The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest

Transcription

1 The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest Rev Mario: It has to be understood that not every member of the Melchizedek Order is of necessity a true and loyal follower of the Christ. Some became and are becoming apostate and as such the Ahrimanic influence has taken hold of them. They can no longer fulfil the function of the priesthood, and one who studies the Bible carefully, especially the Gospel of St John, written by the Melchizedek Order, will see the warnings written in this book concerning those who have once been enlightened, but have denied the Christ and his spirit. The priest must be the priest. The priest sacrifices. The priest is not interested in confrontation. The priest blesses. Their hands are anointed so they can bless. The priest s eyes are opened so they can see beyond the masks and veils that people have around their souls. The priest pierces asunder like a sword, and discovers the wounds and the cancers in the bodies of other souls. This is what you are sealed to do. If you go against this, you will have great inner unease for the rest of your life and lives. Rev Mario Schoenmaker, Free Priest Retreat 1996 Nurture the Seed The ordination is the beginning. The priest then has to nurture that seed and make it to grow into the fullness, like the blossoming of the rose. This may be done through: a) Celebrating the Eucharist as often as possible. Either alone or in fellowship with others. Holy communion will strengthen your connection with Christ and your inner I AM. b) Creating and living a lifestyle in conformity with the wishes of the Brotherhood. This is not a dictatorial thing, but our Order has certain standards, as indicated before. We have a certain moral code so to speak. And it must be remembered that a lifestyle that is filled with discipline allows the soul and the astral to be purified and thereby become a better channel of the Most High. c) A continual study and contemplation of the mysteries, but also of things pertaining to life here on earth. The priest may be a stranger and foreigner as far as this world is concerned, but he or she must also make this life successful. The priest must always be a student continually. God has yet more light and truth to shed forth from his word. Study the mysteries and I mean mysteries, not Steiner. What greater mystery can you have than the human being before you? What greater mystery can you have than when you look at the stars in the heavens? What greater mystery can you have than when sitting on the beach at night listening to the sound of the water? What greater mystery can you have than when you observe animals and their behaviour? What greater mystery can you comprehend than when you see relationships coming and going? What greater mystery can you have than when you attend to the sick and the dying, or when you take a little baby in your arms? These are the mysteries the priest will always study. Rev Mario Schoenmaker, Free Priest Retreat 1996 The passages above are from a lecture given by Rev Mario at the 1996 Free Priest Retreat. The title of the lecture was, Planting the Seed. John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p1

2 The question I want to address is, What is this seed? Background In January 2009, it will be twelve years since Rev Mario passed on into the spiritual worlds. Since his passing, much of his work has continued. Somewhat surprisingly, Melody and I found that the work of continuing and developing what was known as the Free Priesthood fell to us. In the last twelve years a number of divergent ideas and theories have been proposed about the priesthood. These ideas particularly affect two extremely important areas of the priesthood: Ordination and the development of the priesthood within the individual priest. There are understandable reasons why different individuals should come up with different ideas on what makes a priest and how one becomes a priest. The occult teachings about the Melchizedek priesthood were, by and large, kept within the priesthood. This priesthood we now call the Liturgical Priesthood but we only knew it as The Priesthood. Within this brotherhood we had total trust in Mario. Our lives were focused towards supporting his ministry. He chose priests and there was no real process of application or appeal of his decisions. We were content to be a part of this brotherhood. We had no agenda to discover what it was that made a priest even Mario was known to say on occasion he didn t know why some were chosen and not others. In the last few years, the task of choosing priests has fallen (with others) to us. We have needed to understand what happens in the act of ordination and how we can best assist the new priest to develop their priesthood. Of concern lately has been the development of approaches to ordination that are either ad hoc and charismatic or based on philosophies that are foreign to Mario s teachings. It is the aim of this article to clarify some of these questions within the context of Mario s teachings. The Liturgical priests were very fortunate. They had twelve years of Priest Retreats with Mario. In these Retreats, the fabric of the priesthood was described in spiritual terms. To try and come to conclusions about the nature of the priesthood without the background given by Mario is to set oneself apart from his teachings concerning the Melchizedek Priesthood. The Priesthood cannot be deduced from the writings of Rudolf Steiner Steiner was not a Melchizedek (Mario stated this emphatically in a New Year Reading) and Steiner knew this. The brotherhood to which he belonged had other tasks. (The lecture, A Brief History of the Order of Melchizedek has something to say about this.) It is interesting that in the last twelve years we have seen an attitude emerge that says: If it is true that we are dealing with different contexts and issues from Mario why shouldn t we depart from his teachings in order to cope with the new world? In writing to an individual who proposed this point of view, I put it this way: In the last few years we have seen a strong attitude emerge which says, What Mario taught is rooted in the past and needs to be cleansed of the old church and religious concepts we shall now move on to new understandings which, while originating in Mario s teachings, are based on our new knowledge, our new thinking which is responding to the new situations in which we find ourselves. John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p2

