In the sacred stillness
“Pick me! Pick me!” might have been your response to the possibility of playing a key role in a Christmas pageant of your childhood. A beloved and moving story, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which follows the exploits of a troupe of children through this endeavor, will hit theaters this season. Don’t miss it! Yet not all of life is as showy as a Christmas pageant, nor as momentous as the reading from the book of Sirach in today’s liturgy. In it we hear about the prophet Elijah and all that is recalled of his long-awaited encounter with God, encompassing flaming furnaces, whirlwinds, and chariots hitched to fiery horses.
Ultimately, all this overheated drama is centered on beckoning our hearts to turn back to the God who loves us and to re-establish our sense of belonging as one who is chosen. This is what Advent does for me each year. It gives me the permission to seek out time and space to go deeper and to sit in the stillness of the stable while I ponder what it means to ‘be ready’ to see God incarnate.
Why do we need permission to go quiet and daily to sit for a time? The tendency to leave for last our own centering in God — especially during our busiest seasons — is a temptation we need to recognize…and hold at bay. I tell people often that I see Jesus in the flesh everyday in my role at Catholic Charities. Yet, I only have the eyes to recognize Jesus because of the time spent in sacred stillness, because of the quiet in which Jesus reveals more of Godself to me.
The work we do in our agencies every single day invites the same from us. There is nothing showy about standing beside someone who has nothing but anxiety to share, or the heartache of a recent loss, or an unexpected financial or personal challenge. Yet, God stands at our door, waits in our lines, hunches shoulders against the cold before lunch begins. This is also the reason you continue to spread yourself thin in advocating for your clients this way, you see more. God has picked you, but not for a role in a Christmas pageant. There may be nothing very showy about your work, but I can hear the angels singing from here in Northern Nevada, each time you recognize and serve Emmanuel.
Monique Jacobs is director of mission and identity for Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada. Serving in this capacity has been the gift of a lifetime and Monique is continually grateful for all that this role calls forth from her in accompanying both staff and clients through the fluctuating stressors of life and outreach.