Reflection at Vespers: 1st Sunday of Advent 2023
By Sister Sandra Brunenn
I have recently been diagnosed to have a case of sleep apnea… a severe case they tell me. It has come as a surprise to me: as far as I can tell my sleep patterns have been normal.
I have learned that even though I think I am sleeping okay, I occasionally stop breathing during the night and this limits the flow of blood through my system; in time my brain gets the signal to get me to start breathing again. The end result can be-- among other things-- high blood pressure and sluggishness through the day, I am now using a sleep apnea machine to keep me breathing steadily through the night. It is a nuisance!
Sleeping better is helping me stay awake! So one of my advent resolutions is to keep using the sleep app machine in spite of how awkward and clumsy I find it to be.
As we approach Advent this year our world is enveloped by death, anxiety and fear: news of war is constant, we are warned of ecological catastrophe, and political fragmentation surrounds us locally, nationally, and internationally!
It is a temptation to become numb to the suffering that surrounds us and even to lose hope in God’s presence and action among us. I wonder: might we together be experiencing a form of sleep apnea? ….. being unaware of how this chaos may be calling all earth’s peoples to wake up to a new way of being in relationship to one another and our common earth home. Teilhard de Chardin said that a breakdown of systems and the pain of war are signs of an unfinished universe waking up and struggling towards its fulfillment. I don’t believe we ordinarily think that way….
During this season of hope and longing, let us pray that our world will become new, and may we also be alert to opportunities to participate in the coming of God’s kingdom of peace and justice for all.
On a more personal level, we might ask ourselves: are there ways in which I am ‘sleep-walking’ without being aware of it? Advent gives us space to grieve for our lack of awareness, to repent, and to make new resolutions to watch the words on our lips, the thoughts in our heart, and be mindful of the gifts that envelop us. Let us wake up to the presence of God dwelling with us and in the words of today’s Gospel: do our work with watchfulness! The hymns, antiphons, readings and responses in our Advent Liturgy of the Hours will continually call us to this awareness of the coming of our God this day!
May our lives be a hymn of praise in anticipation of our celebration of Christmas!!