Favorite Things…Buenos Aires Style (#7 – Cultural Events & Festivals)

I thought I would take a break from Advent posts and share another favorite thing about living in Buenos Aires. I am working on a top ten list of favorite things in Buenos Aires. Links to my first six are below. It’s looking like I will have to pick up the final three next year. But, for now, here is #7…

These past few years living in Buenos Aires I have enjoyed taking in some of the various cultural events and festivals. There is never a lack of things to do in the city, especially this springtime of year. November seems to be especially full with events and festivals. Just this month I attended three events. Earlier in the month there was the Jazz Festival Internacional with concerts throughout the city for three days. La Noche de los Museos is an event when all the museums in the city are open for free until 3:00 AM. I have attended this Night of the Museums each of the four years I have lived here. This past weekend I attended the Noche de Librerias, when the city closes off one of the major streets known for its many bookstores. All the bookstores were open until the wee hours of the night and special activities were held throughout the night. It’s been a fun month joining the festivities!

You can check out links to my previous favorite things posts here….
First Five Favorite Things
#6 - Seasons

Jazz Festival Internacional

Noche de los Museos in my La Boca hood

Noche de Librerias

Advent: A Brief History

This Advent I am using a new book of meditations and reflections titled, “Monastery Journey to Christmas.” Over the past few years I have enjoyed other prayer and meditation books from the author, Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette.

The book begins with a very helpful history of Advent in the Christian East and West from as early as 330 AD. The author says, “In appearance, the Advent liturgical traditions from the East and the West may seem to differ in certain aspects and practices, but deep down I find they complement and complete each other in the one and common celebration of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord and Savior.”

Instead of posting the few paragraph history from Brother Victor-Antoine here, I have posted it on a new supplement blog I recently created, “Quotations & Stuff.” I will use this blog to post lengthier quotes, liturgies and writings that might bog down this blog. This supplementary blog is a work in progress, so bear with me.

To read this history of Advent, click here…
Advent: A Brief History

Prayers for Advent

This will be my fourth year posting weekly prayers on Prayers & Creeds. Today I posted my first Advent prayer of the season on the Prayers & Creeds blog. Below the prayer are additional links to some of my favorite Advent prayers posted in years past.

Advent Prayer for Hope

Lord Jesus Christ,

who is, who was, and who is to come,

we pray for the virtue of hope,

that amidst the trials and difficulties

of this world,

we may keep our hearts fixed

upon you, who reigns over the cosmos.

May your grace enliven us,

strengthen us,

and defend us,

as we await your coming in glory. Amen

~David Bennett

(Taken from: http://www.churchyear.net/adventprayers.html)

Prayer for Welcoming Advent

Advent Collect for Southern Hemisphere

Advent Prayer from Walter Brueggemann

Advent Prayer from Henri Nouwen

Awaiting the Christ 

Hope Revived

some favorite quotes on gratitude....

I've posted some of these quotes before, but thought they were worth resharing this Thanksgiving week.

“Gratitude…is a response to grace. The compassionate life is a grateful life, and actions born out of gratefulness are not compulsive but free, not somber but joyful, not fanatical but liberating. When gratitude is the source of our actions, our giving becomes receiving and those to whom we minister become our ministers." 

(Henri Nouwen in Compassion)

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to a new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not be hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference…Gratitude is therefore the heart of the solitary life, as it is the heart of the Christian life.”

(Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude)

“Gratitude takes nothing for granted. It acknowledges each favor, each gift – both big and small. It also recognizes the giver…Gratitude recognizes that a gift has been given, a favor has been done by someone. There is a gift and a giver. But there is more. Gratitude also calls for a response to that gift. We thank the giver with an expression of appreciation – a handshake, a hug, a note. A gesture of gratitude completes the exchange, closes the circle, let’s the love flow back to the giver.”

“God is the giver. We are the thanks-givers…As gestures of gratitude unite us on a human level, they also unite us with the divine Giver. God offers gracious gifts, covenantal blessings, summarized in ‘You Belong.’ In response we say, ‘Thanks! I am grateful!’ We embrace God’s acceptance of us and in turn are embraced…Our social gestures of thanks, like a handshake or a letter, correspond to our religious gestures, like sacrifice, worship, obedience. Religious gestures are our way of saying to God, ‘Thank you for all the good things that come from you, the Source of all life.’”

“Gratitude as recognition, receptivity, and response is a basic attitude and action of the Christian life. We not only recognize and are aware of God’s gifts to us, but we also continually find ways of saying thanks to God in worship, prayer, and ‘whatever we say or do.’ Our aim is to live our whole life as a sacred gesture of thanksgiving, a deep bow of gratitude, solidifying our relationship with God.”

