Advent dares us to dream - Prairie Messenger

Taken from the Prairie Messenger accessed here.

Fanore Beach, Co Clare
(c) Eoin Noonan

Advent is a time of longing, longing for the kingdom made present in Jesus Christ.

It is not a time to pretend that Jesus has not yet come. We do not long for someone whom we do not know. It is precisely because we have already come to know and cherish Jesus as our Lord and Saviour that we can truly long for his presence.

God with wisdom divine made us a mystery unto ourselves. Every time we come to a new level of self-awareness we also awaken to the fact that there is much more about ourselves that we do not know.

And so, even our self-acceptance becomes an act of faith in the God who created us. So it is not just Jesus whom we now know only in faith and hope. Advent tells us not to be afraid to hope for the kingdom, a kingdom of justice and peace, a kingdom of self-fulfilment, a kingdom in which the church itself is known not so much for its propensity to point out sin but, rather, for its marvellous ability to reveal to us that goodness made obvious in Jesus Christ.

Advent flies in the face of 11:00 news broadcasts. What is good in our world is not news. Almost by definition news has become “bad news.” By wallowing in the bad, we can justify that weakest of human responses — cynicism.

Cynicism is beguiling. Before we know it, our cynicism has not only involved the world — especially, these days, the world of politics — but also has come to include our views about ourselves, our church, our God.

There is a hollowness in our hearts, and any self-examination worth its salt invariably leads to the discovery of new “crud.” Thus it is easy to be cynical, to see only smallness of spirit if not outright self-serving sin in others. And, perhaps saddest of all, we choose the personal path of least resistance and become cynical about ourselves.

Rather than truly face that alarming emptiness in our hearts, that deadening hollowness, we proclaim it to be normal. We conveniently decide that we should not expect more of ourselves.

Advent dares us to dream. The eighth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans provides us with a wonderful Advent meditation. The apostle reminds us bluntly what the first fruits of the Spirit will mean for us. The Spirit, he says, will help us groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. “For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved; our salvation is not in sight — we should not have to be hoping for it if it were — but as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet; it is something we must await in patience.”

Paul uses some difficult concepts: groaning, not yet in sight, patience. We do not want to groan inwardly; we want instant gratification; patience comes hard for all of us.

Advent does not provide ready answers; it calls us to faith. A line often used in the Advent liturgy should become a mantra for us: “O, come, Lord Jesus; O you heavens, rain down your salvation. Lord, just let it pour upon me.”

Texts such as these are put not just on the lips of individual Christians. In the liturgy the whole church cries out longing for fullness. During Advent the church itself makes its own the words of the prophet Isaiah, words spoken during some of Israel’s most difficult years. How can it be, we ask, that the church makes its own the pathos in Isaiah’s heart as he cried out in the wilderness of his being for consolation, for a path of salvation in his personal desert?

Yes, the church cries out: “Come to us, Lord, with your peace that we may rejoice before you with our whole heart.” Freely, openly, the church admits that it is restless. But what else is to be expected since the church is not yet fully at home with its Lord?

And so we shun the temptation to cynicism, the temptation that makes our smallness of spirit the norm. Because we know Jesus, we hope for more. We should take consolation that the church in its Advent liturgy admits to its incompleteness, its smallness of spirit, its temptation to settle down and idolize its current structures as nigh-on perfect.

During Advent we as individuals and as church renew our pledge not to settle down, not to make our home in the present age. We promise not to attempt to fill our incompleteness with anything and everything that is handy.

Advent reminds us that we can change and move beyond what satisfies us today. Advent also assures us that our church can change, can change even those structures it has so carefully divinized. In this Advent process we come to notice that our very concept of God also changes.

With the new freedom that comes from facing our deepest fears, we can with St. Paul realize that our patient groaning has been changed into the new song of the kingdom: “For I am now certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, not any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Waiting in Joyful Hope! Advent begins - Pilgrim Progress

Cross post from Sr Louise at Pilgrims Progress:

Advent begins not with a cute baby scene but one which might even disturb us. We do not begin our Advent journey with the baby Jesus snuggled in the arms of his parents all aglow in a tranquil postpartum nativity scene.  Instead we begin right in the middle of the birth pains that accompany a difficult delivery. The prophet Isaiah lets out a gut wrenching cry: “O God that you would tear open the heavens and come down.”  The world around us is in turmoil, God.  We need your presence.  Come and occupy our world now! The world cries out for the Lord.

