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Edition No. 151 — December 18, 2020 
Laudato Sí Reflection for December 20, 2020

Sisters of Saint Joseph serving on the Chapter Implementation Subcommittee for Directive II, offer this excerpt from Laudato Sí and questions that you can use for your personal reflection, local community sharing, or whatever other creative way you can incorporate these into your life. Enjoy this reflection for December 20th.
Sister Pat Mensing SSJ was honored to share her reflections about waiting with all those who attended the evening. Advent is always a time of waiting, but this Advent is a continuation of so much waiting because of these unprecedented times, which have been challenging on so many levels. We are called to hope in God's promise to all of us, now more than ever. Through her presentation she offered a message of hope and God's promise to all in the days and weeks to come."
Pat proposed questions, poems and Scripture passages for reflection. Several are listed below:

Reflection Questions: 
   During this Advent,
  • What do I hope for?
  • What are my deepest longings?

John O’Donohue’s poem “For Longing”: “Blessed be the longing that brought you here/And quickens your soul with wonder” and “May you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.” 

“The waiting we are talking about is positive and creative. It makes real wishing possible. It means the ability to remain fixed upon a goal, to cope with obstacles, to make detours when an immediate path is blocked; to be willing to take all the immediate means that are essential to the attaining of the goal."
 —William Lynch, SJ: Images of Hope: Imagination as Healer of the Hopeless

Scripture Passages
  • Psalm 31:24: “Be strong and let your heart, take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

Reflection Question:
  • How does God wait with me?

Scripture Passages: 
  • Isaiah 43: 18-19 “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old; I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
Participants were asked to offer a quote or two about their experience of the evening—what touched their heart, what might carry them into the season of waiting, what images remain. Two responses are featured below:

"I was drawn to consider how my desires/longings really mirror God’s desire/plan for me and came to realize that it was God who prompted me to participate in Pat’s sharing. The interest in deepening my awareness of God’s Presence in the humdrum of each day says God also wants me to be more mindful that He is with me in the humdrum."
                                         — Fran DeLisle SSJ

“There is both peace and joy in waiting in expectation as God’s plan unfolds in our lives. This is something I have known for many years, but it was highlighted and reinforced through the retreat. I feel invigorated in my waiting.”
                                                             — Ernestine Hunter, SSJ Partner in Mission
"Mary: Spring of Incarnational Hope'"
Sister Claire McNichol SSJ
December 12, 2020

Sister Claire McNichol SSJ shared her joy in presenting the morning retreat. "It was certainly an advent journey for me in preparing and joining Sisters and Associates in prayer and reflection. I ‘left’ rejoicing with the hopeful blessings for the coming Advent."                                                                   

For the quiet prayer times, Claire invited the participants to write the fruit of their reflection…a word, a phrase, an inspiration, a poem, a picture. In breakout rooms, small groups shared on the fruits of the day.

Here’s a sampling of these graces:

"The morning was a wonderful experience for me. The presentations gave me new insights into Mary and Elizabeth. Our small group invited me to look at Advent with new eyes. I continue to be grateful that we are able to have such rich conversations in this difficult time."
— Margaret Mary O’Connell SSJ

"I needed this. Claire expertly and gently led us to see that hope is our faith and oh, so possible."                   
— Linda Robinson, SSJ Associate in Mission
Visitation of the Virgin 
by Rainer Maria Rilke

She still walked easily at first,
but in climbing sometimes she was already
aware of her wonderful body,
and then she stood, breathing upon the high

hills of Judea. But not the land,
her abundance was spread about her;
as she went she felt one never could exceed
the bigness she was feeling now.

And she craved to lay her hand
On the other body, that was further on.
And the women swayed towards on another 
and touched each other’s dress and hair.

Each filled with her holy possession,
sought protection of her kinswoman,
Ah, the Savior in her was still flower,
Though the Baptist in her cousin’s womb
Already leapt in transport of joy.
Reflection:
"In a very gentle way, with much factual knowledge and excellent examples Claire was able to lead us to explore one of the first gifts God generously gave us at Baptism and renews me constantly—the theological virtue of HOPE. She had me look out my window from the Villa and take in trees and fog but realize that beyond the fog there was something for which to wish—to hope."
 
"Then Claire continued to lead us toward our second reflection—a quote of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  From prison he wrote: "I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil, even out of the greatest evil. For that purpose God needs (us) to make the best of everything."

"Bonhoeffer completes his prophecy: "I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to help us to resist in all times of distress." Being able to relate to this I replied, "I know so well but we need to beg him for that strength—"but he never  gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on God alone. A faith—a HOPE—at present—such as this should allay all our fears for the future. Lord, hear our prayer."
                                                              — Maria Reparata O’ Donnell SSJ                 
Saint Joseph Villa
A Snowy Day
December 16, 2020

by Sharon White SSJ
Yesterday our Villa Zoomers prayed the Benedictine Prayers, Monastery of the Heart. The snow fell outside our windows. It was beautiful and inspiring as we listened to the Advent Music and prayed the Psalm filled with hope.

I took a picture of Sister Anne Toner SSJ who was wearing a Christmas sweater made by her niece that reads LET IT SNOW.

Beautiful...peaceful...hopeful
Looking for Inspiration?
You can find it by clicking on images below!
"With the help of God's grace and in fidelity to our founder's expressed wish, we live and work lovingly among all persons with a special preference for those who are poor, which calls us wherever we are to be in union with them."
                         — SSJ Constitutions #21
Editor, Sister Carole Pollock SSJ | 215.248.7269 | cpollock@ssjphila.org |http://ssjphila.org/home/