MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM AVA, MO

From our 12 foot Christmas tree in the stairwell (with over 100 angel ornaments) to our prayer chapel vested in its Christmas beauty, the Franciscan friars here at Our Lady of the Angels Prayer Fraternity in Ava, MO wish you and your loved ones a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a NEW YEAR in 2011 filled with health and safety, grace and joy, peace and prayer!   

NATIVITY SCENES FROM THE PRAYER FRATERNITY

There are a number of Nativity scenes throughout the friary.  Following in the wonderful tradition of the year 1223 when St. Francis of Assisi gathered the country folk of Greccio in the Rieti Valley in Italy to re-enact that first Christmas night.

A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION

(Looking at another of the 8 Christmas creches in the friary, the very familiar images in the crib set the stage for the following Christmas reflection offered by Alice, a friend of the friars.)

 

BETHLEHEM SURPRISE

 

The wonder of the Christmas story is like no other.  For the unlikely characters cast in this story truly transcend human imagination: virgin teen-wife, dreamy-eyed husband, weary innkeeper, heavenly choir, ragtag shepherds, and foreign star-gazers.  But the surprise does not end here, but rather becomes even more ramped up by the spontaneous actions of the players.  Mary and Joseph accept the innkeeper's offer of a bed in a barn.  Shepherds abandon their sheep and run to see a stranger's baby.  Wise men pack up gear and follow a star.  When Baby Jesus was born, ordinary people responded in extraordinary ways.

 

Isn't this story for us today?  To nudge us from our ordinary-comfort zones that we may hear heavenly music and see stars in our eyes.   For when the Christmas choir sings, "Glory to God in the Highest,"  we are called to throw off our earth-bound cares and run with haste to Bethlehem.  To witness the birth of God's extraordinary message:  Christ is born today!

 

Prayer Reflection from your Prayer Fraternity

Prayer reflection & a thought for Advent - 4th Sunday

 

"PRAYER is not asking for what you think you want,

but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine."
                      (Kathleen Norris)

 

 

Fr. George Smiga, writing for the Living with Christ missalette, December issue, offers a reflection for us on the Gospel of Matthew's account of Jesus' birth we read on this Sunday;  it's one further reflection on Kathleen Norris' quote above:

 

"Matthew devotes the majority of his narration not to the main event of Jesus' birth, but to all the unusual circumstances within Jesus' family:  Mary's inexplicable pregnancy, and Joseph's struggle to deal with it.

 

Matthew's approach is instructive to us during the holiday season.  It calls us to look for God in the margins of our activities.

 

Throughout this month we will gather with family and friends.  Our focus will tend to be on the meals, gifts, and customs of the season.  But the people with whom we gather will bring with them their own issues, and many of them will be difficult.   Sickness, hurt, economic hardship, or grief may well be gathered in our homes.  God is calling us to be attentive to such burdens.

 

Like Joseph we must trust that God will be found in strange and uncomfortable places.  Even when circumstances are new and difficult, we must trust they are part of God's plan.  The places we must leave are seldom recoverable.  But God can be found in new places. 

 

Matthew's account of Jesus' birth assures every believer that God is not restricted to main events or routine places.   God is also present in the margins and foreign parts of our lives."

A REFLECTION ABOUT PRAYER

LIFE CHANGES AN UNDERSTANDING OF PRAYER

 

 

Recently a member of our community received a card from a friend who wrote something very profound about prayer.    Reflecting upon experiences in their family, the letter said:  

 

"We have learned to pray differently, not asking to make everything okay, but asking God to help us to accept what he thinks is best for us."

AN ADVENT REFLECTION

(picture is our chapel in simple Advent vesture)

Why do we do these prayers, scriptures, etc. for Advent -- really, for all the seasons of the year?   

 

This Hasidic tale, told by Elie Wiesel, helps us understand why we do these prayers and rituals of our faith -- in Advent, at Christmastime,  during Lent, throughout the Easter season:

 

When the great Rabbi Israel Baal Shem-Tov saw misfortune threatening the Jews it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate.  There he would light a fire,  say a special prayer,  and the miracle would be accomplished and misfortune averted.

Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Magid of Mezritch, had occasion, for the same reason, to intercede with heaven, he would go to the same place in the forest and say:  "Master of the Universe, listen!   I do not know how to light the fire, but I am still able to say the prayers."   And again the miracle would be accomplished.

Still later, Rabbi Moshe-Lieb of Sasov, in order to shave his people once more, would go into the forest and say:  "I do not know how to light the fire, I do not know the prayer, but I know the place and this must be sufficient."   It was sufficient and the miracle was accomplished.

Then it fell to Rabbi Israel of Rizhyn to overcome misfortune.  Sitting in his armchair, his head in his hands, he spoke to God:  "I am unable to light the fire and I do not know the prayer;  I cannot even find the place in the forest.   All I can do is to tell the story, and that must be sufficient."   And it was sufficient.  God made humankind because God loves stories.