Fr Ben Garren

Dear Siblings in Christ,

At some point amidst our Advent preparation we will begin getting glances of the familiar Christmas media. The stop motion productions of the 1960s, perhaps playing without sound in the background of a restaurant or store, remind many generations of their childhood. At some point Rudolph the Reindeer will find himself again on the Island of Misfit Toys. There, gathered to make a community, are toys that somehow did not fit into the categories they were meant to. Rebuked from the toy boxes of their dreams, they made something other.

Throughout Christian history there have been the misfit toys of Christendom. Individuals who did not seem to fit into the expectations of various powers that be, individuals who were not allowed to be housed in the church’s toy boxes. Sometimes these misfits, as it were, found each other.

The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary was such a group. Under Jane Frances de Chantal, who had been denied access to several orders on account of her age and ill health, found a call to found an order for women who had been similarly denied. With simplified offices and meditations the order expanded to 86 houses before her death near this day in 1641.

As we continue our Advent journey take a moment to think about where you feel this misfit energy within your life as a Christian. Taking the time to develop that, to connect with other similar misfits, to see how Christ is in the midst of those spaces in new ways…will help us prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas.

Pax,

—Ben