Albuquerque, New Meico, United States - Center for Action and Contemplation's Father Richard Rohr's Meditation "Cosmic Hope" for Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Albuquerque, New Meico, United States - Center for Action and Contemplation's Father Richard Rohr's Meditation "Cosmic Hope" for Wednesday, 16 July 2014
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.(Revelation 21:6)

Jesus Christ, Detail of Deësis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey.
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Jesus, the Christ"
"Cosmic Hope"
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
I am making the whole of creation new . . . . It will come true . . . . It is already done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.(Revelation 21:5-6)
Is this Jesus of Nazareth speaking or Someone Else? Whoever is talking here is offering an entire and optimistic arc to all of history, and is not just the humble Galilean carpenter. This is much more than a mere “religious” message; it is also a historical and cosmic one. It declares a definite trajectory where there is a coherence between the beginning and the ending of all things. It offers humanity hope and vision.
This is the Cosmic Christ who is speaking here. Jesus of Nazareth did not talk this way. It was Christ who “rose from the dead,” and even that is no leap of faith once you realize that the Christ never died—or can die—because he is the eternal mystery of matter and Spirit as one. Jesus willingly died—and Christ arose—yes, still Jesus, but now including and revealing everything else in its full purpose and glory (read Colossians 1:15-20).
When these verses were written, it was sixty to seventy years since Jesus’ human body “ascended into heaven.” The Christians have now met a fully available presence that defines, liberates, and sets a goal and direction for life. Largely following Paul, who wrote in the A.D. 50s, they have come to call this seemingly new and available presence a mystery that they address as “both Lord and Christ” more than just “Jesus” (Acts 2:36).
Such divine presence had always been there, as we know from the experiences of “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Luke 20:37–38). But after Jesus, this eternal presence had a precise, concrete and personal referent. Perhaps vague belief and spiritual intuition became specific—with a “face” that they could “see, hear, and touch” in Jesus (1 John 1:1).
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pages 209-210
Gateway to Silence: In Christ all things hold together (Colossians 1:17).
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