Thinking Ahead To Advent

[Immanuel]

Anneline I would love to join you in this . sounds wonderful thank you so much

Sorry about the above post...Quoting previous posts is confusing to me lately

[Rosa immaculata]

Rosa, if you ever want to gush about Mother Francis and her gift with words, you have got a friend in me! Definitely read all of her stuff if you are able-it is great. If you have not read her booklet The King's Rooms, I encourage you to do so! I just bought an audio cd of her reading it for a Christmas gift (both for myself and friends :smile4:). Her poems are great, but I personally like Where Caius Is the very best. Also, if you have not read Candle In Umbria (her short play on Saint Clare), I recommend that. The ending scene is one of the best I have ever read in a script (though I can count on my hands the scripts I have read.) Sorry to go off on that tangent!


Hijacking over.

 

Ahah Emmaberry, I am a real fan of Mother Mary Francis! I like her poems too (I read those you posted and some others only), but it is a little difficult for me because it is another language, so I think I don't perceive all the poetry , but I love them much though... Thank you for the other works of this brilliant and holy author!! I will read them. I am going to buy Anima Christi for the moment...

 

Dear Anneline, I am interested too!! :smile4: ... I just add this idea, but not to create a competition with the Order of Anneline, of course!! :)

[AnneLine]

Immanuel said...:

 

Anneline I would love to join you in this . sounds wonderful thank you so much

Sorry about the above post...Quoting previous posts is confusing to me lately

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Not a problem -- I totally get it about 'quoting the other posts' --the problem is a not-quite perfect change dUSt made to the quoting sytem (forgot to add the colored boxes and who said what line)

 

FYI, what you can do until it is fixed is quote the post you want and cut any things you want to remove (just leave the first and last words intact so there aren't any dangers of wrecking the quoting... and then go below and type your own comments.

 

 

I'm adding a symbol( for me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~) after quoted sections so they will be clear to the readers, and adding the words 'XYZ said...:

 

 

Sounds like there is plenty of interest, so I'll be happy to do it.  I think I will do it in the main Open Mic segment, copy it in VS, but indicate itis a gift from VS for all Phatmassers... because they really are nice ot let us have such a helpful forum for our 'discerning pleasure'.

 

Thanks for all the encouragement, people!!!! ;)

 

 

[Immanuel]

The order of Anneline! I like it :hehe2:  THank you Anneline!! Also for the tips to reference a quote.

[AnneLine]

O Lordy, AnneLine is NOT going to be a foundress!  (at least I hope not! - God can be funny sometimes....)

 

But I'll be happy to do the Advent Novena and I'm glad people are interested in what I am planning.  Now you all pray for me as I get stuff ready!

[TIWW]

*

You

point me

Jesus Christ

to thoughts of God. *

I see you in a manger

*carved from a tree.

I see you as a young man

with hands that reach to

 * touch hearts that hurt.

Your caring reaches out like

the strong, embracing branches of

a gentle tree. They reach out to invite

*road weary and travel worn wayfarers*

to quiet rest. * I see you again hanging from a

tree with outstretched arms taking in the whole world.

From your cross you show us that God will stop at nothing

to save my soul.* So I celebrate God's love today, as I celebrate

your birth around a twinkling Christmas Tree. * I pray that my life

like Yours, O Lord, may be tall and upright as a pine tree.* pointing

*reaching, sharing,* sparkling, *life giving*

solid,

sturdy

strong,

rooted

in God's love,

Evergreen

Forever.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2012 by TIWW

[TIWW]

This was from an old Christmas card. I return to it during Advent when things get chaotic, to help focus on the One who Is Coming. I think it is a great piece to read when putting up the tree, especially with children. It serves as a great time to explain what the tree is all about . . . the Everlasting presence of Christ in our lives.

[AnneLine]

OK.. .I just posted the 'advance notice' of the

Phatmass Advent Novena Dec 7-15 in Open Mic!!!

 

Let's remember to pray for all the PhatMassers

and use the time and materials to prepare for His coming!!!!!

