Good day, good people,
The year hastens toward its culmination this day—or already has for those of you on other continents—amidst the season of Christmas, or Christ-tide. For many months now, in our unique ways, we have been working with the practices of creating moon and sun within ourselves. These delectable days of Christ-tide seem to support us in continuing to integrate the rich effort and surrender required of both.
The beautiful and lush darkness of winter in the Northern Hemisphere reveals the luminous moon with all of its phases, as well as the great stars that animate the night, accompanying us with their ancient intelligence. Our wise spiritual ancestors, the Magi, relied on the unlit world of the night to identify the otherwise unseen starlight that led them to the freshly engendered Yeshua Christ, the Light of God, the Son/Sun of Humanity. They were so drawn to meet, welcome, and honor the one destined to reveal a different way to reign sovereignly—outside of Empire's influence—that they journeyed for months to be there. A different center of gravity, an inner moon, must have been cultivated within them to even consider such a wild and dangerous journey. We, too, have touched into a strong inner knowing that compels us to undertake this wild and dangerous journey alongside them.
Simultaneously, we are urged to bring forth, offer, and wield the manifest substances arising from the sun within our own being. When these wise ancestors arrived, they did not ask for something but instead brought gifts that were needed to initiate this infant wisdom teacher. We know these gifts carried significance. While there is much to say about these substances, here is a glimpse of their representation which I have pointed out in years past:
Gold: A precious metal associated with virtue, higher ideals, wisdom, and understanding. Though soft and malleable, it is the most reliable and durable electrical conductor, resistant to rust and corrosion.
Frankincense: A symbol of prayer, holiness, and righteousness. It has medicinal properties, aiding in pain relief, reducing inflammation, and alleviating swelling.
Myrrh: Used as a sacred anointing, healing, and embalming oil. It symbolizes suffering and death. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, myrrh is believed to have special efficacy on the heart, liver, and spleen meridians, along with blood-moving properties to purge stagnant blood from the uterus.
Our wise ancestors brought these elements to nourish Christ and his parents. We are called to meet, welcome, and honor the Sun of Humanity, his birth, and his incarnation—not as events confined to the past or separate from us, but as ongoing realities within us. We are invited to continually discover the consciousness of the sun within our very being and the profound implications of divinity taking form and living within form. Just as Mary, Theotokos, did not lose her unique form, we, too, amplify God.
Advent Love, Light, and Peace,
Heather
Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses
*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*
Monday, December 23rd with Heather
Song: Magnificat
Tuesday, December 24th with Heather
Reading: "I have tasted the fruit of the earth, O God.
I have seen autumn trees hang heavily with heaven’s gifts.
I have known people pregnant with your spirit of generosity.
Let these be guides to me this day.
And may Mary who knew her womb filled with your goodness
teach me the wisdom that is born amidst pain.
May I know that deeper than any fallowness in me
is the seed planted in the womb of my soul.
May I know that greater than any barrenness in the world
is the harvest to be justly shared.”
— J. Philip Newell’s prayer from Celtic Benediction, p.29
Chant: May our hearts be fueled by grace, our souls fueled by love (words from Martin Luther King Jr. put to chant by Heather Ruce)
Wednesday, December 25th with Heather
Reading: “I did not seek this birthing, but you have drawn me into the passage; and I am the one who is bearing, and I am the one being born. So in my longing yearning breaking gasping groaning laboring bearing birthing I am asking, O god my midwife, deliver me.” — Jan Richardson, Night Visions, p.85
Chants: I surrender (by Heather Ruce) & Inner Life of Being, bearing Christ within me, come (music by John Tavener, lyrics by Alan Krema and Darlene Franz)
Thursday, December 26th with Heather
Reading: “For the soul passes through the body just as sap passes through a tree. What does this mean? It is through the sap that a tree is green, produces flowers, and then fruit. And how does that fruit come to maturity? The sun warms it, the rain waters it, and it is perfected in the mildness of the air. What is the significance of this? The mercy of the grace of God will make a person as bright as the sun, the breath of the Holy Spirit will water the person just as the rain, and thus discretion will lead the person to the perfection of good fruits just like the mildness of the air does for the tree.” — Hildegard of Bingen
Chant: Mercy, mercy, mercy, deep within and all around (by Henry Schoenfield)
Friday, December 27th with Heather
Reading: When we are spent
from the labor
and longing to rest
in our deliverance,
when we hunger
to stay
in the celebration
and crave
a lasting sabbath,
you tell us
this is where
our work begins.
For the labor
that is never over,
give us strength;
for the healing
that is ever before us,
give us courage.
May our resting
be for renewal,
not forever;
and may we work
for nothing
save that
which makes
your people whole.
— Jan Richardson, Night Visions, p.89
Chant: May our hearts be fueled by grace, our souls fueled by love (words from Martin Luther King Jr. put to chant by Heather Ruce)
Saturday, December 28th with Heather
Body Prayer: Await - Allow - Accept - Attend (Julian of Norwich)
Reading: Guardian of the seasons,
keeper of every time,
tune us so to your rhythms
that we may know
the occasion for stillness
and the moment for action.
May we be so prepared
so aware
so awakened
in our waiting
that when you prompt us
into motion,
our hands may be your hands
and our purposes
your own
— Jan Richardson, Night Visions, p.71
Chant: Attend to the living presence, here and now (by Darlene Franz)
Sunday, December 29th with Heather
Reading: “Goodness is the giving of oneself. Infinite goodness is the total gift of self, without limits, without reserve either in duration of time or space or in the giving of what one has and is. Goodness gives itself -- like the sun shines, emits its rays, and diffuses its light; like a fire gives out its warmth or a spring pours forth its waters. You are that Goodness, that gift of self, that light, that heart, that spring watering the earth.
"And you have introduced me into your presence -- me, a tiny thing: empty, cold, unknown, and self-centered -- in order that I may receive, insofar as I can, your being, which is all and wants to fill me to repletion."— Dom Augustin Guillerand, The Prayer of the Presence of God
Chant: The earth is full, full of your goodness, the earth is full, full of you, your goodness fills the whole earth (by Darlene Franz)