Rev. Tony Ponticello is CMC Minister #20. He was ordained on Oct. 17, 1997. He is Executive Minister of Community Miracles Center and serves on the CMC Board as President. He is the Master of Ceremonies for the CMC Sunday Gathering and teaches 2 other CMC classes.
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Thanksgiving has always been a time to focus on gratitude, abundance, and joy. That begins a Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Holiday Season which also has a foundation in abundance and joy. This year (2020) we face challenges that we have not had before. Many usual abundant celebrations seem restricted, less, or fragmented ... that seems to speak of lack. Yet it is still the ACIM student's challenge to understand that perceptions of lack are "faulty" or broken. Abundance or wholeness is the only ground of being that is a reflection of eternal truth. "42. Wholeness is the perceptual content of miracles. It thus corrects or atones for the faulty perception of lack anywhere." (OrEd.Tx.1.61) Let's look at some practical ways to see wholeness and abundance in the midst of a holiday season challenging us with lack, loss, and fragmentation. Let's manifest abundance miracles instead.
(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #264, Dec. 3 2020)
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I realized recently that my main job, while functioning in my role as miracle teacher and healer, was to keep students trusting in the process, to keep them engaged. Some students drop out of dedication to the ACIM discipline at the exact moment when they should actually be increasing their engagement time and practice dedication. Some form of fear gets the better of them (literally). However we all have to be "... willing to follow the Holy Spirit through seeming terror .... You are severely tempted to abandon Him at the outside ring of fear, but He would lead you safely through and far beyond." (OrEd.Tx.18.87) There is a ring of fear or fire at the foundation of the world illusion. As we approach our center we have to pass through it. Keep trusting both your own path and instill that trust in the people you influence.
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Now that the 2020 presidential election is over (sort of) I feel that we are entering a new time of healing. Regardless of what our political views are, and who we wanted to win the election, it is the time for all of us Miracle Workers to rise above the current "battleground" and let the healing energy flow through the American society. It is actually easier to do than many realize because Holy Spirit is always providing the perspective from above the battleground. "The overlooking of the battleground is now your purpose." (OrEd.Tx.23.50)
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In the midst of abundant miracles this week (literally) I found myself strangely confronting thoughts of discouragement. On one level I knew this was my ego reacting to the miracles that were happening. ACIM tells us that the ego switches from suspiciousness to viciousness when it is severely challenged, and the discouragement was actually an indication that I was making fast spiritual progress. I was also comforted by this thought, "If the way seems long, let him be content. He has decided on the direction he will take. What more was asked of him?" (OrEd.Mn.22.2) I know which way to go, and I was heading in the right direction. That was all that was required. What a comfort it is to be able to declare this confidently. However the miracle was remembering that the healing is happening NOW and actually not in the future at all. "One source of perceived discouragement from which you suffer is your belief that this takes time, and that the results of the Holy Spirit's teaching are far in the future. This is not so." (OrEd.Tx15.2)
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ACIM talks a lot about insanity. The ego voice in our minds is COMPLETELY insane. Many still identify with it, and ACIM students still have to deal with it -- but hopefully with the help of the Holy Spirit, so we ARE making progress. ACIM tells us, "You are no longer wholly insane, nor no longer alone." (OrEd.Tx.17.73) (I aways laughs at his. Is this really a complement?) I will embrace this! Why should YOU come to the Sunday Gathering and listen to me, Rev. Tony? Because I am not longer WHOLLY insane! LOL!! Plus it's a great way to prove we are not alone. I have let go of loneliness and insanity and I challenge you to join me.
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This past Tuesday we had a milestone. It was a full 6 months, half a year, 26 weeks, of being under an emergency "Shelter-In-Place" order in the city and county of San Francisco. Our order started Tuesday March 17. Yet I felt something else happening. I felt the Pandemic healing on multiple fronts. More and more things are opening up. Gyms are now opened. Hair salons can now see customers inside. Professional sports is back. Our fine San Francisco Museums are scheduled to open next week. These are outer manifestations of what I am sensing intuitively with my connection to Holy Spirit. The fear is ratcheting down. "The only thing that is required for a healing is a lack of fear. The fearful are not healed and cannot heal." (OrEd.Tx.27.45) The pandemic is healing.
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It's Labor Day weekend 2020. On the level of form the country can celebrate that unemployment has declined. On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced an August unemployment rate of 8.4. It was 14.7 in April. Many people still have their self worth tied up with their work, labor, or vocation. ACIM calls us all to a true vocation, healing our mind by restoring integration and oneness. Our vocation then involves extending this healing to others. "What better vocation could there be for any part of the Kingdom than to restore it to the perfect integration that can make it whole?" (OrEd.Tx.5.28) Join us Sunday to celebrate true vocation and a new vision for Labor Day.
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I have noticed that there is lots of fear mongering going on in our culture from all sides. "Monger" means "a person who promotes a specified activity, situation, or feeling, especially one that is undesirable or discreditable." We, as ACIM students, never want to fear monger. We want to spread words of: hope, peace, strength, and bliss! That's why I like the exclamation "WooHoo!!" It sums us all four of those traits. "Make no one fearful, for his guilt is yours." (OrEd.Tx.13.12) Obviously guilt and fear are the same thing. In these challenging times can we stop our guilt and fear mongering and move to "WooHoo"? That is our challenge.
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