Preparing for Advent: Well -Know Readings from Literature

 Arthur: Literature for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

“Many of us, when charting the timeline of our lives, can point to a moment when a story or poem happened.” —Sarah Arthur, in Light Upon Light (Paraclete Press 2014) p. 9.

Light upon Light is a literary guide of daily and weekly readings and prayers by well-known authors for the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, compiled by Sarah Arthur. She has also written similar companion guides for the long Pentecost season (At the Still Point), Lent, and Easter (Between Midnight and Dawn). Arthur emphasizes that this is not only a guide to prayer during a time of year when our lives become too busy, but also a literary guide to prayer. We remember and recall poems, scripture, and fiction that moved us in our daily lives. Arthur believes literature can make a difference daily when we need it most.

The readings begin with the first Sunday in Advent and end the week of Ash Wednesday.

Arthur hopes to open our imagination as she exposes us to brief excerpts or short works of writers well known to us, as well as some authors we may not know but should! Arthur warns that we should encounter an alert in the readings of this anthology: “Warning: Powerful Spiritual Moment Ahead!” Finally, Arthur suggests that we digest each lesson not as something for our English Literature class or even for pleasure, but as liturgical pieces for worship and prayer.

Each week begins with an outline for the week of an opening prayer, scripture readings, readings from literature, a place of personal prayer and reflection, and a closing prayer to use for that week. Arthur suggests applying the ancient principles of lectio divina or divine reading that we have used in reading scripture now when reading poetry and fiction. We read the passage, meditate on it, and pay attention to a word or phrase that connects us to a place resting in God’s presence. My experience has been to carry that word or phrase during that day or perhaps the whole week. Since this process is no longer used for scripture, she has christened it holy reading or lectio sacra.

I invite you to join this journey with Sarah Arthur during the extraordinary seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, with a unique spiritual practice of daily worship and prayer using well-known literature.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

Preparing for Advent

Preparing for Advent: God With Us

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”—John 1:14.

 I have used many meaningful books to prepare for Christmas during the Advent season each year. I keep returning to God With Us, Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas, first published in 2007 by Paraclete Press and edited by Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe. There are scripture readings, essays by six well-known religious authors, and prayers, but I most connect with the paintings with each lesson. Some days, I only find time to look at the illustrations and say the prayer, but they both seem to stay with me. Eugene Peterson explains it in the introduction. “Over and over again, they (artists) rescue us from a life in which the wonder has leaked out.”  

On other days, I read everything, including remarkable essays about the meaning of the feast day of that week. I especially enjoy the readings during the twelve days of Christmas, when the pace has slowed, and there is more time to digest what this smorgasbord feast of word and art presents us. The book is now in paperback without the pictures, so treasure it if you can find the hardback. 

Thanksgiving, a Day to Listen

Thanksgiving, a Day to Listen

“To listen is very hard because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.”—Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).

As we gather today, sometimes with fewer family members than usual, this is the perfect time to sit back and listen. Having smaller groups to listen to will make this easier. Listening is at the heart of being a spiritual friend. Thanksgiving is a day to pay closer attention to the person or persons with whom we have the privilege to celebrate the day. Even if we are alone, we can call someone and listen.

Nouwen reminds us that listening does not mean waiting for our turn to talk. Instead, it is letting someone else know you are offering the gift of your energy and time to be present and attentive.

Some think it may be easier for introverts, but in reality, introverts may still be processing what they want to say while others are talking, and therefore they are only pseudo-listening. On the other hand, extroverts may have difficulty responding directly to what they hear, as they better process what they hear on the outside.  

The answer is simply to practice listening, even for a few hours daily. It is an art form that must be repeated consciously every day until it becomes as unconscious as brushing our teeth. Thanksgiving is a good day to start.

We have grown up in a multitasking world where we learn to do many things simultaneously: eating while we work or watching television, working on several projects, attempting to solve multiple problems simultaneously, glancing at emails, texting, or searching on our phones while we are sitting down to meet with others. While someone is talking to us, we may think about how we will solve another problem as soon as we move on to the next person or meeting.

Living in the present and active listening are becoming lost arts. We must practice them intentionally. My experience is making eye contact helps keep us focused on the person or people we listen to. We are actively “seeking” Christ visibly and invisibly within others—who can be revealed only as we begin to realize Christ within ourselves.

The art of listening is a gift to ourselves and all we know and meet. Margaret Guenther calls it Holy Listening. St. Benedict calls it “listening with the ear of our heart.”

This is my Thanksgiving Prayer: that each of us can begin “holy listening with each other with the ear of our heart.”