Dear Friend,

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly

Like many others around the world, over the past couple of weeks our attention has been focused on the World Cup Soccer tournament.  I have enjoyed watching several of the games.  About a week ago, my eyes were drawn to the LED screens that run along the side of the playing field.  Three words were floating along the screen – Pause is Power.  I was kind of interested in finding out what the slogan meant.  It turns out that the sports drink Powerade was launching a new platform that “prioritizes wellbeing over winning.”  It does so by “portraying the pause – a moment of laughter, reflection, community and recovery – as an act of humanity with regenerative benefits.”  The global brand director stated: “it’s important to remind people of the power that can be found in the simple act of a pause, allowing us to come back better and stronger.”

I guess it’s the world in which I live, but as I read this description, my heart and mind were drawn to the holy season of Advent.  Each year around this time, the Church invites us to put our busy and intense lives on “pause” – for a time of reflection and renewal and reorientation – so that we might be more disposed, outwardly and inwardly, to welcome the All-Powerful One, Jesus, into the midst of the “mess” in which we find ourselves at the present time.  Believe it or not, we are only two weeks now from our celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas.  Yikes!  The pressure is on and the intensity growing stronger.

All the more reason for us to pause.  Just stop for a few moments.  Put away the lists, the deadlines, all the expectations and pressures of this time of the year.  And pause.  Spend a few moments before the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist.  Welcome the power that comes not from me or you, but from Him, from the One who was born for us and who loves us and gave Himself up for us.  He is Mighty God and Prince of Peace.  He is the Source of all that is good and true and holy.  He is the Baby born in the manger who came to remind us of our need to pause and adore.

The photo today is that of one of our fellow members of the Seton Hall Community, who has recognized, like you and me, the need for a pause.  The individual is opening the door of the University Chapel, confident that the Lord is waiting for an encounter – with a heart that seeks peace and is in need of silence.  Someone who recognizes that pause is an especially powerful prayer practice. 

Prayer:

May these next two weeks leading up to Christmas, Lord, be for us an opportunity to pause with you.  May we not lose this time in distraction.  May these days be filled with a growing trust in you, in your power in me and over me. May our days be rooted in you and lead us to that peace and comfort our hearts so desire.  Amen.

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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., former Rector/Dean, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.