We do begin rehearsing our carols several weeks early. And there are stacks of cards to send out. And cookies to bake.
But no taste tests allowed. We don’t even lick the spoon! Because Advent at the Abbey is Advent. Pregnancy has its pace.
Quite suddenly though, it’s Christmas Eve. How many nuns does it take to haul a massive tree into the house? Quickly, quietly, decorate the Church. Mary is in labor. He’s coming.
Breathe, they say. But family is so faraway. Try to sleep. Rest while you can - When, Birth breaks in.
It’s night. The buzzer blares. Get up, sisters. Joseph’s distressed.
Suddenly somehow it’s Christmas. There’s a priest and a deacon and incense. All the lights are on. But it’s midnight.
Guests are in the side chapel, expectant. The creche is blessed and the candles are glowing. And there’s singing. It’s midnight and everyone is singing…
Sigh. Some bleary-eyed hours later, day dawns. He’s swaddled. There's a calm.
But the post-Midnight Mass cookies aren’t sitting well. Coffee’s no help. (The carols felt kind of shaky, if one dares to recall.)
And there’s more Liturgy. All day, we’re called to pray. Like all the other days, seven times, the bell rings, and we go to pray. But do we have to, today?
“May our souls be as still, fragrant, and beautiful as our tree,” we, just hours ago, implored, “ready to receive the Soon-to-be-Newborn.” But is anyone else unsettled? Smelly, sticky, in a mood?
Later in the evening, the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. His Presence rests upon the altar, his earthen likeness lying in a manger just below. “Maranatha” yields to “Emmanuel” - When, oh finally, tears break through.
Desiring him, crowding all together around his crib - Shepherds and sheep, wise ones from the East, angels too – All of us, each one as she was, is. "I am with you, already and again and again."
Maybe the shepherds and sheep and goats and stable's hay stank. Maybe the sages were hot-cold sticky with sweat. Maybe even the angels' choir tremored, paling in awe at the delicacy of it all. Maybe, yes, maybe unsettled is exactly what happens when God wakes us up.
