ADVENT PRAYER MATERIAL 2015

L’ARCHE INTERNATIONAL – WELCOME HOME

WEEK 4The week of Mary

Who said yes to welcoming Jesus into her home and into her heart.

(prepared by Rev. Ruth Patterson, Presbyterian Church in Ireland)

‘Woman’ by Andrea Frizon, L’Arche Toronto(L’Arche International Online Art Exhibition)

Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV) The Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.”But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”document.docx 1

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Annunciation, Fra Angelico

REFLECTION by Rev. Ruth Patterson

God has decided to put into action the plan that was in his heart before the creation of the world. The time is right and this is the moment. This is the place and this the person he chooses. Mary is wonderful proof in herself that God’s way of coming is always surprising and not dependent upon the great of this world. Rather, he delights to work through the unknown and the humble. Worldly estimation and values count for little in God’s scheme of things. But Mary is no faceless, weak, submissive creature. Here is a young woman, rooted in her faith, aware of the history of her people, someone who thinks, asks questions, examines herself. The yes that is to change everything for all time, does not come immediately. What is being asked of her in human terms is unthinkable, preposterous, highly dangerous and seemingly impossible. You can picture not only Gabriel but all of heaven holding its breath as they wait for her response.

Eyes wide open, seeing in the Spirit, willing to cast her lot in with mystery, her ‘fiat’ comes at last. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.” Isn’t it so right that we read of the struggle? When I think of Mary at the Annunciation, I do not see a passive, submissive face, but one that is vitally alive, one that is turned towards the future in wonder and awe, one that is so full of what has been revealed that it is suffused by a shining eagerness and perhaps some apprehension, and also resolution now that the yes has been given.

Mary discovers her voice in a whole new way and sings out her song for all people for all time, a song of liberation, of salvation and freedom that will be actually incarnated in her by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is as if her song is the climax of all the songs sung before throughout the centuries, the document.docx 2

songs of her sister forebears Miriam, Deborah and Hannah all of whom sang songs of salvation but who had not been given to see what Mary had been given to see, or to hear what Mary had been given to hear. This is the song of a prophet who knows herself blessed because of what has been revealed to her, who knows she has to sing it out with every part of her being, body, soul and spirit. The song gathers into the eternal now of God all that has passed and all that is yet to be and declares the overriding faithfulness of God to all those who know their need of him and his ever present mercy, his steadfast love.

For me Mary is a model of what it means to be a follower of Jesus not because she portrays some sort of idealized perfection far removed from the realities of what we have to live, but because she was fully human and, in her humanity, inspires me to believe that it is possible to choose the road less travelled, to believe in the power of one, to believe that our lives can make a difference, often far greater than we would ever dare imagine as we wrestle through to reach the point of saying yes to co-operating with God in his loving purpose for the world.

‘Angel of Mysteries’, by Angela Burchill, L’Arche Cork

(L’Arche International Online Art Exhibition)

ACTIVITIES: Mary listened to the angel, God’s messenger.

o Read the following story: (told by Maggie Smith)

John Grist lived in Little Ewell, the first house in L’Arche Kent. He did not speak with words.

One year on his birthday the whole community was sitting around him as he opened his cards and gifts. Two assistants read out the messages in the cards to John and also who they were from. They

did the same with the gifts. As we went on the room became more and more silent, listening to what people had put in their cards and the messages given to John. We became aware of how John was

reacting to all of this and of how engaged he was. The room became more and more naturally silent. So we decided, without words, to light the candles and move into prayer.

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We stayed in the silence for a long time. Some people did tell John how they appreciated him but it was mostly a deep silence and John was beaming! It was as if he was saying, “At last you get it!” It

was as if we had entered his world without meaning to, a world which was silent, in order to appreciate what he was experiencing with all the messages and gifts.

His mother was very moved by this and by the messages of love to John and she said to Maggie afterwards, “I wanted to find a place for John. But I never expected to find a place where he was so

loved.”

The following years we always held his birthday meal in silence.

o Spend time daily in your evening or morning prayers in silence – listening – even if it is just for 5 minutes. Relax into the silence. Take time. Just be.

Mary was someone who ‘examined herself’o St Ignatius recommends a daily practice of ‘the Examen of Consciousness’. Find out more

about this (there are plenty of resources on the internet). A very simple version is the ‘teaspoon prayer’ i.e. to say:

Thank you for what has been good during the day/week/month Sorry for things you should not have said, done, thought Please help me be better tomorrow/next week/next month

o Practise this personally – and as a household, or as a community

PRAYERS – a suggested format: Say the Our Father together Read Lk. 1: 26-38 Sing a version of the Magnificat Lk. 1: 46-55

My soul glorifies the Lord,my Spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

He looks on his servant in her lowliness;henceforth all ages will call me blessed.

The Almighty works marvels for me.Holy his name!

His mercy is from age to age,on those who fear him.

He puts forth his arm in strengthand scatters the proud-hearted.

He casts the mighty from their thronesand raises the lowly.

He fills the starving with good things,sends the rich away empty.

He protects Israel, his servant,remembering his mercy,

the mercy promised to our ancestors,to Abraham and his children for ever.

Have a time of silence. Take time to reflect on any of the material offered here and / or do any of the activities offered. Bless each other with the words of the angel to Mary: document.docx 4

“Name … in whom God is well pleased. Do not be afraid. The Lord is with you.” Prayer: (This is the same prayer every week except for the second line. Maybe you could learn to

sign it. One person could say and sign each line, and then everyone else repeat with the same signing).

Jesus, you ask us to welcome you into our homes this coming Christmas and always.

You chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. May we learn from her how to welcome you into our lives.

May we believe your promise to us as Mary believed your promise to her. Thank you.

Help us so that we make our homes, homes of welcome for those you send us,

And welcome us into your home of Love, this Christmas and always.

Amen.

The L’Arche Prayer Appropriate songs if wished.

OTHER RESOURCES: ‘Magnificat’, A Farther Shore p.105 (R. Patterson)

~~~Mary’s Song

Blue homespun and the bend of my breastkeep warm this small hot naked star

fallen to my arms. (Rest…You who have had so far

to come.) Now nearness satisfiesthe body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies

whose vigour hurleda universe. He sleeps

whose eyelids have not closed before.His breath (so slight it seems

no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deepsto sprout a world.

Charmed by dove’s voices, the whisper of straw,he dreams,

hearing no music from his other spheres.Breath, mouth, ears, eyes

he is curtailedwho overflowed all skies,

all years.Older than eternity, now he

is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailedto my poor planet, caught that I might be free,blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,

brought to this birthfor me to be new-born

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and for him to see me mendedI must see him torn.

Luci Shaw, “Mary’s Song” in Listen to the Green (Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1971), p.36

~~~Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a person who fascinates me. She scares some, and attracts others,

but she rarely fails to have an impact. I have learnt so much by spending time with her, imaginatively. There are so many hidden depths to her character. As probably a very young

teenager, she faced a near impossible ask, and had to face the potential of losing her life, never mind her reputation, by her obedience.

She said Yes-but suppose the answer had been NO?

and Heaven held its breathas in that startled moment

a teenage lasslooked an angel in the face.

Cascades of questionsin tug of terror and of trust

as wide eyed in wonderit dawned on her

the choice was hersand hers alone.

Yet the choice was not to chooseto surrender choice itself

taking the giftGod gives with life and breath,

to lay it down.Her Yes was all that she could give

took all she hadto hold the angel’s eye.

‘Let it be tome as you have said’

and Heaven’s gate swung wide..

From the Blog: afeatheronthebreathofgod

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Sculpture of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Joseph Pyrz in Durham Cathedral.

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