Author: cheok hong chuan
Date: 04-09-12 15:07
‘Resurrection' of Christ – Bodily or in the Spirit or Both or What?
The rituals of Easter are over; Palm Sunday [as usual it never failed to surprise me, the priestly reminder not to throw away the ‘blessed’ palm fronds in the rubbish bin; it is like not to read the bible in the toilet; but even churches and bibles get burned in a fire, no matter how sacred! One should not cling to the things of this world or worldly hang-ups when salvation is of the spirit!], Washing of the Feet [we mistakenly see Christ as King when in spiritual persona He stands for humility and filial piety, as a servant, as a ‘child’ like a ‘nobody’, for in being the ‘last’ you are the ‘first’ [to get] into heaven], Stations [Way of] of the Cross, Lord’s Passion [mistaken as suffering as I pointed out recently instead of filial love for and reconciliation with the Spirit Father], the Vigil and the Resurrection.
I write today to debunk the mistaken belief that Christianity has its foundations essentially on the death of Jesus and His subsequent ‘bodily’ or physical ‘resurrection’. I mentioned in figurative terms recently that we should be ‘living’ Christians and not ‘dead’ Christians. If I remember correctly, I said that followers became Christians not at the birth of Jesus or at the death of Jesus but from the 1st sermon – The Sermon on the Mount.
For those who became a Christian because they believe that Christ suffered and died on the Cross and thereby redeemed their sins or they were convinced to become one because Jesus died and was ‘bodily or physically resurrected’ then they are not with or in Christ in the or their ‘spirit’. They are seeking or following Christ in their worldly being. They are still attached and clinging to this world and pretending they can travel into another [spiritual] dimension that way. They should go back to revising their knowledge of science and in particular physics. Maybe they should study the M Theory and the 11 parallel dimensions?
To these or those Christians, I urge them to read and read and understand with spiritual wisdom and not worldly wisdom [1] the Parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32] or they will never understand the key concepts of ‘separation’ as in the Fall of Adam and ‘reconciliation’ with the Father in Heaven and [2] the Parable of the Sower [Matthew 13:18-30] or they will never understand the Law of You will Reap what You have Sown, and consequently not understanding the unclean spirit in man and his seven spirit companions that are even more wicked [Matthew 12:43-45], the ‘reaping and sowing’ taking the ‘angels of God’ up and down Jacob’s Ladder [John 1:51].
Understanding [1] the Parable of the Prodigal Son leads you to the ‘resurrection of life’, and understanding [2] the Parable of the Sower leads you to avoiding the ‘resurrection of condemnation’ as described by Jesus in John 5:29.
Understanding both [1] the Parable of the Prodigal Son and [2] the Parable of the Sower allows you to understand Creation, in ontological and epistemological spiritual wisdom terms rather than in mythical terms; and rather than through worldly subterfuges of ‘the potter and his clay’ or ‘the painter and his painting’ or God cleaning ‘the ‘mirror’ of his image’. God in the abstract is more like the ‘creativity’ in rather than the potter or the painter or the ‘reflectivity’ of the mirror rather than someone trying to keep the mirror clean. Learn to see God as not quantifiable or can be depicted or graspable. See God everywhere and within everything, in the sunshine, in the rain and in the wind [Matthew 5:44-45], in the birds of the air, in the lilies & grass of the fields [Matthew 6:26-30].
We will however leave ‘Creation’ for another day; for now, just take the mystery of ‘God’ [‘God’ is just a ‘word’ to express what is ‘logos’ (i.e. beyond worldly logic or wisdom); and coincidentally the Chinese word for ‘logos’ is ‘Tao’] as simply the Spirit Heavenly Father [Jesus said in John 4:24 – “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”] and that we are His ‘self-procreation’ [by analogy like stem cell cloning] rather than ‘creation’ [(a) for creation predicates an ‘ego’; but the Spirit Father cannot have an ‘ego’ if he expects his ‘image’ not to have an ‘ego’! and (b) an eternal ‘God’ should he create, his creation would similarly be ‘eternal’ and have no ‘beginning’ or ‘ending’; which means ‘human beings’ per se being ‘mortal’ are not God’s creation!]. I am not about to write a book on Christianity! So, let us get back to debunking the misconceptions or false belief of or about the ‘resurrection’ of Christ.
