from Deb Marks, senior warden, in the ACTS December/January issue

Thinking About St. Luke’s

Have you heard the advice to avoid grocery shopping when you’re hungry? The same principle could apply to writing an ACTS article when you feel a general malaise.

The cure for avoiding a trip to the grocer’s on an empty stomach is pretty straightforward.

But otherwise motivating myself requires more thought … and effort.

The term that I often lean towards is intentionality. For me, intentionality is like a bridge that spans from thought to action. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Grand Master of Procrastination! But being intentional asks more of me than just thinking about something. Merriam-Webster lists deliberate, voluntary, and willing as some common synonyms of the word intentional, stressing “an awareness of an end to be achieved.” My to-do list of things to be achieved during the so-called “holiday season” feels very much at odds with the liturgical Advent season. I often experience the holiday season as a noisy commercial loop that highlights obligations, expectations, and deadlines. It runs parallel in time but otherwise in contrast with Advent, a season of waiting, reflecting, and hoping. These are very different ends to be achieved. Waiting, reflecting, and hoping require more intentionality from me than plunging headlong into the holiday season loop.

Reflection is also a basic component in the prayer technique known as The Daily Examen which comes to us from Jesuit founder St. Ignatius of Loyola. The purpose of this prayerful exercise is to enhance awareness of God’s presence with us in our daily lives. At a Spiritual Practices Retreat I attended at Claggett Center this fall, the facilitators emphasized that, “with practice, you will find a rhythm of praying the Examen that ‘fits’ you.” How welcoming. And in the same way as waiting and preparing for Jesus’s birth is the end to be achieved during Advent, preparation is also key to the Examen: “Quieting myself, I become aware that I am in Your presence, O God. I imagine You looking at me and me looking at You loving me.”

Although it might be tempting to say that I conquered my initial lassitude through my own intentionality, I know that’s not true. I have a clear, grateful awareness of God’s presence with me in a task as simple as writing an ACTS article. And I don’t feel negative about the entire holiday season, either; I look forward to special music, familiar stories, excited children, celebrations, and all the baked delights. I pray that you and those you love will have a Blessed Advent, a Merry Christmas, and Joy in 2025.

Deb (she/hers)