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ACIM tells us quite clearly, "The emphasis of this course always remains the same—it is at this moment that complete salvation is offered you, and it is at this moment that you can accept it." (OrEd.Mn.24.6) If it always "at this moment" then …it’s time for us all to do it. I still witness many students putting their healing off into the future. I still witness many students putting their happiness off into the future. "For the past is gone, the future but imagined. These concerns are but defenses against present change of focus in perception. Nothing more." (OrEd.WkBk.181.4) IT’S TIME! It is time to heal and be healed. It’s time to save and be saved. It’s time to extend peace and to embrace peace for ourselves. And it’s time to be happy and have fun – to be glad! Let’s stop refusing those moments to gladden ourselves. This week's Sunday Gathering will be one of those moments. Don’t refuse to experience it! IT’S TIME!

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The past year reminds me of the opening line in A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of time. It was the worst of times.” All over the media we hear continually how vulnerable we are, how we need to protect ourselves and stay “safe” with: masks, distance, vaccines, etc. Yet ACIM tells us, “Your safety lies in truth and not in lies. Love is your safety. Fear does not exist. Identify with love, and you are safe.” (WkBk.SpTp261.5) Identifying with love and keeping your heart open is the key. Those who have done this have connected, joined, and even prospered during this year. Now as the world begins to open up again we need these better tools to stay in our awareness of safety and even invulnerability. What are the main ways to do this? Rev. Tony shares his tips and tools for making this, and every time – “the best of times.”!! 26 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

Dear Miracle Workers,

I believe that we are currently in a “window of opportunity” – "a favorable opportunity for doing something that must be seized immediately.” We in the USA appear to be coming out of the pandemic now. The New York Times reports that rates of death have been dropping steadily since reaching a high seven day average of 3,352 on January 12. Yesterday, April 5, the 7 day average was 794. I am not going to speculate at what is causing this. At the level of cause it is, of course, the mind. Apparently the mind has decided to let this pandemic go. In the illusion one can cite vaccine distribution and mitigation strategies – if we are guided to.

What I feel is that people have grown tired of thinking and worrying about sickness. I believe a certain percentage of them are looking for something else. They may, on the surface, be happy about a vaccine being available and life returning more to normal. But deep inside they have a knowing that another virus could be right around the corner any time, and vaccines and mitigation are only temporary fixes. These are the ones who are currently “ripe” for A Course in Miracles and the true healing that solid practice of it brings.

I feel the Holy Spirit is asking for our help now. He will send to us the ones who can hear the miracle healing message we have to share. Holy Spirit will tell us who they are, and what to say to them. However we have to be ready. We have to not interfere. "[Holy Spirit] will tell you exactly what to do to help anyone He sends to you for help and will speak to him through you if you do not interfere." (OrEd.Tx.9.28) The window is open.

(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #281, Apr. 6 2021)

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We hope to see many of you (all of you?) on Easter Sunday for a truly happy and festive Sunday Gathering! Please join us and bring an Easter treat to share for after the Gathering. A chocolate Easter bunny, Easter eggs, how about a plate of ham … or a glass of champagne!!! (We always had champagne at the CMC Easter Sunday pot-lucks). We’ll all share our Easter treat together after the Gathering is over. We’ll get happy! Rev. Tony is promising a truly JoyFull Easter Celebration. "The time of Easter is a time of joy and not of mourning. Look on your risen Friend and celebrate his holiness along with me. For Easter is the time of your salvation, along with mine." (OrEd.Tx.20.4) Do you have a new Easter hat (a bonnet?). Now is the time!! 25 min. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

Dear Miracle Workers,

Easter is mentioned by name 12 times in the version of ACIM that I use. Christmas is only mentioned 5. Organized Christianity considers Easter to be the highest of holy days. Considering the frequency of mentions ACIM has, apparently Jesus considers it very important too. In the USA we tell people to be “merry” at Christmas, the usual greeting for Easter is “Happy Easter.” ACIM states, ”The time of Easter is a time of joy and not of mourning." (OrEd.Tx.20.4)

Considering the resurrection comes after the Good Friday crucifixion (aways made me wonder what was so “good” about it) the traditional Easter celebration was frequently tinged with the energy of torture and death. Plus organized Christianity tended to venerate the crucifixion itself. It made the cross the symbol of the faith. Many Christian churches have graphic, bloody, life size versions of Jesus (looking very much in pain) being crucified, prominently display in them. The one I grew up in did. Forty days of Lent focused on this painful event. Making a quick switch to joy and happy on Easter Sunday morning after 40 days of mourning was usually not very successful. ACIM spends lots of energy working to correct this misperception. "Let us not spend this holy week brooding on the crucifixion of God's Son, but happily in the celebration of his release. For Easter is the sign of peace, not pain." (OrEd.Tx.20.1)

Find something really fun to celebrate this Easter. The traditional Easter symbols are actually pagan fertility symbols – the rabbit, the egg. It’s associated with Spring and the birth of new life. While celebrating fertility might not be the most practical thing (maybe it is for some) a little happy chocolate indulgence might go a long way to bring some manifested joy to the faces of many.

(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #280, Apr. 1 2021)

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The Course message about absolute power is a challenging thing. Many shy away from claiming this, and usually approach the Course with the idea of incremental, and therefore limited, increases in power. However the Course is clear that there is nothing our holiness cannot do. In other words, our power is infinite, unlimited, and … absolute! "Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else." (OrEd.WkBk.38.2) There is no time like the present moment (actually there is no time but the present moment) to claim our unlimited power. The world tells us that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” but ACIM tells us just the opposite. Absolute power saves us and heals us absolutely. Join us on Sunday as we allow the teaching here to transform our experience of self. "Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance, and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator." (OrEd.WkBk.38.1) 23m. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

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(Have a piece of birthday cake ready to eat on Sunday – Honestly!!) Sunday March 7th the CMC celebrates its 34th birthday. On the 1st Sunday of March in 1987 Rev. Tony Ponticello and Rev. Larry Bedini (our co-founders) met with a handful of others to have our first meeting as the new legal entity the Community Miracles Center! This Sunday we celebrate that momentous day. As a special celebration every one of our 8 CMC Board Members will take a part in the Sunday Gathering and also say a few words about what this day means for them. Rev. Tony will give the main address. After we sing "Happy Birthday" we’ll all eat a piece of cake together so have a piece of cake ready for after the Gathering. If you are thinking of getting us a “birthday present” consider a special $34 donation – $1 for every terrific year of service to the ACIM Community. A couple of people have already done just that that. 22m. SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

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The message of the Course is very consistent on this issue. The world we experience is an internal mental construct of our own making. There is no one actually out there but ourselves. "... you will begin to learn and understand ... when you met someone else, you had thought that he was someone else. And every holy encounter in which you enter fully will teach you this is not so." (OrEd.Tx.8.22) Actually there is no “out there” at all. It is all a dream, or better yet, an hallucination our mind is having. "What if you recognized this world is an hallucination? What if you really understood you made it up?" (OrEd.Tx.20.73) Let’s treat the question asked here as literal and not rhetorical. What would our experience of life be IF we understood that we made the world up? I believe then we would walk the world as Miracle Workers like Jesus did, and this is exactly what ACIM is calling us to do.

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This is a famous phrase used by the British television comedy sketch group Monty Python in the 1970s. It was used to introduce something that was possibly bizarre, and had no relation to the previous segment. ACIM sometimes speaks of possible “future” states that seem quite bizarre and have no relation to the current world and its science as we know it. Look at this phrase from ACIM, "[The Real World] is not lit with artificial light, and night comes not upon it. There is no day that brightens and grows dim." (OrEd.Tx.12.59) This is not talking about Heaven or Reality, but the healed world, the last step before Heaven. Yet how could this be? Perhaps this teaching from A Course of Love gives us a clue, "This is a harmony and cooperation that might one day extend to the sun and a demonstration that the sun need not rise – or perhaps need not set – and the earth would still be safely spinning in its orbit." (D:6.12) I call on everyone to let go of what seems scientific and possible, and to prepare for something completely different – something truly miraculous.

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This past week we were challenged by the image of sisters, brothers, and others, storming the USA Capital building in Washington, DC. Armed force had to be used to turn back the people. Violence erupted and some people appear to have died. One woman was apparently shot and killed inside the Capital building itself. Surely we all want to be a healing influence in this situation. The Song of Prayer says, "You first forgive, then pray, and you are healed." (So.3.IV.4.1) Forgiveness is always the first step - but I see that many have formed strong, special hate relationships that they are very invested in. People will challenge their special love relationships much easier than the special hate ones. I know we all want to be part of this healing, then it is time to do the unthinkable, forgive the unforgivable, and then start trusting the world. "The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up." (OrEd.Mn.4.3)