This is a meditation that I did on the Holy Family.  Take a look and see what you think.

Peace in the Most Unlikely Places

A Mini Retreat

1.     Opening Prayer – 5 minutes

a.     Have a prayer handout at each place in the room.

b.     Play Castle of the Soul by Tony Alonso.

c.     Reader proclaims John 16:33

d.     Pray together:

Prince of Peace

So fill our hearts this day

With the vision of Your love all around us

That the clamor of the everyday

Might recede just enough

That we might hear Your voice

And be drawn to you and see Your face.

Amen

2.     Opening talk – 10 minutes

We are daily inundated by second best things.  None of them is wrong or un Christian in its own right, but in the aggregate, they become a burden, a taskmaster that we barely discern, let alone confront, and even less likely free ourselves from.  Matthew 11: 28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Maybe this afternoon you feel as though you are on a treadmill, with no end in sight, and no way to get off.  Maybe right this very minute, that deadline at work, your children’s homework, the house cleaning that needs to get done, the car that needs to be repaired, all these and many many more are chasing each other around in your mind like so many hamsters in a cage.

We don’t have the answers to your treadmill, but you do.  Deep within your soul, God is there waiting for you to come, sit down, and find your true self, find who you truly are in God.  We learn best by example, and today, we want to share some reflections with you on the lives of three very stressed people.  Each of them had their challenges, each of them needed to be present to the events that we overtaking them, to savor the time, and ponder its meaning.  Each of them had to find peace in the most unlikely places.

This afternoon we’d like to contemplate with you, each of these three people, give you a chance to find your story in theirs, and in finding meaning in their humble story, you can find meaning in yours.  We will invite you to share your reflections with each other, and so help each other discover where peace has always been, waiting for you to come and partake of it, of the author of all peace.

What we are going to do with you today is to rest with the Holy family for a spell.  In imaginative contemplation, we are going to enter into these scenes from Sacred Scripture, so that we might experience the Presence of God in a more intimate, and immanent fashion, so that we might deepen our relationship with Jesus through these events of the Gospels leading up to His birth among us.  Through this contemplation, the time, distance and cultural differences between use here, today, and their struggles of so long ago become transparent, as we strive to imaginatively enter into the very events as they are portrayed to us in the Gospels.  We invite you to join us as we set the stage for these scenes, and then dwell within each of them that we might touch and be touched by the presence of God in a new way.

3.     Breakout sessions:

a.     Matthew 1: 18-24 Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife.

Imagine yourself, in the fields outside of town.  As a child you used to come here to be alone, and pray.  You always felt closer to God out here, away from the sights and sounds of the village.  Today you need to be close to God.  Your beloved, your heart, the light of your eyes has betrayed you, and you must discern what to do about it.  At first, your concern was what others in the village were going to think, say, the shame that this would bring to your house, to Mary’s house.  Then, slowly, your worry turned instead to Mary, and you realized that she had thrown away the one chance that she ever had to live a normal life, to be happy the way that her mother, and her mother’s mother before her had each found happiness.  Mary was still a good woman; this one mistake took nothing from that.  Yet, something had to be done.  Certainly you, an upstanding man of the community, with so much to look forward to, could not be saddled with the shame of fathering a child before matrimony.  And then you hit upon it.  You would put her away, never to see her again, help her to emigrate to another village, start over, and get another chance.

The thought of never seeing her again felt like a hot knife through your vitals.  But there was no other way.  You turned the matter over in your mind again and again, and no better options came to mind.  Your heart felt like ashes, but you realized that you owed it to your family, to Mary, to your future children, whoever their mother might one day turn out to be.  Slowly you trudged back home across the verdant fields, numbly realizing that this scene had forever lost its charm for you because it was here that your heart broke.

                                          i.    Put yourself into this scene, before Joseph received the word from the angel.  Imagine that you’re a friend of Joseph’s and the two of you are talking about all of this in strict confidence.  Set aside what you know of this birth.  Listen to Joseph pour out his heart.  What would you say to him?  How would you comfort him?

                                         ii.    Have you ever had a tough decision to make, and felt that you had no good options?  Where did you turn for help?  How did you discern the path before you?  Do you have a tough decision to make now?  What makes it hard?  What would Joseph say to you today?

You feel dead inside as you prepare for bed.  The normal routine of the day seems almost impossible to manage, yet you know that tomorrow is going to require every ounce of courage that you have, and you know from experience that staying up all night never made anything any better.  You get into bed, blow out the lamp, and lie there, miserable, waiting for sleep to give you some escape from the horrible situation that you find yourself in.  You dare not ask why this is happening to you, because you know there is no answer, and once the question is asked, it can never be silenced.

