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Reflection Volume 13,Issue 1 – Spring 2016 17 Can we make connections with the important festivals in the liturgical year? A prayer Finally I would like to sharewith you a prayer whichMianne Baker, of theNaarden congregation, wrotewith regard to this project. Awakening, Moving, Intensifying, Transforming Awakening, growing, continuously moving, I wonder: who am I?What is the meaning of my existence? Silent stillness, sitting in front of Thy Face. Imagining, feeling in depth, and in height, feeling the power fromwords, from deeds. A foundation on which the energy of my being flows, the power that takes me back to my source. The experience which wordlessly transforms me. It turns me, it bends me, voices the fullness of my being, it melts together it reaches each other’s hands, It sanctifies, it heals the foundation of my existence. Of this I can sing, there I feel music, sounds that echo deep withinme. This holy place, placed on this special centre 100 years ago. FromLevites we became priests, we filled ourselves with gnosis, filled our own temple. Standing in front of Thy Face feeling Thy Hand andmy hand in Yours. A creating Presence by whom I know I am carried: wordlessly space fills itself with Amen. n The chapel of the LCC congregation, St. Michael and all Angels , in Naarden is located on the estate of the Internatonal Theo- sophical Centre (ITC). The ITC estate consists of 17 hectares of beautiful woods and gardens, with the original oldmansion St. Michaels House located at the center, now a residence for workers. Participants of the activities can enjoy (meditatively) their walks on the peaceful grounds. The Chapel in Naarden – a brief History The first chapel in Naarden was consecrated September 29, 1924 by Mgr. J.L. Wedgwood. This private chapel of the St. Michael Foundation was managed by a First Priest who needed consent of the head of the Theosophical Centre . In September 1925 the whole estate became the property of the Theosophical Centre . Among its objectives is: 1 to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humani- ty , without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour; 2 to encourage the study of comparative religion, philoso- phy and science; 3 to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in the human being. In April 1926 the first extension of the chapel was added. In July of that same year there was a second enlargement. In August 1928 the chapel was renovated. The capacity was enlarged from 250 to 400 people. Shortly after this renovation the chapel was struck by lightning and completely demolished. In its place a Garden of Remembrance was planted. After the fire the congregationmoved to the Besant Hall , destroyed by fire in 1966. From that moment on the church services were temporarily held in the Hostel. The current building is in use since 1972. In 1987, sixty-three years after its foundation, the congre- gation in Naarden lost her private status and joined the Liberal Catholic Church Province in the Netherlands. A full renovation of the chapel took place in 2007 according to fire regulations. The aims of both the Theosophical Centre and the LCC are and will always be closely connected. The theosophical maxim ‘ There is no religion higher than truth ’ also characterizes the doctrine of the LCC. An impression of the congregation inNaarden, theNetherlands Host of the Event coming July 2016 In Part One , ‘ Awakening andMoving ’, it was relatively easy to place the subjects in the time of Advent and Christmas, because they bore the intention of the Christmas story in them. But where do we place these words? There is more than one answer to this question: •FromChristmas via Unknowing Children (The Infanti- cide), or the Epiphany, to the Transfiguration; •FromAshWednesday to Good Friday or perhaps to Easter or even Ascension Day? The words and expressions written above can cover all these phases, but it is important how one looks at it indi­ vidually. One word or expression is never better than another. All has its stages.

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