3 Basically it comes down to a personal choice. Do we trust Mario to know what the priesthood was about? Obviously our answer has been a resounding, Yes! Whilst we acknowledge that the external forms may be different, our understanding of the nature of the Melchizedek Priesthood is identical to the teachings given by Rev Mario on the subject. The Evolutionary Moment And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. Rev 12: 1-3 In this passage from the book of Revelation, we begin to discern our moment in evolution. John informs us that the soul (the woman) is clothed with the sun (the etheric); has the moon under her feet (the astral); is crowned with twelve stars (the cosmic origins of the soul) and is about to bring forth a child (the I AM). The I AM comes into historical time at the moment of Pentecost when those in the upper room were all filled with a Holy Spirit. According to Mario, this was the moment in time when the I AM was given to humanity. This was the moment when the soul gave birth to her child. In recent years, the priesthood has been defined as follows: If it is agreed that the new priests are priests precisely by and through the I AM, and that Christ enters into them directly, then what more is required other than the person who feels called to be a priest to then make themselves a priest which they do by connecting with their I AM ahead of the rest. Kristina Kaine, Exposition of the New Priest If Kristina s definition is to be accepted, then one becomes a priest by connecting with our I AM. What is more, this places us ahead of the rest which implies that we priests are pretty special people very nice for our egos! Let us look at John s vision regarding the newly born I AM: And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems upon his heads And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness Rev 12: 3-6 John tells us that the I AM is in danger it is in danger of being devoured by that spiritual being we call Ahriman (the red dragon). After then, the birth of the I AM at the Pentecost event, the I AM is actually kept for us in the spiritual worlds ( caught up to God ). We actually only incarnate with a portion of our I AM or to be more precise, our I AM radiates John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p3

4 into us from the spiritual worlds. St Paul says: For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Col 3: 3-4 In other words, the fullness of the I AM does not reside within us at present, but is held for us in the spiritual worlds with Christ. One might think that this was the end of the tribulations of the soul, but John tells us further that: when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had born the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of an eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished Rev 12: This brings us to the present the soul has been given the two wings of an eagle. This also brings us to the work of the Order of Melchizedek. The Order of Melchizedek The purpose of the Order of Melchizedek is to assist the workings of Christ in evolution. According to Mario, the Order is manifested every 1000 years. In the first century, the work of the Order was to assist in bringing to birth the I AM from the human soul. In the tenth century, the Order was involved in quite a different role. Once again, Revelation has the key: Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon Rev 12: 7 In the tenth century, the Order was manifested in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table these are stories of a fight against negative forces (dragons especially come in for a hard time!) but also of a search a quest for a holy grail really the search for the I AM. In the twentieth century, the work of the Order is to give the soul the two wings of an eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness. The task of the Order of Melchizedek in this millennium then, is to care for the souls of humanity and to aid the soul to escape from the depredations of the dragon the incarnation John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p4

