Community
The stories we hear in Advent - from the stories of John the Baptist in the wilderness, to th[e] encounter between Mary and her cousin, Elizabeth, engage us to make new choices of what we will do with our lives. Joan Chittister reflects, “The call to do the will of God is a call to community. In the story of the Visitation, two women look to one another for comfort and confirmation. They don’t go to the synagogue to try to persuade the priests of the legitimacy of their call. They don’t go to the government for protection. They do not even go to the men to whom they are personally espoused to explain or cajole or plead. They simply do what they must do together and leave it to the rest of us to make our own decision, just as they did. That is Christian commitment, the conviction that makes community of us all.”
~Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton