The Alliance of Divine Love Newsletter s3
The Alliance of Divine Love Newsletter
December, 2015
New phone # for National Office: 828-388-2102
National and Chapter News (originally published 1st week of December)
Co-Founder Rev. Dr. Barbara Selwa
Dear ones:
In most Real religions (i. e. those of Love) there are teachings describing how to release yourself from the belief barriers and expectations of physical life. Your consciousness must rise above the mundane world and commune with that which is Real – which has been in the past, is now and will continue so forever. The signs, symbols and language of the mundane cannot be used in experiencing the Real. This must take place directly with Deity through the interaction of Love in the Sacred Heart and the blending of your Heart, which lies within the Sacred Well of ultimate Love. These are big sounding words, and what actually happens within you cannot be told in language, as we have said.
Many teaching aids from the Love religions give us help. You have all found some of these and experienced growth – meditation, prayer, yoga, fasting, chanting, drumming – the list is endless. You are probably doing one or more at present and can feel the change in your life as you progress. However, as you do this something else happens to most of you. It is a temporary situation and limited to the physical world. Here, you have risen to a new height. You feel better. Then one day things go all wrong in your life. Perhaps you lose your job or a friend insults and verbally attacks you..Whatever it is, you feel like the walls are coming down upon you. You are lost in your ruined dreams. The lower concepts of your previous life become real to you again. Instead of reaching out to Eternal Unending Love, you fall into the mire of your unloved self. You may feel inadequate, powerless and much diminished. A few of you may even feel suicidal. What to do, oh, what to do?
Do not worry. Lesser love never has power over the Greatest Degree of Love. You cannot really suffer. There is always a way out, because only Love is Real. You are Real, therefore you are Love. You can always turn to what we call “markers” in the physical world to help you restore your former growth in your consciousness. These are, of course, our previous teaching aids described above, along with rites of communion, counseling, study of great spiritual teachers and many others.
These alone, however, will not take you where you want to go. What you must do transcends the mundane world. These actions must be done within the heart. No words will suffice. It must be said that within your seemingly, ordinary heart resides a much enhanced array of super emotions. These probably have been experienced rarely in your everyday life. For example, if you go to a game and your team wins only with great difficulty, you and others are screaming with joy and elation. You may jump and dance with your happiness. These are ordinary, expected emotions. Their super emotion counterparts are rapture and ecstasy. In these you are so overcome, so completely immersed that you may be unable to move. You will feel them fill your being. They will not be brought about because of winning a game. They come directly from Deity and often are aided in this process by angels, saints and higher beings. From that day forth you will seek these super emotions. They are the Waves of the Living God.
When confronted with a mundane process as described above, YOU MUST GIVE YOUR HEART COMPLETELY TO GOD. GET YOUR MIND OUT OF SPACE/TIME – GET ON DEITY'S LEVEL. THERE IS NO CAUSE AND NO EFFECT. FEEL, FEEL, MY DARLINGS. THIS IS YOUR ANSWER TO ANYTHING. PLAY GODBALL AND DO NOT SHUT THE DOOR WHEN GOD SENDS THE GOOD BALL BACK. KEEP THE DOOR OPEN AND WAIT! In this way, you will accomplish your spiritual goal. Your loving sister in Love, StAOR
President's Message: Rev. Jo Ann "Elf" Pessagno
Dearest fellow ministers, my wish for you is that you are filled with gratitude for all your blessings after a holiday devoted to giving thanks.
I give thanks for the support and love of the Board of Tustees that helps grow ADL into a thriving, loving, caring ministry that shines a light into the veil of darkness, spreads love wherever it is needed and does their best to make decisions all in the greatest degree of love. The BOT still struggles with how best to communicate with almost 900 ministers who have chosen ADL as their path for spiritual development. How do we attract a record number of ministers to Kennebunk, Maine, for the ADL annual conference and extravaganza in June 2016?
It is of no moment that we have not met physically because we all share the same bond, the concept of aligning with Divine Love. We all found this light-filled organization through a word, a search, a friend, a connection, a guide. We all carry this light of Divine Love. Imagine what we can do when we combine our lights to pierce the illusion of darkness. Go to the website directory, find someone in your area, pick up the phone or send an email. See where that connection will lead. There are 900 of these dots of light throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, and Columbia. Let’s connect the dots and really shine our light.
Love and hugs,
Elf
Congratulations to the following New Ministers of ADL!
Ordained on ...
Report from the National ADL Office by Rev. Pamela Meyer Crissey and Rev. Analisa Domenica
In Gratitude,
Pam and Analisa
All correspondence should be sent to the Hendersonville address below and all emails to . We will respond to all communication if we get it, so if we don't respond, contact us again.
ADL National Office
707 Brooklyn Ave.
Hendersonville, NC 28792
NEW PHONE NUMBER: 828-388-2102
ADL National Conference
Kennebunk, Maine
June 23-26, 2016
THE PLACE TO BE: KENNEBUNK, MAINE
It’s a Divine Love Infusion!
The National ADL Conference Committee has been hard at work planning with your input the next ADL National Conference. We are excited to announce that the theme for the next conference is:
A Divine Love Infusion with Inspiration, Education and Fellowship
We are beginning to plan our agenda and we have paid special attention to your requests and desires as expressed in the survey sent out earlier this year. Currently you can expect the following activities:
Early morning activities will be Yoga, meditation and/or walks through the 66 acre grounds.
