Healing Tones

“When you understand yourselves you will be understood. And you will realize that you are Sons of the living Father. If you do not know yourselves, then you exist in poverty and you are that poverty.” —Jesus, from The Gospel of Thomas

APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON

“The Apotheosis of Washington is the fresco painted by Greek-Italian artist Constantino Brumidi in 1865 and visible through the oculus of the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The fresco is suspended 180 feet above the rotunda floor and covers an area of 4,664 square feet.” Wikipedia

APOTHEOSIS simply refers to the state of being one’s fullest, highest and truest essence of Self, in form and expression, ultimately as Divine Being incarnate. It also refers to the process of becoming divine: deification. “I Am that I Am” . . . the unspeakable Name of God, as Moses himself realized during his transformational experience as a burning bush during which his own Inner Divine Self spoke to his outer inquiring mind that asked “Who shall I say has sent me?”

There’s much implied in this biblical story. Moses had ascended to a high place, Mount Sinai—symbolic of the high place in consciousness where one can receive answers to life’s often troubling and imprisoning questions—seeking an answer to his quandary over an inner calling to do something about freeing the Israelites and leading them out of bondage in Egypt, from which he had just been freed. He didn’t just “see” a bush burning but not being consumed. He was that burning bush himself!

Have you ever had a burning-bush experience? Surely you have. I have, and the fire of passionate desire to know the truth and to find out who and what I Am didn’t stop burning until someone came along and awakened me out of my forgetfulness. He simply said “You are not a Catholic! You are a Human Being made in the image and likeness of God. You are not merely human, you are being! Wake up and stop being who and what you are not! Be your Self!” What a rush of cold North wind he was! Literally. He was from up North come to the warm and lazy South to awaken sleeping souls to their true identity. “You are gods!”

Leaders of nations and Pharaohs were once deified in the eyes of their subjects . . . and, at a level higher than that of their human personage, they were more correct than they most likely realized.

(I published this post in October of 2023 and it moves me so profoundly that I want to bring it forward now and share it anew.)

“YOU ARE GODS“

In John’s Gospel (10:34), the Jews were ready to stone Jesus for his claim to divinity, to which Jesus responded: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ [Psalm 82:6]. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye to him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world ‘Thou blasphemest’ because I said, I am the Son of God?”

I realize this is a sensitive time to be referring to the Jews, even in biblical texts, so I will keep my comments limited to the issue of our divinity as “sons of the Most High,” as the psalmist proclaimed in song.

CATHOLICS DIDN’T STUDY THE BIBLE

Did I miss something during my seven years in seminary, or was I perhaps asleep when this Psalm and Jesus’s words in John’s Gospel were discussed in theology class . . .or preached from the pulpit ?

Actually, we didn’t even study the Bible in Catholic seminary, and, except for passages from Paul’s epistles and excerpts from the Four Gospels inserted into the liturgy and used in homilies, in my Catholic upbringing, the Bible was not really studied, or even read. These words were shoved to the back of the theology section and shrouded by a cloud of dogmatic and religious interpretation — and “priestly lore,” to borrow a phrase from the Gita. If we are truly divine, then what purpose does religion serve in our intimate relationship with our Creator . . . other than its own agenda and existence.

“YOU ARE GODS!!!” Shout it from the pulpit! Shout it from the housetop! “You are not sinners! You are not merely human! You are divine beings! You are the sons and daughters of the Most High! You are God, the Living Word, incarnate in flesh, blood, and bone!”

HOW SHALL WE GIVE GOD GLORY?

My dearest friend and colleague “angel of sound,” PenDell Pittman, offered a song of worship and praise several decades ago that lifted my heart in praise to the One with Whom we all share our very being and divine presence. The lyrics were written by another dear friend and angelic colleague, Hugh Malafry, inspiring author of “BLUE SHAMAN trilogy. With PenDell’s permission, I will close this post by sharing his beautiful and heartful offering upward. It celebrates the Incarnate Living Word in our Humanity. Enjoy and receive his gift of blessing.

“How Shall We Give Thee Glory?” Soundtrack Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_JuLJ4ZU1I 

How Shall We Give Thee Glory, Who art the Living God? Power – Who art the very Flame of Love? Kingdom – When the Universe of Stars is but a Cloak to Thee?

Thou art All Things, All Things Come from Thee, Return Again unto Thee, and Abide Always in Thee.

We are Thy Kingdom, Power, Thy Glory Shining, We are Thy Bone, Thy Blood, Thy Flesh Singing Praises unto Thee.

To Know Thee as Thou Art: Almighty God and Living Word Made Flesh.

We give God glory by providing Him a Body, drawn together by His Love for us, here in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. I invite you to join me and hundreds more in extending your arms and opening your hands for several minutes every morning to let your love, which is God’s love, flow through you and out to embrace and to bless the world He loves so much. We do this as God Beings incarnate. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70gmail.com