5 of Ahriman. The Seed Mario taught that at ordination a seed is given to the new priest. What is this seed precisely? Just for a moment, let us think about the model of the priesthood presented by the quote from Kristina above. This model considers the I AM wanting to enter into the life of the soul: The I AM wants to approach the soul and connect with it. This would perhaps create a picture something like this: According to Kristina s definition the second picture where the I AM is now connected to the soul is the priest. There are three implications, which we need to carefully understand. In the first place, such priests would be ahead of the rest specially evolved souls who stood above humanity but stooped to assist the laggards in their progress. As we remarked before this understanding works very well for the ego of such a priest. Secondly, this understanding indicates every human being is potentially a priest of the Order of Melchizedek. This totally contradicts Mario s statement about the Order which never varied over all the years of his teaching that only a small proportion of humanity belong to the Order. He particularly noted that Rudolf Steiner (who certainly had his I AM connected to his soul) was not a Melchizedek. There are many tasks, which are part of human evolution and many different brotherhoods (sixty in all according to Mario) which tend to the tasks of human evolution. The third implication of this understanding is the priest receives nothing. No seed is given. There is nothing to be cultivated and tended. Ordination is now a process of recognising that in a particular individual, the I AM has become connected with their soul. That is this model in a nutshell: the I AM connecting with the soul creates a priest. Let us now move to Mario s teaching. A priest becomes a priest through the process of ordination. At the central moment of ordination, the words of Christ (John 20) are spoken: Receive the Holy Spirit. I can understand a certain confusion here, because the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost. But what if there were two holy spirits? To be quite literal, the Greek should be translated, Receive a holy spirit. Likewise at Pentecost, a holy spirit descends. They are different holy spirits! At the Priest Retreat on the Sacraments, Mario explained that what was given at ordination is a second portion of the I AM. This enters into the ordinand and lies, like a seed within them, needing to be developed and nurtured through a devotional life. He further explained that a priest may decide not to develop that seed, in which case it John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p5

6 remains dormant within them until the next life time. Mario s picture of ordination would look something like this: It is the second portion of the I AM which is the seed of Christ, and so different from the I AM of the individual. Mario was very clear, that this seed needs to be carefully tended so that it might grow. Such a gift has tremendous consequences. Growing this I AM is to grow a second identity. Julie Kibby beautifully labelled it the Priest Self. This is quite separate to the I Self and the development of the Priest Self not only poses tremendous challenges to the stability of the individual, it brings with it a variety of possibilities in its development. The Process of Ordination Mario inserted into the traditional ordination service a ceremony called the Unsealing. There are various ways of understanding this Unsealing. Here I want to address the relationship of this ritual to the connection between the I AM and the soul. Melchizedek priests were sealed in Atlantis. This means that the link between the soul and the spiritual worlds was sealed off so that the soul might develop without the guidance and domination of the worlds of spirit. What this means is that there is veil between the soul and the I AM: John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p6

7 The I AM is sealed away from the soul. During Ordination this sealing is removed. There is no longer a veil between the soul and the I AM. This means that the I AM will be able to now connect with the soul and this would be in advance of the progress of the individual over many incarnations if this had not happened. The paradox is, that there is a connection of the I AM with the soul but with the Melchizedek this comes about through the Ordination process it has not happened before. The next phase of Ordination is to give the seed. Both the I AM and the seed are now connected with the soul the priest now has an option. Will they work with their I AM, or will they work with their Priest Self? It has happened that certain individuals received the Unsealing and proceeded to work intensely with their I AM. At the same time they have not understood the nature of the Christ seed implanted at ordination and so have ignored it. If taken to extremes, this leads to a picture like the next one. Here the I AM of the individual has enlarged and taken over the seed of ordination, which has never been allowed to develop. The person develops a stronger and stronger sense of I and becomes less and less able to accept the I of others. Let us now turn our attention to the second possibility that direction, which Mario indicated was the preferred course of development of the Melchizedek priest. There is no doubt that the power of ordination will increase the connection of the I AM with the soul. At the same time, if the priest nurtures it, that seed of Christ given at the ordination, will also continue to grow. Within the first seven years of ordination, something like the following picture will evolve: There is a natural dynamic between the I AM of the priest and the developing Priest Self. Normally this is a creative dynamic each gains from the other, and each responds to the other. This is the normal progress of the priest. The priest who can achieve this sort of dynamic equilibrium will become a power in the John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p7

