Advent: focus + align
We are midway through the first week of Advent. I love Advent because it invites me into stillness and rest. I love the fullness and beauty of the contemplative darkness of this season of prayer.
This past weekend, as we uncovered our Advent wreath for our nightly meal prayers, we also decorated our Christmas tree.
Liturgically, it is not yet the Christmas season.
I’ve noticed: this can be a difficult season to know where to focus my attention. Have you felt this way too?
I’m reminded of a quote from Fr. Thomas Keating, of the Centering Prayer movement, that has helped me to enter into my prayer lately:
“The basic disposition of the spiritual journey is the capacity to accept all reality:
God, ourselves, other people, and creation as they are.”
Truthfully, part of me would love to eschew many of the trappings of the commercial Christmas season and focus solely on the invitation to stillness and the contemplative darkness of the Advent season. However, the reality of my life asks me to focus differently. I have children and family and friends who are excited to get into the Christmas spirit! There are traditions that I enjoy, like: choosing a tree, getting it set up and laughing when it’s lopsided, enjoying hot chocolate, and reminiscing as we take each ornament out of its box… remembering the children with their tiny handprints or passing along stories from before they were born (like when I kissed the Blarney Stone!). I definitely want to focus on these joyous realities!
And lest you think I’m mesmerized by experiences of joy every moment of every day, other elements of my reality hold additional invitations for my focused attention. Like, invitations to fold the laundry, coordinate schedules, plan our meals, and make dinner. Invitations to be present to my children, to take care of my physical well-being, and to earn a living. Our lives are busy and full and bright. I imagine yours are too.
So what then, do we do with this tension between the cultural expectations leading up to Christmas and the invitations of the liturgical season of Advent? I’d like to suggest that we come back to the wisdom of Fr. Keating and accept the “all” of reality. Christmas prep is busy and full and bright… AND… the season of Advent is still and quiet and dark. Acknowledging and accepting this reality releases me from the burden of feeling I must choose one or the other. Instead, I’m going to accept the possibility of simultaneous existence. I’m going to work to gently shift my focus back and forth and allow one to enrich the other. Back and forth. One to the other. Over and over and over again.
My work station: symbols and expressions of work, physical well-being, prayer, Advent and Christmas. All present. Simultaneously.
One more thing before I sign off of my newsletters for the Advent season:
It’s become a bit of a common practice (at least in my circles!) for people to choose a “word of the year” at the start of each calendar year. I’ve noticed that people do this for various reasons. Sometimes the word is aspirational in nature (fitness! wealth! joy!). Sometimes the word serves as a guiding value (focus. love. compassion.). But generally speaking, a word of the year is meant to guide a person towards positive change.
I have a spiritual direction client who shared with me that she likes to choose a word of the year during the Advent season… the start of the liturgical year. I am really attracted to this idea. I like the idea of a small, daily reminder that can deepen my connection with my core values, the liturgical calendar, and my life of prayer. This Advent reflection is already one fruit of my word for this new liturgical year: align. I anticipate asking myself many variations of the following questions throughout the year ahead:
Does this align with my sense of “God’s love, the One Absolute and True thing”? and
How can “this thing” (whatever that might be in any given circumstance) become more aligned with God’s love, the One Absolute and True thing?
If you’re interested in learning more about how to choose a word of the year, during this Advent season or as you get ready for 2023, here are some good tips from one author’s experience.
In closing, please know of my prayers for you, the Soulcare MKE community, during this Advent season. I am grateful to walk with you as you seek to focus + align your life and prayer amidst all the realities of daily life. I’ll see you after Christmas!
Gratefully yours,
Laura
