SISTER RUTHMARY POWERS Living for peace in a world of war

It is the Christmas season again. Many of us are preoccupied with cards, decorating, gifts and parties. Every once in a while, a fleeting thought comes to mind about why we are so busy and what the season signifies, but for the most part, we are too harried to stop and entertain it.
Under the surface, there are issues that irritate our preparations for the season of good cheer. Those are the events surrounding Sept. 11, when a predictable world became unpredictable, when terrorism became a reality for those of us in the United States and war loomed as inevitable. This year, the Christmas preparations are made with some fear and sadness under our fa & ccedil;ade of cheer. When we do stop and think, we wonder about how we can celebrate this annual holiday with the same joy as in years past.
The contrasts: Flannery O'Connor, in her novel "Wise Blood," has a character named Hazel Motes. He prefers a predictable world and a predictable God -- a world where "the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way." But the God of Christmas is a God of surprise and paradox. Both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures during this Advent season speak of paradox and an unexpected, often unrecognized, divine in-breaking. Isaiah speaks of a peaceable kingdom where the lion lies down with the lamb, where children play with cobras, and the bear and wolf live in harmony with all other creatures. There are passages about a time of peace and a time when the lame do walk, the blind do see, the deaf do hear and those who are poor hear the good news.
We read about a virgin mother conceiving a child, giving birth in a stable to a child recognized only by those who are very simple (shepherds) or those who are very wise (Magi). Most of the populace never sees the mother or the child or hears the song of the angels.
What is difficult for us to perceive in our culture is that Christmas is not about sentiment or feeling good, it is about a God who loved humanity (in its totality) enough to enter into our lives fully. Jesus became one like us, entering into our joys, sufferings, tribulations, even our limitations. The meaning of our celebration, encoded as it is in all its cultural trappings, is that there is a power greater than ourselves, a power greater than bombs, guns and technology, a power greater than the violence we have experienced. But this power manifests itself in ways that are paradoxical and unexpected.
Nonviolence: As Sisters of the Humility of Mary, we experienced a moment of paradox and surprise when at our community meeting last March, we chose to commit ourselves to being nonviolent in all aspects of personal, communal and ministerial relationships. This was not expected, and I say in all humility, perhaps understood even less by most of us. But it has become a challenge and an opportunity to live out the paradox and surprise of what it mean for us to be Christian.
This Christmas we are exploring more deeply the words of those Scriptures we call sacred to understand the divine in-breaking that has called us to live a commitment to nonviolence.
God as a God of love and surprise does not always expect us to understand the gifts we receive. In truth, we may not recognize them as gifts both at the giving and the living out. But our faith tells us that love is stronger than death and that the peace of Christ is a peace that the world does not understand. As we attempt to live peace and nonviolence in a violent and war-torn world, we believe that the God of Peace, Emmanuel, is God-with-Us. It is this God who supports us and demands that we become like Jesus, who became human to show us the way.
XSister Ruthmary Powers is the major superior of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary in Villa Maria, Pa.