Christmas 2025
“In a world that trembles, Love is ever being born — quiet, defiant and full of light.”
(from a contemporary reflection)
Dear Sisters and Partners-in-Mission,
This Christmas, we find ourselves once again standing in a world filled with uncertainty and longing. So many of our brothers and sisters live amid conflict, displacement, and fear. The cries of the Earth and the wounded voices of those excluded or forgotten reach deeply into our hearts. Creation groans, and humanity aches for dignity, belonging, and peace.
And yet — even here — Love is being born.
Happily, on the 5th of November, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square, together with thousands of faithful gathered in reverence, we, contemplative and apostolic sisters and our partners-in-mission, listened as Pope Leo XIV spoke of the continual invitation to us to be resurrected persons. Reflecting further on this critical event in our lives, Christmas impels us with love and gratitude by the truth that God is with us.
The Incarnation already holds within it the light of the Resurrection — the victory of love over sin, of life over death. Even in our own moments of loss, chaos, or fragility, the Risen One is living among us and accompanies us. Emmanuel is born — quietly, insistently — in every heart that still chooses to hope, to forgive and to begin again.
As we look toward a new year and toward becoming Regions, is the Spirit calling us to let go of what confines or divides us? Is Christ, incarnated, inviting us see ourselves as one body with one mission? We are learning that our oneness is not about sameness, but rather, about communion and the harmony of many hearts turned toward love. Let us pause for a moment to ponder…
What does it mean to live communion in a world so wounded?
What inner shifts in us will birth the new that God is inviting us to?
Again, thank you all for the love, courage and faithfulness with which you lived the mission over the past year. It was often in hidden and quiet ways, but, it kept hope alive where it was most fragile.
Take heart and be strong – for in the fog of uncertainty, God is there putting out a steady hand for us, for our program participants, for our loved ones and for our crying world to hold. The Light no darkness can overcome is being born anew in us and through us…
With love and blessings for a grace-filled and joyful Christmas and New Year,
Congregational Leadership Team
