Today is the winter solstice, when in North America we
experience the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Ironically, on
this day that is often associated with darkness and gloom, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Fr. Edward Hays includes this
prayer: “May I be awake to life as a gift from you that is intended to be
enjoyed and experienced with delight.”
Cultivating delight is a spiritual practice. Even during
Advent and the Christmas season, typically a time of good cheer, we can be more
Scrooge-like than joyful. Christmas lights? Too garish! The smell of a pine
tree? Too overbearing! Holiday music? Too repetitive! The taste of Christmas
cookies? Too much cinnamon! All these things are intended to be enjoyed and
experienced with delight, yet we are immune to their charm because our
preoccupation with our own preferences leads us to sleepwalk through life.
Fr. Ed includes a clue in his prayer about how to cultivate
delight: being awake, even on the longest night of the year. Delight surrounds
us when we pause and open our eyes to look deeply at the world around us. Today’s
O Antiphon is an appropriate prayer to remind us to look for (de)light on this
solstice day:
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell
in darkness and in the shadow of death.
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