Sunday, December 2nd, 2012, is the First Sunday of Advent.  

Lectio:  Read the Gospel text from Luke 21:25-28 and 34-36.

Read it slowly and reflectively, and maybe a second time.  Try to read aloud rather than with the mind.  Listen to the text as you read.

Meditatio:  What is it about?   Some background so that we can better understand the text and make our response to it.

The message of this text is one powerful message:  those who have stood firm in faith, and lived in a spirit of watchfulness and prayer, have nothing to fear about the end of time, or the second coming of Christ, they will be able to stand tall and in a spirit of hope as they face their Saviour.  

Many commentaries on this text go round and round leading one down paths of confusion.  And yet the text is simple:  “Watch yourselves…”  One must avoid complacency.  We are all so vigilant with our health.  We go for regular check-ups to our doctors, and we get the all-clear from year to year.  This Gospel text is just about that exact same thing.  Don’t become complacent.  

Daily prayer will keep us all-clear and ready for the coming of Christ, whether it be on a daily basis of grace-filled moments, or at the end of our lives on earth.  Jesus says:  “your liberation is near at hand.”  That liberation will come easily to those who remain faithful to Jesus, and who imitate the one little flower on the Branch – the tiny flower of love in the coldness and darkness of a good part of our world at present. 

There are other approaches to understanding this text, such as focusing on the “last days” of the world and the signs mentioned in the Gospel.  I have chosen to focus on what is practical for me as a Christian:  Daily Lectio Divina, watchfulness/prayer, living in faith and hope in my “liberation which is near at hand”.

Ponder over the text for some hours or days.  Different words, motifs, themes, images will come to you.  Stay with them.

Listen to the Holy Spirit playing like a harpist on the fibres of your heart, to bring forth melody of your response.

LECTIO DIVINA IS ABOUT READING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, REFLECTING ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, FROM AN INFORMED BACKGROUND.  IT IS ALLOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PLAY ON THE FIBRES OF MY HEART, LIKE A HARPIST, AND BRING FORTH THE BEAUTY OF MY RESPONSE.  IN RESPONDING TO THE TEXT, MY LIFE IS CHANGED MORE AND MORE INTO CHRIST.

– Sr Hildegard Ryan OSB, Jamberoo Abbey