Okay, I am going to qualify this Sermon. I am addressing it to the World Community of all of humanity, but I know that there are some legal-or-otherwise-minded nit-pickers out there who are going to say, "Oh! The World Community! Well, that doesn't apply to me, in that I am not a part of that 'world community' which he is talking about. Where does this 'world community' come from? Where are its members? Where is its corporate office? What is the phone number to call it? Hey, if it don't 'physically' exist, I can't be a part of it!"
Yeah, to belay such nincompoopishness, I'm going to have to qualify the term 'world community'. IT MEANS EVERYBODY, EVERYWHERE, including all kinds of 'communities', whether one 'knows' one is part of a 'community' OR NOT (like I can't exactly say WHERE each and every individual's 'mind' IS - in some 'cloud formation' somewhere or wherever). So, if I say 'world community', I'd like you to know THAT I MEAN YOU! You - whoever or wherever you may be!
Now, I don't think I would be too far off in saying that a great amount of the world's 'problems' are AMONG 'the least of us', whoever and wherever such may be! And I do purposely leave out the 'WHY' of it all, as we are all familiar with the 'reasons' why there are such 'least among us', be it war, famine, mentality, or any and every other human 'condition' of existence, that does produce these 'least among us'!
And they will remain among us, and even increase in numbers, as long as they do not receive that which they truly need, but instead are subjected to the mere 'handouts' that Lucifer's 'good-hearted-minions' can so bestow upon them, as 'credited to', and enrichening-of, the 'donors' OF such 'largesse', be it individuals, groups, nations or the United Nations (and we all know what I mean by 'Lucifer's minions', being the folks, of all 'stripes', who get rich by 'donating-to-charity' and of which maybe a mere percentage or less of real value and assistance might actually 'trickle-down' to those-in-need, AFTER all the 'organizational-overhead' has been 'skimmed off'!)
And we can continue 'complaining', about all the problems and further problems that these people - the least among us - may be 'causing' for the rest of us. After all, isn't it a fact that they usually can't 'clean-up-after-themselves', whether it is a 'mess' that a 'mentally-ill-person' might make, or, instead, the 'mess' of the horrific living conditions in the Third-World maquiladoras or the refugee camps anywhere, or the 'mess' of the dead bodies abounding in the aftermath of wars and terrorism and such.
The point is, the MESS, whatever it may be, IS THE RESULT OF those 'least of us' NOT RECEIVING that which they actually need - and I'm not even going to address the issues of housing, food, medical supplies, disease prevention and on and on. Because what they actually need, and that which they do not receive, goes far beyond such mere corporealities. Instead, what they DO receive, besides the 'minimalism' of that which charitable, national and U.N. assistance might provide, IS THE CONDEMNATION of the rest of us - the 'berating' OF THEIR VERY EXISTENCE - in some way, shape or form, EVEN VIA THE MEANS OF 'ADVOCACY' FOR THEM, as exemplified by the 'Palestinian cause' and so forth! Because, whether 'advocating FOR', or merely 'supporting' via assistance, any and every 'concerned-citizen' everywhere can, in reality, get to say something like, "Oh, those poor, unfortunate ???'s, they have it so bad. We absolutely MUST 'do' something for them!" So PLEASE, rush out and buy a new $50,000 dress, at Saks
Fifth Avenue or Nieman Marcus, so 1% of the cost can be donated to their 'welfare'! OR 'Sponsor a child' (so the 'donor' can truly be a 'family-person', while working 16+ hours at the office)! OR put on a Rock concert, with all 'proceeds' (AFTER expenses!) going to 'assist' the needy! And on and on.
In other words, so that each and every one of the rest of us CAN, in our own individual minds, say, "I am BETTER than those people (or that person), and I can thusly GLORY in my own self-righteousness!" 'Looking-down-one's-nose', or pigeon-holing, in our minds, 'putting (and keeping) them IN THEIR PLACE'! ("Don't you DARE 'disturb' my backyard Bar-B-Q, or my Land Rover, or my child's education at Stanford, OR?") So that we can all REALIZE that these people ARE 'the least of us' and thusly, through our indifference, MAKE SURE that they do remain so (NO MATTER how much we might 'help' them!) "Hey! I've got my 'ass' (and assets) to 'protect' here! We can't go 'bringing-down-the-system', just to help these 'nothing-peoples'!" Or so we might subconsciously say!
BUT, in reality, let it be known, that it is NOT 'we', us, who is 'doing the deed', BUT INSTEAD, is actually that Guy Downstairs - Yep! Lucifer! - 'influencing' US ALL, and 'promoting' his Negativities among us, including wars, animosities, divisiveness (US versus them!), and all that such does create - the 'least of us' AND the 'least-empathies-among-the-rest-of-us' FOR such 'unfortunates'! 'Keeping-them-down-on-the-Farm' - wherever that might be - so we can 'glory' in the 'benefits' of our 'CAGE', which we have created all by OURSELVES (with Lucifer's help!) THAT's what it's all about!
