"Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein Lies the peace of God."
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 20
The Promise of the Resurrection
I. Introduction
1
This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth. Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain. A slain Christ has no meaning. But a
risen
Christ becomes the symbol of the Son of God's forgiveness of himself; the sign he looks upon himself as healed and whole.
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 20
The Promise of the Resurrection
II. Holy Week
2
This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent. Let no dark sign of crucifixion intervene between the journey and its purpose; between the acceptance of the truth and its expression. This week we celebrate life, not death. And we honor the perfect purity of the Son of God and not his sins. Offer each other the gift of lilies, not the crown of thorns; the gift of love and not the "gift" of fear. You stand beside each other, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the lilies to replace them. This Easter, I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered by you to me and returned by me to you.
3
We
cannot
be united in crucifixion and in death. Nor can the resurrection be complete till your forgiveness rests on Christ, along with mine. A week is short, and yet this holy week is the symbol of the whole journey the Son of God has undertaken. He started with the sign of victory the promise of the resurrection already given him. Let him not wander into the temptation of crucifixion and delay him there. Help him to go in peace beyond it, with the light of his own innocence lighting his way to his redemption and release. Hold him not back with thorns and nails when his redemption is so near. But let the whiteness of your shining gift of lilies speed him on his way to resurrection.
4
[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 each other'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, lie his release and your redemption with him. The time of Easter is a time of joy and not of mourning. Look on your risen Friend and celebrate his holiness along with me. For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine.
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A
Course in Miracles
TEXT
CHAPTER 20
The Promise of the Resurrection
III. Thorns and Lilies
5
Look upon all the trinkets made to hang upon the body or to cover it or for its use. See all the useless things made for its eyes to see. Think on the many offerings made for its pleasure and remember all these were made to make seem lovely what you hate. Would you employ this hated thing to draw your brother to you and to attract his body's eyes? Learn you but offer him a crown of thorns, not recognizing it for what it is and trying to justify your own interpretation of its value by his acceptance. Yet still the gift proclaims his worthlessness to you, as his acceptance and delight acknowledges the lack of value he places on himself.
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Gifts are not made through bodies if they be truly given and received. For bodies can neither offer nor accept; hold out nor take. Only the mind can value, and only the mind decides on what it would receive and give. And every gift it offers depends on what it wants. It will adorn its chosen home most carefully, making it ready to receive the gifts it wants by offering them to those who come unto its chosen home or those it would attract to it. And there they will exchange their gifts, offering and receiving what their minds judge to be worthy of them.
7
Each gift is an evaluation of the receiver and the
giver
. No one but sees in his chosen home an altar to himself. No one but seeks to draw to it the worshipers of what he placed upon it, making it worthy of their devotion. And each has set a light upon his altar, that they may see what he has placed upon it and take it for their own. Here is the value that you lay upon your brother and on yourself. Here is your gift to both; your judgment on the Son of God for what he is. Forget not that it is your savior to whom the gift is offered. Offer him thorns and
you
are crucified. Offer him lilies and it is yourself you free.
8
I have great need for lilies, for the Son of God has not forgiven me. And can I offer him forgiveness when he offers thorns to me? For he who offers thorns to anyone is against me still, and who is whole without him? Be you his friend for me that I may be forgiven and you may look upon the Son of God as whole. But look you first upon the altar in your chosen home and see what you have laid upon it to offer me. If it be thorns whose points gleam sharply in a blood-red light, the body is your chosen home, and it is separation that you offer me. And yet the thorns are gone. Look you still closer at them now, and you will see your altar is no longer what it was.
9
You look still with the body's eyes, and they can see but thorns. Yet you have asked for and received another sight. Those who accept the Holy Spirit's purpose as their own share also His vision. And what enables Him to see His purpose shine forth from every altar now is yours as well as His. He sees no strangers, only dearly loved and loving friends. He sees no thorns, but only lilies, gleaming in the gentle glow of peace that shines on everything He looks upon and loves.
10
This Easter look with different eyes upon each other. You
have
forgiven me. And yet I cannot use your gift of lilies while you see them not. Nor can you use what I have given unless you share it. The Holy Spirit's vision is no idle gift, no plaything to be tossed about a while and laid aside. Listen and hear this carefully, nor think it but a dream—a careless thought to play with or a toy you would pick up from time to time and then put by. For if you do, so will it be to you.
11
You have the vision now to look past
all
illusions. It has been given you to see no thorns, no strangers, and no obstacles to peace. The fear of God is nothing to you now. Who is afraid to look upon illusions, knowing his savior stands beside him? With him, your vision has become the greatest power for the undoing of illusion that God Himself could give. For what God gave the Holy Spirit, you have received. The Son of God looks unto you for his release. For you have asked for and been given the strength to look upon this final obstacle and see no thorns nor nails to crucify the Son of God and crown him king of death. Your chosen home is on the other side, beyond the veil. It has been carefully prepared for you, and it is ready to receive you now. You will not see it with the body's eyes. Yet all you need you have.
