‘As a Mother cares for her ailing child, our God cares for our ailing world.’
Sometimes it feels like our God likes to play hide and seek. While I know that God never stays in hiding, my heart and desires get lost in the many places of darkness that cry out for light. We are so little in the face of it all; hunger, homelessness, climate change and all the ways our earth cries out with floods, extremes in temperature and earthquakes.
During Advent this year I am drawn to pray to recognize that hope is still alive in the hearts of the many who seek to offer relief to our needy especially in our City of Peterborough. One sign of hope that I have seen this Advent are the workers who tirelessly spend time at Kawartha Food Share gathering donations of food and other non-perishables that will sustain families during these times of economic downturn. Another sign of hope I am noticing are the many non-profit agencies working to resettle refugees; other agencies providing monetary assistance for the flooded areas of the Maritime provinces; and of course, always I am mindful of what is happening in Ukraine where innocent people – especially families and children are being uprooted from their familiar surroundings with assistance coming from neighbors near and far.
Each of these events, dark as they initially appeared, have blessed me during these Advent days with gratitude as I see the goodness of many people working together to restore life and hope.
-Sister Sylvia Crowley, csj | Peterborough, Ontario