Nowadays people don’t like waiting. In the past I’ve thought of waiting as wasted time, such as when I wait for a bus or in a doctor’s surgery. This kind of waiting requires little action on our part; it’s mostly a matter of biding our time. Everything is so instantaneous that we no longer know how to wait. Yet, these are opportunities to pray. The Second Reading from St. Paul reminds us that as we wait, we do so with a grateful heart. We have received so many gifts which help us as we wait, gifts which keep us faithful. The Lord also asks us to pray as we wait. If we are too busy to pray then we really are too busy. The same amount of time will pass whether I am squandering it in impatience or using it to serve the Lord and His children. Choosing to “wait upon the Lord” or viewed another way, to serve Him, yields far more satisfying results.

A reflection I read on this Sunday’s Gospel invites us to give thanks to all those who keep watch and wait for us. Who are the doorkeepers in our lives who wait anxiously for us to welcome us, even when we have strayed from them, blocked them out? There are doorkeepers who encourage us and offer hospitality and words of advice to keep going along the pilgrim way. 

It is like during the Lough Derg pilgrimage when have to stay awake all night as part of the penitential element. You try to sneak a few secret minutes of zzzz’s before you get caught. You keep moving position to stop your legs hopping with restlessness. It requires effort to stay awake. How can we keep our soul awake for when the Lord comes?

I love Night vigils. There is something very special about keeping watch in the dark by the glow of candles or the moonlight. There is a stillness that the day cannot encapture. But it is so easy to fall asleep, especially when you want to stay awake! 

For this, the Church gives us Advent. It is four weeks of being alert, of preparation. Advent always begins with a word about wakefulness. The wakefulness that Jesus describes is a state of mind and body, a practice, a way of being. It does not bear resemblance to the ways we usually try to keep ourselves (or unwittingly find ourselves) awake, methods that usually leave us jangly-nerved and less than fully functional, usually caffeine-induced! Sometimes we exist more than live, or even worse we ‘survive’ and not live at all. Our Father wants us to thrive, not just survive. The prophet Isaiah wrote to the believers of his day: “those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Isn’t it amazing how exhausted we can get doing God’s work?

Too often, rather than waiting patiently, quietly, expectantly, and in his word, we are fretting and anxious and non-trusting and our strength is drained. Those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings as eagles! It is an interesting thing about eagles. They soar, they don’t fly. They wait for the correct wind, and then they ride that wind, soaring to the heights. Isn’t that a great picture for us as we wait on the Lord? When the wind of the Spirit moves and blows, we ride with wings as eagles to where he wants us to go.

Expectantly wait on Him. And when the Holy Spirit moves, when the wind blows, then soar on wings like an eagle, run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. In the meantime, wait for Him. And while you are waiting – renew your strength.

Celebrating Advent 2017 - Keep it simple

Advent - the forgotten liturgical season in the rush to Christmas. A moment when we try to pause and remember that we waited and we are waiting for the coming of the One, the coming of the Divine Master, the one whom Isaiah prophesied "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

In a world so crying out for peace, at a time when the darkness seems to be drawing in all around us and people bow down in despair at the madness of it all, now more than ever does Advent seem needed. 

A reminder to us that God has made his promise to us and never forgets his people, that there is hope, a reason for hope, a reason to keep going, a reason not to despair. For it is better to light a candle in the gloom than to curse the darkness. For the Light has come into the world, a promise has been made and he will come again.

Now more than ever we are called to be witnesses of hope, heralds like John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord for he has come, and he will come again.

Advent Credo

It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life; 

It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction—  This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly. 

It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and destruction rule forever— This is true: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councilor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace. 

It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world— This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo I am with you, even until the end of the world. 

It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers— This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams. 

It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity of peace are not meant for this earth and for this history— This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth. 

So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ—the life of the world.

From Walking on Thorns, by Allan Boesak, Eerdmans, 2004. Accessed here

Our Lady of Advent
Chalked by Sr Paul PDDM

Life is a constant Advent season: we are continually waiting to become, to discover, to complete, to fulfill. Hope, struggle, fear, expectation and fulfillment are all part of our Advent experience.

The world is not as just, not as loving, not as whole as we know it can and should be. But the coming of Christ and his presence among us—as one of us—give us reason to live in hope: that light will shatter the darkness, that we can be liberated from our fears and prejudices, that we are never alone or abandoned. May this Advent season be a time for bringing hope, transformation and fulfillment into the Advent of our lives.

