Also, yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. This week, we focus on the element of "Coming"--- we can compare the celebration of waiting for Christ's birth to waiting for His return. The hushed and excited anticipation of the Savior is contagious. In this season, when everything around us is rushing, we wait. Part of the challenge of being a Catholic is not to buy into the world's idea of "Christmas." We are in advent, so we practice enjoying -- relishing-- the waiting for the King. And because of that we don't do all our Christmas decorating the first day after thanksgiving. We don't play Christmas music from now til the 25th. Because when we DO that, once Christmas comes, it's OVER. No, advent, for us, is extremely festive but sort of --- sparse-- to help us remember that Christ's COMING is the celebration. That's why our Christmas decorations stay up faaaaar longer than our neighbors will, and why we will, until then, take the time to focus solely on the empty manger...walking with Mary and Joseph through the events of their fateful lives.
Our Parish bulletin says that Advent is a season of anticipation, longing, and incompleteness. It is a season of quiet and moderation..... preparation for the feast.
Last night we lit the advent wreath for the first time during our Sunday meal after Church, and we will continue to do so every night until Christmas. Annika-Marie calls it "Jesus' birthday cake," and loves to blow it out. Ishod just stares in amazement at the flickering flame. It's beautiful.
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Here is our advent wreath-- I made it Saturday with plants I found outside and some old candles:
The wreath is a clock, but also a crown-- to remind us of our chosen peopleness, our royal priesthood.
Here is the blessing of an advent wreath at Home:
All make the sign of the cross (In the name of the +Father, +the Son, and +the Holy Spirit. Amen.)
Leader: Our Help is in the Name of the Lord
All: Who made Heaven and Earth.
Leader : A reading from (insert approrpriate scripture reading here. We used Isaiah 9:1-2, 5-6 and another good one is Isaiah 63:16-17,19;64:2-7)
The word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Leader: Lord Our God, we praise You for Your Son, Jesus Christ: he is emmanuel, the hope of the people. He is the wisdom that guides us, He is the Savior of every nation. Lord God, let your blessing come upon us as we light the candles of this wreath. May the wreath and its light be a sign of Christ's promise to bring us salvation. May He come quicklyu and not delay. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord.
All: Amen!
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In other news, we went to Vespers last night at church (evenging prayer for the liturgy of the hours, for those who don't know what it is) At the last minute, we were able to get a babysitter-- which meant we were prepared for an awesome evening. Unfortunately, I had failed to plan for any "mishaps" during the weekends menus and found that because of some unexpected changes in our weekend, I didn't have anything yummy planned for dinner. So my darling Wayne (whose Christian name is now Peter, so that there's no confusion as I start to refer to him that way) was less than pleased. One of the advantages of having a bodybuilder for a husband is that they take eating, particularly nutrition, very seriously.... and that requires a LOT of forethought. After his workouts, his bloodsugar plummets (he works really hard, so when it's time to eat, he literally turns into a bear until he gets something in his stomach... ladies, some of you might learn something from this--- I have found that when he is acting particularly grouchy, if I feed him a sandwhich, he becomes sweet again.) Thus, on our way out the door he was grouchy and irritating me, of course.
Meanwhile, we arrived at the church. I've never been to evening prayer before at our church. I say the liturgy of the hours every day because of Carmelites, obviously, and it's a HUGE blessing to me.
I imagine it's one of the things that draws people to Islam-- knowing that at specific times throughout the day, people are ALL praying...what a sign of unity. And yet so few Christians are aware that Catholics do this and have always done this.
It takes a while for a person to GET the Liturgy of the Hours. At first, it might seem not just ordinary, but almost irritating. Like the rosary, it is a spiritual discipline that demands two things: an open heart and a willingness to get uncomfortable for God. Because of my protestant-ness, I initially had a really hard time praying from a book. Whereas my best friend Amanda finds solace in the pages of prayers to read, I feel a bit... stifled. At the same time, these are scriptural prayers, pulled directly from the pages of the Bible. So as I pray, I am also immersing myself in God's word. This is good, and I recognize the goodness in it.
I used to pray the hours "on the go." I would realize it was time, and "take five" from my parenting to go in the bathroom and quickly read through it.
Then, I prayed it with my sisters and brothers at Carmel--- and everything changed. One Sunday, I went to Carmelites and heard Carmelite evening prayer...and realized the depth and beauty of this universal Christian prayer.
I tried, after that, to take my time with it.... to do what I had done at Carmelites: chant through it, make time for sacred silence, etc. My appreciation for the LOH began to grow.
Then last month, in my first month of aspirancy at Carmelites, I was encouraged to make sacred space for my hours. To light a candle, to set up an area in your house.... Just like Carmelites in the monastary would have a beautiful choir to go to, I need my own personal prayer chapel in my personal monastary. So I did.... and wow.
I have a prayer rug, that reminds me of the special place I am in with God when I pray. I have a compass, so I can pray towards Jerusalem. I have beautiful Statues of Jesus and the saints so that I can feel them with me when I pray. I light a candle. I cover my head. These things create a beautiful atmosphere of peace and remind me that what I'm doing is sacred, but also that I'm united with my Carmelite community and with Catholics in the WHOLE WORLD... it's truly a symbol of Unity in the Holy Spirit and pure beauty. And I find that when I'm done praying my hours now, I'm freshly washed in the Holy Spirit.... and often that's when my Spirit-man comes to life and I find that my personal prayers just flow---these are the times when tongues come and when the Lord reminds me to pray for things I have forgotten. I love it.
Anyways, so evening prayer at church was a new experience for me, and very, very cool. Peter and I walked in and were greeted by about 25 of the faithful, including some good friends of ours, which was a nice surprise. We were given a candle and all gathered together in the narthex.
The church was pitch black except for the light which illuminates the crucifix. We each lit our candles from the people around us, symbolizing the light of Christ passing from person to person. Then, two by two, we entered the church and walked towards the front, illuminating the space with the flickering light and the sound of our voices praising God. It was STUNNINGLY beautiful.
Evening prayer progressed as usual with two new additions for me: First, the incense. We didn't use incense during Ordinary Time, and now we are using it again. At one point, the priest blessed a bowl of incense and then our friend Brian, an altar server, processed around the Church with this huge bowl of it and just bathed us in it. The bowl was gigantic, and at the end he set it down in the center of the front pew area, before the altar. At that moment we were singing from the psalms: May our prayers rise like incense to meet you, O Lord, and I could see the smoke twisting and curling and reaching its way toward heaven and it was like I was suddenly hit with the tangible reality of my prayers storming heaven and it literally took my breath away.
I also realized the power of MUSIC.... the music magnified our prayers and moved our hearts-- imagine how they moved the heart of God.
All of this to say that I was so happy to be Catholic in that moment--and I know Peter was too.... to see a tangible expression everywhere we turned that reinforced the spiritual realities all around us, to know God more. It was absolutely amazing.
The thing that struck me the most was the element of peace. I thought about how we are always talking about "peace on earth," during Christmastime, and yet here we were, experiencing the only lasting peace: Jesus Christ.
I'm starting a women's bible study on St Paul this week for a group of women I adore in our church. Please pray for it to be life changing for all of us!
May the God of peace pour out His Spirit on us all.
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