Preparing for Advent - 24th November 2024
I’m always on the lookout for striking images for Christmas cards and this one caught my eye when I was looking through the various cards found amongst Sr Mary John’s things. Then I saw there’s no baby, this isn’t Mary & her child, it’s not a Christmas card at all. With the dove descending upon the kneeling woman perhaps it’s the Annunciation? Looking closer I see that it is a nun praying in a sacred space denoted by the cross at the top, a nun in church. The words then hit me ‘You are THE PLACE (in capitals) where God speaks’. ‘You are THE PLACE where God speaks’, it has struck a chord deep within me and I have been musing on this all week.
I am the place where God speaks, he cannot speak to me in any other place, only where I am. But how much of the time am I actually present where I am? I have spent much of my life living about 6 feet above my head, not really grounded in the world around me, not present to who I was or to the relationships within which I lived. I lived in a fantasy world. It’s been a long, hard journey to come down to earth, to feel my feet on the ground and to encounter my fellow human beings as they really are, not to mention the reality of my own self.
An important aspect of this journey for me has been deliberately engaging with my body, attending to the sensations I was receiving through my skin and becoming aware of the way I moved through space. Practising Tai Chi I found to be very valuable with its slow, mindful movements bringing me into a more embodied awareness. I used to be constantly bumping into things or knocking things over but gradually I have become more aware of the physical world around me. Although closing doors quietly is still not something I find easy!
But it doesn’t have to be through practices like Tai Chi, the Rule of St Benedict calls us to a similar mindful engagement with the simple practices of daily life – of being gentle in the way we handle things and being aware of our impact on those around us. How we close doors matters! I have been struck by what we have been hearing from Michael Casey in the refectory1, that monastic practice comes down to embodying love in simple respect and courtesy towards others, allowing them to be themselves and rejoicing in their difference from us. It requires us to be present in the moment, to what God is saying through every situation we encounter. Not only am I a place where God speaks but each person I meet is also a place where God speaks.
We are approaching the season of Advent, a season of longing for God’s kingdom to come in peace and justice, for a time when we will live in harmony with the wider creation and God’s good gifts will be shared with everyone. But what we see in the world around us is increasing darkness and destruction. If only we could harness our collective energy in creative ways for the good of all, we could do amazing things… It is easy to feel powerless to do anything that will make a difference. Why bother?
Yet this is a season of hope and of promise, of listening for God’s word. A time when we listen for the voice of the Lord who ‘will speak peace to his people, to those who turn to him in their hearts’ in the words of a refrain we will use at Vespers throughout Advent. Most of us are not in a position to do great things on the world stage but we can at least turn to God in our hearts and allow the presence that we encounter there to shape our daily lives. In such small, local acts the seeds of the Kingdom are sown.
As we grow in the monastic life and the security of God’s love for us we become more able to step aside and make space for others and to listen to God’s word through them. As a community we come to be a place where the Kingdom is present, in our own hearts and in our common life. We become witnesses to a world that has come adrift from such values.
As we enter in to our pre-Advent retreat let us make the most of the extra time and space to be present here and now. I suggest being careful of how much reading you undertake, not too much so that you have time to digest it deeply. And don’t be afraid to sit and simply look out of the window. In our silence together be mindful of your sisters and the atmosphere that you are creating around you by your bodily presence. Let us seek ways to be respectful and courteous toward one another within the discipline of silence. Then each one of us and our life together can become a place where God speaks.
I pray that it will be a deeply blessed retreat.
Mother Anne - 24th November 2024
1 Coenobium: Reflections on Monastic Community (Monastic Wisdom Series Book 64) by Michael Casey. Liturgical Press 8 Nov. 2021