To shake with joy and grief

As you surely know, we love Advent. Everything about it: the songs, the scripture, the theme as the "season of waiting," even the growing darkness and shortness of daylight--which begins to reverse today, thank goodness.

But into these last days of our beloved Advent has come the grief of loss, as we mourn the loss of the Sister who had been among us the longest and two longtime oblates.

We Shake With Joy

We shake with joy, we shake with grief.

What a time they have, these two

housed as they are in the same body.

Mary Oliver

BEFORE: the very top of one of our evergreens is the community room Christmas tree this year.

AFTER: Our annual Trim the Tree gathering and the transformation that ensues.