Friday, November 29, 2013

Put on Christ


Trees and bushes on the mountain were dressed in ice yesterday morning and the sun was making them shine in what we called when I was young a "silver freeze."  (Clicking on picture enlarges it.)
I prayed this morning over Romans 13:11-14.  St. Paul urges us to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."  By flesh Paul means the human person rooted in this world, seeing only this world, and blind to anything beyond it.  By spirit Paul means the whole human person, body and well as soul, open to the universe and under the influence of the Spirit.  Our growth toward spirit is a growth toward cosmic consciousness.  We put on the mind of the Cosmic Christ and offer ourselves with him to the Father for the ongoing transformation of the world.
One way that we put on Christ is to share his desire for peace.  Isaiah describes that transformed world in his famous poem (2:1-5), part of which is carved in a monument in the gardens around the United Nations Building in New York City: "They will hammer swords to plows and spears to pruning knives.  Nations will not take up arms, will no longer train for war."
As a people we grow more and more toward the cosmic consciousness of Christ and as that happens we bring the whole universe closer to its goal.  Once more Isaiah: "Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord."

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