My own faith in God has been strengthened and enriched by living and working among these people because of their amazing deep faith and commitment to prayer and companionship. I also feel a strong kinship with our foundress, Nano Nagle, whose commitment sent her out each day to be with those kept poor by unjust systems. I often feel she walks beside me each day as I journey among these people.

On Vocation Day, in our Evening Prayer via zoom, we reflected on Pope Francis’ message for the day – reminding each one of us that we are called by God to use our gifts for ourselves and for others.

As I reflect on the Congregational Gathering my overall feeling is one of gratitude for the many rich and varied experiences and encounters that made up each day. As we gathered from across the world, I enjoyed meeting sisters from different cultures and learning about their lives and ministries.

Not for Nano were the healing waters of Bath – she had come to see brothers about her intended foundation .

Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace, wherever we find ourselves.

The original icon can be seen on the Separation Wall which divides the Palestinian West Bank.

New PBVM leadership team after international gathering in Ireland

The Delegates have gathered on behalf of the whole Congregation to discern the Will of God for us as a Congregation as we continue to journey at a time when our world is in crisis. On behalf of the whole Congregation, they will make decisions for the whole - through  prayer, reflection, conversation, discernment and searching together.

The Magi were seekers of the truth and,  guided by the star, they found it in a child in the poor village of Bethlehem. Again, this is a living sign of what will be the ministry of the adult Jesus: learning from those on the margins. Even though they were so wise, they got things wrong and ended up in the wrong place; as we journey through 2024, let us pray that we get to the RIGHT places at the right time.

Our virtual Camino has joined us together over these past four weeks and we are closer than ever today. May you have a truly blessed and wonderful Christmas.

Our Camino is nearly at an end! There is something so special about this Christmas Eve, 2023—we have the shortest fourth week of Advent possible! It will last only a few hours before we are back to celebrate our Christmas Mass—lovingly called ‘Midnight Mass’.

Lord, thank you for the goodness in my life and for giving me my name. When I wake each morning, I praise Your name! You have given me life that is filled with beauty, and the breath in my lungs is a gift from You. I pray that You will fill my day with love and sustenance. And may I remember at the end of each of my days, to thank you for all that has been placed in my life.

Today we pray with Mary and offer our full praise and thanks to God; concentrate on the good that you have received and offer those bad memories and experiences to a God who is walking with you today.

Mary and Elizabeth are those faithful disciples who hear and keep God’s word; not only do they ‘talk the talk’, which is relatively easy to do, they ‘walk the walk’-much harder to achieve but the sign of a true disciple.

In the Annunciation dialogue, we see the reality of the situation: fear, concern, doubt and, eventually, trust with Mary’s beautiful words, ‘I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled (Lk 1:38).

Today: in this busy week leading up to Christmas Day, allow yourself the gift of silence

Christmas is not something that happened to other people many, many centuries ago. Christmas can happen every day when we bring our faith together and say to God, “Take my life. Be it done to you and be it done to me according to Your word.”

We are now well over halfway through our Camino, and the danger is that we can get so caught up with 25th December that we could miss out on the beauty that these next couple of weeks will bring us. Yes, there is shopping to be done, cards to be sent and gifts to be wrapped, but our Advent Camino is that chance to give something back to the Lord and to each other.

In today’s discussion with the disciples, Jesus sees the need to recognise the strength of prophetic witness; the prophets like John the Baptist and Elijah are faithful witnesses to God, often in the face of extreme opposition and death.

We need to ensure that we all have a proper work-life balance and that the rest times, that Jesus called for, are put into our busy schedules: