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St. Gabriel and All Angels

Sermon on the celebration of Low Sunday, the First Sunday after Easter

Today we continue to celebrate Easter as today is in the Octave of Easter. Actually, we will be celebrating the high festival of Easter for several more weeks.

We do this because the message of Easter is immense. The majesty and beauty, the fullness and omnipresence of God is so beyond words, and yet all words point to it. This takes time to assimilate in the fullness of its glory.

Christ’s teaching is threefold.

The first is:

• The creation, the universe, is;
• But in it’s Being it is a loving place;
• And the way to become one with all that lives is to find a way within one’s self to surrender, open and accept that all situations are an expression of that love;
• And then from within one’s self to express that love by embracing everything that comes into our lives.

The second is:

• Physical death is an illusion. Real life lies within each of us, in our innermost hearts, in the spirit.
• We each have the power to overcome physical death and live in that eternity, in the full sunshine of that spiritual life.
• And not just after we leave this physical body, but also while we still wear it, use it and live in it.
• This is the message of Easter.

The third is:

• In His humanity He shows us the way to walk this path of spirit;
• He shows us the way to be that perfect Divine Love;
• And He affirms through His life, death and resurrection that life is much, much more than just this physical body and its needs and desires.

I believe that the suppression of emotion is one of the main culprits is keeping our inherent spiritual nature root-bound. By now it is commonplace to know about the medical and health benefits of "a good cry", but other lingering social conventions (and even spiritual teachings!) denigrate the natural feeling of sadness and the shedding of tears. (see: Health Benefits of Tears)

Of course most of us would prefer to feel joy, but denying, suppressing, or avoiding sad feelings when they naturally arise is a sure way to prolong the lessons and healing that stand before us. Rather than assuming an attitude of feeling joyful when healing is needed first, wisdom suggests that we find a way to accept the cup that has come to us. But remember, while we must do our own healing, we need not do it alone. continue reading

Absolution, one of the Seven Sacraments of the church catholic, comes from the Latin root words ab solvo, which mean "to loosen". This Sacrament is intended to help the person to discontinue from erroneous behavior, but, as, or more important, to be relieved and disconnected from the downheartedness and guilt that perpetuate of such behavior. Absolution provides an important feature in the life of the spiritual aspirant.

Absolution has commonly become known in just one of it's forms - confession - the telling of one's sins to a priest. The Liberal Catholic Church offers two additional, traditional forms of the Sacrament of Absolution. continue reading

WHAT IS THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH?
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A CEREMONIAL CHURCH
The Liberal Catholic Church is one of thirty or more Catholic Churches in the world which are independent of Rome, such as the Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Old Catholic, etc. It teaches the Christianity of the Christ and administers the seven Sacraments which are regarded as channels of His blessing. It is a church wherein there is intellectual and religious freedom and a natural balance between ceremonial worship, devotional aspiration, scientific and mystic thought. continue reading

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DOCTRINE OF THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
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FOREWORD
"The LiberaI Catholic Church believes that there is body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all the great religions of the world and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctively Christian church it nevertheless holds that the other great religions of the world are divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source, though different religions stress different aspects of this teaching and some aspects may even temporarily drop out of recognition. continue reading

The Liberal Catholic Church, as part of the larger Christian Church, has a special role to play, and I feel blessed to be able to participate. The heart of the Church as a whole is to be a vehicle for the distribution of Christ’s power and love to all who sincerely desire to know God. Through the sacraments, Christ comes to all, and wakes up His Life within us. As we come more and more awake to that Divine Spark within our heart, we live and breathe the Love of Christ in all we do and live for the greater good of all life, not just for ourselves. continue reading

I just want to express my appreciation of this very profound and moving sermon. It reminds me of how extraordinary St.Gabriel's is and how lucky I have been to be part of it. Ria

Advent—What It Is

Advent has been celebrated in Christianity for about 1800 years. It corresponds to the nature religion’s celebrations of the winter solstice, when the days started getting longer, and spring approached. It is a time when all traditions remember and enjoy light.

Each Sunday in Advent at church, we light a candle in the advent wreath. The first Sunday, one; the next Sunday, two; and so on. So the amount of light increases as we get closer to Christmas. This symbolizes our growing awareness and experience of Christ as we get closer to his birthday. continue reading

Finally! Someone is talking and writing about a third point of view in the so far divisive "evolution vs. creationism" theological battle. I find the Intelligent Design theories myopic. On the other side, the atheists surely do not have an answer that represents my experience of God.

The third way is called Evolutionary Theology, and I think... continue reading

St Raphael & Trinity 20 Sunday
Trinity 20 Intent(Serenity)

Epistle
Book of Tobit(Tobias), Chapter 12, Verse 6

Gospel
St. John, Chapter 5, Verse 2

Color White
Color of Joy

The story in the Gospel is a about our own lives. It illustrates for us our own condition. The pool of water as our own inner well of pure consciousness, the 5 porches are our inner senses and all of the experiences that keep us from engaging fully in this pool.

According to the Gospel story, a great Multitude lay in the porches. These were described as:
-Impotent Folks(lacking in inner fullness—unable to give fully or appreciate fully) continue reading