ENTER AN ETERNAL TIME & SPACE VISION
WITHIN A MODERN EMPTY BASKET GRAND JOURNEY
ENTERPRISE RELEASE APPEARENCE...& NOW ONCE AGAIN
UPON "CENTER STAGE" AMERICA 2008 & BEYOND...
THUS THE SYMBOL OF THE EMPTY BASKET RE-APPEARS...
The Empty Basket
As a part of symbol of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary,
the basket speaks of the readiness of our sisters & brothers
to serve from our earliest days. It serves as a sign of compassion
as we recall our founder, using it to bring food to refresh
her sisters, and comfort to those persons they cared for.
Often the basket was empty, a sign of our own neediness and dependence
on the support and assistance of others and our dependence
on God to provide our daily bread and to bless us with the
compassion of others.
Sometimes the basket held a loaf of freshly baked bread to be
broken and shared, and in that sharing, to recognize God's presence.
The basket is a symbol of our lives, open to God and to our sisters and brothers.
This is the symbol of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. Our symbol is comprised of the "tau" cross and the basket.
Also a symbol of patient industry & the significance of that which is woven or shaped into the story to feed a multitude, as "the place of multiplying bread, even from an empty basket, so like Christ with faith it shall be done (will Of God). out From nothing -everything, And everything Is possible with Faith in God...emptying yourselves & Your greed or Ego Baskets empty, thus to be refilled with the Holy Spirit Of God.Here are all the components of the inner meaning of the Christian Eucharist: the broken, but multiplied fragments of the body of the god, distributed to feed hungry humanity.
And as humanity is composed of twelve groups of conscious units struggling on the road to divinization, there were gathered up twelve baskets of fragments. For in the synthesis of all powers to be evolved in the process of deification, the twelve aspects of the Christ consciousness are finally reintegrated, or "gathered up" in
one climactic unity & within the one unifying basket of faith. The basket represents spiritual food that if a man eat of it he shall hunger no more...No More Empty Feelings from Him losing touch with the Lord.
Also To have Your Clean empty basket Ready for as Jesus stated...
This is that bread which came down from heaven, that if a man eat of it he shall hunger no more...so prepare your baskets to receive The Bread which shall come down from heaven above...Thus the basket has to be empty & cleaned out & readied For The Heavenly gifts in which to be filled up & fed upon, for if the basket Is not emptied of worldly Needs & Desires, Than It's Not Ready To Receive the divine Bread from heaven above, For it is then but a basket full of earthly items & sin-filled desires.
God will be faithful and reward
our faith 100-fold over in eternity.
The seed that fell on good ground
— the faith truly acted upon
“came up and yielded a crop, a
hundred times more than was
sown” (Luke 8:8).
Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me,
“Look up and see what this is that is appearing.” I asked,
“What is it?” He replied, “It is a measuring basket.” And he added,
“This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”
Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket
sat a woman! He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her
back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its
mouth. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women,
with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those
of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven
and earth. “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel
who was speaking to me. He replied, “To the country of Babylonia
to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will
be set there in its place.”
(Zechariah 5:6–11).
What is significant about the symbols — a measuring basket,
two women with wings of storks, the woman inside the container
and the lid of lead? God chose these symbols for a reason.
The measuring basket that Zechariah saw lifted up towards
heaven is referred to as an “ephah” in the King James Version
and in other Bible translations.
The ephah was a commercial measuring unit for
dry goods, the equivalent of about 8–9 bushels today.
This unit of measure is used more than twice as much
as any other mentioned in the Bible (the “hin,” the
“homer” or the “seah,” for example). Clearly, it was
the key unit of commerce during the prophet’s time,
both for measurement and transport. If Zechariah’s vision
had been given today, God may have used the symbol of a
twenty-foot shipping container (the type that is transported
on ocean-going ships and tractor trailers) or perhaps even
a cardboard box.
The most revealing statement is that this measuring basket
will be transported to Babylonia.It is important to note
that at first this ephah was lifted up towards heaven by
the two stork-women.
Then, only when the house for it in Babylonia is ready,
will it be transported there. This elevation towards
heaven reveals that the ephod is set up as an image
against God, as a system that compares itself to heaven.
Almost certainly, the account in Zechariah clearly shows
the center of the world’s commercial system — a system
of “wickedness” and “iniquity”— is moved to Babylonia,
otherwise referred to as Shinar.
The empty Basket also symbolizes a deep moral slide in
the area of greed and gain. What passes for ethical practice
these days concerns itself more with the appearance of doing
good rather than what is right or actually converting the
heart to doing right.
As a result, America is the most enslaved major nation of
the world. Its citizens work more hours per week than any
other advanced country; its households labor under more
debt than any other nation; their cisterns are empty,
and their wants still unsatisfied.
