I hope you all had a blessed and grateful Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for if we only open our eyes and hearts! Thanksgiving this year arrived on the anniversary of my priest ordination, which was an added blessing for me, personally. As I'm heading into my fifth year of being a priest, I am continually thankful for the gift of spiritual teachers and all of those who have travelled the Path before me, for all those who have held the reality of God for me before I could hold it for myself.

This Thanksgiving, part of the Lansing community spent holiday at the Milwaukee Center of Light with the Milwaukee and Chicago communities (and with Father Peter!). It was like a mini-retreat, with teaching and love for all. Father Peter watched a movie with us called "Sun Seed" about the spiritual teachers and guides of the 60's and 70's (teachers li ke Sufi S.A.M. and Ram Dass, etc.). What struck me especially about the movie was a couple of things: how there were many more guides back then compared to now; also how some of them weren't really teachers at all, at least not in the way I know real Teachers to be. I'm especially grateful for the fact that even though there are very few REAL Spiritual Teachers today, that I know two of them and they have both trained, loved, and taught me; that I have also witnessed them teaching and loving hundreds of others. What a huge gift! And how sad it is that people don't want to grow like this.


"I am thankful for life itself. I am grateful for my Teachers who taught me everything about what is real, what is important and what lasts. They taught me love and integrity and honesty. They introduced me to God in the center of my being. They came through on their promises and did not fail me as so many regular people have done. My Teachers were wise because they were truly humble before God and allowed themselves to be taught and led through all of the trials and tests so they could be introduced and come to know God. They were courageous in defying the whole world in order to stand for the truth. They did not compromise or make bargains with anyone. They could not be lobbied or influenced by p ower, ambition, pride or fear. They were steadfast and obedient to God, Jesus and Mary. They earned my trust because of their love, not because of a desire on my part to be like them, although more and more I wanted to be like them in the ability to love. Their wisdom and spiritual sight guided me through the stages of initiation and spiritual gr owth to enable me to become the Teacher I am and to be one of the wise ones on the earth. This is not a pompastic statement. (Pompastic is pompous and bombastic together = pompastic). I have attained God consciousness because of the sacrifices and prayers of my Teachers. Their prayers and love for me made it possible for me to rise up and do what they did. And now that they are passed into the spiritual world, they continue to support my work here and I continue to honor them for the love they had for me and the opportunity I was given to be able to learn from them. I am thankful to Jesus for being my Teacher and calling me from the world and crushing my human ego so that I could actually take direction from God. Jesus' love is beyond anything you can imagine as it is so deep and wide that words cannot express. Jesus is real. Mary is real and Her love is so still and powerful and deep that one can only be in awe of Her. I am thankful also for all of the souls I have been able to inspire over the many years of teaching and training people. They are joy to me. Their development and unfoldment has been astounding and continuous and I want to thank each of you that has had the guts to allow the Teachers to teach you. I am thankful for our spiritual community which is growing larger and larger and stronger and stronger for their willingness to give and love. They make all of this work on this planet worth it. Blessings to all of you in this Thanksgiving season." ~Father Peter from his blog (can be found at www.themysticalpath.blogspot.com)