today in the east, and in the celtic tradition, preparation begins for the feast of the nativity, the incarnation, christmas. call it advent, call it st. martin's fast, call it the nativity lent. as we read in the daily office from joel, we are called to "rend our hearts, not our garments."
of course for many of us the feast that approaches is the great american overspending consumer day. we are not concerned with rending our garments, but in buying new ones. once again it seems appropriate, as the prince of peace is closer than when we first believed, to lament, "oh that they knew the things that make for peace."
but it is also an opportunity for us to consider whether we might come to know the things that make for peace. where to begin? with the beatitudes, of course, recognizing that there is, as jim forest has so well written, a ladder of the beatitudes. we are only able to become peacemakers if we are also willing to start with our poverty of spirit. forty days is hardly long enough. but it is certainly long enough to begin.
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