8 world. Because the I AM has developed a strong connection with the soul this individual will exert a quiet power within their own sphere of influence whether this be in a career, a business or in their personal relationships with family, friends and relations. Mario said that a priest should be successful in their personal life. Because the seed given at ordination has also grown, such a person will have experiences where they live from this Priest Self where they are able to set aside their own thought patterns, conceptual frameworks and personal needs for the sake of other people. In such an experience they will find that more and more, they are able to lift the soul of the other out of the negativities of their existence. In Mario s words, The priest sacrifices. What is it that the priest is sacrificing? The priest sacrifices their I AM. At first glance this seems to go totally against commonplace occult and metaphysical understanding, but please read on J There comes a point in the development of a priest where that individual makes a decision. This decision is simple. What will that priest develop? The priest may well choose to develop their I AM. We have seen instances of this. Such a priest becomes more and more I centred. The continual development of the I AM creates a huge ego (as Mario said once, rather wryly, There is a lot of I in I AM!) Such individuals more and more centre every event and every human interaction around themselves. They want to create new movements; they tell us that the spiritual teacher is now out of date and didn t get things right, made mistakes or is out of context for the new age in which we find ourselves. They frequently bolster their opinions with quotes from other spiritual teachers no wonder Mario said to his priests, Do not go to Steiner! It becomes more and more difficult for such individuals to maintain friendships for they can now only see others as projections of aspects of their own ego. They find it impossible to engage in creative discussion with others because such discussion always entails the possibility that they might have to acknowledge the validity of another s point of view and this is unacceptable to the ego. In the end, such individuals find themselves totally isolated and friendless. They struggle desperately to create new communities but they continually fail, because they want to centre these communities around their own personality and not the Christ. What happens if the priest elects to take the second road? This really means taking on the words of John the Baptist, I must decrease that He may increase. Gradually the Priest Self enlarges until it absorbs the I AM. Mario told us once that Christ flowed through him 100% of the time. Note that this can only happen when the development of the I AM is sacrificed. When Melody innocently confessed to a spiritual forum that this was her daily prayer that her life would be dedicated to Christ 100%, the leader was horrified and accused Melody of giving up her individuality. Quite true. Enlarging the I AM is increasing John the Baptist. Enlarging the Priest Self produces John the Beloved. In the end, we can only sacrifice our I AM because we have had an experience of love. Not love as a feeling or an emotion, but love as an all-consuming passion for that consciousness with which we were united at ordination. Such an experience is not derived from intellectual understanding indeed intellectual understanding may well deprive us of that experience. To be a priest in the ultimate sense, is to throw away everything that we thought we knew about who we are. It flies in the sense of our understanding of the I AM and its connection with the soul. To be a priest in the highest sense means that we, without fear, sacrifice our own John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p8

9 evolutionary development in order to raise up other souls. I note that the Christ did not sit up in the spiritual worlds and connect with his higher self he emptied himself of his God consciousness, his I AM and united himself with our limited human consciousness. To be a priest of the Order of Melchizedek is not to advance oneself along the spiritual path it is to walk in the footsteps of Christ. We have arrived at the next picture on our journey: In this picture, the portion of Christ given at ordination has grown to fill the soul of the priest. In so doing, the original I AM of the priest has become dissolved within the priest self. Although the person exists as an individual, they now operate almost exclusively from the Priest Self. Such a process may take years or life times from the point of ordination. Mario was once asked how it was that he became an Initiate. He paused, and then said very reflectively, Through pain great pain. It is through the crucifixion process of pain that one becomes able to let go. St Paul stated, I say this with the truth of Christ in me. (2 Cor 11:10). A summary of the priest process There are four different scenarios from the moment of the Unsealing. 1. The individual may elect not to work with the seed given at ordination, but instead to work with the new connection created with their own I AM. This creates an individual who is connected with their I AM but is not expressing a Melchizedek priesthood. There is, for them, no Priest Self. 2. The individual may develop the seed given at ordination, while maintaining their connection with the I AM. This is the normal development of the priest a dynamic tension is created between the I AM and the priest self. 3. The individual may elect after a period of some years, to focus on the I AM to the point where it overwhelms the priest self. Mario puts it this way, It has to be understood that not every member of the Melchizedek Order is of necessity a true and loyal follower of the Christ. Some became and are becoming apostate and as such the Ahrimanic influence has taken hold of them. They can no longer fulfil the function of the priesthood 4. The individual may eventually reach a point where their I AM is surrendered to the priest self. At this point the individual s personal tasks are now completely John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p9

