Dominicans and Advent

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REALIZE DEEPLY THAT THE PRESENT MOMENT IS ALL YOU HAVE.  MAKE THE NOW THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF YOUR LIFE.      Eckhart Tolle

COVID-19 has stolen so much from so many.  How many had an empty chair at the Thanksgiving Day table?  Who had to search for food or shelter this Thanksgiving because of the economic crisis this disease has brought upon us?  The Center for Disease Control tells us that long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.

This week begins Advent, the liturgical season in which our church joins together to wait for the coming anew of God in our midst.  

It is such a struggle in our COVID-ridden world to wait for anything.

Eckhart Tolle, spiritual guide and author, calls us to stay in the present moment.  All we have, he says, is the “now.”  Looking at the present moment as precious allows us to find what is really there.  

As Dominicans, we are mandated by CARITAS and VERITAS, by CHARITY and TRUTH, to speak out against the disparities that warp our society and to stay in the present moment, connecting with God’s presence. 

We walk into this Advent season committed to finding the coming of God right in front of us.  We are poised to name truth with love.  We wait resolved to discover the gift each moment unfolds before us.  

Peggy Ryan, OP

River Forest, IL

 

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