During Advent, the communities of Wayne, Holliston and Franklin send out the Annual Christmas appeal to friends and benefactors. Here are some paragraphs from these letters which bring the greetings of the Xaverians. We thank you in advance for remembering the Xaverian Missionaries in your Christmas Offerings.
hristmas blessings! May the light of Jesus’ birth shine in your hearts and fill you with love and renewed hope.
I would like to share with you a story I heard while I was in Taiwan. LingQian was a young Taiwanese boy who always asked questions. One question that intrigued him more than any other was: “What language does God speak?” Nobody was able to answer to this question. LingQian, convinced that someone knew the answer, traveled far and wide but still failed to find the answer. One night exhausted by his travel, LingQian came to a village called Bethlehem. He tried to get a room but the rooms were all taken. So he decided to look for a cave outside town. In the early hours of the morning he found one. When he stepped inside the cave, however, he saw it was occupied by a couple and a new born baby.
When the mother saw him, she said, “Welcome LingQian, we have been expecting you!” LingQian was stunned. How did she know his name? He was more amazed when she said: “For a long time you have been searching the world over to discover what language God speaks. Now your journey is over. Tonight you can see with your own eyes that the language God speaks is the language of love, of gentleness and of belonging. LingQian’s heart overflowed with joy for he had finally found his answer.”
As missionaries, we know full well that love is the language that every person from every nation of every period of history can understand. Love is truly the one universal language that can touch the human heart and transform the world. In twenty countries the world over, notwithstanding hardships and difficulties our confreres speak the language of love, the language everybody who is poor, who is homeless, who is weak, who is powerless understands. It is only through this language that the world will know why Jesus came, and what he came for...
bring you good news of great joy… for you a Savior is born.
We celebrate with joy the Lord Jesus’ Birth while we are shocked by the fact that, even in this 21st century since his coming, millions of human beings never even heard His Name: the Prince of peace and Savior of the world.
In many countries war is a way of life as in our Mission in Congo and in Darfur (Africa). There men, women and children are constantly on the move – the refugees – while we are comfortable in our homes amid the glow of glittering Christmas lights and mountains of gifts…. Let a spark of this
love, which the newly born Savior is pouring into your heart, touch our suffering sisters and brothers through your sharing just as the Almighty shares His Son with us. A great mind said that: “Nothing shall truly be my possession as the gift I choose to wisely share.”…
o you and to your family, our Greetings of Peace during the Christmas Season.
It’s a Celebration! The Xaverian Missionaries of Franklin celebrate 50 years of their presence in the Milwaukee area. Memories, photos, prayers and events are shared daily in our community by meeting frequently with friends and supporters like you. God has indeed been generous to our religious missionary family! Ever since that September 1957, God has touched our hearts through many generous friends.
It’s Mission! We often hear from our overseas missionaries who thank us for the support afforded to them in the course of these 50 years. Over 60 missionaries have studied here, served in ministry at local parishes, received the great gift of priesthood, and have dreamed of reaching far-away shores beyond Lake Michigan, so that others may come to know the Gospel.
It’s a world in need! Even in the midst of this celebration, we don’t lose sight of the tremendous needs of our world. In a world where being successful is everything, we admit that many of our mission communities are struggling: many missionaries are confronted by violence, wars, and misunderstandings; other peoples still seek health assistance; malnourished children are daily encounters; schools, churches and clinics are ever needed to once again restore human dignity in the lives of the people we serve.
We wish that our Little Angel would bring you a list of all that’s gone well in our lives. Unfortunately, our world is still in need of Christ’s message of peace and the Angels’ song “Glory to God… and peace on
earth.”...
May your dear ones rejoice in Christ’s Birth, and be touched by God’s great love, especially as you listen to His Word! We thank you, we pray for you, we love you for choosing to be our partners in
Mission.
(From Xaverian News)