At Christmas time, as we all tune into the Christ Mass of our own consciousness. I am urged to read a small section from the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by Levi:
“The time was nearly due for Jesus to be born and Mary longed to see Elizabeth, and she and Joseph turned their faces towards the Judean hills. And when upon their way, they came to Bethlehem. The day was done and they must tarry for the night, but Bethlehem was thronged with people going to Jerusalem. The inns and homes were filled with guests and Joseph and his wife could find no place to rest, but in a cave where animals were kept and there they slept. At midnight came a cry, ‘A child is born in yonder cave among the beasts.’ And, lo, the promised Son of Man was born. And strangers took the little one and wrapped Him in the dainty robes that Mary had prepared and laid Him in a trough from which the beasts of burden fed. Three persons clad in snow white robes came in and stood before the Child and said, ‘All strength, all wisdom, and all love be yours, Emmanuel.’ Now, on the hills of Bethlehem were many flocks of sheep with the shepherds guarding them. The shepherds were devout, were men of prayer, and they were waiting for a strong Deliverer to come; and when the Child of Promise came, a man in snow white robes appeared to them and they fell back in fear. The man stood forth and said, ‘Fear not, behold I bring you joyful news. At midnight in a cave in Bethlehem was born the Prophet and the King that you have long been waiting for. And then the shepherds all were glad; they felt that all the hills were filled with messengers of Light who said, ‘All glory be to God on high; peace on earth, good will to men.’ And then the shepherds came with haste to Bethlehem, and to the cave that they might see and honor Him whom men had called Emmanuel. Now, when the morning came, a shepherd whose home was near prepared a room for Mary, Joseph, and the Child, and here they tarried many days. And Joseph sent a messenger in haste to Zecharias and Elizabeth to say, ‘The Child is born in Bethlehem.’ And Zecharias and Elizabeth took John and came to Bethlehem with words of cheer, and Mary and Elizabeth recounted all the wondrous things that had transpired. The people joined with them in praising God.”
Whether we read from the classical King James version of the Bible or from the more modern Aquarian Gospel, it is always beautiful to read again the story of Jesus’ birth into the physical world, because it symbolizes for each of us the promise of our own Divine heritage. But the time of Christmas means many different things to many people.
There are many levels of expression brought forward at this time of year. We have often heard from individuals (and we have heard it in songs and stories also), “I want to be home for Christmas.” It’s a phrase that seems to mean a great deal to many of us. I was meditating or contemplating this idea, and I wondered what “home” would mean to all the beautiful Souls who would gather together to celebrate the Christ Mass, and what message the idea of “home” could bring to them—a message which might awaken them another step so that they could then evolve higher. I thought of many things. I wondered, “Where is this home to which we all want to go?” I thought, “Where does it exist?” I thought of the physical structure that is my house, and I thought, “Yes, that is a form of home.” As I thought of where my physical parents used to live, I thought, “Yes, that’s a form of home.”
And then I thought of where my father lived after my mother dropped the physical form, and that was a form of home. And yet, none of these things are really home. The year my mother passed away, she was visiting with me, and she said, “I want to be home for Christmas this year.” And I said, “You will be. There’s no question about that.” She said, “Do you really think so?” I said, “There is no question that you will be home for Christmas.” Then, that spring when she left the body, I found out that she was home. And it was so joyful inside of me to realize that now she would experience completely that fulfillment of being home.
The Christ Mass of HOME is in each person’s heart. If you are residing in the Christ, then you are home. It’s a phenomenon to reside within the Christ; it’s an unreality to do otherwise. When Jesus came forward and said that He had no place to lay His head, He was really saying that the Christ resides everywhere, and that Consciousness really never lays its head down. This is the part of us that lives eternally and is eternally awake.
Some people are waiting fervently for Jesus to return. They’re hoping and praying for Jesus to return, not realizing that He never left. It’s interesting that people are praying He’ll come and at the same time they are scared He’s going to. Many people feel they’re probably going to go to hell, and so they feel as if the return of the Christ might be a great calamity to them. And some would like to go to heaven, but in their Soul-searching they say, “Well, I don’t think I’m quite prepared; so if you don’t mind, Lord, don’t come just yet, but keep coming this way.”
