Sisters, Servants of the

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Malvern, Pennsylvania

Mission Advancement

where Mission Matters

The IHM Congregation remembers you in prayer during this Christmas season. We wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.

DECEMBER VIRTUE

IHM Patron: St. Matthias

IHM Virtue: Self-abnegation and Love of the Cross

Scripture: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

Watch Sister Sarah Ellen's reflection of the December virtues of the month.

Advent Happenings

By Sister Suzanne Scattergood, IHM

A brilliant sky full of pinks and blues

The day before me filled with good news.

The Lord is coming soon you know.

He came a very long time ago.

'Twas born in a cave of Maiden fair

The songs of the angels were present there.

Every year, it seems to be

That an Advent surprise is waiting for me.

It could be happy or maybe sad

But He tells my heart always to be glad.

For the season of Advent is special you know

And He's waiting for my love to grow.

Take time to listen, He seems to say

And look for the joy of every day.

Lord, open my eyes that I may see

The blessings that you send to me.

What does Advent Hope Tell Us?

Click here to read the Advent reflection by Sister Marie Gipprich.



Click on the image above to read the December issue of the IHM Presence. Learn more about an IHM Christmas Eve tradition, Courts of the King, that you can adopt for your own family.

Thank you to everyone who made a donation on Giving Tuesday in support of the IHM Center for Literacy in Philadelphia. We reached our goal of $20,000! Your gift truly changes lives!

There are a few retreat offerings remaining for the month of December. Click on the retreat brochure for more information.

Look for the new Winter/Spring 2025 Retreat Brochure in next month's email. Stay tuned!

New Van for Camilla Residents

On November 22, 2024, Camilla Hall Chaplain, Father Francis Chambers, OSA, blessed a new van purchased for the resident sisters of Camilla Hall. The van was purchased through a Matching Grant to the IHM Nun Run through an estate gift of Mary Ellen Quinn (an Immaculata alum), gifted by her daughters, Barbara Miller and Mary Ann Soper. The van can accommodate two wheelchairs and will be used to transport the sisters to their destination.

Luminous Mysteries Rosary Video

Come pray the Rosary with the sisters in Camilla Hall. The latest addition to the rosary videos, the Luminous Mysteries, has been recorded. You can now pray the Glorious, Joyful, Sorrowful, and Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary by visiting the IHM website or the Camilla Hall YouTube Channel.

Christmas Reflection: Shepherds and Magi

Instead of a prayer and action, I share with you a Christmas reflection that may inspire action. Both of our Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth include visitors to the manger: shepherds in Luke and Magi in Matthew. Why? Scripture scholar, Luke Timothy Johnson, points out that shepherds in first-century Palestine were “among the lowest-esteemed laborers.” That they are Jesus’ very first companions in Luke’s Gospel sets the stage for Christ’s later ministry, during which he consistently accompanied those who were poor and marginalized. As disciples, the way Jesus spent time is a model for how we might spend time; his priorities should be our priorities.

While the Magi aren’t poor or vulnerable the same way the shepherds are, they come from outside the Jewish community and reveal how the love of God made flesh in Christ embraces all people. The boundaries we build up to separate groups based on race, religion, class, age, ability, and more are not of God. Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ, cuts to the heart of this idea in his book Tattoos on the Heart. “No daylight to separate us. Only kinship. Inching ourselves closer to creating a community of kinship such that God might recognize it,” he writes. “Soon we imagine, with God, this circle of compassion. Then we imagine no one standing outside of that circle, moving ourselves closer to the margins so that the margins themselves will be erased.”

If our Christmas season is filled with radical hospitality, respect for the dignity of life at every stage, and kinship with the marginalized, our celebration will surely look a lot like the very first Christmas. Or, in G.K. Chesterton’s words, “Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” May every heart prepare Him room! Merry Christmas!

"Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

Every Gift is a Generous Gift!

A remembrance in your will or estate plans is a significant and meaningful way to support IHM ministries and Camilla Hall. Consider a planned gift and become a member of the Alphonsus Liguori Legacy Society.  

For more information contact us at missionadv@ihmimm.org.

Office of IHM Mission Advancement

230 IHM Drive

Malvern, PA 19355

missionadv@ihmimm.org