May 8, 2018
We have been discussing releasing our attachment to the obstacles to peace we have made. Peace is within us. Peace is around us. Likewise, we have blocked our awareness of our own holiness – the holiness within us. It is there within us, no question. However, we have blocked our awareness of it by holding the belief that we are not holy. While we believe we are not holy, we cannot see the holiness so obvious within us. The two are completely incompatible. We have come to a place in the Course that talks and teaches about the meaning of Easter. And, as one might expect, the Course gives Easter a completely different meaning than what we may currently hold about Easter. The Course gives us an interpretation of Holy Week that symbolizes our journey in this world. What if we were to look differently at our journey in this world as we return to the awareness of who we really are? Perhaps we need to take another look through the vision of our holiness.
We tend to look at the Easter season through the lens of sin, suffering and death. What if we were to look at Easter through the lens of holiness, returning to the awareness of our innocence? The lessons the Course teaches us are that there is no sin and we are incapable of sin. The Course then teaches us there is no real suffering and no death. We are and have always been innocent because we are created holy and remain holy because holiness is permanent; holiness cannot be sullied. We believe we have sinned and are corrupted because we have sinned, believing in the impossible. Any truth in this belief is impossible and unthinkable in the realm of Heaven. We have convinced ourselves that this untruth is true and then spent much effort reinforcing this mistaken belief. Now is the time to release this error from your mind and discard it as hogwash – though I don’t mean to demean hogs. Let Spirit and your friend bring a new meaning of Easter into your mind now. Here’s how the Course describes Holy Week: I have altered pronouns to express how I have come to understand the Course.
A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey We have undertaken. We started with the sign of victory, the promise of the resurrection, already given us. Let us not wander into the temptation of crucifixion, and delay ourselves there. Help us to go in peace beyond it, with the light of our own innocence lighting our way to our redemption and release. Hold us not back with thorns and nails when our redemption is so near. But let the whiteness of our shining gift of lilies speed us on our way to resurrection. T-20.I.3:1-6
It’s time we step back and take a new look within at ourselves. As we look within, really look within, we will begin to see something beautiful emerging in our awareness. We will begin to see a beingness full of such light that brightens the world and bathes all the world in holiness. There is peace and love and joy there. We want for nothing there. As we gaze upon the world around us, we will see the light of holiness shining away the pain and suffering we saw before. Easter has no particular time of year for the Course. Easter is when we choose innocence over pain and suffering.
Easter is not the celebration of the cost of sin, but of its end. If you see glimpses of the face of Christ behind the veil, looking between the snow-white petals of the lilies you have received and given as your gift, you will behold your friend’s face and recognize it. I was a stranger and you took me in, not knowing who I was. Yet for your gift of lilies you will know. In your forgiveness of this stranger, alien to you and yet your ancient Friend, lies their release and your redemption with them. The time of Easter is a time of joy, and not of mourning. Look on your risen Friend, and celebrate their holiness along with me. For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine. T-20.I.4:1-7
This is the release you have been seeking ever since you started on this journey. It is your choice when to accept your Easter in your journey. Why wait any longer? Accept the gift of lilies offered you now. There is no need or purpose in a crown of thorns – ever.
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