10 sublimated to the work of the Order of Melchizedek. At this stage there is the possibility of Elevation so that the work of Melchizedek can be conferred upon others. Mario: The Melchizedek Priesthood At this point, it is worthwhile hearing from Mario s extraordinary lecture on the Order of Melchizedek given as part of the Hebrews cycle. The Task of the Order Mario says, Before we continue it is perhaps necessary to ask the question: What is the actual task of the order? In its manifold expressions, the main one would be to manifest the bread of life. In order to manifest the bread of life one has to be the embodiment of the bread of life. One can talk about the bread of life, one can hold communion services or whatever, but it doesn t mean to say that the substance given has within itself the power that belongs to the bread of life. Only when one is embodied by the bread of life can one give the bread of life. We note that connecting the I with the soul is not mentioned here. Those who can belong to the Order Mario says, As I have said before, those who belong to the Order, or are called to be part of the Order, must, of necessity, have been Sun Beings. They must be the very channels of the Sun s rays, the rays of love (but as I said a few Sunday s ago, we do not quite understand the meaning of that). It also means that the original home of those beings must have been the Sun. One of the reasons not everyone can be part of this Order is precisely because they do not belong to, or have not been on, the Sun. For it would be wrong in the course of nature, according to the law of the Cosmos, to have souls, no matter how good, whose homes were on another planet, to be brought under the vibrations of the Sun Beings. It would destroy them. The Melchizedek priesthood is not a result of spiritual evolution, it is a task which only certain beings can undertake, from the foundation of the world. What happens upon Ordination Mario says, By being initiated into the Order of Melchizedek we have a connection with the oldest Sun Initiate of which we spoke a few lectures ago. We are then directly connected with that entity. Through the direct connection with this Sun Being of the Melchizedek Order, different gifts will be manifested as they are needed. Apart from manifesting the bread of life, the second purpose of the Order, is that, as of old, from the Lemurian period onwards, the Sun Initiates have always brought the knowledge and the power of Christ to this world. In our day and age the same influence (of Christ) is being exerted through those who are initiated into that Order. This is so that people, souls, entities, become aware of the presence of Christ within the earth. Who can be admitted to the Order? Mario says, Who can be admitted to the Order? You are never worthy, even those who belong to the Order know that they are not worthy to be in such a sublime presence. Perhaps John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p10

11 the first requirement is to have a priestly nature, to be a soul that is priestly. Again admission to the Order is not a function of spiritual development. The nature of a priest One who is of a priestly nature is not a sentimentalist. He knows life in its rawest aspects... and stands, unshaken, unmoveable. To be of a priestly nature does not mean sliming around the place. To be of a priestly nature doesn t mean that you have to prop others up; as soon as you take the prop away they fall again. That is not what a priest is, not a Melchizedek priest. The Melchizedek priest has learned, over many incarnations, what it means to be a priest. And, may I add, a Melchizedek priest is always at war within self, for he is at war against the God that dwells in him. {Mario once said to me What God wants for you John and what your soul wants are two different things. }The Melchizedek doesn t want to do what God tells him (just like Moses). Yet you cannot become a Melchizedek priest because you want to. You become a Melchizedek priest because you NEED to. You can be a priest all right, no problems. Have you ever been to other churches and met other priests? Have you seen how pathetic they are? They are supposed to be the leaders of the souls of man. Unbelievable! Do you want to be like one of them? The purpose of the Centre Mario says, The Centre has come into existence so that the Order of Melchizedek can manifest in the flesh. So that those who are part of The Centre may find two purposes: 1. To be nurtured by the priesthood of The Centre. 2. To find out, within self, if there is the innate cognition, that innate remembrance and realisation, of the priesthood. The ordination rite In our Ordination Rite we lay the seed of the Order within the heart and mind of the candidate. We entrust that person with certain powers, which we cannot recall. Some sharp observer asked me some time ago whether I couldn t see beforehand whether a person will be good or bad. No, we can t, and thank God for that. I can t even see whether I will be good or bad eventually. All I can say is, the higher you climb, the greater the fall. That is why anyone who wants to be, even a spiritual person, or climb the high mountain of the priesthood, must continually, within self, be observant and never slacken in their calling, in their examination and dedication. There are many ways in which the loyalty and the power of the priesthood is threatened. When the seed is placed within the candidate, and the candidate knows the seed is laid, that ordination rite is so powerful. When they rise up they know that something very strange and very powerful has happened. Then it is up to the entity to make it grow, to nurture it. That is why, within our order, we have two distinctions for our priests, commonly translated from the Latin... stupid priests and clever priests. John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p11

