Called by the Spirit, Embracing the World.

January 2013

When traveling it is really important to know your destination! Right after the birth of Jesus, Joseph had a dream to leave their country and look for safety somewhere else. They fled for Egypt, and there were looking for a place to raise their son who came as the awaited Messiah. From the Gospel we learn that the Holy Family became migrants without their own home and land. It happened at such vulnerable times in their lives. They left something that was familiar to them for a strange land and unknown people with the hope of finding safety and the means to protect and raise their son Jesus. There are many families these days who migrate from one place to another until they feel at home in one particular place. They look for something better for their children. They migrate to escape violence or other dangers and in many ways they are very much like the holy family. The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters work with migrants throughout the world. Many of them are migrants/immigrants themselves for different reasons than the Holy Family and other families that flee their hometowns. They collaborate with many agencies and organizations to help the poor and needy in our time. Young women and men choose missionary life for love of those who have difficulty making their voices heard and their lives count. In our travels we usually have someone waiting for our arrival and space to feel at home. Do you feel called to the kind of life that will challenge you to migrate from the place and situations that are familiar to you to an unknown place? Would you like to be constantly on the way to promoting love and peace? If this challenge awakens courage in your heart perhaps it would be great to explore this kind of life. It is a life of dedication to those who are in need of acceptance in a new place and circumstances. Let us also pray for people who are forced by certain conditions to migrate from their familiar surroundings to the unknown. May this time after Christmas reflect our love for those who struggle because of greediness, sometimes our own.

Blessings in this New Year!

Sr. Elwira Dziuk

Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters PO Box 6026, Techny, IL 60082-6026

319 Waukegan Rd., Northfield, IL 60093

Office of Vocation Ministry Phone: 847-441-0126, ext. 704

sspsovm@aol.com www.ssps-usa.org www.worldssps.org