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: Divine Light and Love is my path and process of transcendence. Transcendence by Dinah Chapman As the transcendent light of God’s love shines within me, I experience heaven on earth here and now. For thousands of years, humankind has wanted to know God and express our understanding and experience of the infinite. In the gospels, Jesus referred to the “kingdom of God” as a realm that is both beyond the natural physical world and within and among us. Jesus fully and consciously demonstrated union with God and claimed his spiritual identity while walking on this human plane, showing us the way to the kingdom, the way of love. Created in the image and likeness of God, we, too, can claim our spiritual birthright and conscious union with God. We can be in the world but not of it. As we love, pray, and align ourselves with the Christ within, we can traverse both worlds, the spiritual and the natural. We can enjoy exultant mountaintop experiences of God as transcendence, and bask in peace and divine love through the immanence of God within. 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 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 connect with me directly at any of my contacts listed below.
|