New Jersey Advent By Candlelight

Last Thursday about 60 women gathered in a candlelit church to enter into the holy silence of the Advent season.  Starting with Mass, Fr Brian, the pastor of Christ the King, spoke about the noise in the world. It is so stimulating that often we can’t hear God calling us, and we become disconnected from Him.  We try to satisfy our longing for God with people, experiences or things.  Advent is a time to enter into silence and wait for Christ’s coming.  Waiting is a wise teacher and can help us shed our pride. 

The holy silence was continued after Mass with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  Mary Smith and Luly Fernandez gave reflections during the holy hour to help us draw closer to God and to make the most of our Advent season.  Mary’s talk was very practical – outlining ways that we can combat the pitfalls of Advent we all experience – as we are getting our homes ready for entertaining and shopping for the perfect gift to express our love for family and friends.  The key is to stay in the present moment and remember Jesus is always with us.  We can offer him our heart at any point throughout the day and in the midst of our business.  We need to allow ourselves to be held by God and others in order to experience stillness.  Hugs are a powerful way to do this, especially if you can hold the embrace for 20 seconds.  It will help to decrease stress, increase a sense of safety and belonging, increase self esteem, decrease fear and boost your immune system. 

Luly reflected on our Blessed Mother’s example of someone who knew how to be still and wait for the Lord.  She shared the image of children taking a walk on the beach with their mother.  They find treasures and give them to their mother to hold so they can be unencumbered to run and jump and play.  The mother can hold it all.  But she wisely knows what to keep and what will start to smell in a few days.  We can trust our Mother to keep all of our treasures and to detach us from what is superfluous.  She can teach us how to hold what we need to hold.  Her secret is she knew who she was holding and she was being held by him whom she was holding.

After benediction we were treated to a beautiful dinner and an opportunity to be together to discuss what we are carrying right now, and how we can ask God to help us carry it.NJ Advent By Candlelight