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Adapted from the Unity Worldwide Ministries Booklet - LENT 2016. “Lent is a season of spiritual growth, a time for progressive unfoldment, to lift us into a higher, purer, more spiritual state.” Charles Fillmore Today's True Lent Affirmation: "I am thankful for the spiritual power of Zeal, and the ability to be enthusiastic, passionate and motivated about my highest good." Clive deLaporte Zeal by Dr. Richard Belous New horizons and spiritual opportunities invigorate my zeal. I took calculus as part of my mathematical program in high school. It was a painful experience to say the least. How could you say a stationary dot on a graph had a velocity? The chain rule of calculus was excruciating, and I found it as fathomable as Egyptian hiero- glyphics. It just did not make sense to me as I plodded on. I felt like a chimpanzee in a psychology experiment. If I pushed the right buttons, then for some incomprehen- sible reason I got the banana. I barely passed my high school calculus course and vowed to never take any mathematics ever again! In college, as an English major, I lived up to this vow. I even made sure the mandatory science courses required nothing more than seventh grade algebra. Then a strange thing happened. I became interested in economics and entered a doctoral program in it. Now there was no way to avoid calculus. However, this time I took to the rules of differential and integral calculus like a duck takes to water. I even understood the logic and methodology behind what I was doing. Why was my experience with calculus so different in graduate school than high school? It was more than just age and maturity. In high school I saw no reason to study calculus other than to pass the course. In graduate school, I comprehended the new vistas opened up by calculus. Also in grad school I was on a committed and positive spiritual path. These two factors—a sense of new horizons and a spiritual practice—gave me the zeal to do what I could not do before. The Daily True Lent Practice: The Keeping of a True Lent is the dedicated daily practice of true: Repentance, Fasting and Prayer. Take time to begin each new day of Lent by reading the lesson and setting your affirmation in prayer for the day. In the evening dedicate a few minutes to review and reflect on your True Lent experience for that day. Release all that is not your best and highest good, and affirm the growing awareness of that which is your best and highest good. Take time for gratitude and silence. The Practice of True Repentance: Charles Fillmore Repentance is a turning from a belief in error to a belief in truth and righteousness. A process of giving up the false for the true. Repentance means denial; it is a relinquishment out of consciousness of old error thoughts. Repentance is forgiveness. It is through forgiveness that true spiritual healing is accomplished. The Practice of True Fasting: Charles Fillmore Fast from the false, and feast, feed your faith on the true and good. Fasting means abstinence. In fasting, abstain from error thinking and meditate on spiritual Truth until incorporated into the consciousness of oneness with the Father. To fast from all unworthy thought and feast on the good and the true. The practice of True Prayer: Charles Fillmore In true prayer we take with us words of Truth, a statement of Truth, or an affirmation, and turn our attention within to the very center of our being, where the awareness of the Divine dwells. We affirm these words of Truth and meditate on them, then get very still and wait in the silence for God to make them real to us. The Five Step Affirmative Prayer Practice: Firstly, assume a comfortable prayer position; relax the body, calm the mind and quieten the spirit. Secondly, concentrate on the awareness of oneness with the presence and power of the Divine within. Thirdly, say the affirmation of truth that you desire to come into realization in you, demonstration through you, and into material manifestation in your life. Say the affirmation of truth with faith and a feeling of deep assurance. Fourthly, enter into the sacred space of silence. As thoughts distract you, acknowledge and release them, return your awareness to the silence. Lastly, end with a feeling of thankfulness and gratitude for the the good you have affirmed and its coming manifestation in your life. If you have any questions about the spiritual insights in this teaching, blog post or any other of my Spiritual Director services: counseling, coaching, teaching, programs or retreats, contact me directly at: info@cdlministries.com
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