12 Once again, Mario is unequivocal. Ordination is not a witnessing that a person has reached a particular spiritual state. A recent view of ordination was expressed as follows: A major change that becomes very clear is that the ordination ceremony must no longer be the central focus. In the past you were a novice until you went through a ceremony and had something passed on to you. Now the focus is on the preparedness of the one seeking the touching and anointing and the reciprocal witnessing. Mario makes it very clear that indeed something is passed on to you. Not growing the seed He says, I made it clear that the seed is laid during the ordination, and therefore needs time to grow and come to fruition. This happens in accordance to the nature and desire of the Ordinand. There may be some who will not let the seed grow, and then it will stultify and become a caricature of what it was intended to be. Illustrations of this abound within our own experiences and it is sad to see. The task of the priest He further states, The second task of a priest is that they must always sacrifice. I don t mean that in terms of the physical, or even in terms of the mind, but in terms of their own spiritual substance. The priest gives freely of their own spiritual substance, to whomever wants it. For in their head and heart they know that they are the servant of El Elyon, the most High God. Therefore, what pours out from such a person can freely be distributed. Mario does not say that the priest sacrifices their soul, their astral, their etheric substance the priest sacrifices their spiritual substance. The priest in actuality sacrifices their own I AM. I-Connecting the Soul Perhaps by this time it is plain that the purpose of being a Melchizedek priest is not to do with connecting the I AM with the soul. There is an enormous amount of confusion about this. In a general metaphorical/metaphysical sense esotericists agree on something like the following: The human being exists on several levels. At the deepest level is the inner divinity. We could call this the Buddha nature, the inner god head, Christ consciousness and so on. A Steineroriented philosopher might call this the I or the spirit. Such a philosopher could describe the evolution of human consciousness as an increasing connectedness of the I, the divine self, with the soul. This is good metaphysics it has a generic truth. There is a little problem when we come to try and discuss the priesthood in these terms, because the Melchizedek priesthood is not part of the domain of spiritual philosophy rather it can only be understood in terms of occult knowledge. Occult knowledge is hidden. It may be hidden because it has not been communicated to us. I appreciate that much of Mario s discussion of the priesthood took place behind a veil of secrecy. Despite this, enough has been said in the public domain to make the essential points clear to those who have ears. On the other hand, knowledge is also hidden because John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p12

