Waiting

Have you been to a shopping mall lately? The malls are filled with holiday festivity, providing an environment that quickly transports us from Thanksgiving to Christmas. When we go to the mall to shop, we accept the consequences of waiting on long lines. We wait—and the waiting might be a calm, resigned wait or a stressful one.

Waiting with patience is really a sign of this season which the Christian church calls Advent. We wait with joyful expectation for something good to happen and for someone special to come into our midst.

There are no long lines or impatience in this kind of waiting. In fact, sometimes the waiting is done quietly, with reflection and prayer. Even in the natural world, we wait for the dawn of light because the darkness comes so early. Now, we wait for Christ to come again and show himself in our midst.

Let us be awakened as we wait, and in this awakening may we recognize the signs of ope, light, and of God among us.

Rosemarie Greco, DW

Advent: Resting on Sturdy Hinges

When was the last time you took time to look at the familiar things that
surround you? When was the last time you took time to look at a hinge?

Hinges make it possible for doors to function -
The quality and strength of the hinges
increase the function of the door.

Advent is the door through which we pass each year to prepare to remember
the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

And, like all trustworthy doors, Advent rests on sturdy hinges. This door
hinges on
Scriptural reminders of God's promise to Israel to send them a savior,
God's promise to free them from oppression
God's promise to be their God -
their guide through the ups and downs of life.

Let us hinge our preparation for Chrismas on a
strong Advent of prayer, generosity, and works of charity and
compassion.

Let the hope we have be seen in the lives we live!

`
Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP

Jan Richardson: Thinking about Mary at Advent

As we move through Advent, writer, artist, minister, and director of a company called The Wellspring Studio, LLC, Jan Richardson reflects on Mary's faithfulness.

Advent blessings to you! As I move through this season, I've been thinking about Mary. Fierce reader that I am, I'm fond of the way that so many medieval artists depicted her in the moment of the Annunciation. When the archangel Gabriel swoops in with his outrageous invitation, as these artists would have it, he finds Mary with a book. Some artists portrayed her reading from the Hebrew Bible, specifically the passage in Isaiah that tells of a young woman who will bear a son named Immanuel. In a lovely bit of anachronism, other artists painted her with a medieval prayerbook--a Book of Hours--in her hands. The Bible doesn't tell us, of course, what Mary was doing when the messenger of God paid his visit. But I love the notion that Mary was already prayerfully steeping herself in the Word, long before Christ the Word ever became steeped in her. In depicting her this way, the medieval artists sought to convey the idea that although she couldn't have known what lay ahead, Mary had already been preparing herself, making a space in her life for the presence of God.

Whatever it was that Mary was doing when Gabriel showed up with God's wild invitation, her story challenges me in this season. Advent, after all, is a time of preparation and anticipation of the One who searches us out in this and every season. These weeks remind us that although we never know just what lies ahead, God is ever seeking a space within our lives. Within us. Mary's openness to the God of audacious invitations, along with her equally audacious "Yes," beckons me to ask, what am I doing to prepare a space for God in my own life and in my own self?

How about you? How spacious is your life these days? Whatever you're giving yourself to in this season, I pray that we may each leave ourselves open to the God of wild surprises, and that we may be bearers of Christ in this world. The medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, "We are all mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born." May Christ the Word take flesh anew in us in these days.

May Christ our Light bless your Advent path.

We encourage you to visit Jan's Advent blog for more reflections on the season.