DAY 14: Ponder the Mystery: A Contemplative Advent Journey

Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem…He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. Luke 2:4,5

PONDER: Even as we experience “God with us,” and tend to Christ being born in us, we, like Joseph, live out the ordinary requirements of life in our given culture and community – taxes, census, travel, taking care of the business of the day. These two realities are never separate or opposed, not an either-or perspective. There is no sacred and secular, but both mutually co-existing, with or without our knowledge. Daily, humanity meets the holy, on earth as it is in heaven, defining these sacred-ordinary days.

RESPOND: Take a minute to quite your mind from wanting to hurry to the next thing. Imagine entering into eternal time, where “hurry” is an unknown language. Breathing slowly and deeply, find the rhythm and pace of heaven within your soul. With the peace of God dwelling in you, allow your thoughts to embrace the work of the day or week and to take their place within the same room as this Divine peace. Allow your body, mind and spirit to experience your daily obligations with a new attitude and expectation flowing from a loving heart toward it all. Welcome the challenges that may lie ahead, the difficult encounters with others, the frustration of things not going according to plan, and clothe yourself in the Divine peace always with you through it all.

A BLESSING:  May the reality of eternal time permeate the reality of your earthly days. May deadlines become life-lines to experience heavenly peace in the midst of your hurry. May you find all things that dwell in your heart covered and comforted by the peace of God welcoming it all. Amen.