3 Sunday of Advent

3 Sunday of Advent

Advent is the time to discover the capacity of your heart to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord (Isaiah 61, 1-2, 10-11). Advent is the time to discover the things which we have to give thanks to God (1 Thessalonians 5, 16-14) and to rejoice in my God (Luke 1, 46-50, 53-54) Advent is the time to find our vocation to be the witness to speak for the light and to be voice of the light (John 1, 6-8, 19-28) Don Giorgio
Mary Immaculate

Mary Immaculate

In the middle of the Advent season, the Catholic Church celebrates a feast on which an important aspect of Christmas shows up. It is a feast that many people have little or nothing to do with: the feast of Mary, the mother of God, conceived without original sin. If we have the dogma that Mary was conceived without original sin in view of Christ, translate it into our reality, then it is said that we too are without original sin in view of Christ. Where Christ is in us sin has no power. In the inner space within us where Christ dwells, sin and guilt have no entry; there sin is disempowered. In Mary we meditate on our own being, the mystery of our redemption through Jesus Christ. Just as we in Mary are pure people celebrate who is without intrigue and side intentions, who gets involved in God without ulterior motives, so we also believe that there is something pure and holy in us, is something Immaculate and intact. We shouldn't feel like sinners all the time, but rather as people who God has transformed in Jesus Christ. It is an optimistic feast that the Church is celebrating. It corresponds to the shine of Christmas that goes out. It lets the light of Christmas into our brokenness to shine. Often enough, we don't see ourselves as loud and flawless. Even if we do something good if we have secondary intentions, we want to be well received by others, we want to be seen. We know our tendency to present ourselves better than we are. Even in our Charity creeps in egotistical motives. In Mary we see the secret of our own salvation. In us there are not only defilements and falsifications, there is also a core in us pure and holy, something that is not infected by guilt and sin. The holy reading from the letter to the Ephesians expresses it in  this way: “In Christ God chose us before the creation of the World, so that we may live holy and blameless (Immaculate) before God ”(Eph 1,4). Where Christ is in is us, we are flawless. Even if we know about our lies and deceitful tricks, so we can trust that something in us is very pure and holy. There is something in us healed, is completely permeable to God's love. Where Christ is in us, our Feelings have no admission to guilt with which we often enough tear ourselves. There they have Self-devaluation and self-accusation no chance to occur. There we are in Harmony with ourselves. ... And where Christ is born in us, sin has no entrance, we are clean and holy.   P. Anselm Grün (OSB)
Unity in Love and Love within unity!

Unity in Love and Love within unity!

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Ps.133: 1 Dear Sisters, I would like to share with you the joy and taste of unity and love among us. Where there is love it does not choose anything, the heart is ready to give and commit to do good to anyone regardless of our ideologies and differences. Yon. 17: 21-23.; just as we are one, so be you, be united; these words give us an invitation to reflect on the deep and beautiful words that our founder gave us. "If you want to thanks, be in Unity." the unity requested by our founder has made us one family, one nation and one citizenship of Christ within our Immaculate Congregation; by following in the footsteps of our founder in maintaining unity and love among ourselves. Dear friends, I would like to share with you how unity and love work together. For example, we can see among the Sisters from Tanzania, Poland and Germany how we can live in unity of the Spirit with one heart according to the Spirit of our founder, and what especially touches me is to see that we are able to communicate and listen to each other regardless of our differences. So we can live in the unity of unity from all over the world by starting with the unity found in my own heart and later spreading it to my neighbours. If I do not have a heart of unity, then it will also be difficult to share with others. So as we see this year is our main motto to reflect on the unity and love of the Spirit of our founder. Our communication of sign language and images between us has helped us to unite in unity and thus has led to the success of our work as well as progress within our Organization. God bless our organizational unity so that we can live the will of our founder according to Him. Sr. Agnes- Tanzania!
Prepare a way for the Lord

Prepare a way for the Lord

  1. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert: Straighten the path of the Lord to us by cooperating in His Love in all areas of our lives.
  2. Let valley be filled in: Fill the valleys of the complexes of inferiority, guilt and helplessness with grace and love of God.
  3. Every mountain and hill be laid low: Let the hills of pride and egoism be leveled with humility and self-denial.
Don Giorgio
100 percent “yes”

100 percent “yes”

Advent is a season of preparation extending over four Sunday before Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin “advenio” means “to come to”, and refers to the coming of Christ. Thus, the term “the coming” includes three references: First of all to our celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas; Second, to the coming of Christ in our daily lives through Sacrament of the Eucharist; and finally, it refers to his second coming at the end of time. Therefore, our preparation during Advent should have all three comings in mind. We need to prepare our souls to welcome and receive Christ wholeheartedly. What perfect example of receiving Jesus wholeheartedly, than Mary. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception just around the corner, stand as a reminder to us all, that Mary is truly the central figure of the Advent season. It reminds us all that God bestowed such favour on Mary, not for her sake, but for ours. She stands as the sinless one, the perfect disciple, the model of the church, and her assumption the promise of our resurrection. In fact, it through her “yes” consenting, that the Son of God was conceived and live among us in the flesh. It is through her “yes” that Jesus began his way along the road of humanity. Mary “yes” shows how complete and unconditional, her love for God without reservations. But more importantly, her saying “yes” tells the whole story of God saving Love; that “though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humble himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Philip 2:6- 9). Thus, our daily saying “yes” to God creates our own salvation stories. It tells of how God work in and with us through the Holy Spirit for our redemption. God offered life eternal and we say “yes” in complete favour of his eternal love, and as a result life everlasting follows. It sound straight forward and easy but in reality, it demands sacrifices by dying to self-daily. It demands faithfulness and the joy of carrying daily crosses with Jesus each day. It demands perseverance through the uncertain and unclear moments of everyday life. Pope Francis remind us that “we are experts on the half-yes; we are good at pretending not to understand what God wants, and what our conscience prompts us to do. We are also smart, and never give a true no to God, and say: ‘I am not able’, ‘not today, but tomorrow’, ‘Tomorrow I will be better, tomorrow I will pray, tomorrow I will do good.” It is through these half-yes and delay responses we offered to God each day, which leads us to sin. Nevertheless, this season of Advent is an opportunity for us to reflect on our saying “yes” to God. Indeed, God desire to see us and awaits our “yes” wholeheartedly. Like Mary, we should be completely open to the actions of God in our daily activities. We should be like Mary, presenting no obstacle to the transforming power of God’s love. Like Mary, we should be pondered of all that God graces us with. The Immaculate Conception of Mary speaks to us of the reality which will helps us draw close to her son. May our hearts grow like Mary’s in trust of God the Father, and we offer thanks to the Father for the gift of Mary our Mother, and through her tender maternal intercession may we grow firm in our everyday “yes” witnessing to her Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Fr. Sione Hamala