Alban Arthan and Christmas Novena, Day 7

I continue my solstice celebration today with Alban Arthan, the Celtic and Druidic name for the Winter Solstice; it's Welsh for Light of Winter. 

The Winter Solstice was never a one day festival - three days seems to be the minimum. The sun appears to stand still for three days, then days begin to noticeably increase in length (and we all sigh in relief). 

Alban Arthan is a celebration of the strengthening sun, and the central theme is renewal; we leave the past behind and greet the new. The world is undergoing constant change and we must change and adjust, too, in order to be able to survive.

"All things which come into being must first be born. Even as creation was borne by the great Mother of the universe, so too must we be born of the spirit to become spirit. The winter solstice is a celebration of being ‘born again’—not of flesh, but of the spirit. It’s a celebration of the birth of the spiritual Son, the Christ, within a person’s consciousness in the process of awakening.” 

From The Path of the Spiritual Sun: Celebrating the Solstices & Equinoxes by Belsebuub (Mark Pritchard)

Agenda:
1. Advent prayer
2. Prayer journal queries

3. Christmas Novena, day 7

1. Advent prayer:

Deep within the still center of my being, may I find peace.
Quietly, within the silence of this grove, may I share peace.
Gently, within the greater circle of humankind, may I radiate peace.
—The Druid’s Prayer for Peace

2. Prayer journal queries:

What is being born again, in and through and as me, in 2021?

What is awakening in me?
What divine child or gift am I ready to bring into our world?

3. Christmas Novena, day 7:

From the Worldssps site:

In Communion with the Elderly, the sick and the disabled

“The mystery of human suffering overwhelms the sick person and poses disturbing new questions: Why is God allowing me to suffer? What purpose does it serve? How can God who is good permit something which is so evil? There are no easy answers to these questions asked by the burdened mind and heart. Certainly, no satisfying answer can be found without the light of faith.

Our Saviour knows well the many special needs of those who suffer. From the beginning of his public ministry, together with his preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom, “he went about doing good and healing”. When he sent forth his own disciples on their mission, he gave them a special power and clear instructions to follow his example.

And indeed, it was the suffering and death of Christ that displayed the works of God most eloquently. By his Paschal Mystery, Jesus won for us our salvation. Suffering and death, when accepted with love and offered with trust to God, become the key to eternal victory, the triumph of life over death, the triumph of life through death. “

(Address of St. John Paul II to the elderly, sick and disabled)