EDITOR'S NOTE: With the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we have a solid reason during Lent to keep praying for restoration of order in our world! Please stay prayerful!
Wednesday, March 9, was a very significant day for
Christians throughout the world. That day was the beginning of
Lent, a period of
40 days, excluding Sundays, when they begin fasting and renunciation of some habits and normal practices.
For most of my life, whenever I've thought of observing the
Lenten Season, I've done so with a feeling of foreboding, having to "
give up" and deny myself of something I normally valued.
I was about to feel the same way this year...except
TRUTH intercepted.
I don't know where the interpretation started that
Lent should be about self denial.
During
Lent, Christians meditate on the great
paschal mystery -- "the salvation
God won for us
'sinners' by the suffering, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ," is one interpretration.
Before his suffering, which culminated on
Good Friday, Jesus often went up to the mountains to commune with
God. Scripture doesn't state specifically that during the period
immediately before his
"trial" he went up, but it is clear that going to the
"mountain" was
Jesus' way of coping with life on
Earth. 
Let's assume that he did go up to the mountain for
40 days and 40 nights, prior to his death on
Good Friday. Who says that this was perhaps not the richest time in his spiritual life?From the human perspective, we dread death, because it signals the end of
LIFE, as we know it.
Yes.
Jesus was going to be crucified.
Yes.
Jesus knew it. He knew the truth so well about the upcoming events that he predicted it to his disciples, trying to prepare them. When
Peter refused to believe it,
Jesus strongly rebuked him, telling
Peter, "Get thee behind me Satan. Thou art an offence unto me for thou savored not the things that be of God but those that be of men."In reading about the events leading up to his trials,
Jesus seemed to welcome the test. By succeeding, he not only would fulfill the
Scripture but he could
fully claim his
Divinity and heritage as the
Son of God.Let's think on this!
Let's suppose that you had a calling on your life. You've prepared, trained and acquired certain traits and behaviors.
Wouldn't the day ultimately come when you'd want to be tested?Jesus foresaw
all that he had to go through,
and he still was willing!
He was willing because he knew that
if he succeeded he would establish a
new world order for man. He also knew that once and for and all times, he would establish for
all mankind the knowledge that we
can transcend any condition in
life, indeed even death!
Yes, our humanity suggests that the worst thing that can befall a man IS death.
But Jesus was NO ordinary man!Jesus came to
Earth for a reason. For the journey and trials of death, he was prepared from birth...until, indeed, the moment of his death!
Throughout his ministry,
Jesus spoke of the
"father within" him doing the work.
"...the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." John 14:10 
He spoke of trials and overcoming them throughout and said,
"I have overcome the world," even before his death.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." This is a transcendental man...a man who is not limited by his humanity!
Taking the assumption that he did spend 40 days in the
"desert," I view that as the time it took for him to fully get ready.
So when
Jesus descended from that mountain,
I truly believe he already was at the transcendental level.I believe he came down from the mountain only when he was ready for the test. While on
"the mountain" he knew that he'd already transcended life on
Earth.
So, during the period it took for his crucifixion, we witnessed the body of the man who no longer walked in that body as an ordinary man!
When he hung on the cross on
Good Friday, the body of the man
Jesus was there, but it felt no pain,
as the Spirit of God in the man, Jesus.. The Christ... already had taken over.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." John 14: 6"Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my father."John 14: 12 So, we look at
Lent as a period of sadness and
"giving up" something we cherish.
I know many
Catholics will be observing
The 14 Signs of the Cross every
Friday during
Lent. They will reflect with sadness on the journey the man,
Jesus, took before his death.
If we continue to view
Jesus from the human perspective, as I did for so many years,
we, too, would grieve and be sad.TRUTH is, though, we need to be observers of the Spirit of
The Christ that inhabited the man,
Jesus, for the entire period leading up to his death.
Instead of grieving and fasting this next month, we can begin to get to a place within ourselves where we can connect more deeply with the
SPIRIT within us. It can guide us, too, to transcend the limitations in our lives.
"We are all agents of transfiguration," Retired Bishop Desmond Tutu told a 1,000-person audience at
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, during its March 6, 2011 Sunday morning service.
"Go forth and transform your personal relationships, your community, your world, so it becomes hospitable to joy, to justice, to freedom, to peace." Were we to use the 35-plus days until
Easter Sunday, wisely, as
Jesus did by going to the
"mountain," at the end of the period,
we may find ourselves a new and "resurrected" man!
"What one man can do, I can DO," Anthony Hopkins' character,
Charles, told
Bob, played by Alec Baldwin, in the movie
"The Edge." Charles was urging
Bob to
think and
know he could kill the bear that was hunting them down in the wilderness.[FYI: Charles
did end up killing the bear]
Were we to closely read
Jesus' messages to us, we would see that he, too, so often urged us in his words and actions to
know, without doubt:
"What one man can do, I can DO."Jesus always will be one of the greatest teacher we can ever have for our humanity.
He taught us all we need to know.He demonstrated all we need to know.No man who ever walks the
Earth ever has to demonstrate again the great feats
Jesus accomplished by fully embodying
"The Christ" spirit.
I imagine
Jesus proclaiming in his frustration as he did with the disciples who could not heal the sick child,
"O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you?"as we approach and celebrate another
Lenten Season with dread and darkness.
"How long shall I have to be with you?" How long does it take you to learn!?
Most especially, I can almost hear
Jesus asking,
"Who do you think I am?"If your answer is
"The Christ," then his next question would be,"Then,
"Who do you think You ARE?"This
Lenten Season I look forward to celebrating the
TRUTH of
The Christ spirit.
I look forward to recognizing and extracting more and more of the
transcendental spirit within me over conditions in my life.
I'm dreading nothing. I'm giving up nothing. I am adding my faith and my connection to the within. I'm looking forward to the next month.On
Good Friday, I will celebrate the death of the
"old man" that I was...the spirit that no longer lives in fear, anger and defeat.
If I enter into my
"mountain" experience with the right intentions and attitude and truly connect to my
"within," on
Good Friday, I will know without a doubt that my
Easter will soon be at hand.
Like Jesus...I will know and look forward to
Resurrection Day!
"Who do you Think I am?" I ask of you.
"Who do you Think YOU Are?" I ask of
YOU!Get to know
WHO you are...during
Lent! Knowing this truly is the reason for the season! Now go climb up to the mountain!
"You are in the ceaseless flow of transcendent life."
- Eric Butterworth
Affirm and Know:
"I am in the ceaseless flow of transcendent life!"Happy Lent!Namaste',
Che'
