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| St. Joseph's Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts, Advent, December 2024 |
Apparently
nothing can keep Him away.
+ St. Joseph's Abbey
On this Friday the 13th of December 2024, I came across the reflection below on St. Joseph's Abbey's website and smiled. I don't think there could be a better collection of words to share for Emmaus City's 1,000th blog post during this season after a decade of ministry.
For those who know me personally, Advent has been the annual rhythm that has shaped me the most the past 10 years as a follower of Jesus, and I think has shaped our communities on mission in Worcester as we recognize we need Jesus as the Light of the world to meet us in our darkest and most desperate moments.
For those who know me personally, Advent has been the annual rhythm that has shaped me the most the past 10 years as a follower of Jesus, and I think has shaped our communities on mission in Worcester as we recognize we need Jesus as the Light of the world to meet us in our darkest and most desperate moments.
Also, stepping into monasteries for silence, solitude, and prayer, whether at the Abbey of the Genesee, St. Mary's Monastery, or St. Joseph's, has been what has sheltered me in the presence of Immanuel the past 5 years, as well as others among Emmaus City and friends we know and love across New England who have joined us in these sacred spaces.
So how apropos to be blessed with these words below by our monastic neighbors and brothers who not only pray for the life of the world, but whose practices of presence, prayer, and proclamation continue to illuminate the Gospel around the world.
I hope these words alert you to
God's holy fire that
and prepares you to come home.
And that you find
Advent
The Coming of the Lord
Prayer
Overshadow us,
come down O Love divine,
and invade our space,
fill our lonely hearts with Your
more than imaginable benignness
and tenderness and compassion.
Fill us with Yourself;
for left to ourselves,
we may believe our hearts too small,
too lonely, too afraid and forgotten
to be able to hold You.
come down O Love divine,
and invade our space,
fill our lonely hearts with Your
more than imaginable benignness
and tenderness and compassion.
Fill us with Yourself;
for left to ourselves,
we may believe our hearts too small,
too lonely, too afraid and forgotten
to be able to hold You.
Reflection
Advent is a time of watching and waiting.
And in these darkest days,
the shortest days of the year,
we will light Advent candles
and recall the Lord’s endless desire
to come to us.
We recall our desperate need for Him,
our only Hope and Deepest Desire.
And so we will try
to make more room for Christ
in these Advent days,
a place in our hearts,
in our community where
Hope can grow and flourish,
as He did
Jesus tells us, “Be vigilant at all times.”
Perhaps one good reason
that He reminds us to be attentive is that
the mode of His approach
is most often so unassuming,
ordinary, unremarkable,
and almost forgettable.
We need to keep alert,
or we’ll miss out.
The hour is now,
God’s time is now.
But we must be aware
that His coming,
Perhaps one good reason
that He reminds us to be attentive is that
the mode of His approach
is most often so unassuming,
ordinary, unremarkable,
and almost forgettable.
We need to keep alert,
or we’ll miss out.
The hour is now,
God’s time is now.
But we must be aware
that His coming,
His Advent toward us is usually
in silence and obscurity.
Hidden first of all in the warm womb
of a pregnant virgin mother,
He then lives a hidden small town life
as a carpenter and wandering preacher.
Then in the excruciating hour of
in silence and obscurity.
Hidden first of all in the warm womb
of a pregnant virgin mother,
He then lives a hidden small town life
as a carpenter and wandering preacher.
Then in the excruciating hour of
His death on the cross,
all His beauty and power will be hidden,
smeared and obscured by the blood
and spittle and scorn of His passion.
And finally even in
His joyous resurrected return to His disciples;
smeared and obscured by the blood
and spittle and scorn of His passion.
And finally even in
His joyous resurrected return to His disciples;
He will sneak in through locked doors
to whisper, “Peace.”
Apparently nothing can keep Him away.
The need, the love and desire
of His disciples,
all of it
absolutely magnetize Jesus’ heart
and draw Him in.
He can’t stay away.
to whisper, “Peace.”
Apparently nothing can keep Him away.
The need, the love and desire
of His disciples,
all of it
absolutely magnetize Jesus’ heart
and draw Him in.
He can’t stay away.
The Lord longs to accompany us
in our ordinariness over and over,
though we may not always realize.
We have faith, but there is so much
we just do not understand.
It’s got to be that way.
We believe, but we never get it all.
How could we?
God is Mystery.
But rest assured it is our love
and desire that give us clear vision.
And if we want to be with Him;
in our ordinariness over and over,
though we may not always realize.
We have faith, but there is so much
we just do not understand.
It’s got to be that way.
We believe, but we never get it all.
How could we?
God is Mystery.
But rest assured it is our love
and desire that give us clear vision.
And if we want to be with Him;
God in Christ is hidden
and yet revealing Himself
over and over,
doing anything at all
to get our attention;
“playing in ten thousand places,”*
in nature and grace,
over and over all day long.
Vigilance is essential,
a willingness to be surprised
at every corner of the cloister,
as St. Bernard would say,
because angels will be there,
heavenly messengers, reminding us,
as one reminded our Blessed Lady,
that Someone is coming near;
Someone wants to be our flesh now.
Someone we love
has seen our sad predicament
and has come down to be with us.
And He is constantly making opportunities
for His mercy
out of the disasters of our sinfulness.
Quiet as a thief on tiptoe,
Jesus is coming to us,
He the God who
“veins violets and tall trees
makes more and more,”*
too tremendous for us to grasp fully
but also astoundingly,
disarmingly ordinary.
Let us open to Him.
*Gerard Manley Hopkins
+ "Advent"
and yet revealing Himself
over and over,
doing anything at all
to get our attention;
“playing in ten thousand places,”*
in nature and grace,
over and over all day long.
Vigilance is essential,
a willingness to be surprised
at every corner of the cloister,
as St. Bernard would say,
because angels will be there,
heavenly messengers, reminding us,
as one reminded our Blessed Lady,
that Someone is coming near;
Someone wants to be our flesh now.
Someone we love
has seen our sad predicament
and has come down to be with us.
And He is constantly making opportunities
for His mercy
out of the disasters of our sinfulness.
Quiet as a thief on tiptoe,
Jesus is coming to us,
He the God who
“veins violets and tall trees
makes more and more,”*
too tremendous for us to grasp fully
but also astoundingly,
disarmingly ordinary.
Let us open to Him.
*Gerard Manley Hopkins
+ "Advent"
St. Joseph's Abbey
Spencer, Massachusetts
December 2024
Additional Advent Reflections:
Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
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