Vigilance and prayer for strength

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today prepare us for Advent by urging our vigilance and prayer.

Vigilance and prayer for strength

The images of the Book of Revelation describe the the heavenly kingdom.

* [22:6–21] The book ends with an epilogue consisting of a series of warnings and exhortations and forming an inclusion with the prologue by resuming its themes and expressions; see note on Rev 1:1–3.

In the Gospel from Luke, we are cautioned against behaviour that will deaden our awareness of Christ Presence.

Luke maintains, though in a modified form, the belief in the early expectation of the end of the age (see Lk 21:27, 28, 31, 32, 36), but, by focusing attention throughout the gospel on the importance of the day-to-day following of Jesus and by reinterpreting the meaning of some of the signs of the end from Mk 13 he has come to terms with what seemed to the early Christian community to be a delay of the parousia.

Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that the words we hear from Luke’s Gospel are a call to be attentive, alert and available, not only to the coming of God, but to the very presence of the Creator Who continues creating.

The Gospel urges us to be alert. I would suggest that our arriving with empty arms and available hands might be our Advent posture and form of prayer. This is the season to practice being attentive to invitations and attentive to an awareness of the closeness of the God Who proclaims,  “Very soon I will be with you again.” We await these days of God’s invitations to receive, respond and rejoice.

Friar Jude Winkler interprets Revelation as describing a heavenly society. The tau marks the disciples who have accepted the Cross. Our vigilance for end times is maintained by focus on our own death.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents Thomas Keating, one of the founders of Centering Prayer , who wrote about the gift of contemplation, not only during our times of prayer but throughout the rest of our day.

The Spirit presents us with the true source of happiness, which is the experience of God as intimate and always present. . . . After we get used to the fact that God is the only source of happiness, we have no more energy to invest in these hopeless expectations and so begin to experience peace. The Fruits of the Spirit—Charity, Joy, Peace, and the rest—begin to emerge as habitual dispositions in daily life. . . . Through the exercise of the Fruits, we are not held back anymore by the residue of the emotional programs for happiness that we brought with us from early childhood and that we have been more or less dominated by all our lives. . . .

The tension of the pre-Christmas time between quiet contemplation and active engagement suggests that a mindful prayer approach will bring fruit of our spiritual well being.

References

(n.d.). Revelation, chapter 22 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/22
(n.d.). Luke, chapter 21 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/21:58
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved December 1, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/