A very Happy Christmas to each of you!
During our international assembly delegates from the sisters in all the countries where we work shared their joy at seeing how the message of our Blessed Founder has been welcomed well beyond our communities. In four continents, men, women and young people wish to draw nourishment from it or to collaborate in its plan.
For us, Nicolas Barré’s plan is also God’s plan, and the feast of Christmas speaks of it to us wonderfully. It is why Nicolas Barré gave us this instruction ‘Do not wander far from the crib of Jesus.’ What can this mean today in our everyday lives?
The birth of a child shakes up the lives of its parents, which will never have the same peace as
before. The little child of Bethlehem did not come to leave us in peace, he came to shake us up, to transform our lives, to change the way we see the world and our image of God. Because we are Christians, we believe that God has revealed himself in this child.
God chose to come amongst us and he continues to come to us, weak, helpless and insecure. He reveals His Divinity in a small, weak and defenceless baby. May this message from our Blessed Founder continue to light our paths!
“Do not wander far from the crib of Jesus” means, for example:
Choosing simplicity in our way of living and in our relationships
Stepping out of the race where people want to be greater than others, a race that does so much harm to people and peoples
Creating links of friendship with the poor and the excluded, like those despised shepherds who were the first to come to the crib
Welcoming our own frailty and weakness without losing confidence, like a child in its mother’s arms
And much more besides, if we take the time to meditate.
‘Of what use is it that Christ was born
so long ago in a stable
if he is not born today in your heart?’ (Origen)
Sr Brigitte Superior General