The “god of gain” has not been keeping his promises of
ease and comfort. Now, it is no longer a matter of choice.
Mammon must be served just to keep our heads above water.
The same dilemma now confronts the entire nation on a
sovereign level. Why? Because our whole society remains
fixated on the pursuit of affluence.
REAPPEAR THE TAU
The tau cross is formed from the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
The prophet Ezekiel spoke of "God's faithful ones being marked with
the tau on their foreheads," signing their complete commitment
to God and the ways of goodness.
Francis of Assisi took the tau as the symbol of his movement.
For him it was an ultimate sign of complete commitment to God and
to the deep conversion of heart that would characterize his followers.
The tau is a mark of belonging, of being deeply consecrated,
commissioned and committed.
In ancient times, a symbol for life and/or resurrection, whereas the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death.
In Biblical times, the Tau was put on men to distinguish those who lamented sin, although newer versions of the Bible have replaced the ancient term “Tau” with "mark" (Ezekiel 9:4) or "signature" (Job 31:35). Its original sound value is a voiceless alveolar plosive, IPA /t/,
Tau is usually considered as the symbol of Franciscan orders due to St. Francis' love for it, a symbol of the redemption and of the Cross. Almost all Franciscan churches have painted a tau with two crossing arms, both with stigmata, the one of Jesus and the other of Francis; usually members of the Secular Franciscan Order wear a wooden τ in a string with three knots around the neck.
Tau mission, a proposal to send a space probe to a
thousand astronomical units from the Earth and Sun.
The Tau Cross & Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of execution, where the victim was tied or nailed to a large wooden cross (Latin: crux) and left to hang there until dead. It was a fairly common form of execution in Antiquity, until c. 313 AD, when Christianity became the dominant faith in Rome. Crucifixion has special significance in Christianity as Jesus was put to death by the Romans by being nailed to a cross. The cross or the crucifix has become the main Christian symbol.
Crucifixion was hardly (if ever) performed for ritual or symbolic reasons; usually, its purpose was only to provide a particularly painful, gruesome, and public death, using whatever means were most expedient for that goal. In fact, crucifixion is only one of a much wider spectrum of slow, cruel and painful execution methods, including various forms of impalement, hanging from hooks, burning at the stake, exposure to wild beasts, etc.
Therefore, the details of crucifixion must have varied considerably with location and epoch, and even from case to case; and little can be said about the practice in general.
Two methods were followed in the infliction of the punishment of crucifixion. In both of these the criminal was first of all usually stripped naked, and bound to an upright stake, where he was so cruelly scourged with an implement, formed of strips of leather having pieces of iron, or some other hard material, at their ends, that not merely was the flesh often stripped from the bones, but even the entrails partly protruded, and the anatomy of the body was disclosed. In this pitiable state he was reclothed, and, if able to do so, was made to drag the stake to the place of execution, where he was either fastened to it, or impaled upon it, and left to die. In. this method, where a single stake was employed, we have the crux simplex of Lipsius. The other method is that with which we are more familiar, and which is described in the New Testament account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
In such a case, after the scourging at the stake, the criminal was made to carry a gibbet, formed of two transverse bars of wood, to the place of execution, and he was then fastened to it by iron nails driven through the outstretched arms and through the ankles. Sometimes this was done as the cross lay on the ground, and it was then lifted into position. In other cases the criminal was made to ascend by a ladder, and was then fastened to the cross. Probably the feebleness, or state of collapse, from which the criminal must often have suffered, had much to do in deciding this. It is not quite clear which of these two plans was followed in the case of the crucifixion of Christ, but the more general opinion has been that He was nailed to the cross on the ground, and that it was then lifted into position.
The contrary opinion, has, however, prevailed to some extent, and there are representations of the crucifixion which depict Him as mounting a ladder placed against the cross. Such representations may, however, have been due to a pious desire, on the part of their authors, to emphasize the voluntary offering of Himself as the Saviour of the World, rather than as being intended for actual pictures of the scene itself. It may be noted, however, that among the Emblems of the Passion, as they are called, and which were very favorite devices in the middle ages, the ladder is not infrequently found in conjunction with the crown of thorns, nails, spear, &c.
Cross Shape
The horizontal beam of the cross, or transom, could be fixed at the very top of the vertical piece, the upright, to form a capital T called a tau cross or Saint Anthony's cross. The horizontal beam could also be affixed at some distance below the top, often in a mortise, to form a lowercase t-shape called a Latin cross, more often depicted in Christian imagery. Alternatively, the cross could consist of two diagonal beams to form an X, alternatively known as the decussate cross (after decem, Latin for 'ten', insofar as 'X' is the Roman numeral for ten) or as Saint Andrew's cross. (This shape may be recognized from its white-on-blue manifestation in the flag of Scotland.)