- Sr Louise O'Rourke PDDM

Keeping Advent Simple - iBenedictines

I am a great believer in simplicity. Unfortunately, that usually means making a special effort, because simplicity is not the same as being casual or careless about details. To be simple is to be focused in one direction only, and that is especially true of Advent. 

Advent is very short this year, barely three weeks long. Just three weeks in which to prepare for the coming of our Saviour and for the transformation of our hearts and minds! It is therefore important not to let Advent become fussy, to allow things good in themselves to clutter our way. It always grieves me when I read of people setting themselves elaborate programmes of fasting and private devotions that become ends in themselves. The liturgy of Advent provides us with all we need. To read each day with care and attention the scriptures and, if possible, the other readings the Church sets before us; to pray in union with the Church on the themes she gives us week by week; to try to live each day in accordance with the gospel — this, surely, is the best way to prepare for the coming of God. Some people will find it necessary to read something more — an Advent-themed book, for example — or to make a conscious effort to overcome the selfishness of other times — by giving help to a local Charity, for example — but these are secondary. The most essential Advent preparation is the one that changes us interiorly for the better. 

So, this Advent, I confidently predict that readers of this blog will all be much kinder, especially online, where there is so much unkindness to counteract; much more thoughtful, generous and patient. Unfortunately, they will know nothing about it because their gaze will be fixed on the one who is to come into the world, not on themselves. They may even feel a failure, because they will have nothing in particular to show for all their effort. There will be no long prayers said, no devotions painstakingly performed, no acts of charity to reckon up, only a simple, loving concentration on Jesus. But could there be any finer way to spend Advent? I think not.

Deaconstructing Advent: Light

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Irish Bishops Conference - Advent Calendar with a particular focus on the family

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Sacred Space (the Jesuit one!) - Sacred Advent Retreat - sign up for daily emails

Pray as You Go - Advent Retreat 2017: Messengers of Joy

Loyola Ministries - Advent Calendar for Adults

Limerick Diocese - Advent Scripture Resources

Ignatian Spirituality - Advent Resources

Waiting in joyful hope!

Cross post from Pilgrims Progress:

The birth of Jesus Christ in that stable in Bethlehem is where all my questions begin to be answered”. (Cardinal Basil Hume)

Part of me understands these words from the late Archbishop of Westminster for it was during Advent about 9 years ago that I only began to understand the mystery of life, of death, of birth, of motherhood, the real meaning of Advent and Christmas and the preparation for the birth of the Infant King. 

“The people in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2). That previous summer, our journey as a family was plunged into darkness with the sudden death of our father at the age of 47. Two days afterwards, my sister announced that she was expecting her first child. God, through his mysterious ways, had already begun to comfort us and assure us that life would go on. A few months afterwards, I recall how on the first Sunday of Advent, my sister told us that she had already named the baby growing within her: Joshua, or ‘Jesus saves’ in Hebrew. A co-incidence, I think not…I like to see it as a God-incidence, God’s delicate reminder that this child who would join our family was a sign of hope that life will and must always overcome death, that there will always be a light to break through our darkness. In this little baby in my sister’s womb, my first nephew, I suddenly saw that it is not just into the ‘mess’ of the stable of Bethlehem but into my ‘mess’ that Jesus enters the world. For too long, instead of entering into the ‘rejoice’ of Christmas, part of me longed for the sorrow of Lent that would justify the feelings of sadness, grief and loneliness as I grieved for my Dad. How could I be faithful to that memory of love and still deal with this sorrow in this season of "Rejoice!"?? I pondered the name Joshua; I pondered the name Emmanuel, and was greatly consoled: Jesus is with us, God is with us. Life will go on!

The liturgical time of Advent only lasts 4 weeks, yet its dynamism, from generation to generation animates those who walk towards the fulfilment of God’s promise that life will continue. The Promise is Love and the Promise was Life and the name of the Promise is Jesus! Jesus who comes into the world as a newborn child embodies both power and vulnerability. “Baby Jesus” is both Christ and Child, both powerful and vulnerable. Deep down, it makes sense, for to “to love at all is to be vulnerable”, as C.S. Lewis writes.