(Don Postema in Space for God)

Prayers of Thanksgiving & Gratitude

Click here for a collection of prayers posted on Prayers & Creeds blog...Prayers of Thanksgiving & Gratitude

Advent is coming...

The first Sunday of Advent is Thanksgiving weekend on November 27…just 10-days away. For the past few years I have posted resources and links in preparation for the Advent season. I find it valuable to get ready and make space for Advent ahead of time. Especially in what can be a super hectic time of year, I desire to make space to listen, space to be still, and space to be nourished in this season of Advent.

For those of you who have followed my blog in Advents past, many of the links below will look familiar. Please share any additional Advent resources or ideas that have been helpful to you in comments to this blog post. I also plan to once again post regular reflections and prayers during the Advent season ahead.

Just click on the resources listed below....

CRI/Voice - The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope
This is a helpful introduction and summary of Advent.

Waiting for the Light: An Advent Devotional
This year Christine Sine & Mustard Seed Associates have put together a book of reflections, liturgies, and prayers posted on Godspace blog in years past. I am, especially, looking forward to this devotional. An e-reader version should be available, as well.

Christine Sine’s Annual Advent meditation video for 2011
“Lord Jesus Christ Draw Close”

GodSpace Blog
This Advent Christine Sine will host a blog series, “Jesus Is Coming: What Do We Expect?” It will include blog posts and reflections from a variety of contributors.

Ignatian Spirituality Advent Retreat & Resources
This page includes a variety of resources, including an Advent Retreat booklet based on Ignatian contemplative and prayer practices. I am planning on utilizing this resource this Advent. More to come!

Songs for Advent
A couple years ago I discovered this Advent worship digital download. It quickly became a favorite!

Book of Common Prayer Daily Scripture Readings for Advent 
(2011/2012- Year Two)

Revised Common Lectionary Sunday Scripture Readings for Advent
(2011/2012 - Year B)

Praying Advent
Creighton University’s Online Ministries offers a selection of materials to help people prayerfully enter into Advent, from short prayers to longer reflections and retreats.

Modern Sacred Family Advent Resources
This website offers resources and suggestions for observing Advent with kids.

Word of the People - Advent Videos
This is a website of visual media and videos that I have recently been exploring. It also includes some Advent videos.

Prayer of Gratitude

As I was reflecting on gratitude for my recent This Ignatian Life blog post, I stumbled upon this prayer of gratitude...

Intimate knowledge. 
That's what I ask you for, Lord.
I want that insight, that understanding, that knowledge
that will be about our intimacy.

Many gifts.
Let me count the ways you have loved me.
The gifts of your love.
All that you have given me.
All that I am.
I so often look at my shortcomings.
Let me see the gifts.
All of them.

Filled with gratitude. 
Fill me, Lord, with gratitude.
Let my heart,
sometimes filled with so much else,
be filled with thanksgiving.
Give me the feelings of gratitude,
of a grateful heart.

Joy, freedom, peace, generosity.
In all things love and serve.
Let the overflowing gratitude in my heart
touch all the things and people in my life.
Every thought, word and deed.
Every hurt, every slight, every loss.
Every reaction and response.
Every opportunity and choice.
Every offering of myself.
In all,
let me love and serve you.

Amen.

Taken from:
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/p-33-iask.html
(Author not found.)

Examen

While I consider myself very much a newbie to all things Ignatian, the themes and posture of Ignatian spirituality have impacted my life in significant ways these past several years. Ignatian themes of attentiveness, finding God in all things, contemplative activism, imagination, discernment and gratitude have all shaped and deepened my formation and vocation. I have often shared and reflected on these themes here on my blog. I have also posted regular reflections on This Ignatian Life blog. My recent TIL post, “Begin with Gratitude,” can be found HERE.

Recently I have given renewed intentionality in practicing the examen. Here is how I described examen in a reflection last year...The Ignatian practice of examen has been especially helpful, as I seek to listen and discern God’s at work in my feelings and experiences. The idea behind the examen is to open oneself to how God has been moving throughout a specific period of time, as well as allow the Lord to search your heart in a time of self-examination and confession. Pausing to regularly recognize both the beautiful and the difficult in my life has been a meaningful discipline.

A helpful introduction to the examen, including a five-step method of examen that I often use can be found here… "Rummaging for God: Praying Backwards through Your Day."

Photo Above: “Examen” statue of Saint Ignatius recently dedicated at Fairfield University. (http://ignatianspirituality.com/11175/the-examen-set-in-stone/)