In the morning, you remember a dream.  It was very vivid, and you feel certain of what to do now.  It’s still going to take courage; it’s still going to be hard.  People won’t understand, least of all your family, but you know it’s the right thing to do, and somehow your heart is lighter even though you are still carrying a burden, just a different type.

                                        iii.    Imagine that you’ve just awakened; new vistas are opening up in front of you.  What do you think that felt like to Joseph?  Do you think that there was anything that Joseph did that prepared him to hear this sort of message?  Do you think that he found peace in this alternative?  Why?  In your discerning, have you ever looked to your heart to guide you?

b.     Luke 2: 1-7 – Mary’s vantage point

You had attended births before in your family.  They were always joyous communal celebrations with plenty of the women in attendance on the mother to be, and the men trying to provide rough comfort to the father to be.  But this, this was so lonely.  Caesar’s decree had put everyone in Israel on the move, shuffling the population, essentially creating vast waves of refugees in their own country, just for the purpose of a census.  Sleepy little villages like Bethlehem were never the destination for groups of travelers of any consequence, so there were hardly any inns to begin with.  And now the demand for somewhere to lay your head was beyond imagining.  As you watch your haggard husband try time and again to find a place to stay the night, to somehow approach comfort for you, you struggle with this aching isolation from family and friends.

Back home, as everyone has watched your belly grow, the tongues have begun to wag.  Your close family, more from stubbornness than anything else, believed your story of the visitation by an angel, and the prophecy of a coming prophet among us, but the rest, they drew their own conclusions.  The worst was the pity that you could see in their eyes when they looked at Joseph.  You made it clear that the child was not his, that much the village could accept, which just made Joseph look pathetic for sticking with you.  That barrier between you and those that you had grown up with left an ache in your heart.

You survey the barn that you will spend the night in with a certain dismay, and then you realize, this is somehow all part of God’s plan for you, for this child, for your family, for the family of humanity.  It’s not clear where God is going with all of this, but you realize that God is with you, even in these humble and unfamiliar surroundings.  You breathe deeply, and chuckle as you realize that these are familiar surroundings.  You’d spent plenty of time in farms growing up; you were familiar with the warm smell of the goats, sheep, chickens, and the occasional cow.  You can tell, miraculously enough that the stalls have been mucked out fairly recently, and the straw on the floor is reasonably clean.  Joseph, ever the builder, grabs a feeding trough, gets the freshest straw he can find, and lines it to make a bed for the child, because your face has told him that the birth that has been dogging you this entire trip is now about to happen, and you realize that there simply is nothing more for the two of you to do, than to be present to this event, present together.

                                          i.    Have you ever made plans for a really important event, and had them go completely awry?  Were you able to enjoy the event anyway?  Do you think that God was present in those circumstances in spite of, or because of the way that things turned out?  How seriously do you think that we should take our own planning in the first place?

                                         ii.    The condition of loneliness can come over us for any number of reasons, sometimes even in the midst of throngs of people.  What are some things that have made you lonely in the past?  Was God there with you?  Did you realize His presence at the time, or did you come to see that later, upon reflection?

                                        iii.    Think of an unlikely time when sharing something, however uncomfortable, with someone changed your outlook entirely.  Did they somehow “solve” your problem in the course of discussing it with you?  Did they help you to see things in a different light?  Was it just the case that “venting” made it better?  Was there any conversation needed at all?  What does that tell you about prayer, our relating to God?

c.     Luke 2: 8-20 – From Jesus’ perspective

The first thing that I felt were the hands, drawing me out, rubbing me down, then wrapping me up.  It’s not like the familiar confinement that I’ve grown used to, but I feel snug and warm.  Then it was the arms, supporting me, hugging me.  Finally it was the faces, hovering over me close enough that I could see them.  I see lips moving and hear soothing sounds being made.  It all adds up to this feeling of closeness, connectedness.  Gradually, I’m aware of others of my Father’s creatures.  I smell the wool of the sheep, the sweet straw beneath me, I hear contented cattle lowing, and I hear a calf nursing at its mother, and realize that I too am hungry.  My mother instinctively realizes my condition, and she comes into focus, opening her blouse and offering me her warmth and roundness.  I begin to take sustenance, and I pray for the first time in this miraculous flesh that I have been given:

Blessed are You, Lord God of all the earth,

Through your goodness and the work of human hands,

This my mother has been nourished by the grain of the field and the fruit of the vine,

And she now offers that nourishment to me, to strengthen me,

That I might one day grow into the man that you would have me be,

That I might one day show your children what a generous and loving God you are,

How You and You alone have been there for them, for us, through the centuries,

And the desperate longing that you have to be known as you have always known us.