Thursday evening: Meet and greet. Snacks and beverages will be provided. There will be activities that will help us all get acquainted.
Friday morning Whale Watch
Saturday evening Down East Lobster Bake Dinner. (We will be providing alternative menus for our Land lovers and Vegan ministers.)
Meet our Leadership Meeting with Chapter and National Committee Reports
National Meeting of Alliance of Divine Love
Interactive Spiritual Counseling Panel where you can ask the experts
Pass the Stick with the National ADL Board of Directors, Ask that Question that you always wanted to ask our leadership.
Inspirational Speakers
Fellowship activities with FUN!
Closing Sunday inspirational service
Soon you will be receiving a registration form with prices and complete information about registering for this great conference. You will have the option of sending in a $100 deposit, which will hold your room space and give you preference on rooms at the Franciscan Guest House.
One of the things on the survey that was very important to you was easy access to the conference location. The Franciscan Guest House has three airports which are in its vicinity.
Portland Jetport, is the closest airport. Driving time from the airport is about 26 minutes. American Airlines, Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest, United and U.S. Air all fly into Portland.
Manchester, N.H. is the second closest. Driving time is about 1 hr. 14min drive. Southwest, U.S. airways, United, U.S. Air express from Charlotte, Delta, and United fly into Manchester.
Boston Logan is 1hr. 38 min. drive. Air Canada, American Airlines, Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest, Spirit, United, U.S. Airways, Virgin and Aer Lingus all fly into Boston Logan.
Keep looking for more details in the ADL newsletter, Website and on our ministers Facebook page. Get ready to register early to guarantee your room. We look forward to seeing you there.
"Conscious GOlf" by Rev. Randy Fillmore, ADL National Ombudsman
Rev Randy FillmoreADL Ombudsman
As is my usual situation, I did not practice or play golf as much during the spring and summer as I should have, so my game was not where it should have been, and quite honestly, it was pretty bad.
While I did not hit anyone, instead of hitting the ball through the tree-lined pastures where the ball should have gone, I was usually searching (usually in vain) for my ball in those woods, or hitting another ball because the one I hit went into the pond or wetlands.
Was I manifesting that I was in conflict and not in alignment? All I wanted to do was hit this little ball consistently where I aimed a decent distance. Nothing outside what is possible.
The more swings I took, the more frustrated I became, and the worse the shot became.
That still small voice deep within chose not to laugh at me, but to suggest that I take this opportunity to reflect on what was out of alignment within my life and make peace, the kind of peace that comes from forgiveness.
Between the golf strokes, I wracked my mind to figure out or understand just where I was out of alignment. My marriage is wonderful, my work with ADL is engaging but not overly taxing, my professional (day job) career is hectic, busy, and stressful. I would not have thought I was out of alignment, but, what did I know?
Before I left the office for the golf trip, I had left instructions to complete a software upgrade during my absence. During the first few days of the golf trip, during a call to the office to "check in," I learned that things had gone terribly wrong, that the upgrade was not successful, and that all the previous back-up disks were now corrupted.
I did not yell or scream, but I certainly made my displeasure extremelyand forcefully clear, and I firmly expressed my position that the contractors working this upgrade needed to fix it and fix it fast.
I thought I had put the upgrade behind me or at least out of my conscious mind as I shifted my focus from work over the next several days to the tree-lined and manicured golf courses. Little did I know those thoughts of unrest remained in my consciousness.
When I finally realized that I was in conflict with myself regarding the software upgrade, wanting the contractors to fix the problems they encountered and not being smart enough to have foreseen the possibility of failure, I had to "hit the reset button."
Keeping focused on my breath, concentrating on "being in the moment," and not allowing the monkey mind or outside mental chatter to cloud my thoughts, I started to do much better. The ball would actually go where I aimed, and much further. It was a miracle!
I made a mental note to make a conscious effort to minimize the mental chatter through forgiving others for not living up to my expectations and for not being the people I wanted them to be. It was also important to forgive myself for becoming angry when others did not meet my expectations.
American journalist Sidney J. Harris wrote, "It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others."
I will and fully acknowledge that changing my thoughts and consciousness did help with my golf. As in any endeavor, practice, practice, and more practice are the keys to success.
I affirm that as I will plan to play more golf in the spring, I can spend the time in between working on my feelings towards others and how I feel about myself.
Blessings along the path.
Rev Randy Fillmore
ADL Ombudsman
Webmeister Musings November, 2015 - Rev. Brian Crissey
The current ADL ministers are reflected in the Directory tab at the national web site. Access is by password, a two-syllable word starting with a capital "O", a word that describes what happens to a person who becomes a fully qualified ADL minister. The fields that ministers can see are Country, State, Last, First, Email, and Phone. The information is current as of November 1, subject to the limitation that we live in a real world, where the data stream that we process from online forms into the database reflects individual ministers' choices as to how to abbreviate their state or country name, whether or not to fill in every field, and the inevitable finger fumbles that pepper our lives with interesting and innovative new words. Please check your information in the Directory, and if there are changes to be made, please email the national office with those corrections. Thank you!
CHAPTER REPORTS
Carolinas Chapter
Dear Me :)
I met Brother Thomas a few months ago at Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia during a yoga retreat. Magical! Having been raised a Catholic, I found a rejecting nature in my energy, yet this eighty-five-year-old irreverent, outspoken monk looked into my Heart and I knew, once again, how perfect I AM. When I later learned that Brother Thomas is from the Cistercian monk order, the order of Thomas Merton, it all made sense!