So, to reiterate, see God as the eternal Spirit Father and us as having two ‘forms’ or personalities –
[1] as son-of-Adam in our worldly bodily physical mortal form; as the ‘ego’ having the false idol of himself as a ‘god’ with his seven evil companions – the consciousness of this ‘ego’ and his six senses [all subjects of and to the temptation of the figurative Eve and the figurative Serpent and the figurative Devil], caught in the web of deceit world of Satan and going up and down Jacob’s Ladder to the ‘last day’ [when the last penny is paid to get out of prison]; when and if through successful (a) baptism of water [come clean after paying off the ‘last penny’ in this ‘prison’ (see Matthew 5:26) in ‘resurrections of condemnation’, of this web of deceit of Satan (what is metaphorically described as ‘belonging to Caesar’)] and (b) baptism of the spirit; [2] the eternal spirit son-of-God in us (what is metaphorically described as ‘belonging to God’) is ‘reborn’, i.e. see the ‘light’ and come out of the ‘darkness and death’ of worldly existence(s), to be resurrected in (eternal) life through reconciliation of the Spirit Prodigal Son with the Spirit Father.
The word ‘resurrection’ has no special meaning; literally it means to return to a previous form or to stand up again. This word ‘resurrection’ however has no sense or meaning or application when you are dealing with the eternal spirit or the eternity of Christ. Jesus said in John 8:58 – “Before Abraham was, I AM.” In John 16:28 He said – “I come forth from the Father [as a ‘spirit’] and have come into the world [incarnate as bodily worldly son-of man]. Again I will leave the world [of man] and go to the [Spirit] Father [as a ‘spirit’].” [Words added for exposition].
Similarly, as spirit sons-of-God we have to traverse the same path spiritually, in imitation of Christ and carry our own cross! An eternal spirit having no sense of beginning or ending cannot die and needs no resurrection to be meaningful or have meaning of ‘being’. It can only be ‘lost’ and ‘found’; ‘separated’ and ‘reconciled’. There is no worldly moral judgement about ‘it’! Morality, like mortality belongs to the world of man, the son-of-Adam.
Only worldly human beings have the need or require the comfort or security of a God or religious tenets or rituals or sacraments. Only a ‘worldly’ Christian seeks the comfort and security that they might be [or fear that they might not be] resurrected in their bodily or physical form in heaven. This is like the ego incarnate of Adam, that the Christ, as the 2nd Adam came to dispel.
A ‘spirit’ Christian has no such fear! He has no attachment to the world! As Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 – “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” A ‘spirit’ Christian knows Jesus’ Last Prayer (made before His capture by the priests and Pharisees) off by heart [the entire John 17] – “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” [John 17:16] and “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom you gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
A ‘spirit’ Christian believes only in the Way of the Cross of Christ, His words, His Bread [His Body and Temple] of Life, His Living Waters. In John 6:63 Jesus said – “It is the Spirit [Father] who gives [eternal] life; the flesh [physical body of man] profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit [the ‘leaven’ that does the ‘rising’, that is the Kingdom of Heaven (see Matthew 13:33)], and they are [resurrection of] life.” [Words in brackets added for explanation].
We are all so unduly caught up as worldly beings in the pain and anguish and suffering of the ‘passion’ of Christ, the gory blood letting from the nails at crucifixion, the heavy cross, that we forget His telling us that “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:30].
Do you remember what He said to Mary and the other distressed women, already mourning and lamenting, at the 8th Station of the Cross; after His 2nd fall on the way to Calvary Hill; already almost dying, well after Simon the Cyrenian had started carrying His Cross [that was the 5th Station]? He said – “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” Can you imagine how profound these words are? These are the words of a dying man?
Let me explain what it means by quoting in full from 1 John 2:15-17 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life [the ‘ego’ of ‘self’] – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” [Words in brackets added for emphasis].
