By Sister Jeanne Goessling

Recently, I returned from Kenya. While there, I lived in our Formation House. As we began to share our lives and diversities and life in community, one of the new postulants asked in September, soon after her arrival, what Christmas would be like. I smiled and told her, “Wait and see.”

Advent became a beloved season for the postulants. It was an experience filled with excitement and silent expectation for them. For some of them, new symbols were introduced while others had some idea of them from their homes. We began Advent under a beautiful December sky permeated with purples and pinks at sunset. There was a realization that the sky with all its beauty would welcome the sun just as the pink and purple candles of an Advent wreath would welcome the Son. Advent became a quiet season of waiting. Symbols used in our Church so often come from the way we experience our own culture, earth and cosmos.

During a Day of Prayer, Mary became more alive and real. Prayer called for one to go deeper, imaginations grew through silent meditation. Entering the scene around a campfire, Mary and Joseph shared their anticipation. Mary guided Joseph’s ear to her womb to hear the heartbeats of the child within, in a very tender way.

Remember the creche of your childhood to which you showed devotion? Remember the figurines? Chances are that those small statues looked like you and not like people of the Middle East with their olive skin and dark black hair. Perhaps they looked quite regal and far from your experience. Artists from Cameroon have shared paintings as imagined through their African experience and reality. Sixty-one Gospel story paintings known as the Mafa Prints have been used for evangelization. The incarnation print is not regal nor European, but very simple as an African would know.

Being introduced to the sung Christmas Novena was of great importance to the community. After weeks of practice, on the 16th of December, the Christmas Novena began. It involved much singing during vespers, which was a delight, because it helped to prepare each of us spiritually in a more intense way. It also invited our new postulants to the tradition of the Christmas Novena being sung throughout the congregation.

During the last days of Advent, delightful aromas could be perceived. Gifting our neighbors with goodies is a tradition. The act of giving was life giving – a new experience for some, however in most homes cooking and sharing food was only done on Christmas day along with processing in the street with sporting new clothes and seeking candies.

We American sisters had planned for a gathering following a two hour Christmas Eve Mass presided by our bishop who is our neighbor. Chips and guacamole, popcorn, baked goods with drinks and wine were ready. All prepared, we wondered where the postulants were. Seeking them out, I heard chattering in our chapel. There I found the postulants constructing a birthplace for Jesus. Complete with a thatched roof, a star, pine covered walls, tinsel that glittered and African figures made of ebony. The baby had arrived. So much for feeding our bellies when the Christ child had come to make his home among us.

As we ended the Christmas season, I went back to the postulant who had asked what Christmas would be like. She just smiled. It was good.

• Learn more about the Province of Africa.
• Discover more about the SSND passion for mission ministries.
• Read Sister Jeanne Goessling’s most recent Jubilee profile.