The following article was published in the November-December 2023 issue of NewsNotes.
Download the 10-page guide produced by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. The guide offers reflections, small group questions, prayers, and actions based on each week’s Gospel reading and concerns raised by Maryknoll missioners and affiliates who attend to the needs of migrants and refugees around the world.
Find the guide on our website at https://mogc.info/Advent2023
Like never before, the gospel speaks to us of our role in preparing the way for the coming of Emmanuel, God with us. We need to speak out in truth and justice to those who would receive the Lord; those who will receive the migrants. We need to renew our baptismal promises to work always for a better world where everyone is welcomed, and all are recognized as God’s people. Mary and Joseph started on the path and prepared the way for the birth of their Son, the chosen one. Their legacy lives on in all the migrants who leave their homeland and struggle to make the path straight for their children and grandchildren. Let us all join the migrants in spirit; let us comfort them as they look for their new heaven on this earth.
-Sister Dee Smith, MM