It is hard to wrap my brains around Christmas having landed in Singapore last Thursday evening physically exhausted from reverse carolling in the Philippines, and still recovering from a mild bout of flu.
What makes it worse is the sudden spike in social activities: starting from Friday evening drinks at E's, Saturday's mad whirl of teaching, grocery shopping, attending an art exhibition* before catching the Dim Sum Dollies' matinee, and finally dining with three generations of relatives from Melbourne. Always nice to meet the young uns.
Today I was up at the crack of dawn to cook, teach (a client whom I love and make time for even on Sundays) and attend morning mass (lector duty), before rushing home to continue cooking lunch. Thanks to E for the Chilean cab sauv, it made for a brilliant beef bourguignon, just right for my brother's celebratory birthday luncheon.
Next I have to get my spring cleaning efforts into gear and maybe think of Christmas decorations that I have woefully neglected for years. Then there is more menu planning and cooking: family Christmas lunch, Christmas dinner potluck with my community of Companions...
In the midst of all this Martha-ish activity, it is so easy to forget about preparing my heart to make room for the Christ child to be born. I really like what I learned in my last days in ICPE Mission Philippines, to pray before any endeavour and to keep offering my intentions in any activity, be it cooking or cleaning. Prayer really imbues every action with love and elevates it.
Seeing as the final week of Advent is focused on love, this practice is a great one. It can be difficult to live out my choice of love, day after day, minute after minute, but I must persist, since love is what adds substance and tone to my world. Just as Mother Mary made the choice to say yes to great foreseeable sorrow in the Annunciation, I would like to follow her in making that initial choice, and to staying faithful to it in my daily life, as she did in hers.
The key to Mary's commitment to love was her openness and obedience to the movement of the Holy Spirit in her life. This kept her intentions pure even when she could not comprehend situations or circumstances in her limited human capacity. If only my faith is as tensile and robust as hers.
And for the times I struggle, today's O antiphon is a good one:
O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
I hope to enjoy these last days of Advent spending some of it in silence, reflecting on the birth in the manger that culminates in death on the cross and giving thanks for the sacrifices of love of all those who have gone before me. And in the flurry of activity I engage in, to offer up each activity mindfully, and with quiet love.
* Great to see you, Alvin. Love the new book.
To see Alvin Mark Tan's wonderful works of art, go to https://www.facebook.com/alvinmarktan?ref=br_rs
Today I was up at the crack of dawn to cook, teach (a client whom I love and make time for even on Sundays) and attend morning mass (lector duty), before rushing home to continue cooking lunch. Thanks to E for the Chilean cab sauv, it made for a brilliant beef bourguignon, just right for my brother's celebratory birthday luncheon.
Next I have to get my spring cleaning efforts into gear and maybe think of Christmas decorations that I have woefully neglected for years. Then there is more menu planning and cooking: family Christmas lunch, Christmas dinner potluck with my community of Companions...
In the midst of all this Martha-ish activity, it is so easy to forget about preparing my heart to make room for the Christ child to be born. I really like what I learned in my last days in ICPE Mission Philippines, to pray before any endeavour and to keep offering my intentions in any activity, be it cooking or cleaning. Prayer really imbues every action with love and elevates it.
Seeing as the final week of Advent is focused on love, this practice is a great one. It can be difficult to live out my choice of love, day after day, minute after minute, but I must persist, since love is what adds substance and tone to my world. Just as Mother Mary made the choice to say yes to great foreseeable sorrow in the Annunciation, I would like to follow her in making that initial choice, and to staying faithful to it in my daily life, as she did in hers.
The key to Mary's commitment to love was her openness and obedience to the movement of the Holy Spirit in her life. This kept her intentions pure even when she could not comprehend situations or circumstances in her limited human capacity. If only my faith is as tensile and robust as hers.
And for the times I struggle, today's O antiphon is a good one:
O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
I hope to enjoy these last days of Advent spending some of it in silence, reflecting on the birth in the manger that culminates in death on the cross and giving thanks for the sacrifices of love of all those who have gone before me. And in the flurry of activity I engage in, to offer up each activity mindfully, and with quiet love.
* Great to see you, Alvin. Love the new book.
To see Alvin Mark Tan's wonderful works of art, go to https://www.facebook.com/alvinmarktan?ref=br_rs
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