In the Māori language, there is a word, ‘Mana!’ Mana means integrity, courage, authenticity, and honesty. In other words, the person with ‘mana’ personifies personal authority. In my many years of teaching, no student of mine ever needed me to be perfect, but they looked to me to be authentic, as authentic as one humanly can be. Early in the Gospel of Mark (1: 27-28), the crowds are flocking to Jesus because he speaks with authority: he has ‘mana’.

John the Baptist, too, has this sense of authenticity. The crowds have flocked to him in the River Jordan. The religious authorities are uncomfortable with all of this, and they seek to trap Jesus. “Who gave you this authority?” they ask. Jesus claims his personal heart authority comes from his prayer life, his intimacy with his Abba Father God, and from his choices to go deliberately to the liminal space and to those living on the edge of society.

Psalm 25 is a beautiful prayer to take into our day. If we take this prayer to heart, we will grow in a profound personal authority. We will claim our ‘heart mana’ and, in so doing, be the disciples that our Advent God longs for us to be.

Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my saviour. 
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
In your love remember me,
because of your goodness, O Lord. 
The Lord is good and upright.
He shows the path to those who stray,
he guides the humble in the right path;
he teaches his way to the poor.

by Br Damien Price cfc