The Christ

The Lord Looked at Peter

Christ

[Photo credit: John Wesley’s House & The Museum of Methodism]

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* It is not entirely clear why [Herbert Beecroft] decided, at the age of 41, to emigrate to Australia. He did much the same kind of thing there, making a good living, and it was there, in 1927, that he painted his most famous picture. He was a devout and life-long Methodist, and the story went that one day, after a time spent in prayer, he had a vision of the face of Christ. This he set down in oils, and it was subsequently copied many times.

I can remember a copy of it hanging of the wall of my Sunday school superintendent, and finding it distinctly unnerving. It had the caption: “And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter……..and Peter remembered.”

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REFLECTIVE MEDITATION UPON PREPARATION
FOR THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

Forgetting the things which lie behind,
I will strive towards my higher spiritual possibilities.
I dedicate myself anew to the service of the coming One
and will do all I can to prepare men’s minds and hearts for that event.
I have no other life intention.

https://www.lucistrust.org/arcane_school/meditation/two_redemptive_meditations

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THOUGHTS ON THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE CHRIST

BY ALICE A. BAILEY, JUNE 1949

Keep close in touch with Me and with the Master who surveys your life.
With Us are found the forces of the living Light and Love which you must use.
Keep close to us, and day by day draw on the strength
And knowledge which We have and which is also yours.
Let naught disturb the acquiescent calm which keeps you close in touch,
Which brings you light and understanding
And keeps you steadfast on the Way.

Source: I Stand and Wait by Alice A. Bailey

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Today Christ is nearer to humanity than at any other time in human history; He is closer than the most aspiring and hopeful disciple knows, and can draw closer still if what is here written is understood and brought to the attention of men everywhere. For Christ belongs to humanity, to the world of men, and not alone to the churches and religious faiths throughout the world.

The Buddha Himself is standing behind the Christ in humble recognition of the divine task which He is on the verge of consummating, and because of the imminence of that spiritual accomplishment. Not only are all those who are functioning consciously in the Kingdom of God aware of His Plans, but those great spiritual Beings Who live and dwell in the “Father’s House,” in the “centre where the will of God is known,” are also mobilised and organised to assist His work. The spiritual line of succession from the throne of the Ancient of Days down to the humblest disciple (gathered with others at the feet of the Christ) is today focused on the task of helping humanity.

-Alice Bailey, The Reappearance of the Christ

Kim, Inchang. The Future Buddha Maitreya: An Iconological Study.
New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 1997. ISBN 8124600821.

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Maitreya, in Buddhist tradition, the future Buddha, presently a bodhisattva residing in the Tushita heaven, who will descend to earth to preach anew the dharma (“law”) when the teachings of Gautama Buddha have completely decayed.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maitreya-Buddhism

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Maitreya, the “future Buddha” in Buddhist eschatology, is a Bodhisattva that many Buddhists believe will eventually appear on earth, achieve complete enlightenment, and teach the pure dharma. As such, he will be the spiritual successor of the historic Śākyamuni Buddha. Unlike his antecedent, however, Maitreya is understood in a more millennial light, as he is predicted to be a “world-ruler,” uniting those over whom he has dominion.

The prophecy of the arrival of Maitreya is found in the canonical literature of all Buddhist sects (Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna) and is accepted by most Buddhists as a factual statement about a long-distant (or, in some cases, an incipient) millennial age.

The name Maitreya or Metteyya is derived from the word maitrī (Sanskrit) or mettā (Pāli) meaning “loving-kindness,” which is in turn derived from the noun mitra (Pāli: mitta) (“friend”).

Many images of Maitreya portray him seated on a throne or in a meditative posture — both of which represent his future role in embodying the Dharma. In both cases, he is often depicted in the dress of either a renunciant monk or Indian nobleman, wearing a small stupa in his headdress, and (occasionally) holding a Dharma wheel and/or lotus.

Seated Maitreya,
Korean, fourth-fifth century C.E. Musée Guimet, Paris.

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Bodhisattva Maitreya,
2nd century, Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Maitreya

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In Mahayana schools, Maitreya is traditionally said to have revealed the Five Treatises of Maitreya through Asanga.

These important texts are the basis of the Yogachara tradition and constitute the majority of the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma.

http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Maitreya

Andrea Bocelli – The Lord’s Prayer

Andrea Bocelli – The Lord’s Prayer – Live From The Kodak Theatre, USA / 2009 – YouTube

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“Say each day, with care and thought, a very familiar prayer, The Lord’s Prayer. It has many meanings and the trite and usual Christian significance is not for you. Ponder on this most ancient formula of truth and interpret it entirely in terms of a formula for the dissipation of illusion. Write an exegesis on it from this angle, taking it phrase by phrase and regarding it as giving us seven keys to the secret of the elimination of glamour. The formula (which is not essentially a prayer) can be divided as follows:

a. Invocation to the solar Lord.

b. Seven sentences, embodying seven keys for the dissipation of illusion.

c. A final affirmation of divinity.

Use your intuition and apply these all to the subject of glamour and see at what knowledge you will arrive. [Page 25] Then write it down in the form of an interpretation or article and we may arrive at much value.

From Glamour: A World Problem by Alice A. Bailey