How can Christians believe in or be mistaken that when they die they will ‘bodily’ ‘resurrect’ from the worldly dead into heaven? Yes, Christ did appear or manifest Himself to various people, and yes showed his bloodied body full of nail holes; but that is not the same thing as saying that He ascended to heaven other than in the form of a ‘spirit’! What does a ‘spirit’ look like and what are its qualities? What did Jesus say to Nicodemus about having to be ‘reborn’ in the spirit? “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” [John 3:6]. And, what did Jesus say about the ‘spirit’? “The wind blows where it wishes, and you cannot hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The ‘spirit’ has no bodily or physical form! You are like a drop of air or water!
Take the question raised by the Sadducees about the woman who married seven brothers in succession and then died. They asked Jesus – “Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?” Jesus answered and said to them in Matthew 22:29-32 - “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven [ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (sons-of-Adam)]. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not God of the dead but of the living.” [Words in brackets added for exposition].
God is Eternal God the Father to the eternal spirit sons-of-God [the ‘living’] that were and are in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not their human incarnate corporeal body who are long dead. In the vast infinity of eternity worldly beings are already ‘dead’, they die with each breath they expire and each breath they inspire! There are no husbands or wives in heaven! Nor sons and fathers, daughters and mothers or daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law [see Matthew 10:35-37]. There is total equality in heaven; no male or female or any gender, no rich or poor, no young or old, no sick or well, no black or white, no Christians or non-Christians, no long dick or short dick, no duality, no relativity, no judgement of good or bad, no eating or shitting, no want or need!
Think! If we were to ‘resurrect’ ‘bodily’ or ‘physically’ into heaven, at what age would you ‘resurrect’? Which is your perfect age or your prime? Would you be resurrected with all your physical and mental infirmities or lack of natural endowments? It is a ‘furphy’? In blissful repose there is none of this nonsense! Attachment to or identification with a particular ‘body’ or possessions or attributes are things or matters that come with ‘ego’ of ‘self’! Without ‘ego’ we are all one, jointly and severally with ‘God’; like a drop of air or water, unconscious of each other! There is no ‘ego’ in Heaven!
I will not discuss in detail nor wish to dispute the sporadic appearances or manifestations of Christ after His death and burial. The empty tomb and the absence of a body with linen cloths and folded handkerchief lying around should have been enough to prove the ascension of Christ into Heaven, if you knew about Prophet Enoch - “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; ‘and was not found, because God had translated him.’” [Hebrews 11:5]. Or, if you knew about Prophet Elijah – “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” [2 Kings 2:11].
Please read John 20:1-9. It tells about Peter and Lazarus running to the empty tomb after being informed by Mary Magdalene – “So they both ran together, and the other disciple [Lazarus] outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; and yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the [empty] tomb first, went in also; and he saw [the linen cloths and the folded handkerchief] and believed.” [Words in brackets added for exposition.] At that point, Lazarus, without more or further ado, already believed! We should all be more like Lazarus. Of course, Lazarus himself was ‘bodily resurrected’ from the dead by Jesus! We will discuss the critical role Lazarus played in the ‘resurrection’ of Christ in detail later.
The appearances or manifestations of the ‘resurrected’ Christ in the ‘body’, according to the ‘Gospels’ are as follows:
[1] To Mary Magdalene [John 20:11-18]. In Matthew 28:8-10 Mary Magdalene was with the other Mary.
[2] To the two men [strangers to Christ] on the road to Emmaus [Luke 24:13-35]
[3] To eleven of the disciples [except Thomas] behind closed doors [John 20:19-24]
[4] To all twelve disciples [including Thomas] again behind closed doors [John 20:24-29]
[5] To seven disciples [including Lazarus] by the Sea of Tiberus [John 21:1-23
Why did Christ have to appear to his disciples and, quite separately, the two strangers on the road to Emmaus? Maybe the clue lies in what he said to the nobleman from Capernaum – “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” [John 4:48]. The disciples all turned out to be ‘Doubting Thomases’. They would not have believed had they not seen a Christ with nail holes; a wholesome Christ would not do! As Jesus said to the eleven disciples [without Thomas] - “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” And followed this asking – “Have you any food here?” [Luke 24:38-41]. Thomas who was not there said – “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” [John 20:25]. Eight days later in the appearance before all twelve, Thomas had his chance. Christ said to Thomas – “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” There is no account as to whether Thomas actually conducted a physical inspection. Thomas said – “My Lord and my God!” Christ replied – “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” [John 20:27-29]. This was the same Thomas called Didymus, who accompanied Jesus to the resurrection of the dead Lazarus.
