Advent Journey
At St. Elizabeth’s Manor, we’re making a journey through Advent using hand labyrinths to help us reflect on and guide us closer to our essence, which is union with the Divine. The first ‘stage’ of this journey, moving from the outer edges of the labyrinth to its center, is one of shedding … shedding whatever impedes growth and movement toward union with the Divine. Shedding doesn’t mean forgetting; rather, it means becoming conscious to the experiences, circumstances, reactions, things that now prevent us from moving forward, to honor the gift they have been in our life for what they can teach us, and then to gently lay them aside, into the arms of God. This is not always easy, and it’s rarely a ‘one and done’. Shedding is a lifelong contemplative practice that can bring us closer to the One we can never shed. What practices are helping you in your Advent journey? What do you need to shed in order to bring you closer to God? Kathy Flynn, OP Madison, WI