Advent offers us an opportunity to practice patience. It is a virtue that is becoming quite rare. Leadership often requires patience. Sometimes, it is patience in letting things develop instead of acting rashly or patiently listening to a brother in community who is hurting, in need, or telling the same story for the hundredth time. Other times, it is calmly and patiently addressing a crisis by not being caught up in the whirlwind or praying for patience when frustrated by a situation.
Advent is not passive waiting; it is patient waiting. We focus our waiting on Christ who has come and will come again. This type of patient waiting puts all other waiting into perspective. As men religious, we say we believe that things come in God’s time and in God’s way, not our time and our way. Advent gives us the time to practice that. Leadership of a religious community is a place to practice it as well.
As we move more deeply into the Advent season, may it be a time of patient waiting lived in hope of Emmanuel, God-with-us.
May you have a good Advent and a blessed Christmas!
| Frank Donio, SAC
Executive Director |
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This is an excerpt from the December 2025 Items of Note. Items of Note is a monthly email for CMSM members and partners. If you are not receiving Items of Note once a month via email, please email contact@cmsm.org.