You hear a commotion, and realize that new faces have arrived, and the sheep smell gets a lot stronger, but it’s not coming from sheep.  Then you realize that these men have spent so much time with their flocks that they have taken on their smell, and you smile.  You realize that, in time, you are going to show the rest of humanity how God has sent you to be so intimate with them, so much a part of their lives, that you too will smell like sheep, and you take comfort in the Father’s wisdom as you drift off to sleep, surrounded by the love of God in so many different expressions.

                                          i.    What are you thankful for in your life?  How many of those were “blessings in disguise?”  Do you ever get a chance to talk to anyone about those gifts?  When was the last time that thanked God for them?

                                         ii.    Do you feel that your future is pretty certain, or is there an element or two that you don’t know that you have complete control over?  Does that bother you?  What is the worst that can happen?  Do you believe that God could still be with you through a dark hour like that?  In the final analysis, what does God’s presence really mean to you?

                                        iii.    Are there others in your life who are having a hard time finding peace in this hectic season?  Do you think that the baby Jesus might have something to say to them based on these reflections today?  Do you think that Jesus might be calling you to help spread some peace?

4.     Matthew 2: 1-12 – Advent overall, from the standpoint of the Wise Men

The new rising star was plain to all of us who studied the heavens, and we talked about it among ourselves a great deal.  But all but the three of us were curious enough about it to venture out in caravan to find what it might mean.  “Too many times have we seen portents that amounted to nothing” they would say, or “it’s too dangerous to cross the desert this time of year.  Stay home and tend to your studies.”  But each of us, for his own reasons, decided to venture out, take the chance, see this new arrival, this new king for ourselves.  Quickly, we each went among our people to gather wherewithal to present gifts to this new king, and departed.

We had heard of Jerusalem, this outpost of the Roman empire.  It was easy enough to find the local king, everyone knew who he was.  But none of the local residents could tell us where their new King might be.  We thought that odd, surely we were not the only ones who saw the signs. But we got an audience with the king anyway.  He received us quickly enough once he heard of our errand.  And he asked that we might tell him where the child was when we found him.  The local king was anxious and suspicious, but at least he gave us some directions.  Going outside of the busy city, we again saw the star that had first summoned us from our various cities to this lonely place, and it guided us to Bethlehem, guided us to a small stable there, guided us to believe that something truly marvelous was happening.

Our camels were a stark contrast to the poverty that we waded through on our way to that stable.  Garments that blended in at the courts of Jerusalem stuck out boldly here.  But we were past worrying; we could tell we were so close.  Then we found him, and suddenly, the rude surroundings, the improbable way that we got here, the paranoia of King Herod all became transparent, we realized all that was just the trappings of this moment, and we knew stronger than anything that we have ever known, that this new King was going to change the world as we knew it, in ways that we could not even guess.  We looked at each other and saw the same revelation in each other’s eyes, and rejoiced that this truly was a dawn of new hope.

We knew that we were going to have to travel fast and far to get here, so we each had chosen a gift that represented the best of what our respective peoples had to offer.  They were just a token of the clans that had offered them, but there was a bit of each of our tribesmen in those gifts, they were present in these offerings, they had sponsored us in this venture, they would be the first to hear of this incredible encounter with the transcendent when we returned home.  It seemed so surrealistic that we would be kneeling before an infant born of peasants, but it didn’t matter.  We offered our gifts, ourselves, and our communities to this new king, not knowing what life in his service would bring, but knowing that it was the very best that would ever happen to any of us.

a.     What would you like to offer to God this Advent?  Some things to ponder might be:

                                          i.    Success

                                         ii.    Recognition for all of the hard work that I’ve been doing lately

                                        iii.    My time

b.     How do you think that offering will be received?

c.     How do you think that offering will change your life?

5.     Closing Reflection – See what you think:

a.     This marks the end of our reflection time together, but it doesn’t need to mark the end of your prayer experience in this season of your life.  To enter into this sort of contemplation, you don’t need the rest of us or this place.  But you do need time.  Time to spend with God in which you let your imagination be used by Him to touch your heart and speak words both tender and true to you.