I know I will never have children of my own, and yet, each Advent, I cultivate the life growing deep within my heart, I ponder the miracle of motherhood, of bringing life into the world, of waiting. For me, Advent is the season where God waits for the love of his children. He waits, silently, patiently for the moment of grace until the chronos of life (our time) becomes impregnated with his kairos (God’s time), the Word becomes flesh! Advent is the season where the voice of the prophets cries out with renewed energy …the prophets are in our midst, their voices echoing through the shallowness of our society, of our Church, of our lives. We often try to muffle their voices especially when their message forces us out of the cocoon of our spiritual and material comfort zones. At this time of the year, whilst nature slides silently into sleep, the liturgy, with ever-growing urgency, calls us to be awake, to keep watch, to be ready! Today, more than ever, as Christians we need to assume our prophetic role which flows from our baptism and be the voice which reminds that the world that the paradox of God’s love can be seen in an Infant child, his way of saying that the world must go on!

Advent 2015 Reflections - Contemplating Christmas with Mary

In their December 2015 edition, National Geographic did a cover story focused on How the Virgin Mary Became the World’s Most Powerful Woman. Mary barely speaks in the New Testament, but her image and legacy are found and celebrated around the world and the magazine explores the draw of this woman across nations and even religious divides as she is highly revered amongst Muslims.

In Christian theology since the Council of Ephesus in 431AD Mary has been recognised as Theotokos - the one who gave birth to God or Mother of God. The Council declared that both Divine and human natures were united in the person of Jesus, the son of Mary. Hence, Mary may be called Theotokos, since the son she bore according to the flesh, Jesus, is truly one of the Divine persons of the Trinity. This Marian title is really a Christological statement, which affirms that the second person of the Trinity, who was born into history as fully human, is really 'God with us'.

But away from the complexities of high theology where is the young girl of Nazareth? And what is her role in the events we celebrate at Christmas?

In his book Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives Joseph Ratzinger speaks of Mary’s ‘straightforward yes’ to the angel Gabriel when she says ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ (Lk. 1:38)

Pope Benedict reminds us of a homily by St Bernard of Clairvaux who presents this moment in dramatic fashion. God seeks to enter the world and to do so He knocks at Mary’s door. However, God needs human freedom because humans have been created free so a free yes is required as a response to his will. In this sense God is now dependent on humanity and has truly ‘emptied’ Himself of all power and control. His power is now tied to the ‘unenforceable’ yes of a human being - the young girl Mary. Bernard pictures heaven and earth ‘holding its breath’ at this moment awaiting Mary’s yes. This is the crucial moment when from her lips and from her heart the answer comes: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’

But what are the consequences of that answer? “In human terms, in paschal terms – [from the Greek verb pascho with its root word in strickeness and suffering] – the story of Jesus begins with a terrified teenager birthing onto a futon of straw in a rock cavity amid the incense of the breath of livestock. It begins in a Taliban territory, a sectarian state that murders single mothers by stoning them. It begins badly and ends worse – in the public execution of her child as a condemned criminal in a rubbish dump outside the city walls.”[1] 

In very human terms, still very much happening today, frightened young girls and women are giving birth in conditions not much better and often worse, relying on the divine grace of their human female nature – often so defiled and abused by the societies that they are in - to bring to climax the process of creation which they have participated in either willingly or unwillingly. Like that young Jewish girl giving birth without the benefit of midwives they too often “experience an unescorted birth; labour without amenity…there are no women present”[2]. It was ironic that it was “the despised shepherds of inter-testamental Palestine [who visit the birth of] the puking mite who has been born at the wrong time and in the wrong environment”[3]. But that irony is further compounded when it is men, the stalwarts in a theatre of atrocity who will be absent from the vigil at the Cross[4]. The roles are reversed, men welcome him into the world and women assist him out of this vale of tears.

But even before the messiness, the pain and suffering of birth in a dark cave where a mother, in her ultimate gift to the world, in bringing new life into that ungrateful world, prefigures the blood and pain of Calvary, she had suffered for her willingness to be open to the message of God.

She suffered from staring eyes and whispers behind her back which forced her to the shelter of her cousin Elizabeth to the consolation of another woman in the same predicament as she. Small consolation to her, but surely it offers hope to any woman in the situation of an unexpected pregnancy and worried about “what the neighbours may say”.

She suffered in the uncertainty as to whether her fiancée would stand by her in what in human terms he could have seen as being an ultimate betrayal. We can say that “Joseph was a very decent man. He didn’t want to give his girlfriend a bad reputation and after a reassuring dream he married her. But was it a happy life?” [5]

As we gaze on the images of a pregnant Mary should pause and wonder, how did this single, unwed teenage mother feel after her decision? But perhaps Mary herself has given us her response..........

