It has been quite a morning. I am exhausted. I've done nothing that the world would consider work, yet I can't wait to find out what is in store for us in the pantry. I bet I am not the only one.
It is hard work, this nothing. It is the most difficult thing we can do. It violates everything that we have been taught-- "don't just stand there, do something." We have radios in our car, radios for the beach and now little IPods-- yes, I plead guilty--that contain 5000 pieces of music-- well, I can't just listen to Anglican and Gregorian chant all day, right? Where is the opportunity for silence.
Now this is where the preacher is supposed to upbraid modern civilization for taking away silence and filling us instead with inane commercialized pap-- well, not today. Today i just want to say-- well done. Well done. Hooray.
We have made some first steps like Dorothy on the Yellowbrick Road. Like Dorothy we will encounter dangers along the way-- Saint John of the Cross wrote eloquently of them in his poetry about the Dark Nights of the Soul. There will be times where we are convinced that God has abandoned us, that He or we or both of us are frauds. Periods of time that will feel as if we are shouting in a sound proof chamber where we can even hear ourselves, let along God hear our pleas. maybe we will encounter "breakthroughs" that are, in reality,Potemkin villages set up by the Evil One.
Like Dorothy, we need a guide to help us down this path, and so I urge you, if today has sparked something inside to find, with Father Tad's help a Spiritual Advisor, who can be your Glenda.
But that is for another time. Today I am thankful-- thankful that I am here with you-- that the Lord has allowed me to have just the smallest taste of what Advent is--that i am ready to really begin to prepare for the Coming of the Christ Child in Eleven days time.
Well Mrs. Nuzzo taught me that when I am blessed, when things have been given to me that I should give thanks, praise the one who has honored me. Luckily for us, Mother Church once again comes through in a way which is most appropriate for Advent--though this set of prayers are appropriate and indeed in monastic communities are recited for most of the liturgical year.
The Angelus is a song of Praise to the Blessed Mother and through her to Christ Jesus. It repeats the Angel's question and Mary's answer. It places us squarely in her shoes and makes us thankful for our salvation history, for the mystery of Redemption and cements our bond with Our Lady.
Now, one little thing. You will hear the bell chime eighteen times during the prayer-- today it will be heard only in this sanctuary, but at a monastery, and in Churches through out Europe, there is a special bell that is rung from the tower, Its high timber alerts the nearby faithful that one of the thrice daily-- morning , noon or evenfall Angeluses was being prayed . Thus they will cease from their productive lives to sanctify time by praying where they were with the clergy and laity in the church proper.