We are talking of intimate disciples who have been repetitively told by Jesus that He would be killed by the priests and would be raised on the third day. In fact Peter was scolded by Jesus for thinking that this might not be – “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offence to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” [Matthew 16:23]. So, we have a group of followers who were not quite faithful believers. Imagine the scenario of Jesus’ last days – Judas betrayed Him. Peter denied Him three times!
Maybe, only Lazarus was the one truly faithful till the end. He was like a shadow to Jesus. He was there when Jesus was betrayed and seized [Mark 14:50-52]. He was there on one of the three occasions that Peter denied Jesus, when he sought the servant girl to open the door to the High Priest’s house [John 18:15-16]. He was the only man with the four women at the Cross before Jesus died. Jesus asked Lazarus to take Mother Mary as mother and His Mother to take Lazarus as Her son [John 19:26-27]. It was also Lazarus alone who was not a Doubting Thomas. As mentioned earlier, he did not have to see to believe. He believed when he saw the empty tomb and the linen cloths and folded handkerchief.
Besides predicting His death and resurrection [although He did not directly specify whether it was spiritual or physical] Jesus gave quite a few hints as to His powers or the ability for heavenly spirits or beings to ‘resurrect’ or appear or manifest or incarnate in various forms. Take the occasion when Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to witness His transfiguration in the presence of Moses and Elijah. Coming down, Jesus told them – “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead [referring obviously to Jesus later ‘resurrecting’ as the Christ].” [Words in brackets added for exposition]. [Matthew 17:1-9].
Jesus also spoke to the disciples of or about John the Baptist as the incarnate of Elijah. See Matthew 11:14 and Matthew 17:11-13.
Let us proceed to discuss Lazarus. Jesus had earlier in a separate episode told the Jews after they took offense to Him for performing miracles on the Sabbath – “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to those that He will.” [John 5:21]. Now, Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. When the sisters told Jesus that Lazarus was sick in Bethany, He said – “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” [John 11:4]. Then Lazarus died when Jesus was still away. Jesus told His disciples – “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” [Concentrate on this point, for if anything the later resurrection of Lazarus from the bodily dead to the bodily alive again is what should be a clear example of bodily resurrection. So, if Jesus can bodily resurrect Lazarus, it would be a cinch for Christ to manifest himself in worldly form in whatever manner or demeanour He should choose!] When Jesus arrived at Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus said to Martha – “Your brother will rise again.” to which Martha replied – “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” [You should know by now that ‘last day’ means the day when the ‘last penny’ is paid to get out of ‘prison’.], and to which Jesus replied – “I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” At the 3rd ‘reunion’ with the disciples, at the Sea of Tiberus, Peter asked Christ about Lazarus – “But Lord, what about this man?” to which Christ replied “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.” Given what Jesus said prior to the resurrection of Lazarus, this comment should now read – “If I will that he remain [resurrected from the dead] till I come [back from the dead], what is that to you?” [Words in brackets added for exposition]. So, to understand ‘resurrection’, we must first understand the significance of the resurrection of Lazarus, and how Lazarus comes within those anointed few who fall within the postulant group - “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”.
If Jesus could bodily resurrect Lazarus back from the worldly dead, if Elijah who went up to heaven in a fiery chariot and through a whirlwind can return as John the Baptist, and Enoch can just disappear into thin air, what is so demonstrably exceptional for Christ to appear or manifest in this world as the ‘crucified’ Jesus to His disciples and followers; physical enough so that the disciples can test that he went though death by crucifixion; but not so physical that he could not walk through walls. That is, it is just a ‘resurrection’ in a worldly sense; and has nothing to do with the actual ascension to heaven in a spiritual sense, in the ‘body’! Only a spirit can enter heaven. A spirit like the wind has no ‘form’. As was mentioned at the beginning of this discourse – Jesus said - “I come forth from the Father [as a ‘spirit’] and have come into the world [incarnate as bodily worldly son-of man]. Again I will leave the world [of man] and go to the [Spirit] Father [as a ‘spirit’].” [Words added for emphasis].
