on the seashore.
They speak in the mountains,
And whisper in your heart,
“Beloved, The One you seek,
Is among you,
Surrounding you,
And within you.”
Look into the soul of lover and stranger,
Dance with the natural,
Gaze deep at the life that beats,
Your own heart,
Ba-doom, ba-doom, ba-doom…
Angels speaking, angels dancing………………
~ breathe ~
Through Christ we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles Romans 1
Angels are speaking to all beings,
All the time, of God’s love,
To believers and non-believers,
The not even knowing ones, that there is anything to believe, more than the obvious, which is not real,
however insistent it may seem.
In listening,
Is our practice,
From listening, may we speak,
And ears may be opened,
To the music of angels,
And the Cosmic song of Peace.
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 