In the name of the Living Light, the Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Creed

I lovingly trust the eternal Creative Source of boundless, infinite and compassionate Love, who is our divine Mother and Father.

I lovingly trust the Eternal Logos, the Creative Energy in whom all life is brought into being, and in who there is divine oneness of love, without fragmentation, division or separation.

I lovingly trust that the Logos came among us, in the person Jesus of Nazareth. Through the Holy Spirit, the Logos became the living Christ in the womb of Mary.

Jesus became the object of the ego’s projection of fear, separation and self-loathing. He was crucified by fearful minds trapped in a consciousness of sacrifice, death and separation

I lovingly trust that the Logos extended his presence to those dwelling in the realm of the dead and restored to them knowledge of the truth of their divine nature. On the third day he dissolved the illusion of death and rose from the dead, transformed, transforming and revealing that we are not limited humanity but limitless fractals of Light. He traversed the boundaries of time and space and returned to the experience of oneness with the Living Abba.

I lovingly trust in the Holy Spirit who comes with wind, fire and power that changes the face of the earth. I believe in the oneness of all creation as veiled expressions of the Source of Love.

I lovingly trust in the transformation of our shadow, through divine compassionate tenderness and forgiveness; our resurrection and transfiguration, and the realisation that there is only life. Amen.

1 Our father, 3 Hail Mary’s, 1 Glory to the Living Light, the Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit.

First Mystery: the temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4)

This was Jesus’ vision quest before he entered his ministry.

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the spirit through the wilderness being tempted there by the devil for 40 days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry” (Luke 4: vs 1-4).

The Desert is a place well known to us all. We all know the experience of being alone with our darkest thoughts, feelings, emotions and stirrings. Often in our own personal desert we are visited by the inner demons of shame and unworthiness. We can feel like a fraud waiting to be unmasked. But we often don’t ask ourselves the question: “Why do I believe my demons?”. If only we realised how much our minds and bodies have been conditioned by the subtle messages of our culture which are buried deep in our psyches and bodies, especially reinforced through the media and now, social media. The social structures and institutions of our societies, social, religious political legal and educational, have been conditioning our minds since we came out of our mother’s womb. The powerful don’t want us to us to become “Too big for our boots”. The interests of the powerful are best served by keeping us in a state of emotional servitude and needing approval. We have been conditioned to  do the job of policing one another’s thoughts, feelings and ideas in various contexts: in the pub, in the workplace, in our families with our friends, on social media and in many other places.

It was important for Jesus that before embarking upon his public ministry to journey into the wilderness in order to confront all possible demons; both psychological and spiritual, so that he could be truly confident in knowing who he really was when confronting the powerful, dominant and destructive powers of his time.

The socially conditioned superego [our harsh internal critic] often knows how to silence us into shame and fear when it senses that we are breaking the socially conditioned rules of our society. The superego can communicate a narrative of fear and inadequacy at the speed of light throughout our entire neural network and bodies in order to keep our ego self, in check. The ego self – our experience of being a separate individual– if deeply wounded by past experiences of feeling humiliated or undermined can become angry, resentful and even wrathful when humiliations occur again in our lives. The superego has been super-conditioned to subdue our egos so that we don’t upset the equilibrium of our socially constructed society “You Can’t break the rules”. This can be costly to our emotional and mental wellbeing. In today’s Western neoliberal societies we are commodified to work and consume. Those of us who are extremely wounded by the system or who have awakened to the insanity, are often not easily controlled by either internally or externally imposed societal rules. The rebellious often become the social rule breakers. But at best these rule breakers can become the prophets and visionaries against our corrupt societies. If they are unlucky enough they may become revolving door patients of the mental health system or offenders in the criminal justice systems.

In the gospel of Thomas Jesus asks

what did you go out into the desert to see? A person wearing fancy clothes, like your rulers or powerful people? They wear fancy clothes but they cannot know the truth [saying 78].

The truth has always been within us. Jesus called us salt and light [Matthew 5:13-16]. Often the elite rulers and powerful people are unable to make contact with and access the wellspring of their divinity deep inside. They identify with being merely an ego with articulate opinions, deceitful thoughts and distorted beliefs about how things should be. They have often ensured control over legal and political powers to enforce their egoic ideologies onto others.   

Jesus knew his own divine power, strength, wisdom, courage, tenderness, limitlessness and luminosity and was able to access this power when needed and could live fully through his divinity in his humanity, completely. He wants this for us too. Jesus’ time of examen and self-knowing in the wilderness was essential to the work he had to do. We are all the progeny of the living light says Jesus in the gospel of Thomas. In the gospel story of Luke we witness Jesus tempted by the devil in the wilderness who wants Jesus to succumb to grandiosity, pride, instant gratification and ego inflation. On each occasion Jesus does not enter into dialogue with the trickster but simply quotes Scripture at him as an antidote to the relentless ruminating voice of fear, scarcity and separation.   

An important part of discernment is recognising the difference between good conscience and the sometimes vicious fiction of the superego. Jesus did not come to reinforce feelings of guilt, shame, inadequacy and dependence upon powerful others. He up wanted us to know that we are loved and that we are love. He wants us to wake up to the truth of who we really are and not to be afraid of our tremendous gifts.

Prayer: 1 Our Father; 10 Hail Mary’s; 1 Glory be  

Jesus associates with social outcasts: tax collectors and prostitutes

“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:10-17

Today, the outcasts of society are often demonised in the media, on social media, in parliament, by legal institutions, religious institutions, respectable in-groups and by the general public. Such is our need to find others worse than ourselves onto whom we can project our unowned shadow material. Imagine the disdain of the religious authorities of Jesus’ time when Jesus enjoyed hospitality with raca (Matthew 5;25) the unworthy. Tax collectors and prostitutes were the alienated ones of Jesus’ society and Jesus embraced both. Imagine his tenderness, warmth, presence, humour and intimacy with these outcasts. Can you imagine being so loving towards those whom you consider to be raca? The question we are challenged to ask ourselves in this mystery is, whom do I consider to be raca?

Prayer: 1 Our Father; 10 Hail Mary’s; 1 Glory be  

 

The Mysteries to come:

• Jesus heals the sick and possessed and restores dignity
• Jesus enters Jerusalem and is projected upon.
• Jesus cleanses the temple confronts hypocrisy

 

 

© Brendan Anthony Mooney 2023