Generally the liturgical calendar does not affect my life so much. Yet,
the big season changers tend to get my attention and today we enter into the
season of Advent, which is the opening of a new liturgical year. I absolutely
love this time of year for a variety of reasons and Advent just adds to that
experience. The quieting of longer nights and shorter days helps me to slow
down as my patterns adjust to the seasonal demands that are coming forth with winter
on its way. The past couple of years I have experienced a greater need for
quieting in so many ways. And, I am getting better at honoring the time and
space needed for that quiet. However, I am still very easily caught in the
technological buzz of the cell phone, computer, TV, and video/electronic games.
I sat down today to spend time with an Advent reflection and was finished in
less than ten minutes. I need to remind myself that at the end of the day we do
not get back time and how that is spent is either meaningful or lost. So, as I
enter this new liturgical year (more exhausted from studying than last year) I
will attempt to put in place ways in which I can honor this call for silence as
we wait for Emanuel, God with Us. Blessings as we accept this quest together (of course you may have different intentions for this time and if you want to share I am happy to read about it)!
Yesterday, we gathered at Double Adobe as CSA sisters and associate, School Sisters of Notre Dame, and Medical Missionaries to have a discussion on what it meant to be about the Mission of Jesus. It was stimulating and energizing. I thought about the three sisters and Maryknoll associate who gave their lives for the poor of El Salvador. And what they gave birth to and how we're giving birth to new things here that hopefully will impact the people who live on both sides of the border. We as people want to make a difference and truly walk the road that will lead to Jesus being born in a new way. I think this is a call of hope and who knows where this will lead us. I really believe this is a constant desire as we live out the pain of new birth. What joyful expectation with new ideas! May the new energy give hope to each one of us and be inclusive of people who walk and talk with us.
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