For most of my early school days, I would have my lunch at school because both my parents worked. However, a few months prior to her death my mother was not working and I would come home for lunch. I enjoyed either a fried egg sandwich or a BLT she would make for me, and we would talk about many things. She had a very open mind, and on a couple of occasions she allowed me to skip school for the afternoon so that we could continue our conversations. These sweet memories which I recall often are more than sentimental pictures from my past. In some unexplainable way, they bring me into actual contact with my mother, who left her body when I was 12 years old.
You might be wondering what this story has to do with Christmas. The celebration of Christmas sparks memories for all of us, but there is much more than just a sentimental look back at an historical event. Spiritual memory is our capacity to literally experience the energy of a past event and to bring the past into the present. We celebrate Christmas to enter into the blissful light that flooded planet earth at Jesus’ birth. We should never minimize the power of sacred memories to initiate us into grace, into Christ Consciousness and God-union. We live in a sad and troubled world. More than ever, we need the joy that Jesus so perfectly embodied to fill our hearts with hope, faith, and love. In today’s Gospel from Luke 1:39-45, we are told that when a pregnant Mary visited her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, the infant in Elizabeth’s womb “leaped for joy.” Elizabeth joyfully proclaimed to Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
We often waste a lot of mental and emotional energy occupying ourselves with unimportant or painful memories from the past. We would be wise to use the gift of sacred memory to nurture the recollection of God’s hand in the history of the human race and in the history of our own lives. Sacred memories are portals into communion with God. This Christmas, bring your tender heart and your inspired imagination to rest upon the events of Jesus’ birth, and let the joy of God‘s love take possession of your soul. Yogananda tells us, “Be ambitious for God. Keep seeking Him through meditation and keep working for Him. This will give you the spiritual emancipation you are seeking. Christ and the great ones showed through exemplary living that it can be done. So follow their footsteps quietly and humbly. God bless you always. May your every day become a Christmas of ever-new joy, love, peace, and wisdom in God and the Gurus.”
Divine Mother
I hold my spiritual memories
Of Jesus’ birth
With deep gratitude and love.
