To start, let me wish every one of our readers a most joyous Advent. As we enter into this period of anticipation of Christmas, preparing for the celebration of Jesus’ birth, we tend to focus on happiness and cheerfulness, family and friendships, gift giving and generosity, and look to decorate our surroundings with the symbols of the season. With this, our Winter issue of Maryknoll, we seek to reflect that spirit of the holiday in our pages, and I think this issue certainly does that.
If we look for the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, so emphasized by St. Paul in the New Testament, we find them in abundance in this edition. Faith is eloquently expressed in Father Joseph Veneroso’s photo meditation and spirituality column and in Father Daniel Kim’s reflection on Christmas. Of course, faith underlies the motivation of all the missioners featured in this issue. Hope comes through, not only in the title of our story from the U.S./Mexico border, but underpinning, like faith, the amazing works and ministries we’ve highlighted in these articles. Maryknoll missioners bring hope to others all year long. As for love, Father Robert McCahill says it best in our cover story: “The purpose of life is love.”
The three virtues go together: faith expressed through love and enduring hope in Jesus. As we prepare for the coming of the Christ Child, we wish you all a blessed and merry Christmas.
Lynn F. Monahan
Editor-in-Chief
