It is the yielding of the heart to the beat of joy in every situation that purifies

Now in examining the fabric of what in this age has been called a Christian civilization we cannot stop with just the present era but must reach back into the pages of history where we find manifesting the oh so frequent barbarities that have been brought forth upon humanity in the name of my Son, Christ Jesus.  It is a great pity that today’s smug and conceited Christianity often fails to utilize the honest eyes of the heart and soul to extract a valued lesson from both present and past church history.

It is the yielding of the heart to the beat of joy in every situation that purifies the understanding of man that it might one day become a repository of strength to those who are willing to surrender unto God all human desires and their need for self-importance....

But after all, beloved ones, it is to high places in human thought rather than to high places in divine thought that mankind aspire.  Is it any wonder then that they yield themselves so easily to self-glorification and self-righteousness?   Is it any wonder then that they are prone to error almost from the beginning of their mistaken monadic expressions, which are in reality no part of the Divine Monad but are of the synthesized personality they have come to regard as the Real Self?   When the Real Self of man is perceived as the Universal Spirit all-flowing and all-enfolding the power of love comes to be realized to such a marked degree as to produce the profoundest of changes in the nature of man.  And if these changes be produced in the individual, must they not then permeate all substance and structuring?...

The world today lives in a time of the great depreciation of values, in a time of the deterioration of a sense of their own worth and hence of the worth of others. Because of this and because mankind do not understand true religion nor the fact that the world has produced saints in the past as well as in the present, they seem to look askance at all who hold fast to good.  There is a trend today to expose all action of a truly divine nature as if it were fraudulent, as if it were deceptive.  ...

I remain ever your Mother in the service of the Universal Christ,  

(Raphael:  Madonna of the Chair*)

-Archeia Mary:  Pearls of Wisdom 15:33

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*   One evening about the year 1516 he was walking in a leisurely way in the country when he came to an inn.  At once his interest was directed at a pretty young mother quietly singing to her baby while an older boy looked on.  They were perfect objects for a picture, Raphael thought to himself, and he approached the young woman. “You may not have heard of me, Madame,” he said modestly, “I am a painter and would dearly love to paint you and your children, if you would be kind enough to stay just as you are.”  Although she was surprised and confused, the lady agreed.  Raphael actually didn’t properly prepare for painting a picture.  He had neither canvas nor easel but fortunately he was still carrying some paints and brushes; then his eyes saw something that attracted him.

 “I must find some canvas,” he said, looking around and he smiled after he saw a round top of a barrel, a substitutive material for the canvas.  Quickly he cleaned and prepared the surface of the barrel’s top so that it would hold his paints.  He set to work while the young mother and her children watched silently. Before long the sun began to set and the models were obviously anxious to return home.  Bidding them a polite farewell, Raphael continued to work quickly while the image of the scene was still fresh in his mind and he could finish his work based on his memory.  Because he was hungry, Raphael ordered a meal.  “Please, a meal, landlord,” he said when he had finished, and the inn-keeper gave him what he ordered.  He realized that the 33-year-old artist was becoming famous for his paintings of women.  On preparing to return home, Raphael now realized that he had nothing to pay for his meal.  “Would you accept this painting instead of money?” he asked and the landlord agreed, the artist went on his way and he was satisfied with his excellent work.

For several years the painting remained in the inn and no one knew of its existence, except the inn-keeper.  In 1589 however it appeared to public view when it was put on exhibition in Florence.  For more than three centuries the picture “Madonna of the Chair” remained there.