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Stay Awake!First Sunday Of Advent 2017

Refection By: Deacon Paul V. HurshToday we hear Jesus' imperative, "Be watchful! Be alert!" (Mark 13:33a) This is the challenge set before us this season of Advent. This seems easy enough of a request until I try to put it into practice. My challenge is not so much staying alert while driving the car or in the myriad of other activities we actively engage in during a typical day, my challenge is staying spiritually awake. Jesus' message can be heard as a practical cautionary warning about some kind of physical danger or the return of an earthly master or boss. I believe, however, that there is something much deeper in His message. I believe that what Jesus is getting at is more about being open and ready on a spiritual level. Specifically, Jesus is inviting us to open our hearts and minds to the return of the

King and thus being open to the advent of the Kingdom of God.

It is this kind of spiritual openness that I, and perhaps others, find the greater challenge. It is one thing for me to recite prayers and go through the motions at Mass, all the while keeping one eye on the clock. It is something quite different to enter into the timelessness of God presence. When I commit to community prayer, a Mass, a Rosary, or the Liturgy of the Hours, I find that maintaining my focus or concentration is a challenge. It is not unusual for me to get a part, or all the way through the prayer only to realize that somewhere along the way my mind had drifted to a memory of the past or something in the future, and I am no longer present. I have allowed myself to be hijacked by my emotions. Intellectually, I realize that distracting thoughts, past or future, are of little value as compared with my original intent, which was to focus on God. Have I forgotten Jesus' words, "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in

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the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20) If Jesus were truly present in our prayer, then why would we allow ourselves to be anywhere else? Accepting this truth will require more than an intellectual assent to Jesus' words, it must also happen on the spiritual level. If we have a problem being present to the presence of God, then perhaps the Advent season is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to spiritual watchfulness, and to stay awake and alert to the coming of the Christ. This is about seeking a relationship with the one who is seeking us.

Advent is a season of great expectations and preparations. Will we allow this next three weeks to become a season where all of our expectations and preparations are focused on what Santa Clause will bring or will we focus on how we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Christ? What can we do each day to practice the presence of God and experience the peace that Jesus sends us? Recall that Jesus tells his disciples, "My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you." (John 14:27) One way to experience this kind of peace is to practice the contemplative prayer (sometimes called Centering Prayer). Contemplative prayer is a practice being present in the moment, to be watchful and alert, and open.

I was reminded of this age-old practice during a retreat I participated in, a couple of weeks ago. Though I had practiced this form of prayer in the past, I had become lax and had not continued in this discipline. The retreat reminded me of the peace and focus it brought to my prayer life as well as my daily life. I offer it to you here as a way to deepen one's prayer life as we journey toward Christmas and in the rest of our lives. It requires only that we sit quietly for 10 to 20 minutes a day. It means letting go of distractions and getting out of our head and back to our heart. It means to follow Jesus' suggestion, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words." (Matthew 6: 5-7)

Contemplative prayer is, in fact, prayer without words. It is a gift you can give yourself this season. If you would like more information on how to practice this form of prayer goes to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IKpFHfNdnE

This YouTube video of Fr. Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., a spiritual master, gives the basics of Centering Prayer in a very practical way.

When I take the time to pray in this way, the Lord of the house returns. It is not that He has ever left, rather it only seems He had gone because I have ignored His presence. Advent can be a time to recommit to centering our lives on the presence of God. The fruit of this prayer practice is to create a greater Hope in one's life through the experience and closeness of God's presence wherever we may find ourselves in these weeks leading up to Christmas. With greater focus, we can better experience God's presence, whether we are encountering Him in the Eucharist or in our fellowship with another human being.

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