Dominican sister says Advent calls believers to reflection, peace

Published: 2007-12-04

GARRISON, N.Y. (CNS) -- During Advent, Catholics are called to "put on the armor of light, to be peacemakers beating swords of war and anger into plowshares, and to poke holes of light into the darkness which often seems to permeate our lives," according to Dominican Sister Anne Tahaney. "The common themes of Advent, expectation and waiting in joyful hope call us to reflection and peace, yet tension and stress surround us in our own personal lives, and war and death and destruction loom daily before us in newscasts," she said. Sister Tahaney spoke Dec. 2 at an Advent vespers service at Graymoor, headquarters of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Others were scheduled to speak Dec. 9, 16 and 23. This year's speakers were asked to reflect on "A Common Word Between Us and You," an October 2007 letter to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders signed by 138 senior Muslim leaders and later endorsed by dozens of others. Sister Tahaney is a 20-year member of the Catholic-Muslim dialogue of the Archdiocese of New York. She taught in Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, for 29 years as part of the first group of Dominican sisters to be invited there.

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