Advent's Message of Peace
by Sr. Helen Margaret Feeney, CSJ
"Over the hillside country Mary went. She had not meant to tell she carried Christ, but the Christ she bore gently bestowed his love on all she met...."*
Like Mary, pregnant with Christ, it is for us to use this special season of Advent to allow Christ to grow daily within us. With Christ, we will create the fruit of peace -- the peace that flows from love.
Peace arises from harmony, through communion with God. Prayer alone will put us in contact with His presence. In loving union with Him, we will be able to establish a quiet serenity that no one can take from us. Only then, we will be able to act out of the center of peace.
God loves us dearly and fully comprehends the special beauty of each and every one. Has He not made us to His own image and likeness? Through quiet moments of prayer with Him, nourished by the Eucharist, we can begin to know our own inner beauty, our worth, our being in God. United with Mary, we will become conscious that when she carried Christ within her womb, her breathing was His every breath, her voice was His voice. Suddenly we will realize that He could go only where she chose to take Him.
Is not Christ dependent upon us today? This utter dependence places a great trust in us. As Christ bearers, He will guide us into the way of peace. With Mary as our role model, we must carry Him wherever He wants to go. There may be places He will never go unless we bring Him there. Surely He wishes to go to our workplace -- the office, factory or classroom. Or it may be He has a strong desire to visit the wretched lodging of a derelict, an elderly neighbor in a nursing home, a drug or AIDS victim, a whimpering child, or a forgotten alcoholic. If our being there means that Christ is present, that alone makes it worthwhile. Indeed, each of us can be a minister of love and bring Christ's peace to the lives of others. We just have to welcome them with a caring love and bring Christ's peace to the lives of others. We just have to welcome them with a caring love by listening attentively to the communication of their hearts. By being in close touch with the Source of Peace, we shall begin to act out of that Source.
As men, women and children of God, we are the Church. We are here to create Christ's peace first within ourselves and then bring it to those we meet along the hillside of life's journey. By so doing, our peace-filled joy will know no boundaries when at Holy Mass and Communion we cradle Christ, the Prince of Peace on Christmas Day.
A Blessed Advent.
*Author unknown to the writer