ADVENT REFLECTION

‘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

Header Image: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

ADVENT - A Time to Say YES

At dinnertime one evening just after Thanksgiving a few of us commented on how quickly the month of October was slipping away and I casually remarked that ADVENT would soon be on our doorstep and how much I loved the Season!  To my amazement, everyone chimed in “I love it too”!  Little did I know that I would receive a phone call the next day from one of our Sisters asking me to write a little reflection on “ WHAT ADVENT MEANS IN MY LIFE”.  Nothing happens by chance…our God is always at work!

ADVENT…a time to say “YES” to my life.  Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, come! Both of these prayers or mantras are implicit in Mary’s Magnificat.  I’m sure that after Gabriel’s visit, Mary was awed and humbled in remembering what God had done for her. Her response, immortalized in the Magnificat, also sings and resonates in my heart.  My soul celebrates Yahweh my God, and I rejoice constantly in LOVE, for all the great blessings my God has given me, one of no renown and nothing to offer nor attract the world, yet greater ones have not received as much. 

Image: Kenny Eliason/Unsplash

As I pondered these words, I was drawn last Advent to participate in a four week circle of friends united in contemplative reflections on our own stories and memories of the faith journeys we have been living.  Modeled on the four weeks of Advent and on the four mysteries of Mary’s life, we reflected on MARY as a LISTENING  WOMAN at the ANNUNCIATION, a WAITING WOMAN at her VISITATION WITH ELIZABETH, a DISCERNING WOMAN at the WEDDING FEAST OF CANA and a PROCLAIMING WOMAN at PENTECOST.  In these four roles, I saw Mary at PRAYER at both the Annunciation and at Pentecost and in ACTIVE SERVICE at the Visitation and at Cana.  Isn’t this the full CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE…PRAYER AND SERVICE? Both are DISCIPLESHIP and faith-filled experiences of her life and ours also.  As I recalled and celebrated my own stories, I realized just how much I too, have been touched and graced by such a merciful Saviour who has prepared great things for me and “called me by name”.

Praised be my God who fulfills all!   

-Sister Maureen Meloche, csj

We are more alike than we are different . . .

Whispers in a dream
The world is quiet and waiting
And all around the air is still
And sings the angels - Gabriel's Oboe (Whispers in a Dream)

As we continue to move more deeply into a new liturgical year, we are invited to let the spirit of the Advent season influence the everyday events of our lives, to let it influence the way we connect and interact with others as people of hope. 

Recent world events have certainly challenged my ability to remain hopeful. As I watch the nightly news I am dismayed by the fear, lack of understanding and heartbreak being experienced by so many.  The world seems so divided. 

Advent couldn’t have come at a better time for it calls us to bring light where there is darkness, peace where there is discord and love where there is hatred. 

The prophet Isaiah challenges us to create a world where differences do not matter, where “the wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.” (Isaiah 11: 1-10)  As we continue to face into the reality of the world’s suffering may we also face into the reality that we are more alike than we are different for we all come from the same God and are called to be examples of that great love for one another. 

The words of French Idealist philosopher and paleontologist Pierre Theihard de Chardin also give us reason to hope for he tells us that the process of evolutionary change flows over deep time. “Beneath the surface ripples and rapids, the river itself is still flowing smoothing in its channel.”  It is a fact that God will never give up on us so let us not give up on each other!

As we move more deeply into the Advent season let us turn toward not away from one another less we miss the presence of Jesus alive within each of us.

When all is come to pass
The storm has breathed its last
And the rain has washed our fears away
Love will fall on us all
And we can smile again - Gabriel's Oboe (Whispers in a Dream)

Susan Glaab, CSJ

A Time for Housecleaning

Everywhere we turn these days we are painfully seized by the images of fleeing Syrians and Iraqis searching for a place of safety, security and peace.  Whole families with children, parents and grandparents are filled with fear for their lives as they abandon their warring homelands.  Our times are heart-wrenching!

As we enter this third week of Advent, I ask, "How can we make a difference?"  

We could consider doing some personal "housecleaning".  This idea was meaningful for me when I heard a homilist recently refer to the seasons of Advent and Lent as times of "housecleaning".  In both cases we find ourselves approaching major events in the life of Jesus, his Birth, his Death and Resurrection. During most of the year, we are "housekeeping" but in these weeks of Advent we are invited to be about "housecleaning" so as to be ready and open to receive again Emmanuel dwelling among us.  

How open are we to receive the suffering Christ in the persons of refugees? Imagine the forced "housecleaning" thrust upon these people fleeing their country. What could "housecleaning" look like as we prepare to live this week?  

Presuming that refugees are being anticipated in our environs:

We can pray that all Canadians welcome warmly their arrival.

We can be part of the gathering of resources to address their needs.

We can encourage those around us to open their hearts and their wallets to assist them.

We can accept well, in the spirit of Jesus, whatever the day brings.

Sister Betty Berrigan, csj

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