Celtic Advent was and is a preparation not for one coming of Christ (in the Incarnation at Christmas) or two comings of Christ (as Advent is a traditional reminder of the coming of Christ we await at the end of all time), but three comings of Christ: the third is the daily coming of Christ into our every moment, into the depths of our very selves. Meister Eckhart has a prayer that reminds us that God knocks on the door of our hearts and when we open to God, we find God already within. Today we will look at that dailyness, as we think about Aidan, the first bishop of Lindisfarne, the Holy Island in Britain. Aidan had many things to go when given the island to prepare it for the home the monks would make upon it. So many practicalities and things to plan or do. And yet, instead of getting to work building the chapel or the cells where the monks would live, Aidan set out 40 days of prayer. "During this time silence was often stronger than words and stillness more powerful than action. An area was marked out which would surround their future [monastic site]... Once the foundation of prayer had been laid, the monks built their own cells." I love this image, because it implies that the stones themselves became prayer, and the foundation of physical reality and spiritual reality were indeed intertwined. Sometimes, we can make a dualism between prayer and action; or we may experience prayer as something to "do" to achieve something—like closeness to God, perhaps. Today, as you think of Aidan and that powerful stillness, consider what God might be inviting you into—not as an obligation, but as a freedom and power in silence. Are there ways that God is already present in your 'to do' list? Or ways that God might be invited into the margins of that list, where you might find that God is already there? #celticadvent #2022

Posted by Anam Cara Abbey at 2022-11-17 13:39:38 UTC