Center for Action and Contemplation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Wednesday, 25 March 2015 - Richard Rohr's Meditation: "The Alpha and the Omega"

Center for Action and Contemplation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Wednesday, 25 March 2015 - Richard Rohr's Meditation: "The Alpha and the Omega"

       

"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]

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

The Cosmic Christ (detail) by Sr. Nancy Earl, © 2008, CAC archives 

"Jesus: The Christ"
"The Alpha and the Omega"
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
(Feast of the Annunciation - Nine months until Christmas)
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 here or Someone Else? Whoever it is, is offering an optimistic arc to all of history, and it 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 coherence between the beginning and the ending of all things. It offers humanity hope and vision. History now appears to have a direction and a purpose; it is not just a series of isolated events!
This is the Cosmic Christ speaking. 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--nor can die--because Christ is the eternal mystery of matter and Spirit as one. Jesus willingly died so the message could be universalized--and Christ arose, yes, still Jesus, but now including and revealing everything else in its full purpose and glory. (Read Colossians 1:15 He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation, 16 because in connection with him were created all things — in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities — they have all been created through him and for him. 17 He existed before all things, and he holds everything together.

18 Also he is head of the Body, the Messianic Community — he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything. 19 For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son 20 and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake.)

When these verses in Revelation were written, it was sixty to seventy years since Jesus' human body "ascended into heaven." The Christians have now met a fully availablepresence that defines, liberates, and sets a goal and direction for all of history. This presence is more than just "Jesus," which is a wonderful example of the gift of non-dual thinking.
Such divine presence had always been there, as we know from the previous experiences of "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Luke 20:37-38). But after Jesus, this eternal omnipresence had a precise, concrete, and personal referent. It became more obvious and believable in the world. It seems vague belief and spiritual intuition became specific and concrete and personal in Jesus--with a "face" that they could "see, hear, and touch" (1 John 1:1). The formless had become form, which allowed the divine romance to explode in history.
Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi, pages. 209-210
Gateway to Silencez; In Christ, we become God's Love.
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