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Your home has called to you since time began, nor have you ever failed entirely to hear. You heard but knew not
how
to look nor
where
. And now you know. In you the knowledge lies, ready to be unveiled and freed from all the terror that kept it hidden. There
is
no fear in love. The song of Easter is the glad refrain the Son of God was
never
crucified. Let us lift up our eyes together, not in fear, but faith. And there will be no fear in us, for in our vision will be no illusions—only a pathway to the open door of Heaven, the home we share in quietness, and where we live in gentleness and peace as one together.
13
Would you not have your holy brother lead you there? His innocence will light your way, offering you its guiding light and sure protection, and shining from the holy altar within him where you laid the lilies of forgiveness. Let him be to you the savior from illusions, and look on him with the new vision that looks upon the lilies and brings you joy. We go beyond the veil of fear, lighting each other's way. The holiness that leads us is within us, as is our home. So will we find what we were meant to find by Him Who leads us.
14
This is the way to Heaven and to the peace of Easter, in which we join in glad awareness that the Son of God is risen from the past and has awakened to the present. Now is he free, unlimited in his communion with all that is within him. Now are the lilies of his innocence untouched by guilt and perfectly protected from the cold chill of fear and withering blight of sin alike. Your gift has saved him from the thorns and nails, and his strong arm is free to guide you safely through them and beyond. Walk with him now rejoicing, for the savior from illusions has come to greet you and lead you home with him.
15
Here is your savior and your friend, released from crucifixion through your vision and free to lead you now where he would be. He will not leave you nor forsake the savior from his pain. And gladly will you walk the way of innocence together, singing as you behold the open door of Heaven, and recognize the home that called to you. Give joyously to one another the freedom and the strength to lead you there. And come before each other's holy altar where the strength and freedom wait, to offer and receive the bright awareness that leads you home. The lamp is lit in both of you for one another. And by the hands that gave it to each other shall both of you be led past fear to love.
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A Course in Miracles
WORKBOOK
Lesson 225
God is my Father,
and His Son Loves Him.
1
Father, I must return Your Love for me. For giving and receiving are the same, and You have given all Your Love to me. I must return it, for I want it mine in full awareness, blazing in my mind, and keeping it within its kindly light, inviolate—beloved, with fear behind and only peace ahead. How still the way Your loving Son is led along to You!
2
Brother, we find that stillness now. The way is open. Now we follow it in peace together. You have reached your hand to me, and I will never leave you. We are one, and it is but this oneness that we seek as we accomplish these few final steps which end a journey that was not begun.
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ACIM Edmonton
Sarah's Reflections
Lesson 225
God is my Father,
and His Son loves Him.
Sarah's Commentary:
How do we demonstrate our love for our Father? How do we return it to Him? This Lesson says,
"I must return it, for I want it mine in full awareness..."
(W.225.1.2) In other words, if I want to experience the love I am, and if I want it to be in full awareness, I must extend love to my brother; for to give and to receive are one. We are basically giving to ourselves.
"Father, I must return Your Love for me, for giving and receiving are the same, and You have given all Your Love to me."
(W.225.1.1) The love my Father has given me must now be extended so can I know it is in me to give.
If I want to know my Self, I must take responsibility for the self-attacking beliefs that I am holding in my mind and bring them to awareness. When I judge and hold grievances and hide behind my defenses, I cannot be aware of my true identity as love. Our nature is love, as given us by God, but we cannot know it when we put more value on the things we have substituted for love. In other words, the things of this world that we value more, such as the opinions and judgments we hold and the need to be right, keep us from the awareness of what we are. When we turn over the blocks to love, that we are holding in our minds, to the Holy Spirit, we release what stands in the way of love, and thus we experience the miracle.
Look again at the discussion on
"What is forgiveness?"
(W.PII.Q1) Here, Jesus speaks to us of our projections.
"The
[unforgiving]
thought protects projection, tightening its chains, so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure; less easily accessible to doubt, and further kept from reason. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its wanted goal?"
(W.PII.Q1.2.3-4) What we project onto others keeps us unaware of the unhealed aspects of our own minds. As I blame and judge others, I am protecting myself from recognizing the guilt in my mind. Instead, I see it in you. Now my mind is imprisoned by chains of unforgiving thoughts. If my goal is to see you as guilty and to see my sin in you, my fixed position will not be changed. When I justify my anger and stay with my story about you, I make my case as to why the guilt belongs to you. Now, no healing is possible. The ego mind, which is the wrong mind, holds all of these unforgiving thoughts that block love. As long as we refuse to release these thoughts to the Holy Spirit for healing, we will not know the gifts forgiveness offers us.