It is and was only an appearance or manifestation rather than a ‘resurrection’! Heavenly Spirits or Beings i.e. pure and untainted, without ‘ego’ of ‘self’, and having no afflictions of the ‘ego’ [as the 1st Adam had] to bind them to a resurrection or resurrections of condemnation, up and down Jacob’s Ladder, having no propensity to be lost in this world, to be subjected to the lust and temptation of the body and the flesh or senses, so that one will not be subject to the ‘Law of Reaping What You Sow’, can incarnate, appear or manifest amongst us like Elijah, and returning as John the Baptist, the Christ as Jesus (who we have Holy Communion with, replicating the Last Supper), or others as in the Prophets and the Saints (who we have the Communion with the Saints). They all come to show us the Way of the Cross, but after their manifestation they all return (rather than ‘resurrect’) ascending to heaven as eternal spirits; for only ‘spirits’ can go into spiritual heaven!
Let us get back to the two strangers on the road to Emmaus. They were not privy to the predictions given to the disciples or what was probably confided within the inner circle of family and friends (altogether, people who have and had ‘broken bread’ with Jesus), as regards the resurrection of Lazarus. If you read through these two strangers’ account of their encounter with Christ, this particular passage stands out – “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them all the Scriptures the things concerning them.” [John 24:27]. Remember what Jesus said when he referred to the temple of His body when he chased the traders out of the Temple – “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” [John 2:19]. Christ was resurrecting His ‘body’ as in His ‘words’ as in His Bread of Life when He appeared and manifested to expound the Scriptures to the strangers on the road to Emmaus on the 3rd day after his death. He was ‘resurrecting’ His ‘spiritual’ body in the ‘spirit’ of His words as distinct from his ‘spirit’ as Son of God. Remember what Jesus said of His words – “It is the Spirit [Father] who gives [eternal] life; the flesh [physical body of man] profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit [the ‘leaven’ that does the ‘rising’, that is the Kingdom of Heaven (see Matthew 13:33)], and they are [resurrection of] life.” [Words added for explanation].
In another sense, the appearances and manifestations to disciples and the inner circle of family and friends are befitting as they are people that ‘break bread’ with Jesus. We do the same at Holy Communion when we take ‘bread’ as the ‘body’ of Christ. So the ‘bodily resurrection’ of Christ is represented on Earth (but definitely not in Spirit Heaven where Christ exists only as a Spirit) by the Church and the teachings of Jesus the Christ!
It is in this sense that we are ‘apostolic’ and a ‘catholic apostolic church’! When we ‘break bread’ with Christ we are in Holy Communion with Him. We take His Bread of life (His Body, His Words), and in doing so we renounce Satan and our ‘mortal sins’. It is in that sense that we are ‘reborn’ as a new man; walking away from the darkness of mortal death towards the light of eternal life (our eternal spirit prodigal son-of-God in us, ‘lost’ waiting to be found). But it is a continuing and continuous struggle! We repent and then renounce our evil ways and then we renege on our promises and renunciation! But we start again; with every breath we take we die and are born again! But the Spirit Father with His unconditional love is patiently waiting! We lose ourselves but we find ourselves again and again! With every failure, every fall, carrying our cross, we manage to stand up again. Sometimes we may have a ‘Simon the Cyrenian’ or a ‘Good Neighbour’ to help us. We journey to our own Calvary until we are ‘crucified on our cross and ‘totally dead to sin’ so that we can ‘ascend’ up Jacob’s Ladder to eternal life in the eternal spirit!
Only worldly beings resurrect; and resurrection is a worldly thing i.e. it happens only in the mortal world. Heavenly eternal spirits or beings can never die so can never resurrect; they just spiritually ascend or descend Jacob’s ladder between heaven and the world of the son-of- man (son-of-Adam). Eternal spirits or beings can appear or manifest as worldly beings or as sons-of Adam who are spirit prodigal sons-of-God entrapped as worldly beings. This is a better explanation or exposition.
