Nancy Sylvester

Sometimes it's hard to gain perspective. But wisdom is all around me if only I take that long, loving look at the real. Take time during spring, whenever it arrives where you live, to watch the emergence of life.

In the desert Jesus awakened to who he was and his new way of seeing the people around him and the time he was in. Lent invites us to take the time needed to become more aware of who we are and to see others in a new way.

Bursts of joy are short, intense eruptions that awaken us to another aspect of life in the midst of all the sadness and loss around us. 

This Advent and Christmas season, take some time to ponder both the gifts of the Incarnation and the second coming through the insights and words of our ancestors in faith.

Sometimes I wish I was more like my mammalian relatives who go into hibernation and just let life go on. Where can I find hope? Then three recent experiences offered me a new perspective, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Violence has not brought about peace for over 200,000 years of the existence of the human species. Why do we think it will work today? And yet we continue to choose it, over and over again. 

Pope Francis challenges all people of good faith, deeply religious, Christian or Catholic, to be multi-issue advocates, supporting political positions that foster the common good and address the needs of the many over the wants of the few. 

Contemplate This - Rethinking what we assume about our differences as a nation and what behaviors keep us from engaging in dialogue with those who think differently is critical to our future as the United States.

Contemplate This - I led the day retreat and opening prayers for the 2023 meeting of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. And in the priests' dialogue with laywomen, I saw the spirit of synodality prevail.

The leaders at the Spirit of Humanity Forum gathered for many reasons; what was central was that we work in a world in crisis, and know that we must respond in new ways to heal the systems tearing us apart. 

Contemplate This - The capacity to see things in new ways and the openness to try to understand those who are different, or the viewpoints that challenge my current beliefs — this doesn't just happen.

Contemplate This - As I break the habit of always going in and out of one door, and risk opening different doors, I see all sorts of new things. I get a sense that I am part of a greater whole to which I am connected.

Look to your own emerging sculpture. Carve the marble deeply to touch into the life deep within: the life you share with Jesus and our Abba God.

The violence that surrounds us and the suffering it causes erodes our inner life. Where is the Divine Mystery in all this?

Contemplate This - As we consent to see ourselves as we are, the light of Divine Loving illuminates aspects of ourselves that we were unaware of; that we do not like; that we never thought we were capable of.

We each have something unique and essential to share with the world. We won't find that present under the Christmas tree, but do not be fooled. It is within us just waiting to be unwrapped.

Contemplate This - Fall, with its brilliant display of color as it says goodbye, teaches us that for the new to come something must change. It offers us a way of being as we await the future.

Contemplate This - As the place of my daily prayer was invaded by the need to fix the mortar of the house I live in, I experienced the wrenching clash of progress, modernity and our intimate connection with nature.

Contemplate This - For those of us who believe the Gospel message is one of love, mercy, compassion, inclusivity and justice, it is hard to see where we are going as the mist thickens at the horizon.

Contemplate This - Too often, we get used to what we see and hear, and we forget that there is so much more to look at or know that can give us a new perspective. I think I need that additional perspective right now.