I have what I think is the worlds most interesting Angel. I keep my Angel very busy I must say, because she is always putting people, experiences and objects in my path for my benefit, because believe me, I do not look for this "stuff" it really comes to me.
I was at a garage sale several years ago, and I came upon a CD called VOX X Chants From the Christian Arab Tradition
I of course snapped it right up, mainly because it was very inexpensive and also because the Genre was something with which I was unfamiliar. I was making acquaintances with Palestinian Christians, and at the time, the Dead Sea Scrolls were on display in San Diego. Interest in ancient texts and the Essene Community at Qumran was hip and groovy at the time, it seemed fitting that I would listen to music from the time literally of the Incarnation of the Christ.
The melodies were in Aramaic, the language of the Palestinian Jews at the time of Christ. They were haunting, full of longing, wistful and sad sounding.
It wasn't exactly an easy existence in those early days of Christianity. Most of the disciples were executed, the persecutions were rampant and vile and the times were very uncertain.
I have heard that in those early days after the Resurrection, the ground was actually quivering from the magnitude of what had just happened. What makes Christianity and the Christ different than all other cosmic orientations is the fact that God came to Humanity, to be one of us, to enter into the mystery of death, and to model the ideal for us. When you consider the preparation for the incarnation started right after the Fall of Man, this was no random event.
Ancient Olive Tree in Palestine
To imagine how a being that was beyond our comprehension, what we in The Christian Community call, the Spirit of the depths of time, the being of width and space, what the original Palestinian Christians called "The Divine Originating Mystery" (this is the Aramaic translation of 'Our Father who Art in Heaven') came into a human body in order to understand our journey, our experience of physical death, is a great deed of intimacy.
The Crucifixion allowed for the blood of the Divine Christ to penetrate the Earth, his body was placed into a grotto. And from this, the regeneration of the Earth occurred.
We are in a similar time, as those hopeful yet mysterious and anxious times of the very ancient Church. Our Ancestors could not comprehend intellectually what had just happened, and yet they felt the earth quake with the reality of the Living Christ. They felt the Christ in their hearts, in spite of great terror and turmoil, they were faithful in their acts of kindness and worship. Rudolf Steiner tells of the Early Christians conveying the message of the Gospel through a felt sense, through conversation and story. The Early Christians spread the Word through acts of hospitality and kindness, through caring for the sick and the marginal of society.
It is from these early times that the first Black Madonnas appeared as an art form. I can't help making the connection between these enigmatic images and the haunting Aramaic melodies I listen to on the CD. Black is the color of Cosmic Will, of Cosmic Action. These Black Virgins I feel are symbols of our task in the present age, of uncertainty and great suffering, for those who love and await the Christ, to get busy.
Notre Dame du Chateau St Chrisophe les Gorges
We need to prepare our hearts by our actions towards our fellow human beings, we need to use our will to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the Beloved Community. The Kingdom of heaven is not something out there, in the distant reaches of space, the Kingdom of heaven is within and amongst us if only we would bring it about. God is with us, even to the end of time, he came to us in the most intimate of ways, he is near, we must reach out to him.
The Earth still vibrates with the Christ Deed, it is our task to use our will to bring the Christ Deed to fulfillment. As Mary said in the Luke Gospel, "May your word be fulfilled in Me."
Let us fulfill the Word in our Hearts, and look to the Early Christians as models of endurance and love in the face of turmoil. The Black Madonna watches, beckons, challenges, what is your response?
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