People who profess this have not really studied the Scripture. If they had, they would know that Christ said, “I am always with you, even unto the end.” He has never left; the Christ resides all the time with us. The only thing we have to do is awaken to that—just awaken to our own Christhood, to that level of consciousness. And when we’re there, we are born. Everything else then is secure; there is no where else to go. And it is from that position of Christ Consciousness that we salute the Christ in every being walking the planet.
The word “Christmas” is actually the words, “Christ Mass” which is the worshipping of the Christ within each one of us, and the partaking of that Spirit. We reach inwardly to the Christ, and worship not the man, but the God—the God of our hearts, the God of each one of our individualities. And at this Christmas time of year, it’s almost as if the angels are touching very near to the hearts of men, especially to the hearts of those men who are open to the eternal message of love, understanding, faith, hope and charity.
In gaining understanding of the Christ Mass, we find that we are home in so many ways. Where there is love there we have found home. There was a very interesting occasion that I was looking at in the Akashic records where a young child was sitting on a chair and had a cloth or blanket draped over the lap to keep the body warm. And the child appeared healthy and happy; the eyes were sparkling and glowing. The mother of this child came along and picked up the body, and as the blanket fell away, there were no legs on the body. There was just a torso. And yet, that little child put his hands upon his mother’s face, and with the love that he had and the love that she had, they were home.
This is one of the many ways that the Christ manifests itself eternally to each one of us. When we look into each other’s eyes, bypassing the personalities and idiosyncrasies, we are looking into the windows of the Soul; and there, when we can hold this look long enough, we can gaze into the Christ within the other person. But in this day and age, if you look in somebody’s eyes too long, they tend to blink or turn away or get embarrassed, or they wonder what you are after or why you are trying to stare them down. And then maybe they play the old game of hostility and getting even. Yet, when we move more into the Christ center, we find that we can look anyone in the eye for as long as is necessary without feeling anything but this spiritual love, and then we partake again of the Christ within and without.
This is why people are so valuable. There is no commodity quite as valuable as people. If you try to place anything above people, then you have entered into a dreadful illusion. It’s that Divine spark within everyone that makes them of such worth. When a child cries and that causes disturbance to you, you should certainly check your own levels, because past that child’s expression resides the Christ. When someone appears to have a physical disability or handicap and you are disturbed by it, look past that expression to the Christ that resides within them. If someone is emotionally upset, look past that upset to their Christ within. It’s there.
It’s important to remember that we have all cried out to the Father. As a matter of fact, we cry out eternally. We say, “I’m ready, take me home. But do it my way.” But more and more people are realizing that when they say “my way,” they really don’t know what they are saying. I believe what they are saying is “the way”: “Lord, show me the way and I’ll make it my way; if it can’t adapt to me, I’ll adapt to it.” And there again, we are residing within the strength, the wisdom, and the love of the Christ Consciousness.
When the wise men came to the baby Jesus and said, “All strength, all wisdom, and all love be yours,” they were really identifying the attributes of the Christ Consciousness. In the Christ, we have all strength. But strength without wisdom is abuse, and wisdom without love to help us express it becomes arrogance. And we don’t want to enter into that. When we have entered into strength, wisdom, and love, and have balanced these, we must not demonstrate them to put people down or to hurt people or to say, “I have found the way and you haven’t.” But once again, we must re-discover the idea that, “Father, you are in me and I am in you; we need each other. But even more important is that we are each other.” And if we are one with the Father, then we are also one with each one of our brothers everywhere.
