Occurring at the time of year when the earth moves towards the Winter Solstice, when days are gradually shortening and a chill in the air replaces a soft breeze, Advent conjures up a time of twilight, expectancy and waiting. Trees bravely shed their beauty and stand stark and naked in the cold. A crisp frost covers the ground. A sense of the impending winter is in the air.

We pause in silence and gather to remember and to prepare.

Advent for many people is a time of waiting for the coming of the Lord, and many prayer services and liturgies provide us with beautiful experiences and reminders of the glory of the One who is to come.

We wait for the coming of the Lord. We are encouraged to ‘Awake, keep watch!’

However we also need to awaken to the fact that the Lord is waiting for us.

There is a sense in which we do not need to wait for God. God is always present in myriad ways, around us, among us, between us, within us. Do we not need to awaken to the wonder and mystery of this?

For those who are awake and those who see

‘The earth is charged with the grandeur of God’. Hopkins

This beauty of creation that surrounds us assures us that our planet is pervaded by a sacred Presence.
‘The earth proclaims the glory of God’ Psalm 19:1

Isaiah invites us to find comfort and rest in this mysterious and enfolding Presence who is always with us -
‘In returning and rest your shall be saved,
In quietness and trust shall be your strength,
The Lord waits to be gracious to you’. Isaiah 30:15

This loving Presence is also waiting for us to recognise, receive,
believe in and accept a deep and personal love.

‘Behold I stand at the door and knock ’ Rev.3:20

This waiting of the Beloved is also described in the Song of Songs

‘See, my beloved stands behind the wall’. Song of Songs, 2:8-10

Sieger Koder, a German artist depicts this gentle, patient and vulnerable waiting of our lover God.

Beate Heinen

Quite often the difficulty is not that God does not come, but that we do
not see the Divine presence or action all around us. So we are not ready to receive this waiting Love.

‘They have eyes that see not, and ears that hear not.’ Psalm 135:16

Afterwards on reflection on an event we may come to realise

‘Surely Yahweh is in this place and I never knew.’ Genesis 28:16 Beate Heinen

Our Divine Lover waits for us to notice, recognise, and acknowledge God’s gifts in love, beauty, health, friends and all the blessings that we are given every day.

Jesus cries out -

‘If you only knew (recognised) the gift of God and what it is that is being offered to you.’ John 4:10

This same Love asks us to awaken to our human/divine God in the needs of those around us.

We come to recognise that Christ is the recipient of our kindness shown to others. God waits to receive daily bread through our hands

‘I was hungry and you gave me food’ Matthew 25:35

So this Advent our prayer may not be so much about waiting for God as recognising Emmanuel who is already present.

‘Have I been with you all this time and you do not know me?’ John 14:9

May God enlighten the eyes of our mind so that we can know more deeply and more personally the breath and length, the height and depth of the love with which we are loved.
May we extend this love to all our loved ones and especially to those in need.

We pray.

Your eternal Word took flesh on our earth when the Virgin Mary placed her life at the service of your plan. Open our eyes to see you in the hunger and pain of our sisters and brothers. Open our hearts to respond and our hands to share. Lift our minds in watchful hope to hear the voice which announces your glory, and open our hearts to receive the Spirit who is with us and who Presence is new every day.

What marvels the Lord works for us, indeed we are glad. Psalm 125

Acknowledgements

Beate Heinen, Maria Laach Art Publishers
Sieger Koder.
Irish Times Photograph

‘You would not be seeking me if you had not already found me’ says the Lord.

Because our hearts are restless until they rest in God (St. Augustine), at some time in our lives we sense a void, an inner ache and longing that urges us to search for meaning. All may be very well in our lives, our relationships, our family, occupation and even financial situation, yet we somehow long for more.

This need can be felt even more keenly when all is not well, when illness, stress, broken relationships, financial worries cast a great shadow over our lives. And so we embark on an inner journey, not with great fanfare or flourish, but quietly in our hearts.

