No Vacancy

Written by Sherry

Thursday, 25 December 2008 08:42

A Blessed Feast of the Nativity to all! Here's a most appropriate meditation for Christmas Day from Catch the Digital flow: "Alicia Robey, a Vincentian Lay Missionary stationed in Ethiopia, writes to us from Kenya where she is waiting to renew her visa. I’ve excerpted some wonderful reflections on the Advent Season. . . “Jambo from Thigio, Kenya, everyone!! Today is Jamhuri Day (Independence Day) here, so we have had a relaxing day celebrating this wonderful country’s 45th anniversary of their independence from Britain. This morning I went out with the postulants (three young women who are in the discernment process of joining the Daughters of Charity… they live next door to us) to visit the elderly in the area. For the first time in my entire life, I got to spend some joyful, laughter-filled moments with a person who is 105 years old (and, I know you’ll find this IMPOSSIBLE to believe, as I had difficulty myself, but he has a son who is, at most, 3 years old and others in grade school… Wow, I know, right?). Samuel was a delight… pure delight. Even though I understood no more than 4 words of what he said, my face hurt because I was laughing so hard. I so wished that I spoke Kikuyu, as I wanted to ask him a million things about living the good life (as he seems to be doing just that), but I settled with just basking in his presence and the warm Kenyan sun. I’m headed back to Ethiopia tomorrow night, so I wanted to share with you a little bit about my time in Kenya while I’m still in the country… . . . .Shortly after Kids’ Club, we went into Karen for Saturday evening mass. It wasn’t until the choir began singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” that I realized the purple cloth covering the altar and saw the advent wreath displayed at the front of the church. I said (loud enough for the family two rows in front of me to slightly turn), “Oh my goodness, it’s Advent!” I was surprised by how shocked I was (that sounds a bit redundant, eh?). I knew Thanksgiving was celebrated back home just a few days before, so why the shock? I sat through mass contemplating this, and I found myself asking a very basic question… the theme of nearly every cheesy holiday film… What is the true meaning of Christmas? To the first question, I think I realized that I was so shocked because the usual external cues that for so long have told me that Christmas is coming were absent this year. Stripped of cookies, carols, Christmas trees, and commercials… presents, parties, and pageants… and without a ground covered in snow, houses bedecked with lights, and bellies filled with hot chocolate… I have been gratefully forced to consider the following: How do I know that Christ is coming and how am I making myself ready and preparing the way? ….. Finally, later that afternoon, I accidentally walked in on Esther’s formation class with Sr. Catherine. They kindly invited me to join them in their discussion of Fr. Gregory Gay’s Advent letter (he is the Superior General of the Vincentian family). He begins by quoting Luke 2:7, “And there was no room for them.” Though I’ve heard the Nativity story countless times, rarely have I paused to consider this phrase as it relates to the true meaning of Christmas. What does it mean on Christmas, in our world today, in my life, that Jesus was born into and lived a life among the rejected, the outcasts, the unwanted? When I am preparing for Christmas, I don’t know that I have ever paused during the frenzy to consider those I have told, “Sorry, there is no room for you in my life.” All of this is heightened this year, as I spend every day in a community that was formed because its members were cast out of their home communities due to leprosy. Though those who live in Ginjo and Tulema make it easy for me to make room for them in my life, and they have certainly welcomed me wholeheartedly into theirs, I know all too often I have been one of those innkeepers turning away the Holy Family. How can I keep expanding my heart and never post a ‘no vacancy’ sign?" H/T Susan Stabile