Cultivating Soul Time

Once again a tagline from a commercial caught my attention. The phrase, “Find your oasis. Savour the moment”, got me thinking.

Oasis has both a factual and figurative meaning. Its literal meaning is a green spot of life in the desert. In the past, caravans would intentionally stop at these places to find fresh water for their animals and themselves. Metaphorically, an oasis is a metaphor for a flourishing place in one’s life.

The season of Advent invites us to savour the moments of our daily life in a more conscious manner. We are offered an annual invitation to cultivate “soul time”. Yearly, Christians are encouraged to take this seasonal opportunity to find nourishing places of quiet and set aside time to nurture ourselves spiritually.

As Advent begins, how might we put “soul time” on our agenda and in our day planners?

Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Unsplash/Timothy Simon

Advent - A Celebration of Dreams and Miracles

Advent 2023: A Celebration of Dreams and Miracles

By Sister Melannie Svoboda, a Sister of Notre Dame residing in Chardon, Ohio

Image: Unsplash/Robert Thiemann

This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of the church year that celebrates dreams and miracles. The dry parched desert can burst into a field of poppies and forget-me-nots… Helpless little lambs can snuggle next to mighty ferocious lions… A wild scrawny man dressed in animal hides and munching on grasshoppers can cry out in the wilderness, “REPENT!” and large crowds can listen to his rantings and be dramatically changed… And a young girl, living unnoticed in Podunk, can answer “yes” to an impossible Divine Request and conceive a child who will turn her life and the whole world upside down.

The readings of Advent give testimony to all of these remarkable things. Maybe that’s one reason so many of us are drawn to them. For they tell us: What you see is not all there is. What you assume is the end, is actually the beginning. What you hear is not the final word. What you desire in the deepest recesses of your heart can still be. The incredible things God has done in the past, God is doing in the present. Right now. And God will continue to do such unbelievable things into the future–no matter how bleak, dark, or hopeless our present time may seem.

God is doing miraculous things no matter how bleak, dark, or hopeless our present may seem.

But there’s a catch. God needs us. God needs us to help make these dreams come true, to help work these impossible miracles. In the past, God needed an Isaiah to keep the vision of hope alive before God’s people. God needed a John the Baptist to proclaim the message of returning to God. And God needed a Mary to dare to say “yes” to God’s request as no other handmaid before her had ever done. So Advent is not a time to set up permanent residence in comforting readings that promise a better future. No, it is a time to partner with God wherever we may find ourselves this Advent to help bring about that better future for which we long.

How do we do this? The ways are countless. They are limited only by our imagination and resolve. Many of these ways are mighty deeds though they may seem to be pitifully small. Allow me to suggest a few.

The refrain for Advent is, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Perhaps we can make this refrain our mantra this Advent as we go about our day. When we first crawl out of bed in the morning, we can say, “Come, Lord Jesus into my entire day. The easy parts, the nice parts, the fun parts. But also, Lord Jesus, come into the messy parts, the unpleasant parts, the difficult parts.” And when we crawl back into bed in the evening, we can say, “Come Lord, Jesus. Give me rest and strength this night so I may partner with you again tomorrow.”

Choose one way to make your small world a better place. Do this by following Jesus’ way of unselfish loving. Speak kindly to others. All others. Sometimes we’re kinder to total strangers than we are to the people we live and work with every day. Sometimes we’re kinder to others than we are to ourselves. Overlook some things. Go the extra mile. Where there is little or no love, put love and there will be love.

Image: Unsplash/Laura Nyhuis

Your attention is a valuable gift. Find ways you can give your attention to someone in your life who is overlooked, taken for granted, living on the margins. It can be a family member… a co-worker… a friend… a neighbor… a pastor… a store clerk… an overworked parent… a shut-in… a caregiver… Simply ask yourself: Who is in need of a gentle word, a “thank you,” a smile, a compliment, a note, a phone call, a visit, an offer to help? In English we use the phrase “pay attention.” There’s always a small price to pay when we focus our attention on someone else.

And finally, my prayer for all of us this Advent 2023 is this:

Come, Lord Jesus! May the readings of Advent bring us great consolation. May they encourage us to dream for a better world. May they strengthen us to partner with you to bring about that better world we hope for. Give us a greater appreciation for the miracle of your life of selfless loving, a miracle we can share in every day. This Advent rekindle in us the deepest longings of our hearts for love, peace, goodness, beauty, and truth. Come, Lord Jesus, come! Amen.

