Christmastide — Epiphany 2018
God’s Love becomes flesh; Christ’s Light shines for all peoples. We celebrate Jesus, God’s greatest gift, and all the gifts of the season, especially St. Elizabeth Seton (feast: Jan. 4) and her vision that gave birth to the Sisters of Charity in North America. Pray with seasonal Charity Wisdom from our founders and friends, and reflections by our Sisters and Associates.
Charity Wisdom from Our Founders
ELIZABETH ANN SETON
Jesus eternal wisdom,
Jesus brightness of eternal light,
Jesus by whom all things are governed…
Jesus Prince of Peace.
Keep in the company of Mary and Joseph who are seeking a lodging for him in Bethlehem and offer him your whole heart as a place of rest and welcome.
Beg our dear Lord to be born in your heart as he was in the Manger for our Salvation. (Anna Maria Seton, Elizabeth’s daughter)
VINCENT DE PAUL
The lights of grace, which the Sun of Justice spreads in our souls, reveal and penetrate to the very depths and most intimate part of our heart, which they stir up and prompt to produce marvelous things.
When God wants to communicate himself, He does it effortlessly, in a perceptible, very pleasant, gently, loving way; so let’s ask Him often and with great confidence for this gift….let’s pray to Him, but let’s do it with great confidence.
LOUISE DE MARILLAC
You will learn from Jesus, my dear Sisters, to practice solid virtue, as He did in His holy humanity, as soon as He came down upon earth. It is from the example of Jesus in His infancy that you will obtain all that you need to become true Christians.
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CHARITY WISDOM FROM OUR FRIENDS
We are never too young nor too old to listen to that still small voice that keeps tugging at our hearts, calling us forward. This is a new time of Charity, a new beginning. 2018 heralds our third century of mission. What risks must we take that allow the mission of Charity to flourish?
As the earth turns and the darkness turns to the light, we are invited to recognize and walk in the light of Christ. In the ending days of this year, may our prayers reflect on not only the celebrations that marked what was, but also on the possibilities before us. These reflections may take us to places we would never dream as part of our future.
God’s grace will sustain us along the way. What we have been given as gifts are the gifts we are called to share. The Charity of Christ impels us to nothing less. (SC-NY Leadership Team)
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I don’t know when it will happen or what it will look like to reach the tipping point, for the Christ Mystery to come to fullness. All I know is that this meaning, planted in the middle of things, gives us direction, purpose, hope, and immense self-confidence….
Foundational hope demands a foundational belief in a world that is still and always unfolding….To stay on the ride, to trust the trajectory, to know it is moving, and moving somewhere always better, is just another way to describe faith.
This is the Good News the angels gave Mary and the shepherds in a very specific and concrete way. We can now trust that history – and our small roles within the larger story – is moving in a positive direction. We who know the end from the beginning, who trust the Christ Mystery, must participate in the movement toward union. (Richard Rohr, OFM)
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For all our differences and disagreements, we can live in a world of peace. In opposing every attempt to create a rigid uniformity, we can and must build unity on the basis of our diversity of languages, cultures and religions, and lift our voices against everything which would stand in the way of such unity. (Pope Francis)