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Today's JV Reflects

December2010

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[http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/]

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Merry Christmas!
From all the staff, volunteers, and board at JVC, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


JV Nativityby Casa Ita Ford, Los Angeles in 2009
Courtesy of Margaret Claire Hannigan (Los Angeles '09, Washington '10)

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Check your Mail

Many thanks to Sally Wightkin (Newark '85) for her beautiful design on this year's Christmas card.

If you didn'treceive one, we may not have your correct mailing information.Update it now at jesuitvolunteers.org/updates[http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/updates].

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<a id="etapDataTag" name="" class="etapDataTag" title="category=category.commonFields|field=entity.shortSalutation|name=Short Salutation">Short Salutation</a>,
December is always busy. The rush can so easily take away from the joy and anticipation we should feel during Advent and Christmas. This month's reflection is from a Jesuit Volunteer who finds peace for the day with his uplifting morning prayer.

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Discovering the Spirit of God

Jurell G. Sison, JV in Detroit

Every morning I wake up at 6:15 am to the cold, dark morning and the faint sound of a rooster crowing in the heart of Mexicantown, Detroit. Sometimes I find it so difficult to get up for work when everything around me is telling me to stay in bed: the cold floor, the cold air, the blackness of the sky, my tired eyes. So I say a prayer to ask for strength, to ask God to equip meto make me everything I need to be for my students at Detroit Cristo Rey High School.

Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you for this new day. Help me to be your instrument. Give me your strength and make me everything I need to be for these students. Be my hands, be my feet, help me to say the things they need to hear. Help me to love like you, Lord.

I take a deep breath, give my pillow a tight squeeze, and break open my sheets beforeconquering the cold floor. Then, I get ready for the day with a new state of mind, for the Spirit is dwelling within me.

From my experiences thus far, there is an obvious difference in me when I pray before going to work. There have been times when I have just got up unmotivated and dragged myself to school. Those were the days I was lazy, distracted, and everything I did just seemed off. However, when I ask for Gods strength and guidance, its almost as if I am more awaremore alert. I feel as though I am putting an extra effort into acting with love. When I pray, there is this direct connection with the divine.

I know this because I can feel it. I can see it affecting my work and I can see how God works through me when I deal with my students. Since my August arrival to Detroit Cristo Rey High School, I have quickly fallen in love with the students and when its all said and done, they are the reason I have decided to do this year of service. Christ has called me to be a mentor to them; to model His love in ways that they can see and understand. I find it so amazing how willing these teens are to share the most intimate parts of their lives. It makes me think that all they really need is someone who will listen, a mentor who is willing to listen with love.

Lord, give me the strength to listen.

In these first months, Ive had some honest conversations with students which have truly inspired me. I am left inspired by the way that God works through me but more importantly, I am inspired by the way God works through my students. I know I have this call to be a model of Christs love but I am also continually realizing that these students are a model for me. They have so much to offer and while I am their teacher, they have taught me life lessons that could never come from a textbook. Everyday I come to work I encounter God through them in the most unique ways. They are strong, they are wise and whether they like it or not...

the Spirit of God dwells within them.

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