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ADVENT 2023
WEEK TH REE
BE G R AT EF UL
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SCAN FOR PLAYLIST
OUR CARING PRESENCE
Catholic health care believes our caring presence with one another
WEEK THREE | BE GRATEFUL
and those we serve is more than can be seen on the surface. It
This third week we focus on gratitude.
extends beyond the words we say and the tasks we do. The presence of our human caring reveals a
We will meditate on the responsorial
deeper Divine caring. Our presence
psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent,
is, as the Gospel says, “A light
Mary’s canticle of Magnificat, and read
[that] shines in the darkness.” In
an accompanying personal account of
this Advent season we ponder the
one who prayed it and found a spiritual
shining of this light.
awareness of gratitude. Next, we will reflect on experiences of gratitude and memories of people for whom we are thankful. Two poems will open our memories. Finally, we will pray our Advent prayer twice.
“If God is the center of your life, no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts.” St. Vincent de Paul
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REFLECTION
Memories of Gratitude Gratitude is not confined to our present experiences. Advent/ Christmas is a season of memories.
or see a photo of a former Christmas gathering, or, as with the woman, hold a Christmas tree ornament that unexpectedly has evocative power.
At a Christmas Eve gathering, a woman reached out her hand and cradled an ornament on the tree. A friend noticed she had tears in her eyes and asked, “You OK?”
The grateful memories are about the people whom we love and who have passed on, or about people with whom we celebrated in the past and are not in touch with now, or about graced moments from past Christmas when the meaning of the feast came home to us and now they arrive again and bring their sense of homecoming with them.
“Nothing wrong,” she said. “Just remembering.” We do not plan them, memories. They come unbidden. They are triggered by someone’s casual words that echo past Christmas conversations, or we return to a familiar Christmas space,
PHOTOS CAN H ELP M EMORY
Take out your photo collection. Welcome the people whom you see. They are still present. Thank them for what they have done. 3
Only have a minute? Start here. Choose one piece of content from all that has been gathered here:
AN ENGAGEMENT
A PRAYER
A REFLECTION
Coloring Page, pg. 6-7
Praying the Magnificat, pg. 9
Most Detailed Image of the Crab Nebula, pg. 10
Consider these reflection questions:
Which Advent memories are you most grateful for? Why?
Which part of Mary’s canticle (the Magnificat) resonates most with you?
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FULL REFLECTION
Q & A WITH PI LAR M I N ETT WI LLIAMSEN, DC CH I ROPRACTOR M ERCY HOSPITAL ST. LOUIS
How does this image speak to the meaning of presence?
“When it drops into the water, it’s one drop. And then, suddenly, it is a part of a big pond. And as it moves from going from self into that greater mass of water, then a ripple is affected. And that ripple is so important for me to see: what I do matters... every single thing I do has an impact on the greater good.”
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Engaging hands, head,
and heart
How often has it been true for you that your best ideas, your most profound moments of integration, occur when you are in the midst of another, wholly different task? Here, we invite you to keep your hands busy with coloring the cover image while you open your head and your heart to what presence means in your own life. How do you experience it? How does your experience of presence inform your work?
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Magnificat The responsorial psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent is Mary’s Magnificat (Lk. 1:46–55). It is a canticle of gratitude for all God has done for her, especially in her role as the mother of Jesus. But it also expands thanksgiving for all God has done for Israel and all people. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” As caregivers in Catholic health care, we know this radical God of whom Mary sings. Inspired by this God, we value the poor and vulnerable and reach out to all in mercy. In fact, this inherited song becomes ours as we pray it along with Mary and live it in how we relate to our coworkers and patients and their families. 8
When I sing the song of Mary, I feel she takes my hand and leads me, looking ahead at a path I cannot see. Our journey is a descent inward and downward. We pull away from the social traffic, from the competitions of the outer world, from the fray whose fights define me, from the noise that smothers the whisperings of the spirit. She closes her eyes and I, her follower, do the same. We enter the inner landscape of the body. Every sensation is allowed; every pleasure and pain embraced. We float in the rivers of my veins. Then another chamber opens. We are on the balcony of the mind. Watching the dance of thought and feeling. Everything is moving. I could linger in these unfolding dramas. But she is a step ahead, urging me forward. “We are almost there,” she says. “Where?” I ask. She does not look at me. Her pace has quickened. “The place where the Spirit rejoices,” she says. Suddenly we are in the center without a circumference. The umbilical cord to God is uncut, and divine life flows into us, turning our lowliness into largeness, magnifying the life that blesses us. And everything that is drives toward everything else that is. We rest in holy communion. “So this is the other side of fear,” I say. “Mercy,” she says, and the word expands, filling space and time until everything is pregnant. I am filled with gratitude.
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Praying the Magnificat
VISIO DIVINA
MOST DETAILED IMAGE OF THE CRAB NEBULA (NASA, ESA AND ALLISON LOLL/JEFF HESTER [ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY]. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: DAVIDE DE MARTIN [ESA/HUBBLE])
Gaze
Reflect
Respond
Rest
Consider the image before you. Look slowly and thoroughly, taking a first glance, noting the colors, movement, textures, people, places and things. Make space for the inner eye of the heart to open and interact with the image.
Take a second, deeper look. Rest in the presence of the image; allow the image to reach beyond the intellect and into an unconscious level. What truth does it hold for you? Engage your imagination. Where are you in the artwork? What do you see from that perspective?
Respond to the image with prayer. Does the image remind you of an experience, person or issue for which you’d like to offer thanksgiving or intercession? Does it open a new awareness or spark a conviction? Offer that prayer to God.
Find your quiet center. Breathe deeply. Release tension from your body. Rest in quiet companionship with the image and with God. Dwell in the God who comes to us disguised as all things.
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Lord, we know we have eyes that see not and ears that hear not. Today, something we may see or hear will capture our presence and cause us to pause. Keep our eyes and ears open so we may follow the Spirit that calls us into the grace of Advent where the Light shines in the darkness. Amen. (Let it be!)
About the Author John Shea is a consultant to faith-based organizations, dioceses and parishes, providing theological, mission and formation services. He has published more than 25 books of theology and spirituality, three works of fiction and three books of poetry.
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