This month I have another mantra for you. As with the Jesus Prayer, part of the point of repeating this month’s mantra is to create the right conditions in your heart and your head for simply sitting in the presence of God—ridding ourselves of our temporary anxieties and our daily concerns, if only for a short while. In this case it is also about fostering a spirit of expectancy this Advent, as we wait for Christ’s coming at Christmas, but also for his coming every day in our lives.
There is a word we use in Advent, which is a word Jesus would have known. It is an Aramaic word meaning “Come Lord,” though it has some ambiguity and could as easily mean “The Lord is come.” This Advent, will you join me in repeating over and over “Maranatha, come Lord Jesus”? Try sitting still, in a comfortable yet alert posture, and just repeat this plea, this invitation, to Jesus. As you repeat it you may feel able to leave more space between the repetitions, space to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe into your prayer, and genuinely to await the coming of Jesus in your life this Advent, as we await His coming at Christmas with eager, open hearts.
 
Image: ”maranatha” from the King Alfred’s Old English Version of Augustine’s Soliloquies (12th c.). (see transcript at the Website of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, University of British Columbia)