For reflection:

Did anything stand out for you in today’s reflection?

Do you like the season of Advent? Why or why not?

How do you plan on celebrating or observing Advent this year?

Our song today is the Advent/Christmas song, “Beyond the Moon and Stars” by Dan Schutte. It captures so beautifully our longing for God… for peace… for light in the darkness.

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Advent 2023: A Celebration, used with kind permission from Sister Melannie Svoboda.

Sister Melannie, a Sister of Notre Dame resides in Chardon, Ohio, USA. She counts herself very lucky! Melannie was raised in a loving family on a small farm in northeast Ohio. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame right after high school. Over the years, her ministries have included high school and college teaching, novice director, congregational leadership, spiritual direction, retreat facilitating, and writing. If you are interested in more of her writings you can find them here.

Christmas Eve: The Long Night

Christmas Eve, in the experience of many, is of a night of exquisite expectation, of fulfillment of the pregnant waiting of Advent and new life coming into being. It is a time of searching hope in the darkness even when darkness threatens to overwhelm us. We seek in the silent night sky, a star of promise.

At an everyday level we gather to begin a celebration. We prepare treats to share. Our excited children can hardly wait at all, creating mayhem and resisting sleep, just in case they miss Santa’s visit to place gifts under the tree! In Christian families a young child may also have a special role focused on the very meaning of Christmas. In my family living in the United States the youngest child, able to read, waits expectantly to be called on to recite the Christmas story from the old family Bible and then to place the baby Jesus into the waiting creche.

Christmas is, of course, a celebration of the birth of Christ so long ago. But it is also much more! Our celebration cannot be reduced simply to a sentimental re-enactment of that familiar scene, lovely though it is. For the very heart of the Christmas story is the vivid narrative of universal incarnation – God with us, God in all things, for time and for eternity. Christmas is, above all, a celebration of Divine Presence in all lives, in all events and in every element of matter – an ancient understanding.

A powerful image of this understanding of incarnation, is found in the Carmina Gadelica, a beautiful compendium of ancient Gaelic prayers and poems collected from the Hebridean Islands by folklorist, Alexander Carmichael.

In a Christmas carol entitled “the Nativity” found in that text we read that on Christmas Eve … in “the long night, Glowed to Him wood and tree, Glowed to Him mount and sea, Glowed to Him land and plain, When that His foot was come to Earth.”

The carol speaks of the light of Christ’s birth penetrating all and reflected in the entirety of God’s creation. Later, these words find more contemporary utterance in the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and paleontologist (1881-1955), as he exclaims,

“The Incarnation is a making new, a restoration, of all the universe’s forces and powers; Christ is the Instrument, the Centre, the End, of the whole of animate and material creation; through Him, everything is created, sanctified and vivified (The Phenomenon of Man).

This is what we celebrate at Christmas along with our more traditional practices. Truly it is a celebration, a joyful one but also one that de Chardin says, invites us into its deep mysterious significance not just for Christmas but for all of life in Christ. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5: 17, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, everything old has passed away; see everything has become new.” This is the birthing of Christ in our hearts and world as we celebrate Christmas Eve. In the “long night” we are to birth Christ in the world anew.

This year, the “long night” of Christmas is a seemingly “dark night” for many; a night filled with violent conflicts worldwide, of the sufferings of people fleeing persecution, torture and starvation, a night of ecological degradation. It is a night still struggling with the ongoing shadows and isolation of a pandemic. Rapidly escalating prices in stores mean that many families are desperate simply to provide their children with some festivities. We face a night where the possibility of the light being extinguished forever seems real in ways not previously experienced in our world.

“with the celebration of Christ’s birth we are called to be “God’s light in our world.” ”

And yet … as Christians familiar with mystical references to “the dark night” we find in our faith the light of Christ at the heart of all things, incarnation, the God we can touch. As we celebrate this Christmas Eve and the days ahead may we be reminded that with the celebration of Christ’s birth we are called to be “God’s light in our world.” The silent, enveloping waiting in the long night calls us ever to the primacy of prayer and love in and for the world. It invites us to prepare actions that will make a difference.  Let’s truly celebrate with joy this Christmas and in the “long night of promise” may we share that joy. On this Christmas Eve may we again hear a call to new birth in the face of the challenges of our times. As Christmas dawns in our hearts then all of creation will indeed “glow where His foot was” and will, through us, once again, shine Christ’s Presence “on Earth”.

