Wedding Feast

Jesus doesn't want to "save" you; he wants you to become what he is.

Crucify the opposites nailed to your mind: past and future, heaven and hell, matter and spirit, ignorance, enlightenment.

Your flesh is the rose, your soul is the fragrance; resurrection is the pollen at the heart of the flower.

Feel your heavenly body entangled in this earthly one; the mother bird has woven a strand of pearls into your nest of twigs: her eggs are blue because they contain the sky.

Why does your emptiness glow with compassion? Why is your darkest night the womb of morning?

Because death is the Kingdom of Presence: as soon you think that the Garden is elsewhere, you have fallen into exile.

Don't take two thousand years to remember this moment; turn your pilgrimage into a labyrinthine fire dance.

You were a guest at this wedding before you were born; therefor unveil the smile of wonder, recline at the bountiful table of your own breast.

Sip the wine of silence, crushed from love and aged in your chest.

The Groom gave his invitation standing on a mountain; over and over he said, Don't worry!* But no one heard him; they weren't drunk enough.

Strip off every garment and stand in your body of fire; you were created to whirl and sing: all else is hesitation.
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* In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeats five times, 'mei phobei,' or a similar construction, meaning 'don't worry.' The King James translate it as, 'take no thought.'

Icon: St. Gregory Orthodox Church, Washington DC; Jesus at the Wedding Feast in Cana, turning water to wine for his Mother.