Moving Beyond Ourselves in Advent

I can't believe it is the 3rd Week of Advent already!! It is a rich time of reflecting on our life and faith. The superior general of the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), Fr. Greg Gay, wrote an Advent letter to the entire Vincentian Family entitled, "Christmas: A Story of Living Without Frontiers." You can read it at http://cmglobal.org/en/blog/curia-general/superior-general/advent-letter/2010/11/22/. Sr. Sharon Horace, DC created a video to reflect her reality on mission on the border of Texas and Mexico. You can find it on her blog http://dcfrontera.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post.html.

In my local community, the other Sisters and I were sharing on some Advent reflections we read from a book for our weekly spiritual sharing. One of Fr. McCullen's reflections was on Advent and community life. This seemed like an odd combination to me. However, as I read and reflected I understood. Christ came to be present to others in love and gentleness, drawing others to Himself. He was also able to challenge in love--except the hypocrites whom He was quite tough on! So, in my living of community, Christ can continue to be incarnated among us. This makes me pause and think about how I live and how I bring Christ not just to ministry, but to our common life in community. I pray that during this Advent that I may grow in love and compassion and that I might gently invite others to do the same--to be as Christ taught us.