Advent "Non-Doing"

A couple of days ago, the first real snowfall of the year made its way through southern Ontario.  At my present location there is a vast open field behind the building, with grass, trees and some flower gardens.  As I walked past a rather wide window and looked out on the entire scene covered in a blanket of snow, I just said to myself, "Now it's Advent!"  What did I mean by that?  Well certainly there is very much an association with snow in my mind with this time of year, coming from Montreal originally, we know what real snow is.  As I reflected further on my own exclamation, there is a good connection between snow and what the season of Advent is really all about.  When snow is covering the ground, all of creation is asleep, waiting.  Plants and trees are not growing, they are dormant, storing up energy for the spring time when they will bud forth into new life.  Advent is about waiting, and it is about not doing.  Out in the consumer world, the time leading up to Christmas is about anything but not doing, it's about endless shopping, and "holiday" parties, to the point where Christmas just becomes an anti-climax, as we collapse exhausted after the pre-Christmas hustle and bustle.  Perhaps we can take a clue from God's creation around us, as it waits calmly, serenely, patiently, and quietly for the coming spring, so we in this holy season of preparation are invited to wait in the quiet of our hearts and homes for the coming of our Saviour.  This Advent let's pull back from the doing, and enter a bit more into the being, the patient and quiet waiting for the springtime of our Saviour's arrival.

Where Freedom is to be Found

My circumstances this week have given me pause to reflect on the nature of freedom.  What those circumstances are, are not really necessary to the reflection, so I won't tell you.  So often we think of freedom in terms of being able to do what we want, to go where we want.  We don't want restrictions put on ourselves, especially from outside, from some authority.  I'm not going to claim that I'm immune to those feelings, I think there is something within us, something God has placed within us that just yearns for freedom.  The problem that we so often encounter, is that just like happiness, we search for it in the wrong way, and in the wrong places (I'm sure there's a country/western song in there somewhere).  I'm sure it would be a surprise to many that freedom could be found locked in a room, in a prison cell, or just about anywhere.  True freedom comes from within.  St. Thérèse of Lisieux is the patroness of the missions, and she never left her cloister.  That seems rather incongruous, but speaks of a similar reality.  We find true freedom within and with God, we can't forget that second part.  In the search for inner peace and freedom many turn to eastern religions who suggest an inner freedom, but at the expense of that connection to the Other, that higher reality which is God.  Freedom is found in relationship to God, in accepting his will whatever it might be.  It really doesn't matter where you are to do that, in a church, in your room, in your office, freedom is there.  Some weeks back I was reading the book He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek, an excellent reflection on this idea, that I would highly recommend reading.  Fr. Ciszek found freedom while he was in a prison cell, and a Soviet labour camp in Siberia.  The last place most people would look for freedom.  For Fr. Ciszek though, he came to realize that freedom was not to be found in his ability to come and go as he pleased, or in his ability to do whatever he wanted, but it was in accepting and doing God's will in whatever circumstances he found himself.  The next time anyone of us goes looking for freedom somewhere out there, we should remember Fr. Ciszek's lesson, freedom begins within, with our total and complete surrender to God, and acceptance of His will, wherever we are, and in whatever we do.

The Peace of Christmas

Recently I have been reading two different books on the subject of 'peace of soul', "Searching for and Maintaining Peace:  A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart" by Fr. Jacques Philippe and "A Treatise on Peace of Soul" by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli (incidentally, both are rather short and definitely worth a read).  The principle of peace of soul finds it origin in the encounter of the prophet Elijah meeting God at Mount Horeb (cf. 1 Kings 19).  There was a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but God was not found in any of these, God was found in a sound of sheer silence that followed.  Later spiritual writers came to understand that if we wish God to find a permanent dwelling in our souls, then we must make our souls a place of peace and silence as well.

So much today seems to distract us, pulling us in one direction or another, flustering us, angering us, all disturbing our peace of soul.  We lose our peace of soul ultimately through desire (desire of anything other than God).  We can lose our peace of soul even desiring good things, we can desire to be holy, then lose that peace of soul when we find ourselves not making as much progress towards holiness as we would like.  This total peace is described with the Hebrew word "shalom", this is the peace God wishes us, this is the peace the angel proclaims to the shepherds at the birth of Christ when he says, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests." (Luke 2:14)

It seems today though that Christmas produces the completely opposite effect, as we run from place to place, store to store, party to party.  Normally nice and calm people start to get frustrated and angry, shout expletives at one another, fight over something as ridiculous as a parking space at the mall.  The devil is constantly trying to rob us of our peace of soul, because if he succeeds we push God out, and start to make room for him instead.  The rampant secularization, and commercialization of Christmas seems to have that double effect, not only are we encouraged to forget the real reason for Christmas, but in the madness that ensues we lose that peace of soul in the hustle of the crowds.  From now on, let us all strive to be more aware, let us strive to rise above the Christmas craziness, let us strive to maintain that peace of soul even in the face of the madding crowds, then we will know the true peace of Christmas.