Vocations Newsletter

Today begins the season of expectant, joyful waiting, the season we call Advent. As we do each year, we light the first of four candles this morning—one for each Sunday of Advent that will take us home on Christmas Day. We think of Advent as a time of anticipation—waiting for the Christ Child and preparing for his birth. But Advent is a time of discovery as well. Here’s what I mean…God is already present in our lives and in our relationships all of the time. Advent is an invitation to discover how and where to find the Lord. Important clues are embedded in the rituals we follow. We reach out to family… we give our children extra special attention… we decorate our homes to a fare-thee-well… and we outdo ourselves in creating memories that we hope will become part of our family histories. Why do we do all this? Because we’re never quite satisfied with earthly things. Enough is not enough. We long for more… for the eternal and the forever after. We don’t want the joy of this moment to end. As people of faith, we have the hope and expectation that God is working in us no matter…
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Simone Campbell, SSS, is the executive director of NETWORK, a nonprofit Catholic social justice lobby in Washington, DC. In 2012, Sister Simone organized NETWORK’s Nuns on the Bus campaign that has attracted an avalanche of media attention in the United States and other parts of the world. Sister Simone, a long-standing member of the Sisters of Social Service became an attorney in 1978 and founded a community law center that served the legal needs of the working poor.
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“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”Matthew 25:40Yes, it has been a year of pain and sorrow. More than we imagined. But as people of faith we are schooled in gratitude. We give thanks for the gift of life and the gift of salvation. And we give thanks for each other. We mark Thanksgiving Day this week with gratitude for past gifts and for the blessings we know will follow. In acts of courage, we saw the beginning of new life over these past many months. In acts of generosity and selflessness, we saw examples of what it means to care for others who have so little—sometimes by people who have little themselves. Since March, I have received numerous messages from donors and prayer partners, reassuring me that they are OK but more concerned for our Fathers and Brothers in mission and expressing gratitude for their service. “How are they faring?” “Has the pandemic impacted their work?” I am so grateful for these messages. One in particular really touched me: A woman said that she was able to give thanks for someone she lost this…
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“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.”1 Thessalonians 5:5Paul reassures us, over and again. We are children of the light, children of the day, walking with confidence and humility in the footsteps of Our Lord.The light Paul is talking about is the knowledge that we live each day in anticipation of eternal life with God our Father. Each time we embrace the Gospel message of self-giving and compassion, the light becomes brighter—and the desire to share the joy of our faith becomes stronger. That is the spirit of mission: always doing more to witness God’s love, always making the candle of salvation burn brighter for someone else to follow.As children of the light, we know we can still stumble at times. Our best intentions don’t always have the intended outcomes. When I need comfort, I often turn to the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary because they reveal who Jesus is and our path to salvation. Jesus understands that his public ministry is a mission of light, and that’s our calling, too. • The Baptism of…
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