Behold, days are coming.
—Jeremiah 33
Dear Sisters, Associates and Friends,
This year, 2021, our Advent booklet has been prepared by Sisters Maria de Lourdes de Deus Pimentel and Eleanor Snyder and novice-elect Juliana Santos Sousa in São Paulo, Brazil. Their messages reflect their awareness of the realities of injustice, inequity and consequent damage to God’s people and our common home; their willingness to trust in and act on God’s promises the Scriptures offer, and their commitment to give witness to hope, acting out of the joy that transforming love brings.
The readings, thoughts and questions echo the promise, urgency, focus and pathways brought to us in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si′: on Care for Our Common Home. As we participate these next seven years with the Laudato Si′ Action Platform, everyone is called to a holistic approach that recognizes attention, learning and rethinking.
At the same time, we are called to see how economics, spirituality, respect for humanity and nature and sustainability are interconnected. It will require individual and collective conversion, planning and action for the world to realize living hope and concrete signs that God is among us.
We thank our sisters for the sparks of insight and connection they offer us as we prepare not only for this coming at Christmas but also for a sustainable existence for life and transformative love for the world.
In Holy Cross,
Sister Mary Tiernan, CSC
