Happy new year! And after-Advent reflections

it is the twilight of 2021. I am thinking about spiritual new year’s resolutions (and maybe writing an article about it) and simultaneously enjoying the Christmas season and reflecting on Advent.

During December, I took a small, four-part online class on Carmelite spirituality through Sacred Heart Major Seminary. I knew nothing about Carmelite spirituality going into it, and am convinced it is a deep, deep well that will require much more exploration.

There are of course parallels to other orders and forms of spirituality; the emphasis on mystic prayer reminded me of the Jesuits, for example. So I need to learn more to understand what makes it different and unique, because I know there is something to it. There wouldn’t be so many great saints to come of it, if not (St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Edith Stein, and so on).

Below are some of the takeaways, or really items of interest that made me pause (and want to know more):

• Carmelites pray “on behalf of the world” - the Carmelite is to stand proxy for sinners through voluntary and joyous suffering. “Missionary contemplation.” Idea of responsibility for the other

• Spirituality rooted in “zeal for the Lord in handing over one’s life to God”

• “The desert of the soul is the very place of God’s communication.”

• Soul = precise locale of communion with God.

• We are unfamiliar with our souls and how they relate to God.

• Contemplative prayer helps us with these questions: what is the soul? How does the soul relate to God? What does God desire for my soul?

• Further: the soul as Heaven itself

• Carmelites live lives both outwardly active and interiorly contemplative - always available in service to others, while also always seeking interior conversation with God through prayer. And open to the Holy Spirit’s “interruptions”

• Contemplative love is a Carmelite’s apostolate

• 5 stages of prayer: vocal, mental/meditation, prayer of recollection, prayer of quiet, prayer of union (I don’t feel I know enough about each to accurately summarize here)

• The common human vocation is to become mother or father (not always in the literal biological sense)

• All are called to enter into a mystical way of being in the world!

There was also a good deal about the way we are to imitate Mary, the ultimate contemplative mystic (yes), and also about Mt. Carmel itself, and the ascent thereof, which I did not understand. More to learn on that and many fronts!

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

A dump cake of thoughts about Advent

I remember being at a friend’s house during middle school and her mother having a recipe book that included a recipe for something called “dump cake,” which I thought sounded horrible.

Turns out dump cake is a type of cake (you can Google it) that involves dumping all a cake’s ingredients, dry and wet, into a pan, without having to mix it. Somehow it all cooks that way. Per some takes on the recipe there is also an element of dumping whatever ingredients you’ve got in there, like a sort of cupboard clearing (or maybe I made up that last part?). That’s also how I view fruitcake - it’s just a bunch of stuff, edible and not, that someone poured into a pound cake mold.

So, in the spirit of a dump cake (or a fruitcake) - and because I think Advent is too multifaceted and full of wonder to be focused on just one aspect - below are my thoughts as we enter the Advent season, and to help you think about which devotions, prayers, or practices will be helpful to you this Advent.

First, I start with a throwback: my article from several years ago, Five Ways to Make the Most of Advent. There’s suggestions for prayer and charitable activities in there.

Read Bishop Burbidge’s reflection, Advent as Joyful Remembrance.

Sign up for Pray More Novena’s Advent retreat. Each week has a few pre-recorded teachings, and this morning I listened to the by Dr. Edward Sri on the importance of cultivating an interior life. I have never listened to a Dr. Edward Sri talk, and it was a delight.

For the first Sunday of Lent, yesterday, Bishop Robert Barron gave a homily on three different perspectives from which you can understand Advent - the three coming of Christ, in history, today, and at his final coming.

Lastly, I offer tentatively, because it’s an intense take: a couple years ago Fr. Mike Schmitz recorded a video wherein he offered that we could see another side to Advent and the notion of a second coming, to be the second coming of Jesus into our lives - at our own deaths. He offers that we could live Advent as if we knew we would die on Christmas - how would you live differently? I don’t love this approach, because the inexperienced or overzealous could take it too far. But, this is a dump cake, so you’re getting the whole cupboard.

One more thought: you may hear the term “Advent figures,” as in, those “figures” who we associate with Christ’s birth, who played a role in his birth, and upon whom we can mediate. They include: the angels, the shepherds, the Magi, and Mary and Joseph. You may find it helpful to take some time through contemplative/imaginative prayer and either live through the last few week’s of Mary’s pregnancy with her, or stand with the shepherds in the field as the angels announce Jesus’s birth, follow the star with the Wise Men, or walk for miles beside the donkey carrying Our Lady with Joseph. Who do you relate to most, least? What feelings come up - fear, hope, trepidation, confusion, wonder?

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

Have a holy Advent, and a happy Christmas.

A Diocesan Pilgrimage

40+ priests of the Diocese of Arlington process after Bishop Burbidge concludes Mass.

Last weekend, the Diocese of Arlington hosted a major pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC. I say major because such a thing would always be a large scale undertaking, and in particular post-COVID. As it turned out, the faithful of Arlington were just a’clammerin’ for such a pilgrimage, as around 2,000 people turned out - the largest single event to be held at the Basilica since shutdowns were put in place in March 2020. The pilgrimage was in honor of St. Joseph.

Here’s a link to the Arlington Catholic Herald’s write-up about it. Ya girl made the quotes. It was nice to meet Zoey, whose writing on church goings-ons I have appreciated, as she tends to focus on human interest stories occurring in the life of the church.

What I was trying to get at in that quote is that I truly did feel grateful that day, to have that beautiful building, the witness of all the priests celebrating Mass, the faith of all who attended - it was just normal Catholic stuff, which is so grand, and which has been missing now for nearly two years. It was triumphant, it was joyful, it was the way it ought to be. When we don’t have the opportunity to gather publicly and make a big, public demonstration of faith, something is wrong. Something is off. Dare I say it is actually bad for the soul. So, being at the pilgrimage was like giving my soul a nice, big, refreshing drink of water after many months of dehydration. It was good.

And, as you can see from the picture, most importantly: it was the eternal triumph of the Cross. Even when Jesus is hidden, he is among us, and will always have the final word - over politics, and over pandemics.

We are getting close to the end of the remaining days of the year of St. Joseph. I continue to learn about new devotions, and ways St. Joseph has impacted people’s lives, and am glad to see many Catholics taking seriously this directive to learn about and honor St. Joseph. “Ite ad Joseph” - Go to St. Joseph!

Here’s a prayer to St. Joseph that was given out on a prayer card to pilgrims:

O Saint Joseph,

to whom God entrusted

His Son, Jesus Christ,

and our Mother Mary,

we, who are members of your Son’s Body,

turn to you as our guardian.

As we make this pilgrimage,

bless us and protect us,

as you did the Holy Family.

Guide us to recognize the Body of Christ

truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Having received Him,

help us to live more fully in Him,

so that we may rejoice forever in your Kingdom,

Amen.

(St. Joseph, Guardian of the Body of Christ, pray for us).