It is a Golden Age that we’re coming to. People say, “Gee, no more wars; everything’s going to be fine.” I say, “Well, it won’t be that golden. The wars might be a little more enjoyable, though. There might not be quite so much mayhem, but there are still going to be those difficulties here, because this level is designed for that.” When we, as way-showers of Light, just allow people to express their Light their way, to fulfill their destiny, and to walk the path to the drummer that they hear, then we have, in essence, done the same thing that God does—allowed them the freedom of their own expression. Freedom of expression also is responsibility of beingness; when we express, we are responsible for that expression. So we might want to make sure that our expressions are very Light and very beautiful. I like to share with you a very beautiful expression of “Light verse” written by a friend of mine.
I stood in the glow of our Christmas tree,
It’s essence reaching out to me.
Entranced in its spell
I felt so very well,
Watching the many colored lights
Ascending into one of white
Which stood serenely perched atop the tree
And radiated down to me
A multicolored harmony.
Behind the Christmas trees and twinkling gleam
Behind laughing faces and giving gifts
Behind well wishes and “deck the halls”
Behind Christmas,
There is a magic to it all,
Somehow within each year
Comes this one day to all so dear
That men everywhere lay down their fear
To be full of love and full of good cheer.
What is this feeling that comes and goes,
That each of us feels and few of us know,
That fills the heart and thrills the Soul,
That takes all the pieces and makes them whole?
There’s a magic in Christmas, a secret surprise,
Hidden within us until we finally realize
That it is our own birth in total liberation
That is the reason for all the celebration.
That is the real magic of the Christ Mass,
A magic through which we all shall pass,
To return to our true Selves and the Kingdom within,
Saying, “Peace on earth and God’s Will to all men.”
And so, again, at this time of year, we come into a sense of oneness, greater than we’ve ever had before. We express more joy, more Light, more Love than ever before. We open our hearts to that One whose tremendous birth we are celebrating, Jesus the Christ.
You can make Him your personal Saviour. You can make the Christ of your own heart your personal Saviour. It will all work if you work it. There are no barriers. There are no restrictions on universal spiritual love. There is only oneness and beingness; there is only God. We are all expressions of Spirit. The Soul is Spirit individualized, manifesting through the physical body on this plane. There is nothing so sacred as the God in each person’s heart. There is nothing so enduring and lasting as the God in each heart. So fill your heart with the beingness of love and let it flow like you have never let it flow before.
Don’t be afraid to be who you are. No one is going to criticize, no one is going to condemn; you get criticized more when you hold back from expressing your divine attributes. Every day, you will express more and more eternal love. Release past disturbances—let them go. Be thankful, be joyful for NOW; for in this now, you will have the knowingness that you, once again, are the Promised One, that the Messiah is indeed on the planet, that He is bringing forward a greater dispensation, that He is moving the planet forward into this Golden Age, and that the visions of young men and women will be true prophecies of the years to come.
Realize that you are now Biblical Scripture being written, that centuries from now these lives that are now being enthroned in the Akashic records will be the Bible of people who will say, “If I had lived in that time, if I could have partaken of that Christ Consciousness, and then I, too, could have been saintly; I, too, could have expressed eternal love.” The prayer of our hearts reaches up once again, saying, “Father, here we are. We don’t even know fully who you are, and yet we love you dearly. We’re happy here, but we want to be home for Christmas. We want to live eternally within your Divine thoughts.” And yet, you can do that every moment because in MSIA, as you move your spiritual inner awareness higher, you find yourself entering into the gates of your own beingness. And there is great joy.
Now at Christmas, when you think of JOY, think of the letters— J-O-Y. And for the first letter, just think of Jesus. Put Jesus first in this joy; give out the Christ love within you to the Christ love within Jesus; make it One. Then take the “O” in joy and let that stand for Others. Think of Jesus first and Others second—your family, your employer, your employees, people you see on the Street. Let this Light radiate out to them all. The love for Jesus is love returned to you to be given to others, And now the “Y” of joy —Yourself. Put Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself third; but for yourself, bring in all things. Take to yourself the joy of beingness. There’s nothing quite so beautiful as Souls in harmony. There’s nothing quite so beautiful as One mind, One emotion, One feeling, One Spirit, and that is the One of a merry Christ Mass, a joyful beingness.
Baruch Bashan