13 our consciousness is simply not ready to receive it at present. It is in this sense that the understanding of the Melchizedek priesthood has been hidden from some souls. The worlds of spirit Occult knowledge gives us insight into the spiritual worlds. If we direct our vision following the path laid out by Mario, then we discover something quite interesting: It isn t that simple! We discover that, in the words of Revelation, war arose in heaven Within the spiritual worlds there is an array of beings with different intentions and energies. This conflict is reflected in the conflicted nature of the modern human psyche. On the one hand, one might say that since the I AM is divine, or part of Christ surely the more we are connected with it, the more Christed we become. If only it were that simple L There are two points that need consideration here. In the first place, the I AM is a gift of Christ. The word gift is significant. To unite with the I AM is not necessarily to unite with Christ. We have that choice when we realise the connection with the I AM we may unite with Christ or we may not. Which way the choice goes may well come down to those spiritual energies which attempt to take control of our soul. This brings me to the second point. Just what is the I connecting with? According to some thinkers it connects with the soul. This sounds very nice, because we would like to think that our soul is pristine, pure and lovely J Unfortunately our soul comprises many forces, which have entered into us over millennia. The Christ force may well predominate but what if the Luciferic or Ahrimanic forces were stronger? The I connecting with the soul in such a situation will have a very different destiny. I am grateful for Melissa finding the following words of Rudolf Steiner: The experience of the Christian initiate of modern times is none other than the fulfillment in the most direct way and at the highest level of the Mystery-words Not I but Christ in me, words which open the gates to a real experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is indeed the path of the initiate. The initiate doesn t need the help of the priest. The initiate will undertake the spiritual training which will eventually bring them to this point. If you became a priest, then I regret to say, that this is not your path. The task of the Order of Melchizedek in the C21 I would like to return to the an earlier part of this paper: In the twentieth century, the work of the Order is to give the soul the two wings of an eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness. John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p13

14 The task of the Order of Melchizedek in this millennium then, is to care for the souls of humanity and to aid the soul to escape from the depredations of the dragon the incarnation of Ahriman. First of all, you might well question why we know that this is the present work of the Order of Melchizedek. The Order is manifested in the twentieth century through one being, we knew him as Rev Mario Schoenmaker. Mario said, The Centre, as it is manifested here, is only connected to the Order through me. Each manifestation of the Order has a different symbol. The symbol of the Order in the first century is the Cross; in the tenth century, the Grail and in the twentieth century, the Eagle. Mario was the Eagle, not as a personal symbol, but because that was the symbol for his task in this incarnation. The two wings of the Eagle then, is the assistance given to the soul by the Order of Melchizedek. Let us reflect again for one moment on the work of the priest, as Mario says, The priest sacrifices. The priest is not interested in confrontation. The priest blesses. Their hands are anointed so they can bless. The priest s eyes are opened so they can see beyond the masks and veils that people have around their souls. The priest pierces asunder like a sword, and discovers the wounds and the cancers in the bodies of other souls. This is what you are sealed to do. If you go against this, you will have great inner unease for the rest of your life and lives. In other words, the work of the priest is to do with souls not with the I. The work of the Order at this time is to assist the soul to discover the wounds and cancers of the soul. The forces which Mario describes as wounds and cancers are represented in Revelation by the dragon who has been thrown down to earth. The work of this spiritual being lies in persuading souls that they belong to the earth that there is no heavenly world, no experience of spirit, only what we can touch and perceive with human senses. The saving grace for the soul comes in the crises of life. Here the priest may come and step in. The work of the priesthood is to first of all, shed light for the person. This may mean giving sage advice, but more often it simply means being with people. The power given to the priest is not to do with deep spiritual insight, it is to do with being able to touch souls and lift them out of their despair. This is giving the soul, the wings of the eagle. The soul is then lifted into a wilderness. That is, a state which is divorced from the pressures of the material world. In this state, the soul has a chance to rejuvenate and to heal. It is true, that the great path of initiation will unite everyone who chooses (certainly not just the priest) with the Christ. Without the healing of the soul, the I AM, the individual s own Holy Spirit could never complete the integration that is part of our journey. To be a priest of the Order of Melchizedek is an awesome task. Not because we are a small band of advanced souls whose I has connected with the soul ahead of the rest ; rather because we set aside our own spiritual needs in order to be available to the Cosmic Christ. In our availability we act as the fingers and hands of the Christ so that through us, Christ is able to heal souls. To aid us in this task we have been given another portion of this Christ The Priest Self. The privilege of the priest is that although we may be no further advanced than the person we meet in the street, we have the opportunity to fall in love with that cosmic John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p14

15 being, that power, that light we call Christ. It is the power of love that empowers our sacrifice, anoints our hands with healing and gives wings to all those souls with whom we work. John John: The Nature of the Melchizedek Priest p15