Monday, December 21, 2015

TCR 729 - salvation; TCR 734, 735 - heavenly joy & happiness

TCR 729
For there is no nation in the whole world
which cannot be saved,
if it acknowledges God
and lives a good life.
For the Lord has redeemed all of these,
and man is by birth spiritual,
a fact which gives him the ability
to receive the gift of redemption.

TCR 734 [3]
'What then,' they asked the angel, 'is heavenly joy?'
 
The angel replied briefly as follows:
'It is the pleasure of doing something
which is of service to oneself or others.
This pleasure derives its essence from love,
and its coming-into-being from wisdom.
The pleasure of service arising from love
by means of wisdom
is the soul and life of all heavenly joys.

TCR 735 [5-6]
Happiness has to have joys
and therefore comes from joys.
 
It is the happiness in joys that makes them joys,
enriches them, and keeps them
from becoming worthless and boring.
Everyone gets this happiness
by being of service in his occupation.

'Every angel has some hidden tendency
in the affection of his will,
which induces his mind to do something.
By this means the mind calms and satisfies itself.
This feeling of satisfaction and calm
render the state of the mind amenable
to receiving from the Lord the love of service.
Heavenly happiness is the result of receiving this,
and this is what gives life to the joys I mentioned before.
Heavenly food is essentially nothing but
love, wisdom and service all combined;
that is,
service performed by means of wisdom out of love.
Everyone therefore in heaven gets food for the body
depending on the service he performs;
it is magnificent
for those who perform the highest services,
moderate but of exquisite flavor
for those whose service is modest,
humble for those who perform humble services.
But there is none at all for the lazy.'


No comments: