It’s been a hard year for many, a careful year for most, an unpredictable year for all of us–and, at the
same time, a clearly holy year for all those of you who, despite your own financial losses and concerns,
went on giving to those for whom it is always a bad year. Thanks to you, we are still able to see that
prison chaplains and the women and men who count so much on you for spiritual support now, can go
on receiving The Monastic Way and other Benetvision materials that help them to grow beyond their
past and continue to develop new attitudes and understanding for the future.
I’m so grateful to you: You are a sign to me of what giving really means. You model to us all the kind of
faith it takes to trust your own future to God when it would seem a great deal more prudent to take
care of it yourself by forgetting everyone else.
You made our Christmas here at Benetvision this year. We won’t forget you–and neither will they.
Expect a lot of blessings you never even thought to ask for.
With great respect and affection,
Joan, OSB
NEW YEAR’S THOUGHT
Thinking of hope as a virtue, in a world that thinks of hope as the fancy of dreamers and children, turns
religion upside down. Without hope, evil is a state of life and failure is a given. With hope, no amount of
failure is an excuse to despair. “Constant has been my hope in you,” the psalmist says. “Constant.”
Whatever you regret in life, whatever you have done that you fear, put it down; hope in God, be at
peace. Constantly. –Joan Chittister
same time, a clearly holy year for all those of you who, despite your own financial losses and concerns,
went on giving to those for whom it is always a bad year. Thanks to you, we are still able to see that
prison chaplains and the women and men who count so much on you for spiritual support now, can go
on receiving The Monastic Way and other Benetvision materials that help them to grow beyond their
past and continue to develop new attitudes and understanding for the future.
I’m so grateful to you: You are a sign to me of what giving really means. You model to us all the kind of
faith it takes to trust your own future to God when it would seem a great deal more prudent to take
care of it yourself by forgetting everyone else.
You made our Christmas here at Benetvision this year. We won’t forget you–and neither will they.
Expect a lot of blessings you never even thought to ask for.
With great respect and affection,
Joan, OSB
NEW YEAR’S THOUGHT
Thinking of hope as a virtue, in a world that thinks of hope as the fancy of dreamers and children, turns
religion upside down. Without hope, evil is a state of life and failure is a given. With hope, no amount of
failure is an excuse to despair. “Constant has been my hope in you,” the psalmist says. “Constant.”
Whatever you regret in life, whatever you have done that you fear, put it down; hope in God, be at
peace. Constantly. –Joan Chittister
New Year’s Message
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| Home||Benedictine Sisters of Erie||Catalogue||Joan in the News||Contact Benetvision Fund for Prisoners||Retreats||About Benetvision||Ideas in Passing Benetvision • 355 East Ninth Street • Erie, PA 16503-1107 • Phone 814-459-5994 benetvision@benetvision.org • Fax 814-459-8066 Copyrighted © 2007 Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA |