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    Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope
    Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope
    Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope

    By Walter Adams

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    About this ebook

    Seek First the Kingdom - The March of Hope is a journey through Catholicism by the author of Journey to Christendom - The Freedom Dance.

    Here you will move forward through the gateway at the great castle walls of Catholicism and march with the Virgin Mary, St. Joan of Arc, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux to a beautiful, panoramic view of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that waits for you inside the mysterious land of Catholic spirituality.

    The March of Hope is about one man's journey into the mystical beauty and reality that is the Catholic Church, the Kingdom of God on earth!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWalter Adams
    Release dateAug 7, 2011
    ISBN9781465797605
    Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope
    Author

    Walter Adams

    Walter Adams (Pen Name, S.T. Martin) is the author of "Fleur-Darc: A journey toward the Kingdom with St. Thérèse and St. Joan of Arc." Fleur-Darc is a one volume compilation of his previous five books describing his personal journey through the Kingdom that is the Catholic Church using both poetry and prose. His story can be briefly explained using the following metaphor: “Take as your guide those who follow the example we set.” (Phil 3:17) Years ago while lost in some woods, I came across a group of beautiful, graceful, saintly souls journeying happily to a destination I could not then see (Heb 1:14). A young lady with them called me out of the Dark Forest where I was at that time enslaved and dying in a confusion of anarchic philosophies, religious opinions, and deadly self affirmation. She took my hand, caring not that I was sick, and beckoned me into the sunlight where I met her kindred spiritual sister, a warrior. Together these two encouraged me to follow their troupe through the valleys, over the mountains, across the bridges (Song of Songs 2:8-10), and toward a Kingdom (Matthew 6:33; John 18:36) ruled by a God-man, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior of the human race. At His side was Mary, Queen of heaven and earth (Rev 12:1), His mother and therefore the Mother of God (Luke 1:43), Mediatrix of all graces (Gen 3:15; Luke 1:26-55, John 2:1-11), and our mother by adoption, too (Gal 4:4-5; Rev 12:13-17). From a distance as we came to the crest of a mountain, I could see that inside the Kingdom there was a joyful celebration (Rev 7:9-12) as huge gates opened to welcome multitudes of other, fellow travelers nearing the grand land and who were themselves accompanied by heavenly friends. The saintly soul who called me out of the Dark Forest was St. Therese of Lisieux (Matthew 25:21). Her kindred spiritual sister, the warrior, was St. Joan of Arc. They were sent by the Queen of Heaven to beckon me out of the dark place and to lead me to her that I might rightfully know her, by Divine Order of the Son, as my sovereign Queen and Mother. Together these sisterly souls lovingly guided, protected, and cared for me on our journey (Phil 3:17; Heb 1:14). The narrow but awe inspiring pathway over which we traveled was called the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed (Heb 13:8-9a). Along the way of the Dogmatic Creed, at a specific moment, all manner of evil left me and chains that had held me bound in the Dark Forest for years fell to the ground, and I was free (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 6:44). The saintly sister who cooperated with the Queen and her Son in freeing me from this bondage was St. Joan of Arc (Luke 9:1-2). Together, my two saintly sisters and I continue to make our way along the trail with the loving, motherly care of Mary (John 19:26-27). This Kingdom we seek is the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Rev 12:1), its gateway is Calvary (Mark 8:34), and it is through that gateway into her heart that Our Lord sits in His majesty. My mission is to recount in poetry, prose, or devotional expressions our adventures and how all this came about. It is the story of the Divine Order of the saints who lead us to Mary and Mary who leads us to Jesus Christ. It is this Jesus Christ, and only Him, who can then lead us to the Father. There is no other (Heb 13:8). It is the story of my journey through the dogmas, creeds, and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a journey that continues to unfold each day. StM

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      Book preview

      Seek First the Kingdom - Walter Adams

      SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM

      THE MARCH OF HOPE

      by

      S.T. Martin

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      PUBLISHED BY:

      S.T. Martin on Smashwords

      Seek First the Kingdom

      The March of Hope

      Copyright © 2009 by S.T. Martin

      Joan and Thérèse Publications

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

      In accordance with c. 827, permission to publish is granted on January 13, 2010 by Very Reverend John F. Canary, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Permission to publish is an official declaration of ecclesiastical authority that the material is free from doctrinal and moral error. No legal responsibility is assumed by the grant of this permission.

