Tag Archives: Mary

The wonder of the light-birth, introduction from Daniël van Egmond from the book ‘Spiritual Christmas’

Spiritual Christmas Daniel van EgmondDuring the autumn equinox light and darkness are precisely in balance with each other. Subsequently the influence of the darkness begins to increase more and more as the power of the light is fading. The darkness is the deepest around Christmas and we can only wait in confidence until the light is born again. That is how people of yore experienced the alternation and struggle between the light and the darkness in their own lives.

Before villages and towns were bathed in electric light, the increasing darkness was almost tangible to the inhabitants and they could not help but eagerly await the new light. They heard stories about the miraculous birth that took place in this darkness in the distant past: God’s son was born in a hidden place in order to liberate humanity from the darkness. The light that would soon become stronger again was a sign of this birth. It was not only an external light but could also be experienced as an inner light that pierced the darkness of everyday life. Continue reading

Mary and Martha, symbols for contemplative and active life

Rembrandt, Christus bij Martha en Maria, 1669. Teylers Museum

Rembrandt, Christus bij Martha en Maria, 1669. Teylers Museum

The touch of the Holy Spirit, its radiative activity, leads the pupil right to the heart of real life, to an intense activity — for the salvation of one child of man means at the same time the calling and awakening of many others.

You will be on the path as soon as the Holy Spirit has touched you with its radiation-power, when you have become receptive to it and react to it. And if you do react, the result will always be that you are led away into the desert by the Holy Spirit. This means a task in one’s own being and a task in the world.  Continue reading