Advent

It is Now the Moment to Wake from Sleep

Here in the northern hemisphere, it is the season when light and life are fading. Darkness tends to encroach on our daylight ever more rapidly during these winter months and creates the perfect backdrop for Advent to do its work in us. In some ways it is the time to learn how to ‘see in the dark.’ This new way of seeing is more like a wake-up call.  In the readings of the 1st Sunday of Advent, St. Paul already admonished us, “Brothers and sisters, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the amour of light; let us live honourably.” (Romans 13: 11-12)

In our day and age, living honourably has become ever more challenging. Not wanting to be a prophet of doom, I do acknowledge all the honourable things done by the many that care for our world, evident in so many commendable efforts made to turn things around, to protect our world and all who dwell here. However, as I wrote in last week’s reflection, Advent is a good time to take stock of how each one of us has contributed to the increasingly sad state of our precious life-giving planet. 

In his encyclical Laudato ‘Si, Pope Francis draws our attention to how St. Francis viewed our common home, Mother Earth. In his eye’s our earth "is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us."1

Here we are in the 21st century, on the brink of an ecological crisis.  We are living on Mother Earth who is threatened to the borderline of extinction. It is the eleventh hour to change our ways drastically, and change them soon, before it is too late – though some experts are of the opinion that we have long moved beyond the point of no return.  What is happening to our common home? Our ecological challenges, precipitated by our ravenous capitalism, pollution and smog, the despoliation of the resources of the natural world, etc. impact our natural habitat. This ecological crisis in turn impacts our lives and in alarming numbers animals are threatened with extinction.  With his encyclical, Pope Francis “metaphorically takes us by the hand and leads us to the plight of the Earth, its people and all its living things — and sometimes into places we would rather not go.”2

Most of us have learned things in the dark that we could never have learned in the light. Though we have been steeped in darkness, now is the time to see anew and heed this wake-up call. Let us be attentive, and take note:

what is God asking of me, of you?

What ecological virtues might we develop during this Advent season, and beyond? 

As Richard Rohr points out, “The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.”

1.https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/spend-advent-laudato-si-and-question-what-god-asking-me 

 

- Sr. Magdalena Vogt, CPS

 

 

The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God.

-St. John of Damascene

 

Advent 2: Want to Change the World?

Want to change the world? Want to make a difference? Take a long loving look around and let wisdom lead you!

We can wrap simple gifts in beautiful reusable bags and recycled ribbon and enjoy the gift giving, knowing that we make a difference while expressing our affection for one another.

But maybe what is more in keeping with this week’s reading is to look around at the economic systems and biases that are part of our everyday experience and let wisdom lead us.

Today’s first reading (Isaiah 11:1-10) is filled with paradox: the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb, the lion shall eat hay like the ox, the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. Power and gentleness, roaring sounds and plodding journeys, innocence and venom.  This juxtaposition is also all around us.

The poor sleep under tents sheltering them from rain and snow; while I snuggle in a warm bed listening to the wind tap on my window.

The middle aged woman works three different jobs to make ends meet while corporations exceed the proposed growth in wealth.

What the prophet Isaiah holds out for us is, that as sure as the water covers the sea all will be well.

And who will bring about that “wellness”?

December 10th is the annual Human Rights Day. We might choose to write letters for Amnesty International’s petitions, or we might choose to attend a local conversation about precarious work situations, or we might lend a hand to a Habitat build, or we might speak to our federal government representatives about setting a direct course for Child Care for All.

As followers of Jesus – God’s love poured into humanity – our call is to walk alongside those persons who can identify systems that need to change so that Isaiah’s words are no longer a vision for wholeness in God’s heavenly embrace, but a reality leading into the holiness of God’s earthly embrace.

Christ invites us to be a signal for the nations. Will you let your light shine?

- Sr Loretta Manzara

Widen the Horizons of Your Heart

Widen the Horizons of Your Heart   (Pope Francis)

The Milky Way over Yellowstone | The Abyss Pool in Yellowstone National Park.

Image credit: Dave Lane

Here we are on the First Sunday of Advent.  We have been here before, many times.  Over the years, different themes have paved the way for us through these four weeks of Advent towards Christmas.  As I cast a backward glance over this past year, what stands out is how so many dark things have engulfed our earth this year.  Never-ending human tragedies, riots and strikes as well as indescribable natural disasters … fires, floods, droughts – to just name a few.  Our poor planet is in deep trouble.  We are in trouble.  However, valiant efforts are being made to turn things around.  On the forefront are conservationists addressing the issue of climate change.  In 2015, Pope Francis gave us Laudato ‘Si and this year he convened the Amazon Synod to encourage all of us, you and me, to take better care of our beautiful planet, our common home.  And in this Sunday’s Epistle we hear St. Paul’s clarion call: “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep … let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light … “ Romans 13:11-12.

In his Advent message last year, Pope Francis urged us to, “widen the horizons of our hearts.”  Widen them for what?  To lay aside the works of darkness.  You might take umbrage with that statement.  But have we not all contributed to the state of our planet to some extend?  Each of us has a vital role to play in protecting our ailing earth for, “We have become a planetary species, a planetary power, and the future shape of life on our earth depends on us recognizing this reality and making different choices—NOW!” -Mary Southard, CSJ.

Advent is a good time to take stock of how we have contributed to the sad state of our world. Young people are speaking up, pleading for a change of heart in each one of us.  Last December, sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg addressed world leaders at the UN regarding climate change.  Here in Canada a group of young people are bringing suit against the government over climate change, saying government inaction is causing climate change and hurting their future. What are we doing to help turn things around?  What efforts are you and I making to be present and respond to this greatest challenge we humans have ever faced? 

