Preparing for Advent – All Souls Day

Greetings Dear Reader,

“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”  Is this not what the essence of the Gospel is?  Christ chose to be involved in mankind.  If I am not involved with those who Christ loves then I am not involved with Christ.  It is the lateral part of my relationship to him.

I cannot hope for my vertical relationship with God to work if I do not exercise his command to love vertically.  I cannot pretend that I love God with all my heart if I do not love those around me.  The very fact that someone exists requires me to love him.  Every need, every social injustice, truly every tear impacts me.  I may not see it or feel it but that does not change the truth of it.

Every soul matters.  Every life matters.  If I believe that every life is eternal then I can consider no less than this.  It follows then that every death matters.  I cannot separate my thinking from the ills in the world that cost life.  Famine, plague, and violence are my responsibility in whatever way I can make a difference.  More than that, the eternal soul of every man matters. 

Every soul that finds and is nurtured by Christ increases me just as every death diminished me.  At the heart of all I do must be the agenda of souls.  I will not hide it but it is not a weapon.  It is an avocation of love and desire for others to know Christ as I know him.  He is not willing that any should perish.  He chooses broken men to accomplish this will.

As I ponder Advent I must remain awake to the truth that the whole business is about the souls of humankind. 

No Man is an Island – John Donne

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."