      FORWARD

      Mesopotamia, 2700 B.C.

      Somewhere on these ancient plains early on a still night, perhaps after family, guests, and servants ready themselves to take their leave for sleep, we might imagine this great king, one of the first warriors and dragon-slayers to rise up out of the ancient mythologies to take on the figure of a real historical personality, staring out into the setting darkness. The moon has made her presence felt, the stars are beginning to shine, the animals of the night begin to make noises in the sand and shrubs. This is the time of day when one can be alone and think. This is, perhaps, how an ancient hero slips unnoticeably into a sort of quiet time, a few moments before retiring when a great mind can reflect. As the servants finalize the cleaning and make preparation for bed, our king moves a little further outside. Tired, he puts his hands on a short, stone wall, leans on his arms, surveys the land, and wonders.

      He has conquered. He has defended. He is a master. He recently threw back his bitter enemy Agga, king of Kish, the perennial, pestilent threat to his people, who time and again sought our great king’s land. This time it is for good, our king hopes. To the pit of Hades for Agga! our hero might even say to himself if he had happened to have any notion of hell. Now a city wall has been built to protect his stronghold, the first one of its kind in this land. The inhabitants feel safe again. Our king is noble and the people honor him. But beneath all this activity, all this accomplishment and glory, he is deeply unsettled, and he is wondering.

      Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is living in an early time, a time before the Bible, a time before religious tradition as we know it was handed down as dogmatic truth to be accepted, a time before the world’s major religions of either Western or Eastern origin could run to him waving competing claims of authenticity and effectiveness in his face. There is no self-help literature, no infomercials, no New Age movement, no Islam, no Catholicism, no Protestantism, no Buddhism, and most likely, no real mature Hinduism. As an aside, this author assumes that it is unlikely that there were any life forms from outer space to help him either! Our king has none of the religious baggage we take for granted, and in this sense he might be considered free; or, alternatively, he might be considered lost.

      This great king is in a position we can hardly imagine today. He is trying to put life together, its point, purpose, and end, all in a meaningful way, and all without the aid of the world’s religions as we know them. He struggles with life just as we do, thousands of years later, in our post-industrial, high technology world that our great and noble king could have never imagined. He is great, but he feels small. He has accomplished much but feels empty. He wants to conquer the world but is beginning to wonder what happens after that. He needs to know where he is going, what is life all about. In other words, like us, he wants to hope.

      Gilgamesh, though, is particularly contemplative and solemn tonight. The reason for this night being different than the rest is that he has finally come to articulate and formulate in his head the problematic stirrings in the deepest part of his soul. If you were to probe his thoughts by attempting to draw out his speech, you might hear him sound slightly evasive; you would sense that he is holding back, he is not telling you everything that lies on his heart to burden it. What is it great Gilgamesh?

      We are now at an interesting juncture in our story, historically, as well as spiritually, speaking. Let us temporarily take an imaginary remote control, since we live in an age where we can remotely control everything that is driven by the power of electricity, though we seem to be able to control little else, and let us pretend that this little story is powered by such electrons, and let us then hit the fast forward button and move 4,671 years into the future.