So what is the answer? The answer is THAT which these people need IN REALITY, and which Lucifer does NOT want us to provide! It also means looking at these people in a different way than we are used to doing. By using the term 'the least among us' we already are viewing these people as 'different' from us, as 'less' than we are! AND THAT IS ITSELF A PROBLEM, right there! Because, IF they are 'less' than we are......Why that must mean that they ARE NOT EVEN HUMAN! So, if we can think of them as something 'less-than-human', or sub-human......"Poor Tanya! She has a mental problem. Can't do anything for her but keep after her to clean-up her messes!" "Oh, those poor Palestinians! Give them a 'crumb' (of land somewhere), and let them all crowd together in squalor and 'Peace'!" "Oh, those poor XYZ's! Something must be done (so I don't have to hear about it 'no more!)"
And so I say, such is part of the problem - thinking of these people as other than human! And what is the answer to that? SIMPLE! We are ALL HUMAN! We are ALL EQUAL! (Come ON! Say it - "WE ARE HUMAN! WE ARE ALL EQUAL!") So IF we were to look at each other WITH ACCEPTANCE AND RESPECT, as one human being to another - WOW! THEN, maybe, the 'least of us' MIGHT POSSIBLY start to 'receive' that which they need!
And WHAT IS that which they need? It is that respect, that acceptance, FOR Who and What an individual, and a people, IS/ARE! But more than that, what each person OF HUMANITY NEEDS......IS LOVE! The Love OF one and all, BY one and ALL! MEANING THAT everyone - EVERYWHERE - COUNTS! It means everyone of us CARING - actually, truly, CARING - whether that refugee gets a good meal, or whether there is NO animosity between Israelis and Palestinians, or whether Tanya IS ONE OF US - one of 'our Community' (wherever such might be!)
And that is a further KEY, right there. Because COMMUNITY INCLUDES EVERYONE! One can't berate a person (or people) and LOVE THEM at the same time! Loving the 'least of us' means BRINGING THEM INTO OUR COMMUNITY AS EQUALS! Treating them, and providing them, WITH THE MEANS, to really 'be' our equals! THAT IS LOVE! (I know! Many would go even further, invoking such terms as 'unconditional Love' and so forth, but I'm not going to get maudlin here.)
The point is, "Do Unto Others...", and you might be surprised what happens. By way of explanation, let me further define those elusive qualities of Love. Let me say that, IF you can 'shed a tear', at the misfortunes of a refugee, a victim, or victims, or people, a world away, or even in the slums or mental hospitals of your own city - IN OTHER WORDS, ALL OF HUMANITY - THEN you are really, truly, human! That's what Love is - CARING, feeling, for one and all, as though EVERYONE was FAMILY (and not only when 'you're here'!) "Do Unto Others..." as though those others were family -caring, giving, respecting, accepting (ALL of one's 'warts'!) - AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENS?
Well, Lo and Behold, would you believe that 'as one Gives, so does one Receive'? When that/those 'least of us' DOES really and truly Receive THAT WHICH they need, THEN they WILL likewise return - Give back - that Love and Caring which they do receive. (See Father Jerome's details of the 'jig-saw-puzzle'.) So, IF Tanya (our fictitious mentally-ill person) receives Love and Caring, instead of judgement and discipline, she WILL 'Give it back', in the form of NOT making 'messes' after herself (i.e., as we think of her, so shall she then think of - be considerate of - us!) In the same way, as the Palestinians shall receive their independence and dignity as a people, so shall they quit terrorism and integrate themselves into the world community. Refugees in East Timor, Uganda, the Balkans, Czechnya and everywhere - as they shall Receive, so shall they Give, AND THE WORLD WILL BE so increased BY their contributions, their resources, their HUMANITY!
Christ said, "Love one another, as I have Loved thee!" I won't say that we all have to be a Christ, or a Ghandi, or some other avatar, but IF, as I said earlier, we can shed a tear for someone, anyone, anywhere - THEN we shall truly be HUMAN! And we shall have done our part, as is the Destiny of Mankind, to 'eliminate' that dichotomy, that Duality, of Good versus Evil, God versus Satan, and restore Oneness and Wholeness throughout the Cosmos. But it must start with ourselves. We must CLEANSE our Minds of Lucifer's Negativities. We must COOPERATE, in a Oneness of humanity - NOT competition! And we must LOVE - "One another, as I have Loved thee!" ONLY under such conditions, can humanity go forward - in Peace, in Love, and in Happiness, of One and All!
Aum, Peace, Amen!
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