"My soul glorifies the Lord,

My spirit rejoices in God my saviour,

He has looked on his handmaid in her lowliness

Henceforth all ages will call me blessed"

 

When we gaze and ponder on the image of the Madonna expectant with child what can come to mind? We can reflect on her image, the image like Our Lady of Advent by Sr Marie Paul PDDM. Sr Paul notes:

It's Mary pondering what her Child would look like. I tried hard to turn the face of Jesus toward the face of Mary thinking what his Mother looks like but I was totally unable to turn his head to look up.  So I gave up trying. The best I could do, to get closer to my idea from meditation was for him to embrace the heart beating with love for Him.”

As we contemplate with Mary, as we wait with her for the joy of Christmas, we are asked to meditate on that idea of Jesus embracing the heart beating with love for him. Are our hearts beating for love of him? Are we ready for him to embrace us this Christmas?

---

[1] A. Matthews, In the Poorer Quarters, 2007, Veritas, Dublin, pg 12

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] H. Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey, 1998, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, pg 131

Advent Reflections 2015 - Wonder & Awe

Wild Goose Publications, part of the Iona community have beautiful resources all year around. I really like their e-cards that can be sent off to friends around the world.  This is one of their Advent cards, and I offer it as a reflection on ‘wow’!

 

 

Wonder and Awe.

 

A skill much lacking in us adults in these cynical times.  I am thinking of a friend whose son, aged two, walked in on a newly decorated Christmas tree and stood in awe before it saying ‘wow Mama, its really Christmas now’. She commented that it was an amazing insight into the gift of ‘wonder and awe’, to see his eyes widen, his breath stop, his absolute amazement in the face of beauty.  Children remind us of our capability – of our need – for the gift of wonder and awe in Gods presence!

 

Like Kavanagh I long for the ‘luxury of a child’s soul’ (Advent) which I seem to have squandered so easily in my busy life.  Advent offers me an opportunity to reclaim the child-like soul in me that looks at God with wonder and awe.  If I am willing to stop and stand, I will be amazed

 

A candle, a hymn, a still moment – these things will all slow me down and bring me into the moment.  These are just gateways however, the real beauty is not the candlelight. The real beauty is seeing how God sees me, sees us, sees this creation God has made for us all.

 

Twinkle twinkle, Star dust, Mercy and love, Hope and healing

 

Wow, God really is with us – Emmanual

Wow, we really are loved eternally and completely

Wow, Christmas – Christ-with-us – really changes everything

 

Wow

 

Amen.

Advent Reflections 2015 - Pray for me

The words “Pray For Me” signal a person in need. And when someone is in need — because of illness, a broken relationship, loss of work, a spiritual crisis, or grief, it is as if he or she is carrying a heavy bucket — a bucket filled with emotion, filled with grief, filled with confusion, filled with disappointment. …

A person in need or in grief is carrying around this bucket of emotion. An intercessor is one who comes alongside that individual with an empty bucket. The person in need gives his or her agenda to the intercessor, and the intercessor receives that agenda as the work of God, namely prayer. Intercession is carried out by those with enough space in their lives to include the needs of others: family, friends, congregations, communities, and the world.

-Kenneth H. Carter Jr.
“Pray for Me”

From page 10 of “Pray for Me”: The Power in Praying for Others by Kenneth H. Carter Jr.

Advent Reflections 2015 - Re-examining this whole business of prayer

Perhaps we need to re-examine this whole business of praying for this or that. Prayer’s value for Jesus did not rise or fall depending on whether it “worked” or not. He prayed in Gethsemane to avoid death! For Jesus, prayer was about love, not consequences. His relationship with God, whom he called “Abba,” an unusually affectionate word, was so passionate that the two of them had to be together regularly.

 

Prayer is actually an end in itself because it is communion with God. That same God is full of compassion, gravely concerned about the troubles of the world. Prayer called us into communion, not only with God, but with all God loves. Therefore, prayer, practiced even amateurishly, catapults us out into the streets to be in service.

