You may have heard the story about a family who was in a motel room and the dad was preparing to give a speech at a convention. The program was very precise and he had a certain number of minutes to talk so it was very important that he have the correct time. The man was very disturbed because he had misplaced his watch. His wife and children were running all over the room looking for it, when all of a sudden the man shouted at the top of his voice, “Everybody freeze!” And everybody immediately stopped what they were doing. Total silence – till they heard the ticking. And in the silence they found the watch.

….And in the silence of Advent we can hear the voice of John the Baptist, calling to us to transform our lives for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. In fact the Kingdom of Heaven is within us and if we silence our minds from thoughts and our bodies from actions we can become aware of the divine presence.

As we start a new church year, and light another candle on our Advent wreath, perhaps we could establish some new routines that will help us to make time for silence in our daily life…silence that is necessary for our spiritual growth. Our Gospel reading warns us that it is not enough that we be children of Abraham (members of a Church), we must bear good fruits (live lovingly and faithfully). In the silence we learn what we are called to be and do. A few ideas:

• When we wake up each morning we could light an inner candle, just by taking a few moments to focus. We could pause for a minute as we get out of bed and offer the day to God. Who among us doesn’t have time to pause for a moment? We could each find our own way to pray something like this: ‘Lord, I choose to let you be my light. Let your will be done.’

• Plan on joining us for the Penance Service on Thursday, December 9th. It is a wonderful opportunity to follow John the Baptist’s advice to “repent” for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

• Perhaps we can find 10-20 minutes each day to reflect on God’s Word. One of our Advent booklets can help us.

• At the end of the day we can pause and think back over the day’s activities, giving thanks for those times we encountered God.
So like the family in the motel room, “Let’s freeze”…and in the silence of the season hear our God speaking to us.

Peg Orzel