For reasons of simplicity, a single, upright wooden pole (crux simplex), with no transom at all, was also often used for ancient crucifixions; the original Greek word for "cross" (stauros) is generally understood to indicate a simple upright pole or stake. On such, malefactors were nailed for execution.
Both the noun, and the verb staurein, "to fasten to a stake or pole", are distinct from the ecclesiastical symbol of the two-beamed "cross". According to some theories, the shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Babylonia as the symbol of the god Tammuz, being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the Greek initial of his name. By the middle of the 3rd century AD, pagans received into the churches sometimes retained their pagan signs and symbols.
Hence the Tau or T, with the cross-piece lowered, is said to have been adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ. Of course, this theory that the cross symbol was adopted purely as a symbol from pagan practice seemingly overlooks all the archaeological and literary evidence discussed elsewhere in this article, that actual crosses were indeed used as a very real means of execution.
Location of the nails
Religious depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus typically show him supported by nails through the palms.For the sake of expediency, the victim was probably affixed to the cross by ropes, nails, or some combination of the two. In popular depictions of crucifixion (possibly derived from a literal reading of the translated description in the Gospel of John, of Jesus' wounds being "in the hands"), the victim is shown supported only by nails driven straight through the feet and the palms of the hands. However, the flesh of the hands cannot support a person's body weight, so some other means must have been used to support most of the weight, such as tying the wrists to the cross beam.
Another possibility, that does not require tying, is that the nails were inserted just above the wrist, between the two bones of the forearm (the radius and the ulna). The nails could also be driven through the wrist, in a space between four carpal bones (which is the location shown in the Shroud of Turin). As some historians have suggested, the Gospel word χειρ (cheir) that is translated as "hand" may have in fact included everything below the mid-forearm. Indeed, Acts 12:7 uses this word to report chains falling off from Peter's "hands", although the chains would be around what we would call "wrists". This shows that the semantic range of χειρ is wider than the English "hand", and can incorporate nails through the wrist.
Another possibility, suggested by Frederick Zugibe, is that the nails may have been driven in on an angle, entering in the palm in the crease that delineates the bulky region at the base of the thumb, and exiting in the wrist, passing through the carpal tunnel.
A sedile, or a seat, was often attached to the cross, for the purpose of taking the man's weight off the wrists. This was most likely a simple peg or slab of wood, upon which the man would rest.
Cause of death
Death could come in hours or days, depending on exact methods,
the health of those crucified, and environmental circumstances.
A theory attributed to Pierre Barbet holds that the typical cause of death was asphyxiation. He conjectured that when the whole body weight was supported by the stretched arms, the victim would have severe difficulty exhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the lungs. The victim would therefore have to draw himself up by his arms, or have his feet supported by tying or by a wood block. Indeed, Roman executioners were said to break the victim's legs, after he had hung for some time, in order to hasten his death. Once deprived of support and unable to lift himself, the victim would die within a few minutes.
If death did not come from asphyxiation, it could result from a number of other causes, including physical shock caused by the scourging that preceded the crucifixion, and the nailing itself, dehydration, and exhaustion.
Experiments by Frederick Zugibe have revealed that, when suspended with arms at 60° to 70° from the vertical, test subjects had no difficulty breathing, only rapidly increasing discomfort and pain. This would correspond to the Roman use of crucifixion as a prolonged, agonizing, humiliating death. Zugibe claims that the breaking of the crucified victim's legs to hasten death, mentioned in the Gospel accounts, was done in order to cause severe traumatic shock or death by fat embolism, and only as a coup de grace. Crucifixion on a single pole with no transom, with hands affixed over one's head, would precipitate rapid asphyxiation if no block was provided to stand on, or once the legs were broken.
The notion was that the sacrificial lamb went willingly.
Thus in 308, Lactantius wrote:
Religion being a matter of the will, it cannot be forced on anyone. In this matter it is better to employ words than blows. Of what use is cruelty? What has the rack to do with piety? Surely there is no connexion between truth and violence, between justice and cruelty… It is true that nothing is so important as religion, and one must defend it at any cost… It is true that it must be protected, but by dying for it, not by killing others, by long-suffering, not by violence, by faith, not by crime. If you attempt to defend religion with bloodshed and torture, what you do is not defense, but desecration and insult. For nothing is so intrinsically a matter of free will as religion.
Lactantius, Divine Institutes 5
Thus the tragedy had been that so much enthusiasm had already
slipped away, condemned to the twilight world of the sects.
"Compassion.....can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind." ~Albert Schweitzer
