By Arlene Flaherty, O.P., D.Min.
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Genesis 3:9-15, 20 | Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 | Luke 1:26-38
The global economic movement is largely facilitated by the capacity to make connections. Largely facilitated by technology, business and popular culture have become shaped by extraordinary advances which facilitate connections in ways and across distances never before imagined. As extraordinary as the growing capacity for connection is, it is important to examine if and how this kind of connection furthers our consciousness of our intrinsic relatedness to one another.
The Advent scriptures today underscore the message that human beings and all of creation are made for relationship. Though we, like the creation story’s first man and woman, might fail to live up to the requirements of relationship in any given moment, Paul’s words remind us that we are “destined to be family.” In Mary’s annunciation experience, all of us are assured: “God IS with us.”
- What are the personal and societal behaviors that honor the relationship by which all of life is connected and held interdependently?
- If “right-relationship” is another way of expressing Justice, where in your life and where in our world is right-relationship most threatened?
- Where and how can Justice come?
This reflection is from Bringing Forth Justice in the Global Economy: Reflections for Advent 2002, by Arlene Flaherty, OP, D.Min. This year’s booklet by Diane Lopez Hughes is still available and can be ordered online here. Arlene Flaherty, OP, D.Min. is a Blauvelt Dominican Sister and served as the Executive Director of the Intercommunity Center for Justice and Peace in New York City.