October Affirmation: Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Greetings of Love and Light,
Autumn marks the season when the veils between the physical world and the Other Side are very thin. Our guides reach out to us and messages abound if we are open to receive them. In this spirit and with the events of the past weeks weighing on my heart, I have been led back to one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Kathleen McGowan’s The Source of Miracles. Based on her own personal spiritual experience, this book guides the reader into the profound teaching and deeper meaning of the Lord’s Prayer. Though in it’s most familiar form it was taught to his disciples by the Master Jesus, it is not strictly a Christian prayer but rather a powerful interfaith guide to working miracles in the world around us. It is a message for all seasons and all peoples. It breaks down barriers and creates miracles.
In medieval times a mystery school quietly thrived behind the imposingly beautiful façade of Chartres Cathedral in France. The roots of this school, like its namesake the Rose, were planted deep in the ancient mystical teachings that formed a much older and more original Christianity than that taught in Rome.
Central to these teachings was a six-petaled rose at the center of an eleven-circuit labyrinth laid out on the cathedral floor. Each petal of the rose taught an essential concept in the spiritual journey of humanity, concepts enshrined in the familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer, taught by Jesus of Nazareth some two thousand years ago, reminds us that faith, surrender, service, abundance, forgiveness and overcoming obstacles form the pathway to the miracle of Love. And with Love, all things are possible, even miracles.
As we look around our world today, we are in desperate need of miracles. In the weeks ahead, I would encourage you to find a few minutes each day to focus on this prayer or on one stanza of this prayer. Many of us have learned it by rote from childhood, but I would challenge you to bring your full intention and passion to these powerful words. Visualize yourself and our torn, fragmented world in the center of the Rose, surrounded in Love and Light. In the face of so much hatred and violence, we are not victims and we are not powerless. Each of us, together, can make a huge difference, if we only have Love.
If we only have love, then tomorrow will dawn
And the days of our years will rise on that morn.
If we only have love to embrace without fears,
We will kiss with our eyes, we will sleep without tears.
If we only have love, with our arms open wide,
Then the young and the old will stand at our side.
If we only have love, love that’s falling like rain,
Then the parched desert earth will grow green again.
If we only have love for the hymn that we shout
For the song that we sing, then we’ll have a way out.
If we only have love, we can reach those in pain,
We can heal all our wounds, we can use our own names.
If we only have love, we can melt all the guns
And then give the new world to our daughters and sons.
If we only have love then Jerusalem stands,
And then death has no shadow, there are no foreign lands.
If we only have love, we will never bow down.
We’ll be tall as the pines, neither heroes nor clowns.
If we only have love, then we’ll only be men,
And we’ll drink from the Grail to be born once again.
Then with nothing at all but the little we are,
We’ll have conquered all time
All space, the sun, and the stars
Jacques Brel
O God of the Morning Dawn, you call us into the stillness of your Presence, when the world is hushed and all is at peace. For a few precious moments we savor the sweetness of the silence and find your Voice gently calling to us. You invite us into the garden when the dew is still on the roses and remind us of what we too often forget: there is more to life than speed and noise and complexity. You meet us in quiet simplicity and calm assurance. May we allow that calmness to flow into our hearts and minds so that it stays with us through our days. Walk beside us and befriend us when our pace gets harried and our breath comes too quickly. May we hear you whisper ~ Be still, be still, be still and know that I AM. So it is.
