Easter Message

Tomorrow is Easter, the day when we celebrate the living presence of Jesus and the impact of his teachings on our lives. 
     Jesus understood the Divine Mother energy.  He had spent years in meditation and prayer.  He felt the love of God and knew that he was worthy to receive it.  Without his connection to love, Jesus could not have fulfilled his ministry. He could not have reached out and touched the hearts of so many.
     Jesus was sustained by Love.  It was his source, his inner breath, the foundation of all that he said and did. The healing energies that moved through him came from his connection to the Source of love.
     If you understand the connection that Jesus had, then you know that Jesus did not “do” anything. He was a channel for the Divine Energy. Healing happened through him, but he was not the one who did it.  He simply showed up and allowed love and healing energy to flow through him.
     Jesus surrendered.
     It is hard perhaps to fathom this kind of surrender, because it takes us beyond ego consciousness. It takes us beyond any kind of manipulation or control.  It requires a real detachment from name, fame, or fortune.  
   Jesus was the embodiment of the prayer “Thy will be done.” Indeed his consciousness was the connection between heaven and earth, a grounding rod for the Divine energies.  Had he not been detached, had he not been willing to risk everything, he could not have functioned as a pure and open channel. 
     Each of us is challenged, as Jesus was, to get out of the way and let the Divine energy move through us.  To do this we must stay connected to love. 
     The question is “how do we do that?” 
     The answer may surprise you.  We do not stay connected to love by avoiding our fear or seeking to overcome it.  That just creates more resistance, more fear. That’s what Jesus meant when he told us “resist not evil.”
     Fear is going to come up for all of us, no matter how much progress we make on the spiritual path.  It came up for Jesus too.
   Our job is not to try to avoid it or make it go away. Our job is to let it come up and hold it compassionately. This brings up the question “Who or what holds the fear?”
     Clearly, the wounded child cannot hold the fear compassionately.  Fear cannot hold itself. Only love can hold the fear gently.
     So we must take a deep breath and sink into our hearts. We must wrap ourselves in Divine Mother’s arms. Only when we allow ourselves to receive her total and unconditional love for us in this moment can our fear be held with compassion.
     To do this we must all become like little children seeking Mother’s love. We must know that we want love, that the Source of love is here in our hearts, and we must ask for it, as a child asks for a mother’s hug.
     That hug is our communion.  It is a time when we experience our worthiness and receive the love that is there for us. We fill our cup to the brim and we keep filling it until it overflows. 
     That’s when we know that we are ready to answer Divine Father’s call to spread the love around. We cannot give to others when we are empty. Our cup must be full for us to share our communion with others.
     Jesus told us that he would be with us whenever “two or more” gathered in remembrance of him.  Yet to remember Jesus is not to make him special, but to celebrate his communion with the Divine and to share it with him.  That is what gives us strength, trust, and faith. That is what prepares us to reach out to others.
     This summer at our Awakening the Feminine Spirit Conference in July our spiritual community will be extending our love and support to a new group of men and women.  To do this, we must remember that we are not the ones who are going to do it or make it happen.  Instead, we are asked to get out of the way and let it happen through us. We are asked to be an open channel for the Divine Love energy so that all who enter the circle can feel it and enter into communion with it.
     This means that we all have to remember to breathe when fear comes up.  Because it will come up! In fact, the closer we move to our Source, the more fear comes up! The onion keeps peeling back and we encounter deeper and deeper levels of fear and resistance. In this way, all the blocks to love can be identified and surrendered until all that remains is love. That is our journey.
     Jesus showed us the territory of our emotional healing work.  He showed us how to move through our judgments, how to forgive others and how to forgive ourselves. He gave us the roadmap. It takes courage to follow that map, yet that is what we are doing. Our community gives us the support to stay on the path to the full realization of Self: the divine expressed in each human form.
     We have learned together how to hold a compassionate space for ourselves and for each other.  We call this “an affinity apace,” because it is a celebration of our humanness and our equality. We come in all different shapes and sizes, in different colors and textures. We are a diverse and motley crew.  Each of us is a unique being and we honor that uniqueness, yet when we gather together, we experience most profoundly the commonalities of our human experience: our pain, our suffering, our aspirations and our joy.  
   That which connects us to each other also connects us to Jesus and to God, in both Its masculine and feminine expressions.  As we practice acceptance, we begin to drop our judgments of self and other and love flows into and out of our hearts. In this way, our connection to the Divine is made and extended.
     Our spiritual community is on the cusp of making a great leap into the unknown. We are on the brink of surrendering to love, not just as individuals, but as a group of people who have gathered together to serve the common good. 
     It is not surprising then that fear comes up and that we all encounter resistance. Perhaps we don’t feel worthy or our buttons get pushed, our hearts shut down and we begin to back away. Our collective fears rise up and threaten to pull the carpet out from under us. Our collective worthiness, our faith, and our commitment to love are tested.
     Why would it be otherwise?
     When this happens, we know it’s time to take a deep breath and reconnect to love. We do that by holding the fear that is coming up with compassion. We don’t need to try to avoid fear, nor do we need to let it run our lives. We can breathe and be with it. We can bring love and acceptance.  We can wrap ourselves in Divine Mother’s arms and remember we are okay just the way we are.  Right now, in this moment, we can receive the love that we yearn for.  Right here and right now, we can fill our cup.
       We must not make the mistake of running out to try to rescue others when our own tank is empty. Don Quixote tried that and ended up frustrated and depressed. He wasn’t the only one to burn out.  We’ve all been there.
     Indeed, it is hard to live in fast-paced world and to take good care of bodies and our minds. It takes a certain skillfulness and commitment to self-care.  It is hard to maintain clear boundaries and to stay off the emotional cross of blame and shame.  It takes a daily spiritual practice to stay centered and peaceful, to accept the things that we cannot change and invest our energy where we can make a difference.
   So before we try to save the world, let’s learn to show up for ourselves. Otherwise we will all end up on the cross with Jesus.  And it isn’t going to be any more pleasant for us then it was for him. 
   Our collective movement from crucifixion to resurrection comes when our cup is full, not when it is empty.  It comes when we have surrendered our lives to Spirit and know deeply and profoundly that we do not have to do it alone.  Each of us is asked merely to do our part.  That is all that is necessary.
   Yes, it is true that God is calling all of us to play our part in the great work of transformation.  But let us not think that our part looks like someone else’s. It doesn’t!
     Nor does playing our part require sacrifice.  If sacrifice is involved, then we have signed up to play someone else’s part. And that will never work.
     We aren’t asked to wear a mask any more.  We are asked to be true to ourselves.
     On the other hand, don’t be surprised if fear comes up when the call comes. Sometimes, we are asked to go a little bit beyond our comfort zone so that we can learn to step fully into our power.
     When the call comes, we want to say “yes” with all our heart. Yet we often have to admit “this is a little scary for me.”
     Well, my friends, I have said this many times, but I know I have to keep on saying it. “Our job is not to try to make the fear go away. Our job is simply to hold the fear with compassion.”
       When we do that, fear no longer holds us back. It no longer prevents us from growing and healing. We no longer use it as “an excuse” for self-betrayal.  
         Instead we learn to breathe with and through the fear.  That is what Jesus did. That is why he did not stay on the cross. That is why even death could not prevent him from communion with God and with us.
         This Easter, let us celebrate his courage and his release from all forms of self –limitation. Let us celebrate his birth into eternity and look forward to our own.

Namaste,

Paul Ferrini..