Advent Community Acticity - Joy Amid Struggle in Volunteering

During Advent and the Christmas season, Biblical texts and Christmas cards encourage us to be joyful.

“The seers and listeners, the contemplatives of every age, will be prepared to recognize joy and to recognize its possibility everywhere…We must not be afraid to announce it to refugees, slum dwellers, saddened prisoners, angry prophets.  Now and then we must even announce it to ourselves.  In this prison of now, in this cynical and sophisticated age, Christians must believe in joy.”
     - Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM

 With Advent and Christmas approaching, consider the following:
  •   Where do you find joy in your work as a volunteer?
  •  To what extent do the people you work with (clients, schoolchildren, etc.) have joy?  What insights about joy have you learned from them?
Moses was called to free God’s oppressed people (Exodus 3:4-9), releasing them from their prison.  Fr. Rohr exhorts believers to believe in joy despite the shackles of the “prison of now.”   Often people living in poverty or struggle are limited or defined by their present situation – their “prison of now.”


During this time of preparation, are there attitudes, feelings, or situations that you need to be free from?  How can you free yourself and seek joy?


What struggles are happening among the people you work with?  In what ways do you see God working despite these struggles?


In your workplace, how can your actions and attitude help set the people you work with free from being defined by the present?


The Psalms call us to “sing to God a new song; skillfully play with joyful chant” (Psalm 33:3).  Together with your community and the people with whom you work, prepare a new song to sing, one that helps free others from situations lacking joy and hope.  This Christmas and into the new year, your presence, and the joy you radiate, can truly be a gift to others.  


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