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

VS's own Sister Mary Catharine, from the Summit Dominican nuns, gave an Advent chapter talk which touched my heart and soul more than anything else I have ever read about Advent. The nuns posted the talk in their blog on December 1. I found the talk so special that I am taking the liberty of posting it all here, rather than simply quoting from it. If I am breaking a copyright law by doing so, I ask Sister Mary Catharine's forgiveness. (And, at the end, I did include a link to the post in the Summit blog in which the talk was posted.) Perhaps the talk won't "touch" you the same way it touched me (although I hope you like it). For me, the talk goes right to the heart of things going on in my life right now.
 

BTW--If you have not "discovered" the Summit Dominican blog, I highly recommend it. I read it first thing every morning, and it starts my day thinking in the right direction.

 

________________

 

He comes in splendor, the King who is our peace; the whole world longs to see him.

 

My dear Sisters,

 

Just a few minutes ago we used the 4^th volume of our breviaries for the last time. We have closed our books and here and there about the monastery are little stacks of breviaries as Sisters transfer ribbons, holy cards and all the various cards for the Office from one breviary to another before Vespers tonight.

 

This little ritual happens four times each year but as we know this one is different. It is not just changing from one breviary to another but the closing of the door of one liturgical year to open the door of a new one. It is for us who live and breathe a liturgical life—a life of worship and adoration—our “new year” and with this new year comes all the hope and longing for the future.

 

The door we open or rather the door that the Church opens for us is that of expectation, of longing, of desire. How do we go through this door? Do we go through it like the prudent virgins with our lamps trimmed and full of oil? (An image we all have a better understanding of because of our recent experiences with power outages!) Or do we go through this door careless of the passing of time, and like the servants of the Gospel heedless of the Master’s return?

 

This beautiful season of Advent that is the Church’s gift to us is a moment when we allow our Beloved to make a home in our souls so that we can know our true Desire which sometimes can be hidden among the clutter of little desires that pass or that are shams for the real one because fear keeps us from opening our hearts.

 

I think it is fitting that these past weeks we’ve been doing a grand clean-out of the little nooks and crannies of the monastery. We’ve all been amazed at how much useless (or useful for someone else; not for us) stuff we accumulated here and there. It’s been in some ways cathartic and in other ways the letting go of the past to look toward the future. It’s been a little Advent for us.

 

So, now some shelves and closets are noticeably bare. What does that evoke in us? We know that for some sisters the site of a clean and tidy and nearly empty room brings a sense of calm and delight while others see it as a yet a new storage area!

 

It’s a good analogy of our monastic lives. When we came to the monastery we divested ourselves of all that was unnecessary and superfluous, knowing that we needed to travel light for the journey into the heart of God. To live this life in its fullness demands that we keep the “One thing necessary” always before our eyes, to let God carve out a deeper space in us so that he can fill it with Himself. Advent is that time when we make room for God, when through our fasting and abstinence especially, we allow our desire for Him to smash down the mountains and hills of our pride and let the good earth of humility fill in the potholes of our sloth!

 

At First Vespers of Christmas we will sing, “He comes in splendor, the King who is our peace; the whole world longs to seem him.” As we travel along the road to Bethlehem with our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph during the following four weeks may we be Christ’s peace to each other and may we never stop singing, “Come Lord, and do not delay. We long to see you face to face.”

 

-Sr. Mary Catharine of Jesus, OP

 

http://nunsopsummit.org/blog

[AnneLine]

Iggy, you and I think alike.  :buddies:

 

I already posted a bit of it and a link on the BG's Random Thoughts thread.  

 

Sr. Mary Catharine did a beautiful job of setting the theme for the season..... :)

Edited December 4, 2012 by AnneLine

[Feankie]

Beautiful reflection!

[AnneLine]

Bumping this as a reminder that the Advent Novena starts today in Open Mic.

 

Please remember to pray for all who will be making it AND for all phatmassers.

 

There is a thread that says the novena will begin in 5 hours that explains how it will work and how the whole PHATMass community will be included....

 

And there will be a daily thread for each day of the Novena -- and the first one is UP!!!!!

 

Continue ot have a blessed Advent, everyone!!!!

[emmaberry101]

This is a great video to watch in Advent, as we have gushed over the O antiphons in this thread and others: 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HfLp7ul4sjY

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Thanks for posting this! In case anyone didn't recognize them, these are the Summit Domican nuns, the Community of which VS' Sister Mary Catharine is a member. (Athough she is not shown in this video.)

 

Although beautiful, this video is also bittersweet. Several of the nuns in the video have since gone home to the Lord, including one who died only a few months ago.