May 2017
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Christ is Risen!
"Be ye transformed by the renewal of your minds." (The great mystic St. Paul of Tarsus)
In the Pascal Canon St. John of Damascus exhorts us to be radiant. Radiant with joy on the Resurrection, certainly and yet I do not believe it means only that. I think he is asking us to live radiantly, full of joy, brimming with lovingkindness, making peace with all people, that is, sharing the Gospel in deed, yes, and with words, if necessary.
This kind of living demands nothing less than the transformation of our minds. It is like downloading a new app in our consciousness. The old way of seeing, of dividing the world into sacred and secular, good and bad, black and white, right and wrong only breaks down in our minds the essential unity of all things God has created. What then of God's omnipresence? We need a dramatic change of mind, a radical metanoia or Christianity makes no sense. We need to adopt the mind of Christ, the nondual mind.
"For all the promises of God in him are yes..." 2 Corinthians 1:20.
We must begin to see as God sees, as the mystics see. Everything is connected, all things are one, the kingdom of heaven is in us and around us. Between us and God and one another and the cosmos, there is no in-between. Christ is Risen for all and in all. All creation is renewed.
With love,
+Fr. Antony