Christmas Eve is 10 days away! Isn't it crazy how fast time moves? I feel like it was August 1st just yesterday. And now, 4 months later, it's almost Christmas and we have all been through so much with our ministries, communities, faith, and ourselves. I hope and pray that everyone is enjoying this experience thus far and that we're all open to everything that has come our way in terms of people, opportunities, ideas, and challenges.
When I read today's wisdom from St. Thomas Aquinas, focusing on Mary and the uncommon reverence the angels gave her before she was to conceive Jesus through the Holy Spirit, I couldn't help but try to connect his message to my day to day experience. I have spent the last four months trying to bring about a new spirit of self-renewal to all the men and women I meet at St. Leonard's. But who's helping whom? Am I the angel coming to bring unexpected praise and reverence to the people I meet or am I the fearful Mary who has questions and is uncertain of her future?
I think I'm a little bit of both the angel and Mary...and, I think, so are all of the other DVs. Like the angels, we all strive to help those we minister to and work with in that we want our clients, co-workers, students, and other people we encounter in our ministries to understand the grace they have within themselves that allows them to achieve great things and believe in miracles and have faith in themselves.
But, we also have the fear Mary had in that we may have thoughts of self-doubt or may question our ability to follow God's call through our ministries and be able to believe in the people or projects considered "lost-causes" or "impossible cases." Mary is able to overcome her fears and bring Jesus to human form through knowing that God is with her; thus, we all can overcome our fears and have strength in ourselves and those we minister to because of faith.
I hope that during this time of the year, a time of great anitcipation and prepartion, that all of the DVs can find time to see how they are both Mary and an angel from Heaven and recognize the ways in which God, through the Holy Spirit, brings comfort, strength, and guidance to you in your challenges and uncertainies.
I'd like to leave you all with a quote I love and live by:
"...Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves...Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Peace, love, and blessings,
Emily
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