Reflection:

1. The central characters in Advent are John the Baptist and Mary. The cry of John the Baptist: “Prepare the ways of the Lord,” is an invitation to personal conversion, to change the heart of stone for another of flesh. For Mary, the conversion is to enter the messianic times that the prophet Isaiah had announced, it is to implant justice, love and peace among the poor, changing the structures that dominate this society to which Saint John Paul II called the society of sin.
2. Saint Louise de Marillac accepts these two meanings of Advent, but drawing a conclusion: that the Daughters of Charity save, by leading an austere life, and in that way they will be able to be “in the service of those who are destitute in all things.” Wonderful in this society of sin in which only productivity is worth, although we ought to abandon those who do not produce for being old, sick or have no capabilities. Advent asks for solidarity with the weak so that the lamb and the lion, the child and the viper play together and so it could be said that the messianic times have began with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem on Christmas Day.
3. Advent is demanding, and John the Baptist points this out by his way of dressing and feeding in the desert. Like it or not, Jesus often speaks of sacrificing himself for the weakest, abandoning a part of our comforts: “Birds have a home… Leave father and mother… Do not take nothing with you…” And St. Vincent and St. Louise, in letters and conferences, speak of leading a poor life.
4. The lack of sacrifice and responsibility have led men to a light life, turning them into hollow, superficial people, orphaned of spirituality. And there is danger that the Daughters of Charity, who walk the roads of the towns and the streets of the city, get infected when entering the stores or in the big establishments: buying for buying, spending for spending, without needing it. It’s what we call consumerism. Let us never say of our communities what a modern psychiatrist wrote about today’s society: that it seeks “abundance, having everything material and has minimized the spiritual … People full of everything, swollen, full of things, but without direction” (Enrique Rojas).