As Advent 2021 winds down and the Christmas season approaches, I have been contemplating what is going on in this nation and world. If you focus on the sensationalized headlines or the clickbait, you would almost expect the four horsemen of the apocalypse to come charging out of the mist. Yet if you ignore all that is going on and prefer to hide from it all, that is a huge mistake.
James Finley, who was a novice at Our Lady of Gethsemani and studied under Thomas Merton spoke about the difference between escaping the world and taking on the world’s pain. Finley was complaining to Merton about something at the monastery when Merton challenged him. In essence, Merton told him that one did not join the monastery to breathe the rarified air and escape from the world. Rather one was called to take on the pain of the world in prayer as a monk. (A very rough paraphrase from Alana Levandoski’s (Home Page) album “Point Vierge”)
I find myself increasingly at that point between wishing to escape and seeking how to make a difference in this world. As Christmas approaches, I wonder and I pray. Perhaps the following words from Fr Daniel Berrigan, SJ speak to that desire to be a positive influence in the world. The gift we can offer others is so simple a thing as hope. — Daniel Berrigan
I invite you, dear reader, to join me in this activity and prayer. Then perhaps the closing of my regular evening prayer might be fulfilled: Dona Nobis Pacem, Grant Us Peace.
Verse of the day
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
– John 14:27
Voice of the day
When I find myself rendered distraught by the world around me, as I imagine Mary must have been, I remind myself that God works in and through chaos.
– Valerie Bridgeman, “Building the Commonwealth of God”
Prayer of the day 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.
– Daniel Berrigan, “Advent”
Blue Christmas offers us a chance to share our burdens with the Lord and with each other. Dear reader, as you reflect on the longest night, may “the light that shines in the darkness” (John 1:5 NRSV) guide you through this season, and every day and night of the year…
Read further at — Blue Christmas 2021
“I raise up my voice, not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. . . . We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”—Malala Yousafzai
“One of the great gifts [of the season]is watching the sun make her pilgrimage across the horizon from summer solstice to winter solstice. It is quite a long journey, and on December 21st she will rest at her point furthest south, appearing to stand still for three days before making the return journey again . . . It is a rhythm of journey, pause, and return, again and again.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year – A Self-Study Online Retreat
Which rhythm of the seasons are you in? How does it help guide your journey?
Verse of the day
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
– 2 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)
Voice of the day
The Christian challenge of Christmas is this: justice is what happens when all receive a fair share of God’s world and only such distributive justice can establish peace on earth.
– John Dominic Crossan, “The Challenge of Christmas”
Prayer of the day May we usher in restorative justice, honoring the message of your radical birth.
Verse of the day
This One shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Strength of God, Eternal Protector, Champion of Peace. This dominion, and this peace, will grow without end, with David’s throne and realm sustained with justice and fairness, now and forever.
– Isaiah 9:6-7 (The Inclusive Bible)
Voice of the day
It’s tempting to turn Christmas into a safe holiday that asks little of us. But that would ignore the prophetic, subversive life of Jesus.
– John Gehring, “Why Christmas is Radical”
Prayer of the day Direct me to use the time I have on this earth to embody the life of Jesus, to sustain justice and fairness.
“Take no part in fruitless works of darkness. Rather, expose them.”—Ephesians 5:11
As we approach the last Sunday in the season of Advent, I am sure that many of you are up to your eyeballs in Christmas preparations. Hopefully during Advent, you have been able to take some time to be still amid the rush of this commercialized time of year. I would like to say that I have done that myself, but sadly, those moments have been fleeting and few.
The reading from Luke for the fourth Sunday of Advent is the song of Mary otherwise known as the “Magnificat.” Mary’s song has been banned in some countries because of its revolutionary challenges (He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. — Luke 1:52-52). It was celebrated as an offering of hope to the poor by Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary hymn ever sung.”
I find myself longing for the revolution of love that Mary offers in the midst of so much pain and so many struggles both for me personally and in the world at large. It appears I needed to sit with Mary once more. She has companioned this Presbyterian Padre along this journey many times and I am sure she will continue to do so.
I used this quote from Thomas Merton for the Fourth Sunday in Advent bulletin: In sadness, discouragement and loneliness, Advent offers JOY – the joy of salvation, the joy of new life, the joy of earth as it is in heaven (from his book Seasons of Celebration). My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you might find joy and hope in the midst of it all this last week of the Advent season and every day of the year.
…So maybe the really outrageous act of faith on Mary’s part was trusting that she had found favor with God…
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