Mother Mary Francis - Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Art of Waiting

Meditations on the Art of Waiting

MOTHER MARY FRANCIS, P.C.C.

IGNATIUS PRESS SAN FRANCISCO

The texts of all biblical readings
are reproduced, with permission, from:
The New American Bible,
copyright 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine,
Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.

English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours:
Antiphons, Responsories, Non-Biblical Readings,
original texts of the opening Prayers and
Alternative Opening Prayers from the Roman Missal are
copyright 1970, 1973, 1975, International Committee
on English in the Liturgy, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Cover art:
Bartolom Esteban Murillo
The Holy Family
Erich Lessing / ArtResource, New York

Cover design by Riz Boncan Marsella

2010 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-58617-480-4
Library of Congress Control Number 2010922763
Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATED TO

HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

WHO

BY THE RADIANT CLARITY OF HIS TEACHING

AND

THE LUMINOUS EXAMPLE OF HIS GOODNESS

TIRELESSLY PREPARES THE CHURCH

FOR

THE COMING OF THE LORD JESUS

CONTENTS

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT

THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT

CHRISTMAS NOVENA:

FOREWORD

In the fall of 2003, when Mother Mary Francis was waiting at the Chicago airport for her return flight to Roswell after the completion of a visitation to our youngest daughterhouse, she began her new book on Advent in the following words:

THE ART OF WAITING

1. Waiting as a child

2. Waiting in fear

3. Waiting in joyous expectation

4. Waiting in peace

5. Waiting to understand

6. Waiting in airports

7. Waiting to see the Face of God

There is this about waiting: it is multifaceted. We can wait in fear. We can wait in joyous expectation. We can be content to wait to be understood when God strikes the moment rather than trying to turn the clock, the calendar, ahead to our preferred moment of now! We can stand patiently or irritably in line at the airport. We can wait with the deliciousness of a childs waiting for Christmas. We can wait in peace for God to strike his own moment, reveal his own plans, unveil the demands of his love. And we can see all life and its often bewildering hours and events as a waiting to see the Face of God, which vision is less the explanation of life on earth than a revelation of the mystery of his love. It is ours to determine how to wait. And Advent dawns upon our hearts and souls each year to educate us in the art, the bliss, the peace, the pain, and the wonder of waiting.

It is our Lady who shows us how to wait.There are two species of humanity as regards reading a book: those who begin reading on page one and arrive eventually at the final page, and those who must read the end before reading what precedes and leads to the end. All of us belong to a crossed species, even our Lady. The foremost handmaid of the Lord wanted some details, some explanation of Gods doings. Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. But also: How shall this be done? I know not man. And the angels reply was hardly something to answer the human question satisfactorily. The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee. But who is the Holy Spirit? And the Holy to be born of you shall be called the Son of God. These are scarcely explanations that would have elicited a reply of: Oh, I see. No, she did not see.Be it done to me according to your word. But how will this word function, so to speak? Blessedly comforting for us are those words of Scripture: She did not understand. Not then, nor later, either. Gently upbraiding her boy, who was the Son of God, she was later to exercise her maternal rights by asking: Why have you done this? when he had been missing for three days in the temple. The reply of the Divine Child was hardly an explanation. Did you not know that I must be about my Fathers business? What business? But we do not find her presenting more questions. She did not understand this word that he spoke to her. So, she just went home and cooked supper for him and Saint Joseph.

Alas, because her notes were set aside for later, this was as far as the new book had progressed before the Great Advent of the Lord in Mothers own life. He came for her on February 11, 2006, unveiling all the mysteries of the Gospel that she pondered in the passage above. We, her spiritual daughters, were left with a great legacy in the conferences Mother gave to our community during her forty-two years as abbess. She had planned to edit her conferences for Advent into a book; but the Lord changed her plans, as he had so often done before.

Eager to share the treasures she poured out upon us, we feel impelled to make them available to a wider audience. Mother did not give an orderly commentary on the Scripture readings of each day of Advent but spoke to us on whatever subject our Lord put into her heart as certain passages in the liturgy struck her. She would often reflect on the Sunday readings; for the rest, her chapters explored any of the other multitudinous facets of Advent, touching on a number of passages more than once and opening out new vistas of meaning each time. As a wise spiritual guide, Mother knew that repetition is indispensable in teaching, and it was also an element of her literary style.

We have gathered together her Advent conferences given from 1967 to 2001 and spread the rich viands of her thoughts over the course of the season, striving to match the daily Mass readings as far as possible. May these ponderings of Mother Mary Francis heart help each reader to learn more fully the art, the bliss, the peace, the pain, and the wonder of waiting!

The Poor Clare Nuns
MONASTERY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE
ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO
DECEMBER 12
SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Introduction: Folded Wings

First Lesson at Matins

I AM quite confident all of us have a deep sense of expectation, joy, and wonderment that Advent is about to begin. We look at the different facets of this season, turning it like a jewel in our hands. Certainly it is a season for children. It is a season of the child, the joy of the Child who came to give joy to the world. It is a season, certainly, of the family, of the community. Family life was solidly established in a lowly, humble, poor place, with three persons who loved utterly and were utterly giveneven the Child, from the first moment, because he was divine. It is a season of great tenderness, and a season of hush. It is a season for everyone. It is a season particularly of the woman. It is the woman, especially the religious woman, who has great potential for the spiritual maternity which was so basic in our Lady and which was ratified on Calvary when she became the Mother of all the redeemed: Woman, behold your son. It is a precious season. Advent summons us to fold the wings of our souls. There is rich meaning in the expression folded wings. Wings that remain always folded and are never spread to fly in giving would be wings that would deteriorate in atrophy, whereas wings that are always spread and never folded in intense personal prayer, reflection, contemplation would be wings quickly spent or, perhaps, misspent. With all of thisthe joy, the tenderness, the maternal sense, the deepening of womanhood, the folded wingsAdvent is a season of tremendous purpose.

Our Mother the Church is happy as she begins her Office, and in the first antiphon of Vespers she says, Proclaim the good news! Then, in her second antiphon, as though going on to explain to her eager children, she says, Know that the Lord is coming. In the third, she says what is explicated so well in the readings from Isaiah: The Lord will come with mighty power. He is coming to give that power and expecting it to be used.