Poet

Do you know what it is to have friends in a distant country, to expect news from them, and to wonder from day to day what they are doing, and whether they are well? or do you know, on the other hand, what it is to be in a strange country yourself, with no one to talk to, no one who can sympathize with you, homesick,—downcast because no letter comes to you,—and perplexed how you are ever to get back again? or do you know what it is so to love and live upon a person who is present with you, that your eyes follow his, that you read his soul, that you see its changes in his countenance, that you anticipate his wants, that you are sad in his sadness, troubled when he is vexed, restless when you cannot understand him, relieved, comforted, when you have cleared up the mystery?

Thus John Henry Newman writes in his fantastic sermon "Waiting for Christ" from Sermons Preached on Various Occasions. Read more here at Newmanreader.org, an entire site dedicated to the indexed, searchable works of John Henry Newman. A Merry Christmas to you. The beautiful photograph from here.

by Jessica R. Hickey, c. 2009

December 2, 2009

Advent is a time of mystery. In past years, I have just regarded it sort of as the “anteroom of Christmas,” with some overtones of the Second Coming. Lately, however, I’ve begun thinking about what an advent is, what it means to have one, and what implications then follow from it.

In the old medieval text of The Quest for the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his knights did not merely ride forth, seeking adventure. Adventure, which is derived from the same Latin word as Advent, was something that had to come to them. A mysterious visitor would enter their chamber, tell his or her story, and lay upon them a quest or undertaking. The advent or adventure thus arrived of its own accord. They could not control the day, the hour, or the nature of the event, but without it, they were powerless to use their skill for good.

Principles

Ensure that youth are not too busy. Overactivity kills peace, rest, silence—everything you need to be spiritually receptive.

Take youth outside.

Offer specific disciplines to awaken the taste for beauty and elicit a response to it, such as:

--Literature: Dom Jean LeClercq explains that the monks put their students in contact with the best of writers so as to “develop their taste for the beautiful,”[1] the better to recognize it later in God. All great literature can do this, in particular—

--Poems, which are “the food of Faith.”[2]

--Fairy-tales and myths, which are especially adept at awakening desire: “something really ‘higher’ is occasionally glimpsed in mythology: divinity, the right to power (as distinct from its possession), the due worship; in fact ‘religion.’”[3]

--Music: according to Pieper, beautiful music not only improves our character but turns us from worldliness, spurs us to pursue higher realities, undistracted by “easy” solutions, and turns us with “resolve, constancy, courage, and hope” towards God.[4]

--Religion, theology, doctrine or scripture should be taught in a way that ends in “compunction, in the desire for heaven”[5] and inspires the students to pray.

--Hagiography, some aspects of ascetic and mystical theology, and mental prayer. Be enthusiastic about the saints and pray. The best way to teach someone to pray is to be someone who prays; then the topic, suggestions, and instruction follow naturally upon your interaction and conversation. Teresa of Avila remembers with gratitude how her Uncle Pedro first taught her to pray and thereby changed her life.

Provide frequent opportunities for the Sacraments, spiritual talks, retreats, days of recollection, and spiritual direction.

Read and provide works on the spiritual life so people who are experiencing Joy do not mistake it for depression or melancholy. Have an overview of what the youth are experiencing. If you read what they are reading and experience what they experience, you will be much more able to help them put a name to Joy and direct it towards intimacy with God and compassionate service of neighbor.
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[1] LeClercq, 119.
[2] John Senior, Idea of a School, unpublished manuscript, 44.
[3] J. R. R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories,” in The Tolkien Reader, with an introduction by Peter S. Beagle (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966), 51.
[4] Pieper, Only the Lover Sings, 50-51.
[5] LeClercq, 72.

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