Liberal Catholic Church

The Word or Logos by which God manifests Himself is a tri-unity, a triple Logos; it is three-words-in-one.

The First Word is the First Person of the Divine Triad. It is Causative and Subjective1y Intelligible. It is God as the First Conceivable Cause, the First Knowable and Divinely Intelligible Predicate.

The Second Word is the Second Person of the Divine Triad. It is Archetypal and Ideological. It is God as the Supreme Perfection and Ideal.

The Third Word is the Third Divine Principle. It is Creative and Spiritually Intellectual. It is God as the Artificer and Sanctifier of the manifested universe.

These three Words have manifold names according to the time and place and circumstance in which they are used. For instance , in religion they are Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the All-Father, the World-Mother, and the Great Architect.

Philosophically, Plato termed them Causal Being or Essence, Archetypal Life, and Creative Intellect or Mind; while in an abstract sense, they are described by such Principles .as the Static, Dynamic and Ideal.

There and then - Here and Now - Eternal Word/Symbols Speak Ever Anew…

From Ancient Egypt the Was-Sceptre symbolises the Divine Light of Horus, the Ankh symbolises the Divine Life of Isis, and the Djed symbolises the Divine Love of Osiris.

From the Hindu Tradition: "Many are the themes of the Gita, but the central theme circles around the Three Paths of Jnana, Karma and Bhakti, i.e. path of Light, path of Life and path of Love. In all the Hindu scriptural writings, for the first time, in the Gita we clearly confront with the subject of Love an etherical bond of communion between the mundane and the Supreme. Love based on a deeper understanding, and sustained by correct actions, in short, is the basis of the exposition known to us as the Gita" (B. Bhattacharya).

In the Taoist Tradition Tao Abides as Love, Proceeds as Life and Returns as Light.

We unconsciously and consciously respond to Light, Life and Love because they are innate in us, in fact they are us. Light, Life and Love are our Faith, Hope and Love, they rise through Prayer, Meditation and Contemplation Manifesting Themselves through our hearts, minds and wills as Devotion or Life, Study or Light, and Service or Love.

Thus The Universal Lord -The Lord of Integrality- has called us and we must respond in an Integral Manner, as Integrality Ascends, Universality Descends and Divine Union is Attained Y. Three Christian Mystics offer the following Insights, intent like Christ on sharing/communicating all they Know:

"Perfect participation in the Light, Life and Love that God has for Himself in the Unity of Spirit: To be thus, is to be Deified" (St. Bernard of Clairvaux).

"There are three properties of God which I was able -in part- to touch, see and feel. These properties give the whole of the revelation their strength and effect, and they were seen in every Showing particularly in the Twelfth, where it is said time and again: 'It is I'. The properties are these: life, love and light. In life there is a wonderful homeliness in love there is a gentle courtesy and in light is our everlasting nature. These three properties were held in one goodness -- and my mind wants to be one with that goodness, and to cling to it with all my strength. I saw this with reverent fear, and I wondered greatly at the sight, and in the feeling of that lovely harmony between our reason and God. I understood that this is the highest gift we have ever been given, and it is rooted in our nature" (Mother Julian of Norwich).

Last but not least to Evelyn Underhill, a soul much admired by Bishop Wedgwood. The following is an extract from an Address that she gave while leading a Retreat at her beloved Pleshey Retreat House in 1932 (and still very much in operation today - a beautiful house and chapel in the ancient village of Pleshey, Essex, England which I commend to all Liberal Catholics): "One constantly hears people commenting on Christianity from outside and missing the point every time. They are on the wrong side of the wall. How important then it is for us to be familiar with the inner vision. It is from within the place of prayer, recollection, worship and love, where the altar is, where the sacrifice is made, where we are all bound together in a life of communion and self-giving to God, that we fully and truly receive the revelation which is made through Christ. Then we see the different acts and stages of His life like a series of windows through which streams into our souls the pure light of God, mediated to us in a way we can bear: Eternity and Reality given to us in human terms. To re-enter that Cathedral, receive a fresh gift from its inexhaustible beauty, see through those windows more and more of the light of God, that is the secret of meditation. Julian says at the end of her Revelations that what she had received from her vision of Christ was "Light, Life and Love"; everything was gathered in that; an energy to show us the Truth, quicken us to fresh vitality and fill us with adoring devotion. What a contrast to our stodgy, vague, twilight inner life! I've come into the silence to get more Light, Life and Love. We come to contemplate our Christian treasure from inside."

Thus contemplating we come to know, experience and to serve God in All Things and All Things in God. As the veils fall off one by one, we recognise Holy Mother Church bidding us remember THAT we see outwardly is THAT we are inwardly...the candles on the Altar are Pure Light, the flowers are Pure Life and the Cross -the Heart of The Altar- is Pure Love. So with the Holy Lady Mary and with all the Glorious Saints "we join with them in worship before thy great white throne whence flow all Love and Light and Blessing (Life) through all the worlds which though hast made".