– James C. Howell

Yours Are the Hands of Christ

From pages 28-29

Advent Reflections 2015 - Steps to Joy

Each Advent a friend of mine does something remarkable. She goes through her wardrobe and divides her clothing. Anything she has not worn that year is cleaned, neatly folded and given to the St Vincent de Paul Centre in her locality. When she began this practice six years ago, initially it was hard to part with her favorite items. She was even tempted to wear something just so she could hold onto it! Now however, she gives away her belongings with ease and even delight. She has discovered some practical steps that bring joy to her own life and the lives of others.
 
We might look at today’s Gospel (Lk 3:10-18) in the light of such deeds. When the crowds asked John how to prepare for the Messiah’s coming, John outlined certain steps to take. These steps targeted four important areas of life. In fact, the things that John targeted then are the same ones that we might focus on today. They address our relationship to clothing, food, money and power.
 
Today we light the rose-colored candle, a symbol of our desire to prepare joyfully for the imminent birth of Jesus. Like my friend whose preparation is both active and enthusiastic, may we take some practical steps as we prepare for the coming of this Child, God’s Joy made flesh.

Kathryn Williams pddm

Advent Reflections 2015 - Misericordias Domini

Advent Reflections 2015 - Waiting for the Lord (2)

In this time of Advent, this time of waiting, spend quiet time with God

 

The important words for us to remember today to take away with us as we leave this celebration: “Be alert and watch, for you don’t know when the time will come. What I say to you, I say to all. Stay alert.” Now when Mark — or the community of Mark who recorded this Gospel — recorded those words, he and the other disciples, the community of Jesus, fully expected that at almost any time in the very near future would be the end, and Jesus would return in glory and bring all of creation into the fullness of God’s reign.

So, the same thing was true of St. Paul in writing to the church at Corinth. Paul was urging them to be faithful, continue to develop the gifts that you have received, because the Lord is going to return very soon. About 2,000 years later, it hasn’t happened as they expected — that it would come very quickly, the return of Jesus in glory.

So we are still waiting, and that’s what this Advent season is about. It’s staying vigilant, being alert to the coming of Jesus. And of course, we, like those disciples, what Jesus said about himself, we don’t know when that final coming will happen. But there are many other ways in which Jesus, God, comes into our life if we stay awake, if we stay alert.

And the first way is what we celebrate at the end of this season of waiting, the season of Advent, of course is Christmas, when God did as the people at the time of Isaiah prayed for so fervently: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down. The mountains would quake at your presence.” They were in desperate need of God’s help, God’s protection, God’s care, and they were praying that the heavens would break open and God would come into their midst.


Continue reading here.

Advent Reflections 2015 - Wait for the Lord

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1 – 5

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

There is something wonderous and expectant about the very word ‘Advent.’ In the northern hemisphere, the weather is cold, sometimes bitterly so. There is no doubt that winter is in the air. The days are growing shorter, the darkness longer. The trees stand stark and and bare. All living things have dug their roots deep into the earth for sustenance and protection.The forest animals hibernate. People move inside out of the cold.

Just as nature moves deep inside, so too are we invited to turn inward during this blessed time of preparation for the Lord’s coming. This inner preparation , nourished by prayer, silence, scripture and the sacred music and rituals of the season, is essential if we are to celebrate in a manner worthy of the holy commenoration of our Lord’s birth.

Advent is a quiet, contemplative time of waiting for the Light, the Light who came to be the light of the whole human race. The Light through whom we are given life,  rescuing us from the great darkness and hopelessness and frentic rushing of this time. It is a very special season, indeed, linking the historical coming of the promised Messiah with the coming of Christ into our own hearts and the coming of Christ again at the end of time. It is a time to dig deeply into ourselves and feed the very essence of our being with the food of new life, renewed faith and enlivened hope.

The Eastern Christian tradition sees the Advent season as a time of waiting for the light that will first shine forth at Christmas and reach its peak on Epiphany, the feast of Lights. This beautiful text of Isaiah is proclaimed during the liturgy of the season:

Rise up in splendor!
Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you…
Upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears His glory.
Isaiah 60: 1 – 2


Reflection from Contemplative Outreach. ie

Advent Reflections 2015 - From the Stable to the Cross

Jesus’s life began in a stable and ended on the cross between two criminals. The Apostle Paul said he wanted to proclaim nothing but this crucified Christ. We, too, have nothing to hold on to except this Christ. We must ask ourselves again and again: Are we willing to go his way, from the stable to the cross? As disciples we are not promised comfortable and good times. Jesus says we must deny ourselves and suffer with him and for him. That is the only way to follow him, but behind it lies the glory of life — the glowing love of God, which is so much greater than our hearts and our lives.
(J. Heinrich Arnold)

The Christian mysteries are an indivisible whole. If we become immersed in one, we are led to all the others. Thus the way from Bethlehem leads inevitably to Golgotha, from the crib to the cross. When the blessed virgin brought the child to the temple, Simeon prophesied that her soul would be pierced by a sword, that this child was set for the fall and the resurrection of many, for a sign that would be contradicted. His prophecy announced the passion, the fight between light and darkness that already showed itself before the crib.
(Edith Stein)

Advent Reflections 2015 - Reflecting on Advent with Handel's "Messiah"

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music.

Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus Christ as Messiah. After the rather general introduction, Scene 3 addresses Isaiah's specific prophecy about the virgin birth of a Messiah by expanding more verses from different chapters of the prophet.

From the perspective of reflection during Advent, these masterpieces provide some beautiful settings of Isaiah's prophecies for meditation.

 

Behold, a virgin shall conceive
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive" (Isaiah 7:14) is rendered in a short alto recitative, to be "called Emmanuel", translated to "God – with us", sung with a rest after "God". This very prophecy is quoted in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 1:23).

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
As if the good news was spreading, the solo alto begins "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion" (Isaiah 40:9), and is taken over by the chorus.

The people that walked in darkness
Although the text "The people that walked in darkness" is taken from a different chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 9:2), Handel treats the aria as a continuation of the accompagnato by similar motifs.



For unto us a Child is born
The choir concludes the scene, telling the news of Christmas, the birth of a son, "For unto us a Child is born", in Isaiah's words (Isaiah 9:6).

Advent Reflections 2015 - Always begin again

You get up in the morning; it’s a new day ahead

Forget yesterday, try to see each person new.

And begin again.

 

As the day proceeds

A memory comes back that disturbs

Fling it into God’s mercy

Begin again

A judgement rises in the heart against someone

Cast it aside

Begin again

A word spoken in haste

Say you’re sorry and

Begin again

A silly gaffe

Don’t analyze

Begin again

 

As the day draws to a close

A disappointing result

Don’t try to justify yourself

Begin again

Another occasion of being let down

Don’t give in to resentment

Begin again

Always begin again.

 

- Bishop Brendan Leahy

 

(Going to God Together: Reflections along the Way: New York: New City, 2013)

 

 

Advent Reflections 2015 - Where the Prayer of Advent is Forged

From the blogger Anthony Willis at Beginning to Pray:

Advent Prayer is forged in the darkness of this world's injustice, hatred and cold disregard. It is not a convenient or comfortable offering. It is crucified and bound to those who need a word of hope.

To be truly Christian, this prayer must suffer all kinds of difficulties and face seemingly insurmountable challenges with generous readiness. This cry of faith must not allow itself to be overcome by distress or anxiety, but instead patiently endure all kinds of sorrow with trust. The more love such prayer costs, the more love it brings -- but it has the power to find love where there is no love, because it puts love there.

Even when no more than a gentle invocation of the Name of the Lord, its gentle persistence is not crushed down even by the most coercive hostility. When exhaustion and shock leave one with no words to say or spiritual feelings at all, this hidden act of piety remains a beacon of human dignity in determined silence -- an offering in hope that does not disappoint.

This humble prayer stands on what is faithful and true. It finds invincible confidence in the face of heartrending disappointment and unbearable grievances. By believing in the coming of the love of God, even more than the malice and apathy of men, this simple movement of heart remains on firm ground, the only ground that can bear the weight of human existence.

Such love consumed prayer can hear Divine Whispers above even the oppressive rancour of cold contempt. The unfamiliar light that this contemplation knows can open up a sanctifying gaze deep into every terrifying shadow of our culture. It makes straight a pathway through confusion. It levels mountains of doubt and despair. It sings with a joyful praise that can still even the clamour of the public square. It always rejoices to welcome the quiet fullness of the Word even in the midst of tears. When it is fully mature, this cry of recognition and love echoes forth from such depths that not even death can silence it forever.

If we desire our Advent Prayer, in the end, there are no tricks to teach, no shortcuts to take. In the cold hard path where we stumble on our neighbour broken in the dirt of daily life, this prayer begins when we surrender our own plans and appeal to the mercy of God with humble trust. When this happens, when our Advent Prayer takes on the proportions of real love, something worthy of the One crucified by love is born in us and we have begun at last to prepare for His coming.