Monday 28 November 2011

Advent ~ Prepare a Way

Second Sunday of Advent ~ Prepare Space

We often miss Advent's power because these weeks are full of parties and intense consumerism in ‘preparation’ for Christmas. In today’s Gospel John the Baptist tells us to Prepare a Way and this is the commitment we are asked to make, to clear a space for God in our lives. God is with us in many different ways, trying to catch our attention in the midst of our crazy, busy days. The Gospel today calls to us to PREPARE SPACE, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 20 mins… what can we give each day to stop, be still, to ask God for what we need, to listen?

The world says to God, ‘we no longer need you, we know what is best’. And then we look at the wilderness of our modern world and hear the voice of one crying, “PREPARE A WAY”. Today ask for the grace to prepare space for the Lord in one’s own heart, in the family, in the parish, and in the human community.

“In the body there is a little shrine. In that shrine there is a lotus. In that lotus there is a little space. The whole universe is in that little space, because the Creator, the source of all, is in the heart of each one of us” (Upanishad).

Jane Mellett, Intercom, 2011