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<\/p>\nIt is an Advent morning and somewhere – in Italy? Or in Poland? Mexico maybe? people are entering dark churches holding\u00a0 lamps in hand.\u00a0 Flickering lights of hope and prayer symbolize their owner\u2019s desire: \u201cMaranatha..\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAdveniat regnum tuum Domine\u201d!<\/p>\n
Where else can one find\u00a0 this spirit of expectation, this keen awareness of the pending Miracle of Miracles? In convents across the world, in churches big and small, in some – not all- Catholic\u00a0 schools, among members of religious movements\u2026 in some families, too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Advent requires one to slow down, to leave \u201cthe world\u201d and enter the Desert, to spend more time on prayer and meditation, to put aside all the transient, passing things. Ideally, we should wait for Jesus with Mary, His Mother \u2013 focused on the Mystery of Salvation.\u00a0 I am sure many Christians do this, year after year.<\/p>\n
Just as many probably do not. Some have fallen off the Church and lost the sense of Tradition. They do not even miss Advent. Most do not even know something like that exists. They may miss Christmas lights on the house, or the tree or the presents, or the Christmas dinner\u00a0 \u2013 but not the Mystery of Advent. That is why in most Western countries Christmas trees go up soon after the beginning of November and are removed right after New Year.<\/p>\n
Then there are those who know what Advent means and live each year in perpetual guilt because \u2013 for various reasons, they rush through those weeks as if God was not coming to Bethlehem. \u00a0Yet they have the call to the Desert and long for it.<\/p>\n
There are so many of us who wish they could \u201cgo into the deep end of pool\u201d (of spiritual life) but somehow spend the whole life at the very shallow end of it. They would love to sit in a quiet church pew, Advent lantern in hand and immerse themselves in prayer and the sheer wonder of Christ the Child \u2013 yet they cannot do it.\u00a0 They look at the Desert with longing \u2013 yet it is so far away..<\/p>\n
Among these are often mothers of small children.\u00a0 Sleep-deprived for years, they are lucky to pray Our Father in one piece and often spend the whole Mass chasing their lively offspring.<\/p>\n
Families of the seriously sick or handicapped come next \u2013 they are lucky if they can have one night \u00a0or day to themselves and a bit of rest.\u00a0 A cup of tea drunk in peace replaces meditation.<\/p>\n
Serviceman and servicewomen of all kinds, those who take night shifts \u00a0\u2013 their desert is their job.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of men and women working away from their homes, in distant lands or on the sea.<\/p>\n
Add to them also the overworked members of teaching professions who \u2013 exactly at this time of the year \u2013 are marking countless exams and submitting next semester\u2019s course outlines \u2013 by the deadlines.\u00a0 And \u00a0do not forget their long-suffering victims, the students who have to take these exams \u2013 in Advent.<\/p>\n
If we cannot or would not come onto the Desert, the Desert comes to us.
\n
\n<\/b>Maria Kozakiewicz<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is an Advent morning and somewhere – in Italy? Or in Poland? Mexico maybe? people are entering dark churches holding\u00a0 lamps in hand.\u00a0 Flickering lights of hope and prayer symbolize their owner\u2019s desire: \u201cMaranatha..\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAdveniat regnum tuum Domine\u201d! Where else can one find\u00a0 this spirit of expectation, this keen awareness of the pending Miracle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n