Vol. 25 No. 68 - Beloved Lanello - December 24, 1982
Lanello's Birthday Address

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
Excerpts

My beloved, I enter the Spirit of the Christmastide in the very heart of the Great Central Sun on your behalf. I enter into the Spirit of the Christ in the act of being born and descending.

The Spirit of Christmas is a being of great, great light and Buddhic attainment. I come to announce, then, to you this Presence of the Almighty individed in the individuality of the God flame.

The one known as the Spirit of Christmas is therefore come to tell of the birth of Jesus Christ against the backdrop of nature's darkest hour of the year. The announcement at winter solstice of his star appearing is a great drama of cosmos; and it is here to teach us that in the darkest night of man's longing, there does appear the star of hope and the birth of the Saviour.

I enter the Spirit of Christmas so that you may understand that it is entirely possible for more than one son of God to participate in a holy office, to co-occupy the divine intent upon the twig that is bent, upon the very point, the focal point of a quartz crystal embracing a world of fiery intent. Dear hearts, I therefore come as the Spirit of Christmas, as you might anticipate the coming of the one known as Santa Claus.

Remember the heart of a child–your child, yourself–thinking about the coming of Santa and how he would enter the house, and how you would leave him cookies and milk and perhaps even a snack for the reindeer. Remember how, in fullest belief, because your parents had told you, you entered into that Spirit of Santa. And remember also the disappointment upon learning that Santa was not real.

But this is not true! Santa is real. And I am here to tell you that Santa Claus himself is the typical vessel of the Spirit of Christmas, the one who embodies this very Presence which I have entered.

It is wrong to tell children that Santa is not real. It is right to explain to them the Spirit of Christmas is indeed a person–a person made real in God, a person who is a cosmic being, who fills the hearts of the people with the anticipation of the greatest gift of all, the gift of personal Christhood.

Those things that bring delight to children–games and toys and things and rings in stockings–beloved hearts, originally the gifts given to the child of every heart were intended to enhance the child's perception and realization of that Person of Christ. When you think about the gifts that are given these days, you realize that some gifts do assist the individual in a greater sense of identity, while others adorn the outer person and tend to create more maya of idolatry. And thus, attaching importance and attention to the outer self, the individual loses the great opportunity of this hour to truly enter into the heart of that cosmic being known as the Spirit of Christmas.

Therefore, beloved ones, understand that this Spirit embodies the collective consciousness of Christhood of the entire Spirit of the Great White Brotherhood–of all ascended beings and angels and masters, cosmic hosts of the Lord who are that Christ. Let us realize, then, that in all symbols there is reality; in archetypes there is the original pattern of the image made perfect out of Christ; and in Santa Claus himself is the lingering hope in all that the figure of the Cosmic Christ will come to bring the true joy, the joy of the heart filled with love...

My dear hearts, look at that flame. <During Lanello's dictation, each devotee held a candle, lit from the taper held by Mother at the altar.> It represents the illumination of our teaching. Soon the candle wax will be no more and the wick itself will be consumed. Before your very gaze, the lifetime of one candle is spent.

How many candle-worth is your life? And how can you become that candle? The candle is spent, but the flame must leap into your heart and you must become walking candles. I would see men as candles walking.

Beloved hearts, it is amusing to contemplate trees walking as men, men walking as trees <Mark 8:24>. Is it amusing to consider that the candle you bear could just as easily be the sacred fire of the Spirit of Christmas, and you could hold in your hand that Person of God and be seen as a cosmic being walking?

I hold in my hand the Spirit of Christmas. And then I decide to climb inside, to enter in, to be the candle of the Buddha in Winter, to be the Cosmic Christ. And it is a fond embrace, for the Cosmic Christ decides to live in me. There is a mutuality of desiring in this love of the higher evolution for the lesser. There is a running to meet heart to heart. When hearts become one and the fire intensifies, truly it is perfect love.

Enter now the Spirit of Christmas and be it. Be it every day of the year–blessings. Blessings full and not without cheer. Be the Spirit of Christmas, and see how much the Spirit of Christmas desires to be you. And realize, then, in all those years of looking forward to Santa's coming, Santa has looked forward to coming to you, has desired to be one with you, has worshiped the light of the Christ in your heart, has sensed himself a servant gnome–the chief of gnomes–in the worship of the newborn Child.

Santa, then, comes as a servant of the Light and as a chela of the Christ who is the Manchild. Santa might be a modern version of three wise men coming to bear the gifts of old–wise elementals who realize, no matter what the outer manifestation, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ must be that each member of the elemental kingdom brings a gift to some child of God.

This is the ritual of the elementals, beloved hearts. It is an amazing ritual to see how these elementals come to the bedsides of children who wait with expectancy. They bring little gifts they make, little houses that they construct out of nutshells, gathering things from the forest and using amazing techniques to re-create Hansel and Gretel forms, shapes.

Tender hearts are the elementals. And of course, they are greeted by little children in their finer bodies with such joy. Truly, this is the joy of Christmas, when sweet children can freely interact with elementals, and elementals can know the true worship of Christ and the hope that they, too, may become that Christ...

***

Now, did you ever think that the Beloved–the beloved Christ Self is the person of Santa himself? Now you see him as the Christ, now you see him as the archetype of elemental life, and now you go to the very kernel of his heart and know him as the smiling Cosmic Christ, the smiling Maitreya, the smiling Gautama. Now after all, doesn't Santa remind you of the Buddha in Winter?

***

I bless you, out of the heart of Bonaventure, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in the name of the Blessed Virgin, Mary.

God be with you, as you reflect his glory.

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