From ancient times people have walked this path, this path of searching and following the still small voice, which John of the Cross calls ‘I know not what’, yet which powerfully attracts, allures and calls us.  The journey is very personal, yet we recognise and find support in the search with others. We find food and nourishment in personal quiet, meditation and contemplative prayer. We also are enriched  in conversations with others who share our dream, in the gatherings of small groups, in community worship and  ritual, in the celebration of the Eucharist, in prayer, pilgrimage, sacred texts, literature, poems, music, art and also in nature.

Each culture and religion nourishes its followers in its own unique and beautiful way. No matter what words are used,  what stories are told, what gestures or rituals are enacted, the ultimate aim is nothing less than guiding its people through and beyond symbols to that central point where the Spirit abides in the heart of each person. Having been awakened to this Presence within we are invited to rest, to savour, to ‘be still and know’ and live our lives from that ‘strange knowing’.

Over time our lives are gradually transformed so that we become more alive, more human and more filled with compassion. Jesus said ‘ I have come that you may have life and have it to the full’ (John 10 : 10) Another culture would express it as a wish that we ‘may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of Quiet’ (Black Elk)

When people walk the Camino de Santiago the conversations with those they meet on the way greatly encourage and inspire them, as is portrayed in the movie ‘The Way’.
In Medieval times the pilgrims who walked to Canterbury were  supported by stories they shared, as related in the ‘Canterbury Tales’.  Today, as our poets, artists, musicians and ordinary people share their thoughts and visions through poetry, music and art we too are greatly nourished by this spiritual food.

An initial ‘Taster  Menu’ of Food for our Journey’ of some writings and poems from sacred world  Religions and Traditions is offered here for tasting, savouring, absorbing, nourishing and ‘building up the Body’. You may linger longer with one or other poem or word of wisdom.

We are all seeking  meaning,  be it in God,   Presence, The Great Spirit, the Buddha, Jesus Christ.

The Hindu Indian poet Tagore reminds us that God is also seeking us.

Gitanjali
‘Have you not heard His silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes.
Every moment and every age, every day and every night, He comes, comes, ever comes.
Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind, but all their notes have always proclaimed ’He comes, comes, ever comes’.
In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path, He comes, comes, ever comes.
In the rainy gloom of July nights on the thundering chariot of clouds He comes, come, ever comes.
In sorrow after sorrow it is His steps that press upon my heart, and it is the golden touch of His feet that make my joy to shine.

The Spanish poet and mystic, St John of the Cross finds his Beloved everywhere.
My Beloved is the mountains,
The solitary wooded valleys
The strange islands,
The roaring torrents,
The whisper of the amorous gales;
The tranquil night
At the approaches of dawn,
The silent music,
The murmuring solitude
The supper which revives and enkindles love.

Native Americans know that there is a Sacred Presence upholding all things.
They  pray
O Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me!
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
Ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
And my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

Our human longing for the Sacred is described in a similar way by two very different people.

ST. Thomas Aquinas believes that

Every creature has a religion.
Every foot is a shrine where
A secret candle burns.

Every cell in us worships God.

Every arrow in the bow of desire
Has rushed out in hope
Of nearing
Him.

Rabia,  a ninth century  Sufi  saint writes

In
my soul
there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church
where I kneel.

Prayer should bring us to an altar where no walls or names exist.

The psalms of our Judeo Christian faith celebrate the Deepest Mystery which all humanity thirsts for, experiences and shares regardless of what  It is called or how it is envisioned.

Psalm 16
Remain ever before me, O Living Presence
For in You I am safe.
You are my Beloved; in You and through You I can do all things.

I look to those who are one with You
And learn from them Your ways:
My delight increases each time I sense your Presence within me!
Songs of praise well up from my heart.

Our growth towards transformation is the gentle and ongoing work of the Holy One, but our awakening to this Presence depends on our openness and response.

Jesus fed five thousand hungry people on the mountainside.  We are fed by Him every day so that we too have food to share and to offer to one another.  Our words can indeed give life. These we can  savour and celebrate as truly our Bread from Heaven.