☩ The Gnostic Society

December 5

Color: Violet; Intent: The God Within

THE COLLECT

Show us Thy face, O holy undefiled radiance, our true gracious physician, Thou healer of our souls! Come to us, for we are Thy sheep, and Thou art our good shepherd! O Light of our soul, the sun of our heart who givest our being the things of the Light, Thou art our witness that we have no comfort save in Thee. We have heard every voice but no other voice save Thine can please us; for it is Thou alone whom we have loved from the beginning to the end. Come to us, and abide with us, O redeeming Light, Thou who art the cross of light that gives life to the universe. Amen.

THE LESSON

The Lesson is taken from the writings of the Gnostic Fathers:
Cease to seek God in created things on the outside, but seek Him within thyself; and thus learn who it is that takes possession of thee and says: “My God, my consciousness, my understanding, my soul, my body.” Then learn whence is sorrow, and rejoicing, and love, and hate, and being awake, and being asleep, and getting angry against one’s will. Now if thou inquire into these things thou shalt find Him in thyself, one and many, like the atom, and thus thou shalt find the way out from thy lesser self.

THE GOSPEL

The Gospel is taken from the Gospel according to St. Philip:
Those who sow in the winter reap in summer. The winter is the world, the summer the other aeon. What comes out of the winter is the summer. Let us sow in the world that we may reap in summer. But if any man reap in winter, he will not reap but pluck out.

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Video Homilies for the Second Sunday in Advent by Bishop Stephan Hoeller

A Homily for the Second Sunday in Advent by Bishop Steven Marshall