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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, I hope persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps us trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches us each. Please share this ministry with others, and please return soon. There is a new offering daily. And to be placed on the daily OneLife email list, to request notifications of new writings or submit prayer requests, write to briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader, Spiritual Counselor, and Chaplain.
You are invited to join Brian at his fellowship group on Facebook. The group is called OneLife Ministries – An Interspiritual Contemplative Fellowship. Hope to see you there. Blessings.
Today's Scripture
14And the Word became a human body and lived among us, and we have seen the Word's glory, glory as of the only Offspring from the Word-Speaker, full of grace and truth.15John witnessed about the Word, and cried out, "This was the One of whom I said, ”The One who comes after me ranks before me, because that One was before me."16And from the Word's fullness we have all received enough grace, and more. 17For the religious law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God – the Word-Speaker; the only God, who is in and with the Word-Speaker now, the Word has made the Word-Speaker clear to us.
*John 1.14-18, Author's Translation
Spiritual Teaching
It is love alone that gives worth to all things.
*St. Teresa of Jesus
Kindle love divine in thy heart, for this is the immediate way to the Kingdom of God.
*Sri Swami Sivananda. "Bhakti Yoga.”
See www.dlshq.org/teachings/bhaktiyoga.htm .
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On the date of this writing, November 8, Blessed John Duns Scotus (b. 1266) left this plane of existence, in 1308. Scotus is perhaps the most influential Franciscan theologian, outside of St. Bonaventure. His theology was overshadowed, however, by the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas. Like Aquinas, Scotus was mystical in orientation. Unlike Aquinas, Scotus rendered theology in highly affective and creation-centered terms – following the lead of the founder of his order, St. Francis of Assisi.
Scotus evidenced a deep reverence for the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and His mother, St. Mary, and the centrality of mystical affections in his being and thought, in a mystical vision on Christmas night 1299. He was immersed in mystical contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. Being rapt in ecstasy, St. Mary appeared, placed in his arms the Child Jesus. The Child Jesus kissed Scotus and embraced him in love.
Scotus, unlike many other theologians, did not see the crucifixion as a payment for our sins or a satisfaction to the Abba due because of our sins. Scotus held the Incarnation was willed as an expression of the Love of God and, therefore, for the desire of God for a consummation of oneness with all creation.
Yes, Scotus would say, “The cross was the result of our sin.” Yet, he would say, also – and I use his words: “I am of the opinion that God wished to redeem us in this fashion principally in order to draw us to his love.” We, then, through the Cross, become “co-lovers” of the Blessed Trinity. We, the Mystical Body of the Son, love the Father in and through the Son, by the empowering wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
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Therefore, the Word is immersed in creation, to redeem creation – or, to bring it into the fullness of its own divine destiny to mirror the wholeness of God. Each created thing – or each aspect of matter – is in conformity to an ideal pattern by the individuality and uniqueness of its haecceitas: “thisness,” taught Scotus. A rock has a thisness, a cloud has a thisness, a dust particle has a thisness, you and I have a thisness – heavenly beings have a thisness.
Love, then, is the expression of each unique thisness in the whole Thisness, which is the Source of each thisness. Each thing in the order of matter is destined to return to the Thisness that gives it the being that underlies its unique word in and through the Word.
Therefore, we do not escape the thisness of the natural order, of which we are a part, by a spirituality that fails to encompass all things in the divine order of unfolding creation. Rather, each thing loves the Creator in being itself among all other things. Then, in a mystical sense, all creation is becoming the Body of Christ, and creation in fulfillment is to be the New Jerusalem - which is a cosmic summation in Love and mutual interbeing in Being, not a place.
Thus, the materiality of the Incarnation – enfleshing – of the Word is the Divine affirmation of the holiness and goodness of every thisness. This includes our love of Jesus Christ, as more than an ascended spirit. In the words of Scotus: “In paying homage to Christ I would rather go too far than not far enough to give him the praise that is due him.”
Responding
The following is a means to connect to the Incarnation of the Word of God, the Logos, in Jesus Christ, of Nazareth. This is imaginative prayer to foster affection for the Blessed Son of God, our Savior and Friend:
Imagine
Imagine a Heart that is so close to you that every cell in yours feels as if it is touching this Heart, being bathed in its Light and Love.
Imagine that this Heart is alive, beating, loving, and that every beat you feel completely, as if it were your own, moving in you.
Imagine that there is nothing more tender than this Heart, that every movement, every touch is of complete, pure Love, completely overwhelmingly tender Love and compassion, and sweetest joy beyond explanation.
Imagine that this Heart desires your love, your tenderness, your touch.
Imagine that this Heart longs to be cradled in your love, to be held close, to be cherished above all else.
Imagine that above all else you desire to hold this Heart close, to surrender all you are - to the very core of your being -, to this Heart, this Love, this touch of the Divine.
Imagine that this is what this most Sacred Heart desires as well, deeply, completely, and that you touch deeply to the deepest core of your being; everything you are centers in this most Sacred Heart, and you are one, in Love more precious than life.
Imagine that this One breathes into your soul to be held close forever.
Imagine that you have just breathed into the Heart that you desire to hold close forever, to never be separated for a moment.
Imagine the mutual longing and desire for love fulfilled, in deepest, surrendering union of Love.
Imagine the Love of our God for the smallest human heart - for all beings of all faiths, all nations, and every creation on this transitory plane we call earth.
Handmaid of His Heart
© 2002 Heart to Heart
*www.sacredheartdevotion.com .
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, with friends and under a vow of simplicity. Brian is an ecumenical-interspiritual leader, who chooses not to identify with any group, and renounces all titles of sacredness that some would apply to him, but seeks to be open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He affirms that all spiritual paths lead ultimately back to Jesus Christ. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for preaching, Spiritual Direction, retreats, workshops, animal blessing services, house blessings, or other spiritual requests. You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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