Is 63:16-19, 64:2-7; 1 Cor 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
In this gospel, Jesus tells us to watch, pay attention, stay awake, ‘don’t miss anything.’ Many describe the longing for the Lord as a desire for “we know not what,” and so we wait for “we know not what.” And while we are forced to pause, our prophet models the honesty warranted, we tell the Lord of our fears that what we wait for will never come to pass, or that we will not recognize it when it does arrive.
Jesus begins this exhortation with a parable about servants waiting for the Master’s return. We, I too, am the house; my faculties, i.e. my will, imagination, perception, reason, memory and intuition are each a servant with specific roles to carry out in the preparations for the Master. Our will operates as the doorkeeper, so I desire, wait and prepare for “I know not what.”
Christ says, “Watch the snow fall, and the quail round the corner of the city apartment building, and the moon shine from a blue sky at 10A; watch the passerby give money to the homeless, and nursing home staff comfort a crying daughter whose father doesn’t recognize her. I’m there. Watch.”
A coworker who came to the US in her twenties from Jamaica told me about the first time she saw snow; she’d seen pictures and heard descriptions but nothing had prepared her for the beauty. She stared out the window as the snow fell for hours. Perhaps watching for the Lord is similar; the Kingdom builds one soul, one snowflake at a time until the faithful blanket the Earth, resembling a field of fresh, pure snow.
In the Interpreters Bible, a commentary I often use, the word ‘theophany’ crops up repeatedly and means ‘the manifestation or appearance of g(G)od to a human.” CS Lewis tells us that the incarnation is the “grand miracle.” Christ exhorting us to witness this miracle of the incarnation, a present day reality due to the Eucharist, on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis.
I too ingest the body and blood. Because He therefore dwells within me, theophany also occurs within my dreams and contemplative experiences, through my feelings and attitudes, in my memories and motivations. I need to observe my interior life with hope and the expectation of theophany. I better pay more attention!
Reflection Question:
What specific roles do your six faculties play for you as you begin to wait for the birth of Jesus? For example, what do you imagine, think about, notice, want, and remember. What insights have you had over the past year that make this Advent season new?
Writing Exercise:
Retell a ‘theophanic’ dream or contemplative experience that you had. Try to tell it in a way that would leave a reader unsure as to whether or not the experience was a conscious or unconscious experience.
Art Exercise:
Represent using your favorite medium a time when you waited for an event or person’s arrival. Try to capture your many emotions through color and textures.
© 2014 Marilyn MacArthur, all rights reserved
Writing to Pray 