Perhaps, like me, you have read and were inspired by Chris Hadfield’s book An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth He wrote this about our beautiful earth, “The world, when you look at it, it just can't be random. I mean, it's so different than the vast emptiness that is everything else, and even all the other planets we've seen, at least in our solar system, none of them even remotely resemble the precious life-giving nature of our own planet.”  Let us inscribe these words, our life-giving planet, on our minds and hearts. As we prepare to celebrate the dawn of the Light among us, may our Advent journeying strengthen us to shoulder our responsibility to care for our planet. 

- Sr. Magdalena Vogt, cps

Art work by Mary Southard, CSJ

A Christmas Reflection

How do we live the spirituality of Advent and Christmas in a milieu where this great mystery of faith is celebrated as a secular holiday and its preparation is a call to rampant consumerism and extravagant feasting?   How do we keep our focus on the Gospel call to be alert and aware, to await in hope when all around us lies a landscape of frenetic activity, and considerable anxiety about meeting expectations or deadlines?   How have we resolved the tension between being faithful to the beautiful season of Advent with its powerful message of hope and longing, and the reality of our world which seems so out of sync as our eyes and ears are assaulted with the sights and sounds of a commercial Christmas as soon as Halloween is over until they end abruptly on December 26.  Do we sometimes welcome the new liturgical year with great anticipation and find ourselves four weeks later a bit strung out and disappointed as we enter into the celebration of this great day, wishing our preparation had been a little more focused, a little less caught in the frenzy around us?  Is there a sense that we might be missing something as we respond to this beautiful day in the best way we know how?

As we gather together with friends and family to celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation, we can sometimes fail to see the fullness of this gift, because we expect God to be present in the extraordinary, in that which stands out in contrast to everyday life.  But the story of the nativity of Jesus tells us how completely God abides in what is ordinary, and chooses to enter our world amid the very real stresses of life that surround his kinfolk and account for his birth in a stable.  God is in the midst of our world and our lives as truly as God came to earth more than two thousand years ago.  God has been given once and for all, and forever to the human species and to the whole created world. That is the meaning of the Incarnation, the meaning of Emmanuel, and the meaning of Christmas.

As we celebrate with thanksgiving this mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, we can be grateful for the incarnation of God in every human being and in all living creatures.  We can find hope and joy in the many expressions of God found everywhere around us, in the tremendous outpouring of generosity and caring, perhaps not named as such, that is present in our culture these days, in the beauty of our tastefully decorated homes, in the liturgies we have celebrated, in the gifts given and received over these days, in the friends and relatives who have connected with us, in this festive meal prepared with loving care, and most of all in the spirit of caring and concern we give to one another.  At times we are called to rely on God with us when Christmas becomes a moment of pain or heartbreak when we are ill or grieve the suffering or loss of a loved one and we know we are not alone.  Presently in a world torn by war and division, we are called to stand in the darkness with those who suffer and respond by sharing our blessings in whatever way we can.

The beautiful Christmas song O Holy Night has been sung in churches and halls all over the world in many languages. Written by a simple wine merchant in Germany in 1847, this hymn contains a line that says when God came among us in the shape and form of Jesus “the soul felt its worth”. That baby in the manger at Christmas mirrors the truth of the divinity that is also present in you and me. As we gaze on the nativity scene where God becomes human, and realize that our worth comes from the mystery of God at the centre of our being, we find reason to sing further of the thrill of hope and the new and glorious morn we celebrate at Christmas. And we do not need to prove our worth, only to recognize it, to accept it in faith, to be grateful for it and try to live out of its power in our lives.  And as Jesus shows us from the stable, weakness and vulnerability take nothing from it, but only add to that power.

Soon the Christmas bells and lights and tinsel will lose their significance in our society as people rush madly to take in the boxing-day sales and return to the humdrum of daily routines.  But that spark of divinity that is such an essential part of our human identity will continue to be a light for us and for those whose lives we touch.  As a Sister of St. Joseph,  I wish to thank my companions in community for the many ways you have expressed the truth of the Incarnation in your lives, and continue to bring the light of God into a world in need.  As we celebrate the great worth that is in each one of us through the Incarnation, let us be grateful for this power of God that is present in our world, expressed in unique but very ordinary ways we can often take for granted.

Joan Driscoll CS

December 2017

Topsy-Turvy in Our Times

I`m struck by how appropriate, in our time, are the multiple meanings given for topsy-turvy in the Merriam Webster Dictionary.

topsy-turvy

1: in utter confusion or disorder

2: with the top or head downward: upside down

The daily newspapers, nightly news and weekly/monthly news magazines chronicle for their audiences with vivid details the many ways world affairs are in disarray. Each day’s events seem to further chip away at our sense of peace and world order. 

Paralleling our topsy-turvy global situation, we find the North American growing appearance of the upside-down Christmas tree. This inverted version of the traditional Christmas decoration, is making its appearance in public buildings, city malls and family homes. In the business section of the Toronto Star (9/12/17) the article, “Upside-down tree trend growing strong’ appeared. Cassandra Szklarski, from the Canadian Press, highlighted this emerging fad, “Inverted pines and firs taking over social media are funky but pricey.”

Szklarski’s comments are evidenced by the growing novelty being featured on the popular website, Wayfair. ca. Wayfair.ca offers multiple upside-down trees which range in price from the reasonably priced, 3 foot Green Tear Drop at $60.99 to the 9 foot Silver Upside Down Christmas tree with 1000 warm, white LED lights for the hard to believe price of $959.99.

I don’t think I’ll be promoting the adoption of the upside-down Christmas tree anytime soon. However, the upside-down Christmas tree might be a fitting image of current times to keep in mind as 2017 slips away. Perhaps Time magazine might even consider featuring it on its annual year end cover.

Nancy Wales, CSJ