Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen
Revised Collect. First Sunday of Advent
There is a story told of the holy French priest Jean Vianney (Ćure d’Ars d.1859). He noticed an elderly man who would spend hours in the church before the Blessed Sacrament.
The ćure was curious about what happened in this man’s prayer. ‘What do you do when you are praying” he asked the man. The old man’s answer has become the classic instruction for contemplative prayer: “I look at Him, and He looks at me.”
The simplicity of the man’s prayer is deeply appealing. So much that is taught and written about prayer serves only to convince us that prayer is a complex project to be mastered.
We forget that prayer is the most natural human activity.
Prayer is the ‘default-setting’ for humans.
Prayer is always God’s action in us.
Our desire for the divine life within us is the purest prayer we can pray. To sit in silence and stillness before God is the best we can do.
When I think about the ćure’s conversation with the elderly man, I see that he was deeply at home with God; much more at peace with God than I often am. Most times I feel unable to look at God. My guilt and shame renders me more like Adam in the garden who took to cover, unable to return the divine gaze.
But there is hope for me. God does not need me to do anything in my prayer. I simply give God the gift of time, and I sit and kneel. If looking at God is difficult for whatever reason, I need not be concerned. In these moments I simply know that however preoccupied my own vision, God is looking at me with gentle love and mercy.
God’s gaze on me is the heart of prayer. God does all the work—and I am transformed.
The busyness of pre-Christmas days can be exhausting. How easy it is for us to lose perspective. We forget that God is holding us in love in every moment.
These Advent days invite us to set moments in the midst of our full lives to remember that God is with us. To know that we are held firmly in God’s vision is the most comforting human experience. In this gaze we do see our sin and weakness. In humble shame we cast our eyes downward. But the God of love continues to look upon us with transforming love. This posture before God is the heart of contemplative prayer.
This week the priests of our diocese are on retreat. Fr. Robert Barron is leading these days of prayer. You might appreciate his website and podcasts with Sunday homilies.
Pray for your priests, especially in this retreat week.
Check the times for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction in your own parish. Give God a chance to gaze on you with love.
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- Fr. Robert Barron is preaching the priests’ retreat for the diocese of Christchurch this week. Check out his homily for the First Sunday of Advent, and his website.
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