Some time ago I posted a translation of Jesus' Lord's Prayer from the Aramaic Language. I believe it is closer to what he meant than what most of us read in our Bibles. I'm reposting it at the request of new friends. I also suggest that you take the time to pause, and allow the prayer to work on you before you go ahead to the next part. I'll separate it  by spaces, and hope that it conveys on the web.

 

 

Jesus’ Lord’s Prayer

 

Oh, shimmering and eternal Presence illuminating all!

 

We restore our holy union with you by breathing Your holy Breath.

 

The penetrating rays of Your Power and Beauty melt our rigidities, and We are now receptive to Your vision for us.

 

We are surrendered to Your wondrous design as our mystical union infuses our earthly forms with the power of your Light.

 

The Infusion of Your nurturing Wisdom will now carry us through the sacred moments of this day.

 

Just as your Light’s infusion dissolves our hidden fears, we extend and share this Light so that others, too, can dissolve their hidden fears.

 

Your streaming Rays of Wisdom and Power release us from all forgetfulness that leads to the constrictions of useless fears.

 

Now! Your illumined stream of Radiant Light is embodied, and Your presence is here as ‘us’, carrying me in Your stream of Grace from gathering to gathering.

 

This truth is sealed in our hearts, with unwavering

commitment.

 

[as taught by Maria Lawrence from www.shanticrystal.com

Jay Hammer DVD www.wordofmastery.com

I have the wonderful pleasure of rehearsing Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with the Kauai Chorale for a performance in May. You’d recognize the beginning and ending movements “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi” (Fortune-Empress of the World) as that wild King Arthur dashing over the countryside piece from the movie “Ex Calibur”, I think. It’s also in commercials. It’s actually a collection of 24 medieval poems in Middle High German, Old French, and mostly Medieval Latin. These poems were selected from a manuscript of 254 poems in “Songs from Beuern” found in the Benedictine Monastery of Benediktbeuern, Bavaria..

 

OK. No more history. I had to get a translation of these poems because I had no idea what I was singing about, and actually sometimes Orff’s choice of music didn’t always seem to me to match the subject matter. Anyway, right away I was struck by how difficult the world is perceived to be, and how unfair. Here is the translation of the first and most famous rousing movement:

 

“O Fortune, variable as the moon, always does thou wax and wane. Detestable life, first dost thou mistreat us, and then, whimsically thou heedest our desires.

As the Sun melts the ice, so dost thou dissolve both poverty and power.

 

“Monstrous and empty fate, thou, turning wheel, art mean, voiding good health at they will. Veiled in obscurity, thou dost attack me also. To thy cruel pleasure I bare my back.

 

“Thou dost withdraw my health and virtue: thou does threaten my emotion and weaken with torture. At this hour, therefore, let us pluck the strings without delay. Let us mourn together, for fate crushes the brave.”

 

I have to say, I was surprised, as the music is so inspiring and uplifting, but maybe that’s the point. As a student of “A Course in Miracles”, I’ve learned that this 3D world is basically a totally awesome illusion created by a collective ego, of which all our egos play a part. Now our egos are the analytical, thinking, emotional parts of ourselves that are never quite satisfied with things like Fortuna. The ego occupies our minds relentlessly. It is fear and guilt driven. “I’m not good enough, he doesn’t love me, I don’t have enough. I’m sick. I can't possibly.” These are all ego thoughts. Our perceptions follow our uneasy thoughts, and we sort of wait for disasters to happen to us, which then sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies.

 

And then there is the truth of Who we are:Spirit. Spirit trumps ego, and many of us have had experiences where our egos got us into a mess, and we prayed for divine guidance, and were led to higher ground, and felt the presence of our Spirit self, or another’s, which got us back on track.

 

Maybe Orff’s music represents the Spirit part, the fearless part that knows that no matter what Fortune deals us in this world, we are unchanged, free, loving, and lovable. There are pieces that follow that are about love, but it is the 3D kind and refers to lovers, and “frolicking”. But one line in #8 “Salesman, Give me Color” a poem about buying make-up and looking appealing to men touched my heart. “Love will ennoble you, and take you to high honors.” I think we first learn about divine Love, by experiencing the ego variety. We join hearts with another and  that take us out of our selfish personal ego pity pots. I certainly do believe in Love. I hope you experience the fun, the frolicking, and the ennobling parts of it.