There are many roads that lead to the “ETERNAL I AM,” who has been given many names (God, Jehova, Allah, etc). Many have travelled different faiths, but the committed seeker for this ETERNAL I AM begins to sense through thought, meditation, and prayer THAT THERE IS SOMETHING THAT IS LARGER, BROADER. AND DEEPER THAN ANY SECT, DENOMINATION, RELIGION, BELIEF, OR FAITH. ”THE ETERNAL I AM” IS BEYOND WORDS. WE SENSE THIS “BEING” AT TIMES WHEN WE ARE THINKING OF NOTHING, IN A DAZE, A STILLNESS THAT WE ARE HERE, WE ARE ALIVE RIGHT NOW AND ALL IS WELL. FOR A FEW MOMENTS THE GUILT OF OUR PAST AND FEAR OF OUR FUTURE ARE BLOCKED OUT AS WE SENSE THE ETERNAL I AM.
Through learning from the HOLY DAYS we can begin to see the vastness of this Being.-mackie
7/11 Saint Benedict Day: Catholic Christian recognition of the father of the The Benedictine Order. It was the first Order of the Western Church Monastic tradition and lived by the Benedictine Rule. St. Benedict spent the rest of his life realizing the ideal of monasticism which he had drawn out in his rule. He died at Monte Cassino, Italy,while standing in praying to God. according to tradition, on March 21 547.
Rule of St Benedict
Seventy-three short chapters comprise the Rule. Its wisdom is of two kinds: spiritual (how to live a Christocentric life on earth) and administrative (how to run a monastery efficiently). More than half the chapters describe how to be obedient and humble, and what to do when a member of the community is not. About one-fourth regulate the work of God (the Opus Dei). One-tenth outline how, and by whom, the monastery should be managed. And two chapters specifically describe the abbot’s pastoral duties.
For much more click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_of_Nursia#Biography
7/13-15: Ullambana: Buddhist celebration of the ritual of saving the deceased from torments after death. In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (??), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in Spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in Autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living. On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship. Click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Festival
7/15 Jovan Vladimir: Christian. He tried to protect Duklja from the expansionist Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria by an alliance with Byzantium; Samuil, however, conquered Duklja in 997 and took Jovan Vladimir prisoner. According to a 12th-century chronicle, Samuil’s daughter Theodora Kosara fell in love with the captive, and begged her father for Jovan Vladimir’s hand. He obliged, returning Duklja to his new son-in-law and giving him the adjoining territory of Dyrrhachium to rule as his vassal. Vladimir was acknowledged as a godly, just, and compassionate ruler. He ruled in peace, evading involvement in the major conflict. The war culminated with Samuil’s defeat by the Byzantines in 1014, shortly after which the Tsar died. Jovan Vladimir fell victim in 1016 to a plot by Ivan Vladislav, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa.
Before his death, while he languished in the prison praying day and night, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and foretold that he would shortly be freed, but that he would die a martyr’s death.[4] His fate in captivity is the subject of one of the most romantic tales of early Serbian literature – the story of Vladimir and Theodora Kosara (spelled also as ‘Cossara’), Samuil’s daughter.[2] An oral tradition of the story was recorded in the 12th century in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja; this is the Chronicle’s description of how Vladimir and Kosara met:[4]
“It came to pass that Samuel’s daughter, Cossara, was animated and inspired by a beatific soul. She approached her father and begged that she might go down with her maids and wash the head and feet of the chained captives. Her father granted her wish, so she descended and carried out her good work. Noticing Vladimir among the prisoners, she was struck by his handsome appearance, his humility, gentleness and modesty, and the fact that he was full of wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. She stopped to talk to him, and to her his speech seemed sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”
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