      The year is now 1971 A.D. (this author refuses to use Common Era notation). A very popular modern pop star named John Lennon, a revolutionary coming out of that dark period in Western history called The Sixties, has written and published a song that, out of all of his hits, particularly caught everyone’s attention. It remains hugely popular even today in the new millennium, is considered by many to be a work of spiritual genius, and has almost become a creed for a creedless, non-religious spirituality. The song is called Imagine and it speaks eloquently of a world without religion, dogmas, borders, and such. We are, I always presumed anyway, supposed to believe that if we could ever reach this perfect world of nothingness we might just be very happy. This is, of course, nothing in itself but the superficial imaginings of Eastern religious and spiritual thought which have had a heyday in the Western world due, in part, to fellows like John Lennon.

      But the point of Imagining seems to be that the hang-ups and baggage that have come down the ages through the terrorism of man-made institutional religion should be thrown out and destroyed to bring in a true humanism based on, well, some kind of Eastern spiritual platform of nothingness. There is no right or wrong, no moral good or evil, except, of course, for religious dogma (traditional Western thought) which is considered to be evil, usually being referred to as intolerant, dualistic, or divisive. Apparently, by this self-proclaimed modern, though really very ancient philosophy, to warn against and even forcibly prevent someone from smoking cigarettes is a good, life affirming humanism. However, to warn one that he is heading to spiritual death for eternity is, of course, intolerant and evil. You get the point. Some felt that this world of Mr. Lennon’s was only for dreamers, and, in fact, I think that this is exactly how Mr. Lennon refers to himself in the song, as a mere dreamer.

      But I have great news for our pop star. We can investigate this matter after all, at least to some degree. For, this is exactly the interesting point to which I referred above. Gilgamesh, for Mr. Lennon’s benefit, lived before religion, creeds, dogmas, and religious tradition. From the dawn of man the ancients might have always worshiped nature, animals, and sun gods, but Gilgamesh knew nothing of God, or the man-made dogmas that would develop millenniums later. This would delight Mr. Lennon, I think. We shall see in this case what happens in such a utopian world. Gilgamesh, though not a perfect test case for a world without religion and dogma, is probably the best we have from a historical perspective. No major work of literature than that which we attribute to him dates before 2000 B.C. He is the closest tangible study we have to imagining a world with no religion too.

      And so now, let us rewind to our hero and king, knowing that in him we are witnessing a spectacular point in history, a point where we can perhaps observe the spiritual insights of a man in a much purer time, in John Lennon’s dreamy time, just as we today gaze through telescopic lenses into the deepest parts of space to witness the dawn of an ancient but more pure universe.

      As we turn back to Gilgamesh, we sense that he remains disturbed and evasive in his speech because he has come to realize that with all of his victories and glory, there is one enemy, one nemesis, whom he must face, and he for the first time in his career sees no way to come out victoriously. This great enemy is death. And Gilgamesh, warrior, king, conqueror, dragon-slayer, has no answer.

      Gilgamesh walks further out into the open land, and as you follow him you hear a cry pour forth from the depths of his soul:

      "I saw a dream this night.

      The heavens roared, the earth resounded……He transformed me,

      Mine arms were covered with feathers like a bird.

      He looks at me, leads me to the house of darkness,

      To the dwelling of Irkalla;

      To the house from which he who enters never goes forth;

      On the road whose path does not lead back;

      To the house whose occupants are bereft of light;

      Where dust is their food and clay their sustenance;

      They are clad like birds, with garments of wings;

      They see no light and dwell in darkness.

      In the house of dust, which I entered.

      I looked at the kings, and behold!

      The crowns had been deposited."

      (Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VII, See The Founding of Christendom by Warren H. Carroll, Christendom Press, p.21.)

      Now we understand the king’s dilemma, his soul searching sickness. Gilgamesh has realized that he has no hope. And he is brutally honest about his agony. This is why he is so troubled, so evasive, and so quiet tonight. Yes, our great king, a man who is a shadow of historical reality walking out of the mist of ancient mythology, stands in that place that neither we nor Mr. Lennon can really imagine. But Gilgamesh is really there, truly experiencing the naked and primordial reality of the fall of man into origin sin which begat hopelessness and death for mankind, though he

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