This explains why Christ, as a Heavenly Being or Spirit can appear or manifest, after the crucifixion and death of Jesus, as the ‘crucified’ Jesus, and only to those selected few, having an affinity to His spiritual body or with His teachings. This is because otherwise it would beg the question what Christ would look like to those who have not met him? What was Christ like before He incarnated as Jesus or what would he be like if He should come again? And in perspective, with Christ as Jesus, He would have looked different over His lifetime. His appearance and manifestation as a bloodied body riddled with nail holes was predicated to serve the message that He is ‘eternally alive’ after mortal death by crucifixion!
A bodily resurrection of ‘a bloodied body riddled with nail holes’ in a factual sense rather than an appearance or manifestation of ‘a bloodied body riddled with nail holes’ in a spiritual sense, would make nonsense of Christ expecting us to see Him in every poor, hungry and thirsty, sick and imprisoned. See Matthew 25:34-46. The substance of the spirit should prevail over the form of the body! In the ‘spirit’, going beyond the form of ‘body’ you can then see Christ in every poor, hungry and thirsty, sick and imprisoned, whether they are Buddhist, Moslem, Hindu, black or white, green or purple!
If Christ is the 2nd Adam, then this discussion about Christ passing the test of free-will (that the 1st Adam had failed and consequently descended into ‘resurrection to condemnation’) and his so-called ‘resurrection’ [ascension in the spirit] to eternal life should be tied in with the Catholic Marian practice of devotion to Mother Mary as our Holy Intercessor and in our never-ending recital of ‘Hail Mary’s. These form part of essential Catholic tradition and doctrine. It is a critical aspect of the ‘reconciliation’ of the Prodigal Son with the Spirit Father.
Mary represents the 2nd Eve. In reverse or in contrast to the 1st Eve as the accomplice in the temptation of the Serpent [Satan Incarnate] that Adam could be God, Mother Mary as the 2nd Eve submitted totally to God instead of Satan. In agreeing to be the pathway for the 2nd Adam to reconcile with God she declared – “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” [Luke 1:38]. It is the same with the 2nd coming of Christ. Mother Mary, as the 2nd Eve will always prepare the way. For, ‘Eve’ represents the arrow that will point ‘Adam’ in one direction or the other. In this sense all spiritual manifestations of the 2nd coming of Christ or His teachings will emanate first in visions of Mother Mary.
The Catholic doctrine of the ‘Sacred Heart’ of Jesus is also a fundamental doctrine and tradition to the understanding of Jesus as the Son-of-Man and Christ in Jesus as the Son-of-God. The worldly Adam in Jesus is controlled and dominated by the mind of ‘ego’. The mind is ‘ego’ personam, since it is selfish. The ‘Sacred Heart’ in Christ in contrast is ‘spiritual’ in the sense that it has no ego and does not think in terms of self, since it is selfless. It has ‘no mind’ as in ‘never mind’ or ‘not mine’. In that sense ‘love and compassion’ is worldly blind but spiritually see. Unlike the ‘mind’ the ‘heart’ has no worldly opinion, does not worldly judge, does not worldly greed; because unlike the mind it is not connected to the senses. The heart selflessly continues beating, good days or bad days, regardless of whatever the ‘ego’ ‘mind’ and its senses do, sinful or good. The heart asks for nothing that the mind and senses do to titillate, stimulate or enjoy themselves. The heart is steadfast. Do not see the ‘Sacred Heart’ of Jesus as something supramundane. Just see it for what it is – the spiritual quality of love and compassion, egolessness, selflessness, putting others first, assiduousness, humility – the very qualities of Christ.
Unless we understand Christian spirituality we will continue to have Christianity generating pride and arrogance, racism and discrimination, white superiority complex and ‘ego’ and hegemony and justifying wars and killing and forced conversions all in the name of a Christian God!
So soldier on Jesuit, soldier of Christ; stick to the Catholic Church. For whatever its faults, it is still closer to the truth than the other denominations.
CHC
10/4/12
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