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A Christmas Letter from Anne
Dear Lay Apostles,
Merry Christmas to you all and may your days be blessed with confidence in God’s presence. This year, as we reflect on the Infant in the manger, perhaps we might consider ourselves lifting Him gently from His first throne into our arms. How tenderly we would cradle Him. Consider how reverently we hold any new born baby. We are so careful to protect a baby from danger, including our own clumsiness.
Lay apostles, every person we encounter was once a newly born infant. And when a mother or father look upon their baby, they do not love the child because he or she is in agreement with them. They do not love the child because the child thinks like them or practices the exact same spirituality, although they hope the child eventually will. They just adore the baby because they know that the baby is connected to them. They accept that their actions will impact the baby, positively and negatively.
We should view everyone in the world like this because we are connected by God to every member of the human race and to some degree, our actions will impact all others. How are we impacting others?
And yes, just as Jesus was an innocent baby, each person we encounter was an innocent baby. In most circumstances, babies are received into waiting arms and wrapped tenderly. And it is our job to see that babies are received into waiting arms and wrapped tenderly. But then life happens and we know that pain can lead people to bad choices.
Lay apostles, for this Christmas, perhaps we will focus on what is good about the people around us as we try to be a servant to all. And just as we would try to help Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus in their poverty, we must look to bring others what they need. For example, how would it have been if we brought Saint Joseph, Mary and the newly born Baby Jesus an electric can opener, for example? A little odd. It would be like saying, “We have not contemplated you.”
Most of us crave recognition as people who contribute some good, despite our imperfection. The greater the suffering and the failure, the greater and more acute the need for recognition as a valuable member of a family, a culture, a society, a world. Our incarcerated prisoners often do not know they are loved and valued and while many of us will forget this or believe we have no role to play for prisoners, it is also true that many in our families or faith communities also do not know they are valued and loved. And that is where we, lay apostles, come in, with our Allegiance Prayer, our spirituality of service, and yes, possibly a booklet or two!
Lay apostles, we are all loved infinitely by God, who created us. God is like the parent of the newly born baby, only He is the perfect parent. He contemplates us with delight and hope, regardless of our wounds, mistakes and life’s quandaries. And that is the Christmas message to all from God. We are all loved, infinitely. Everyone around us is loved in that same way. If we can communicate the smallest bit of this love to others, they will encounter God and that will make Christmas full of wonder for them.
We should not begrudge God the preparations, even as we keep the preparations as simple as possible. We serve Christmas by serving the experience of Christmas in others. This means different things for different people and as we pray contemplatively using our prayer structure, we will know what to offer others. Focus on eye contact and listening, along with smiles and laughter.
One final note is this. We all carry crosses. We offer special prayers together right now for anyone carrying crosses of grief, illness, addiction, incarceration or financial distress this Christmas. We feel loss so acutely at Christmas. One way of managing our sufferings might be to acknowledge the cross in our life, and then, look beyond it. What else is in our day in addition to the cross we are carrying? What can we be grateful for? To whom should we express gratitude openly, in words and actions? We ask God not to let us be crushed by our crosses, but to allow our crosses to give us compassion and perspective and patience.
You have all of my love, dear lay apostles. We are doing great things around the world because we are united and focused.
Remember that the weary world rejoicing includes you!
Your sister in God’s love,
Anne, a lay apostle
A Christmas Letter from Anne
Dear Lay Apostles,
Merry Christmas to you all and may your days be blessed with confidence in God’s presence. This year, as we reflect on the Infant in the manger, perhaps we might consider ourselves lifting Him gently from His first throne into our arms. How tenderly we would cradle Him. Consider how reverently we hold any new born baby. We are so careful to protect a baby from danger, including our own clumsiness.
Lay apostles, every person we encounter was once a newly born infant. And when a mother or father look upon their baby, they do not love the child because he or she is in agreement with them. They do not love the child because the child thinks like them or practices the exact same spirituality, although they hope the child eventually will. They just adore the baby because they know that the baby is connected to them. They accept that their actions will impact the baby, positively and negatively.
We should view everyone in the world like this because we are connected by God to every member of the human race and to some degree, our actions will impact all others. How are we impacting others?
And yes, just as Jesus was an innocent baby, each person we encounter was an innocent baby. In most circumstances, babies are received into waiting arms and wrapped tenderly. And it is our job to see that babies are received into waiting arms and wrapped tenderly. But then life happens and we know that pain can lead people to bad choices.
Lay apostles, for this Christmas, perhaps we will focus on what is good about the people around us as we try to be a servant to all. And just as we would try to help Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus in their poverty, we must look to bring others what they need. For example, how would it have been if we brought Saint Joseph, Mary and the newly born Baby Jesus an electric can opener, for example? A little odd. It would be like saying, “We have not contemplated you.”
Most of us crave recognition as people who contribute some good, despite our imperfection. The greater the suffering and the failure, the greater and more acute the need for recognition as a valuable member of a family, a culture, a society, a world. Our incarcerated prisoners often do not know they are loved and valued and while many of us will forget this or believe we have no role to play for prisoners, it is also true that many in our families or faith communities also do not know they are valued and loved. And that is where we, lay apostles, come in, with our Allegiance Prayer, our spirituality of service, and yes, possibly a booklet or two!
Lay apostles, we are all loved infinitely by God, who created us. God is like the parent of the newly born baby, only He is the perfect parent. He contemplates us with delight and hope, regardless of our wounds, mistakes and life’s quandaries. And that is the Christmas message to all from God. We are all loved, infinitely. Everyone around us is loved in that same way. If we can communicate the smallest bit of this love to others, they will encounter God and that will make Christmas full of wonder for them.
We should not begrudge God the preparations, even as we keep the preparations as simple as possible. We serve Christmas by serving the experience of Christmas in others. This means different things for different people and as we pray contemplatively using our prayer structure, we will know what to offer others. Focus on eye contact and listening, along with smiles and laughter.
One final note is this. We all carry crosses. We offer special prayers together right now for anyone carrying crosses of grief, illness, addiction, incarceration or financial distress this Christmas. We feel loss so acutely at Christmas. One way of managing our sufferings might be to acknowledge the cross in our life, and then, look beyond it. What else is in our day in addition to the cross we are carrying? What can we be grateful for? To whom should we express gratitude openly, in words and actions? We ask God not to let us be crushed by our crosses, but to allow our crosses to give us compassion and perspective and patience.
You have all of my love, dear lay apostles. We are doing great things around the world because we are united and focused.
Remember that the weary world rejoicing includes you!
Your sister in God’s love,
Anne, a lay apostle
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