Advent, a time to remember our religious.

Lighting the first candle of Advent, let us join with great anticipation as the whole church proclaims the coming of Our Lord. While many countdown the number of shopping days until Christmas, people of faith seek the most precious of all gifts, God’s love and mercy born to live among us forever.

During this time of eagerness and expectation we are called to look ahead to Jesus’ coming. It is also a time for us to remember, not just our favorite Christmas toy or feast, but I ask you to recall those people who first planted the seed of faith in our lives and showed us the ways we could touch the eternal. Some will see the face of a grandmother who in her humble piety showed us a quiet way to love and be loved by God. Others will hear the voice of faithful mom or dad who, taking our hands, gently helped us make our first sign of the cross, gently guiding us to a childlike expression of faith. 

For many, that moment of spiritual nostalgia comes from an encounter with a religious sister, brother or priest who showed us, in some unexpected but lasting way that the face of God could be seen living among us. We may have met them in a Catholic school, our parish, in a healing touch when we were in the hospital, wherever God placed these men and women who have dedicated their vocations of service to God’s people.

Wherever we look in the Archdiocese of San Antonio, it would be impossible to not see the many ways their influence has been felt; through schools, universities, hospitals, clinics, the missions, countless pastoral and social ministries, parishes, etc. Even though they are fewer than in the past, thankfully we continue to be blessed by their devotion to lighting the light of Christ in our lives.

These holy men and women have given lifetimes of service. Now we have the opportunity to show our gratitude and in a material way express our love for their willingness to share their many gifts. On the weekend of Dec. 8 and 9, many parishes will dedicate their second collection to the Retirement Fund for Religious. I am asking you to please reserve one Christmas present for them, wrapped carefully with love for all they have given and continue to share.

Let us remember the religious sisters, brothers, and religious order priests who, for generations gave so much for little, if any financial pay. Their sacrifices now leave their religious communities without adequate savings for retirement. Your gift to the Retirement Fund for Religious helps to provide prescription medications, nursing care, and more for thousands of elderly religious.

There are more than 73,000 Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests in the United States. Nearly 40,000 of these belong to religious communities that receive financial assistance to the made possible by your generous gift, with 95 percent of all donations applied to this critical mission of love.

Venerable Conchita, was a wife, mother of nine children, grandmother, mystic, spiritual mother to priests, and co-founder of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, the religious order that gave form to my priesthood. Through a special indulgence from Pius X, she died as a religious in the arms of her children. In her spiritual writings she explains that faith is the foundation of all holiness. She wrote; “Faith is a special light, coming from heaven by which the soul sees God in the world. It is a ray of light, illuming God’s countenance and making Him visible to the soul.” Let us give thanks to God for this gift of faith that has been poured so generously into our souls through the lives of the men and women who answered his call to consecrated life ■ Archbishop Gustavo GarcÍa-Siller