Dec 17th Summary of Gathering
On Saturday, December 4th 2021 we gathered once again to consider the mystery of Advent: Behold the Bridegroom Come, Go Out, to Meet Him.I Eileen Nielsen drew us deeper into the space with her song, “As the Deer Longs…” Behold. Wake up to our soul level of being. Together. Fr. Eric Haarer launched us with his reflection on the Liturgy of the Word Is. 30:10-21, 23-26; Mt. 9:5-10.1, 10:5A 6-8. Isaiah was supposed to encourage the exiles, now comfortable in Babylon, to return home: to go out into the the desert and be reforged as a people. Jesus goads his disciples to grow up, go out, alone, and leave their props behind. Then he drew us further into his theme of darkness and night: “One dark night, fired by love’s urgent longings…”
Gillian prompted us not only to reclaim our soul, but also to expose it to the lofty movements of love—“Turn your face towards the mountain–” going out of self to meet the Bridegroom, let it be done to me.
These lofty thoughts carried us seamlessly into a time of adoration together.
In the afternoon session Fr. Eric returned, picking up on the theme of going out of self, he related his own experience of missing his Mennonite identity while representing a minority group in the Crestone, Colorado community, himself as Catholic pastor to a group of “misfits”.
If we are to truly meet our Bridegroom we need to learn self-knowledge, to examine motives, causes, level of honesty, to empty out the blockages we harbor and let go of soul attachments. To find Mt. Carmel interiorly, our final speaker, Michelle Reineck (c. Kalamazoo, Michigan), took us on a personal journey through the 12 steps. where she says, “only God can heal me” of trying to deny my feelingso
All these poetic, prayerful, and practical ponderings prepared us to go out in hope to find and spread the light.
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