Advent is the beginning of the new year in the liturgical calendar. Above is a beautiful illustration of the circular season of a liturgical year.
Unlike most calendars, the purpose of the liturgical calendar is not to mark time, but is a way of celebrating and understanding more fully the mystery of Jesus - the incarnation of God in human form.
I grew up Catholic and so the liturgical cycle of seasons and stories is part of my blood and bone and what I most appreciate as I get older is that whereas the calendar is a circle: whole, complete and everlasting;repeated endlessly, it also begins anew each year. If I perceive this calendar as having a new beginning place, Advent, then I have a way of also perceiving my life and my life with God as having a new place of beginning.
The celebration of Advent within my living is therefore a deliberate choice to remember that God needs my 'yes' to being open to the Spirit of God being born in me and from me as much as God needed Mary's yes. I also am asked to be part of the continuing creation of God's goodness in the world.
And so, I begin this new season with the story of creation ....and God reached into the formless void, shaped it and blew breath into it ....and Life began ...
As the story begins again, I am given another opportunity to open myself to Love ...not the love of gooey feelings but a love that is so huge and undeserved that I may well end up muttering how can this be? Like the people in the original story, opening myself to the Breath of God can possibly look crazy and scary and will almost always be a serious interruption of my ideas of what life is 'supposed' to be.
My suggestion for walking this way of love one little step at a time is to get a candle and set aside 15 minutes of each day. Find a little quiet space, light the candle, sit in the stillness and simply breathe in your willingness to believe in goodness. You may also consider offering into the flame you own personal cry of "how can this be?"
I grew up Catholic and so the liturgical cycle of seasons and stories is part of my blood and bone and what I most appreciate as I get older is that whereas the calendar is a circle: whole, complete and everlasting;repeated endlessly, it also begins anew each year. If I perceive this calendar as having a new beginning place, Advent, then I have a way of also perceiving my life and my life with God as having a new place of beginning.
The celebration of Advent within my living is therefore a deliberate choice to remember that God needs my 'yes' to being open to the Spirit of God being born in me and from me as much as God needed Mary's yes. I also am asked to be part of the continuing creation of God's goodness in the world.
And so, I begin this new season with the story of creation ....and God reached into the formless void, shaped it and blew breath into it ....and Life began ...
As the story begins again, I am given another opportunity to open myself to Love ...not the love of gooey feelings but a love that is so huge and undeserved that I may well end up muttering how can this be? Like the people in the original story, opening myself to the Breath of God can possibly look crazy and scary and will almost always be a serious interruption of my ideas of what life is 'supposed' to be.
My suggestion for walking this way of love one little step at a time is to get a candle and set aside 15 minutes of each day. Find a little quiet space, light the candle, sit in the stillness and simply breathe in your willingness to believe in goodness. You may also consider offering into the flame you own personal cry of "how can this be?"
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