RECEIVED MINISTRIES
Receiving my dignity and identity from above
The Emblem
The emblem is designed to address the deepest fears and anxiety of our times. At the root of the cultural wars as they are called , there is a deep spiritual wound. The wound is our image.
We have a wounded image of our selves individually and collectively. We want to be more than we sometimes are and we struggle with self hatred and pride .
We therefore strive to make our selves into our own image. The Image of God is the anti dote for a materialist world view in which we have to create ourselves and our own image.
The emblem is shaped in the form of a stamp.
The Image of what is true, beautiful and good is stamped on the being of every human being whether someone is Brown, Black, Red, White, Yellow ........ It stands for color and cultural enrichment .
The Image of God is from latin or the Spanish Imago de DiosThe Image of God is already in each of us(stamped) and so each of us is Sacred.
The Sycamore tree
The tree is a sycamore tree: The Great Tradition holds that Adam and Eve after the fall and loss of their identity and dignity, were covered with the leaves of a sycamore tree to prevent shame.
We also see Zacchaeus in the Gospel story( Luke 19: 5-8 )as the great sinner who climbed the sycamore tree in order to see Christ. But it is Christ who sees him. In the Look of Christ Zacchaeus feels uncontitionally welcomed into His Heart.
Then as the famous African preacher St. Augustine wrote, Zacchaeus heart is changed and receives his true dignity and identity from Christ in the Image of God .
The evidence of this transformation is in the great generosity Zacchaeus shows to others. ( St. Augustine sermon 174.5) Also, The sycamore tree is the wood of cross of Christ on which restores our healthy Image through His Sacrifice of Love.
Received:
This word emphatically expresses the Good News .
We do not need to re make ourselves into another image.
We simply have to learn how to RECEIVE our true identity and image from Above. Receiving our Image is so much easier and freeing than having to create or recreate ourselves in our own image.
What a gift to learn to RECEIVE. In RECEIVING it, we will learn to protect and see this Image in each other. In our humble surrender or prayer and receptivity, the wound at the root of the Cultural, Racial and Gender wars begins to heal what our consciousness really desires.
We are at Peace when we see ourselves and each other through a higher lens, from Above.
Virgin Guadeloupe
Through the Image of Guadeloupe, Mary , Mother, brings good news to millions of Aztec Indians without colonialism or imposition .
She is an enculturation of Native American symbols which point to and express the reality of God’s Love for all people.
Appearing as an Aztec virgin mother, She holds in her womb the visible Image of the invisible God which is stamped on all peoples and of all times.
The colors of the emblem are from the Image of Guadeloupe of south America.
