From the Rector: A Personal Mini Retreat for Advent

A personal mini-retreat for Advent

In the midst of all of the swirl around preparation for the external celebration of Christmas, the Church is ever vigilant to help us find a time and place of reflection to enter and prepare our hearts.  I recently listened to a guided reflection by a Dominican priest to help me clear my mind and heart of all the busyness, so that I could pray in a more recollected state.  The priest led a kind of lectio divina (reading of the Divine Word) so simple that I couldn’t believe it worked so effectively.  He read aloud the passage from psalm 46:10, that says

“Be still and know that I am God”.   He then slowly repeated the line dropping off parts of it to make it shorter and shorter.  The second time he read,

“Be still and know that I AM”
then

“Be still and know”
Then

“Be still”
finally he simply said,

“Be”.

The priest then began to add back the text
“Be still”

“Be still and know”

“Be still and know that I AM”
then

“Be still and know that I am God”

By the time he had finished these words I was so calm and recollected that
I actually fell asleep!

Thank you Jesus and that anonymous Dominican priest who showed me how to calm my heart and mind to prepare the way for the Lord