The purpose of holding onto our unforgiving thoughts is to maintain the separation and our investment in the ego and the world.
"It sets about its furious attempts to smash reality, without concern for anything that would appear to pose a contradiction to its point of view."
(W.PII.Q1.3.4) When we become willing to release our judgments by taking responsibility for our projections and simply looking at them with the light of truth, space is made in the mind for love to come streaming in. Our belief in sin and guilt is what holds the seeming reality of the body and the world in place. With it comes an investment in the past and future and expectations of how things should be in the world to make us happy. When we choose to release our unforgiving thoughts to the Holy Spirit, we can find the quiet center in us and
"learn to welcome truth exactly as it is."
(W.PII.Q1.4.5)
Jesus tells us that we don't know how to forgive and must be taught.
"Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Protector, strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success."
(W.PII.Q1.5.1) Of our own, we can do nothing. The ego will never undo itself. The Holy Spirit is the light in us, as a symbol of the love we are. His light shines away all that is brought to Him in the sincere desire for healing. As we let His light guide us in the busy doings wherever we are sent, the content of the love is expressed through us. Purification is always necessary first. This has nothing to do with the body. It is the mind that must be purified. The one thought that must be healed is the thought of guilt, which is an impediment to the miracle. If love is in our hearts and our minds, then everything we do becomes an extension of that love. Purification can only come by asking for help from the Holy Spirit to release our belief in separation.
What do we know of peace? We try to find it in our own way. We try to figure out how to be peaceful. We think peace comes from things going well in the world. We think that if our needs are met, we will finally know peace; yet what we are doing is looking for peace in form. We look forward to summer holidays where we think we will find the peace that eludes us in our daily lives. We look forward to relaxing and taking time from the daily grind. We think we will be peaceful if we successfully address the things in the world that we think are important to accomplish. But the peace we are seeking is already in us. There is nothing to seek because we have it already. All we are asked to do is be still, come in silence, listen, go within and open to hearing His Voice. We come in certainty today, leaving
"fear behind and only peace ahead."
(W.225.1.2)
Only through forgiveness can we experience deep rest and relaxation. Judgment is what tires us, according to Jesus. Our rest comes in giving up judgment. Thus, the best way to use our time, if we truly want peace and happiness, is to watch the mind for interfering thoughts. No worldly pursuit will ever satisfy us or bring us the joy and peace forgiveness offers. It is about releasing our belief in guilt. Our belief in guilt, our feeling of "I am bad," feeling unworthy, and being in a state of lack are the only sources of suffering. Think about it. It is a startling realization when we learn that everything comes from our own minds, rather than from the events of our lives. We think that our suffering comes from what someone has done or hasn't done or from some external circumstance. Certainly, we don't think that our own guilt, and all the self-attack that goes with it, is the source of all our suffering. The source of all suffering is internal. It comes from the beliefs and self-concepts we hold, all of which can be undone through forgiveness.
Yes, we do make mistakes that need correction, but with guilt, we believe we deserve punishment. Forgiveness offers us an opportunity to take responsibility for our mistaken perceptions and bring them for correction. It is our way out of this cycle of sin, guilt, and fear. Any judgments that we will not raise to doubt protect the projections we place on others.
"The mind is closed, and will not be released."
(W.PII.Q1.2.2) We prefer to see our guilt in others and want it punished in them. We hope God is watching so He will know how much others have mistreated us, and thus they will deserve the punishment we secretly believe we deserve. Yet when we blame others, the belief in sin is reinforced in our own minds, rather than corrected, which brings more guilt and more need to blame, find fault, and judge. Whether we blame others or ourselves, it is the same. Blame keeps us in the cycle of sin, guilt, and fear.
We are invited today to reach out for the hand of Jesus, and when we do, he promises that he will never leave us because we are one with him. Let us lean on this support today, as we release our thoughts of conflict that swirl in the mind and keep us from knowing our true Self as love and peace. How we demonstrate our love for God is by coming to know our Self as the Son who loves Him. In other words, we come to the recognition of the truth of what we are through forgiveness. We can only do that as we take total responsibility for all of our thoughts, watch our minds, and release the self-condemnation and concepts that we hold about ourselves. When we no longer hold guilt in the mind, we accept our innocence and see it in everyone.
"I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or on myself."
(T.31.V.17.7) (ACIM OE T.31.V.60) Let go of the "I know" mind. We don't know our Self because we have become lost in the dream.
We are now given prayers that invite us to enter into the silence and the stillness in which the truth can be known. Jesus enters that stillness with us. He is the open doorway.
"Now we follow it in peace together."
(W.225.2.3) He assures us that he will never leave us. He cannot because he is one with us. He is the symbol of truth in our right minds. We are the ones who have closed the door to the awareness of his constant presence, and we are the ones who can now make another choice. He awaits our decision. Our happiness depends on it.
Love and blessings, Sarah
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