MEDITATION TIPS (Episode 280)
First Sunday of Advent
November 30, 2025

“Stay awake” (Matthew 24:42)　

　Advent has begun. During this important season, let us prepare for the birth of Christ and also reflect on the meaning of the life given to us. Before we were born into this world, we neither desired nor decided to be born as human beings. Nor did we earn it through effort or merit; we were brought into being by a power greater than ourselves. “The time has already come for you to wake up from sleep” (Romans 13:11). This “time” is the time for gratitude—the most important act of gratitude among many—for the life freely given to us. If our gratitude for this gift has been insufficient, let us be born anew today and “join our hands in prayer for our own lives.”

　Physically, a person can be born only once, but spiritually, one can be reborn countless times. Indeed, every single day must be a new birth. In this way, we continue to carve the sculpture that is our own self—a sculpture made only once in a lifetime. Sculpture is made by hand. It is said that power resides in the hands, that energy emanates from them. Priests also bless with their hands. We often look at our own hands. Takuboku Ishikawa composed the poem: “Though I work and work, still my life does not get easier; I gaze intently at my hands.” Impoverished, he confronted himself while looking at his hands. Let us, too, gaze intently at our own hands.

　I hear that the persimmon harvest is abundant in many places this year. Among persimmons, there are astringent varieties that cannot be eaten as they are. However, when an astringent persimmon is exposed to the cold wind for a long time, its astringency mysteriously transforms into sweetness. Similarly, our own shortcomings and flaws, which we may feel are like astringency, when exposed to the cold winds of life, eventually increase our maturity. Add a horizontal stroke to the character for “bitter/painful” (辛) and it becomes “happiness” (幸); remove the horizontal stroke from ‘happiness’ and it becomes “bitter/painful.” Ultimately, happiness and unhappiness are just slight differences in how the mind perceives things. So, as we look at our hands, we can reflect that there have been painful things, but also happy things. Life is plus and minus—that’s fine. When we eventually reach the end of our lives, we want to gaze firmly at our own hands with gratitude, clasp them together, and set out on the eternal journey.

　What has begun will eventually end. The life that has begun will also eventually meet its end. At birth, we simultaneously receive the announcement of death. Therefore, we must reflect on life by envisioning its end. To envision the end means taking the first step only after clarifying our destination. If we know the destination, we know where we are now.

　“For us human beings, true life begins only when we contemplate the meaning of death and our hearts find resolve before it. Conversely, a life in which one has no thoughts about death and no resolve toward it, cannot yet be called true.” (Educator and Philosopher Nobuzō Mori) Therefore, “Stay awake.”

 　　　　　(Contributed by Father Yutaka Akabae)