 -Sister Mary Rowell, csj

The Incarnation: God With Us

On this last Sunday of Advent, Matthew’s Gospel presents a synopsis of how the birth of Jesus the Christ took place.  It focuses on Joseph’s visit from an angel who revealed that his wife Mary was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. This unusual occurrence came to be known as the Incarnation.  The word Incarnation, as it is known in Christianity, if capitalized, is the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ.  (Wikipedia)

During an hour of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament recently, I was overcome thinking about the Incarnation.  In Spanish, incarnation means “flesh”. God has taken on flesh and is one of us. During prayer, I was overwhelmed that Jesus would put on flesh and be born a human being.  How awesome that God would find a way to send His Son, as scripture explains, by overshadowing Mary. The baby who would be born would be the Son of the Most High.

Throughout the centuries. Christmas has been associated with the birth of Jesus, Mary’s son. Is Christmas only a one-day celebration and then we let it go?  Oh no! Jesus is an ongoing Incarnation. Every time we imitate Jesus and have faith in Him, He is born again and again.  On the cusp of Christmas, Advent reminds us of the Incarnation of God’s abiding presence.  Jesus continues to be born every time His presence leads us to imitate Him.

The late Thomas Keating, Cistercian monk and noted spiritual writer, in his book, Awakenings, refers to the Incarnation:

“God has become

one of us and is breathing our air”…  Through His humanity, the whole universe has become divine… By becoming a human being, He is in the heart of all creation and in every part of it”.  (AW, 95-97)

Incarnation, what an amazing Christmas gift!

-Sister Joan McMahon, CSJ

Third Sunday of Advent

Here we are in the midst of all the pre-Christmas parties, in the middle of cold weather and snow, in the midst of Advent and we read from the letter of James: “Be patient like the farmer who waits for his precious crops.  Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord.”  For many of us this may seem like it is much easier said than done.  Many of us are frantically attempting to be patient with the family and community.  Here I am supposed to be living in peace and expectation, but life seems upside down and inside out.  Like John the Baptist in today’s gospel we are asking “Are You the one to come?”  I need some assurance that it is You Lord.  Hopefully You have not forgotten me, or just maybe I have not forgotten You, in the midst of the frantic running around?

Waiting is not an easy task.  It demands courage and strength.  What am I waiting for?  Do I really listen?  Do I really see?  Do I really hear?

I had a dear friend Sadie whom I met when she was a patient, and I was a chaplain.  She suffered greatly from her common law partner who would not allow her to go to the doctor.  When I met Sadie, she was blind and lost her nose to cancer all because of neglect.  She was a patient at St. Joseph’s hospital for more than a year.  Needless to say, she was a great teacher for me.  In the world’s view she was an unfortunate soul who had nothing.  One day I was reflecting with her and asked her when were her happiest days?  Her response was amazing!  It was this present year that she spent in the hospital.  You see, she had people who cared for her.  Her birthday and Christmas were wonderful!  She had presents coming out the door of her room.  Before this she had never celebrated her birthday or Christmas!  This year she had friends; she felt loved and was secure and free from harm! 

“in their simpleness they witness truth to us”

As I reflect on my dear friend and her life I wonder if sometimes the moments that we feel most empty can be the seeds of hope.  After all, the seeds put into the earth bear much fruit.  Today I am asking myself to hold onto the Sadies of our lives because in their simpleness they witness truth to us.  John the Baptist witnessed to the Truth, yet he needed encouragement along the way.  From my prayerful reflections on the readings of today I believe if we give love freely our faith will remain secure in the Lord. 

Sadie was a teacher without knowing it, pointing the way to Jesus.  Look for the teachers who show the way to the Lord even when they do not have a great education; even if they do not recognize it, they are leaders! 

Finally from Oscar Romero: “There are many things that can only be seen through the eyes that have cried!”  From Sadie, I believe she would be encouraging us “to let these tears water our hearts to see more clearly through the eyes of faith!”

From Sadie:  Merry Christmas to all!

-Sister Kathleen O’Neill, CSJ