A Little Peace and Quiet

REVEREND GILLIAN MOSES

Last December, a small but momentous event took place in the life of the Society of the Sacred Advent. An Advent Quiet Morning was held at the Sisters’ Chapel on the grounds of St Margaret’s AGS in Ascot.

One hundred and thirty years ago, the Society of the Sacred Advent (SSA) began in Brisbane, and one of the first acts of the new religious order was to hold quiet days for women in the diocese of Brisbane. The SSA continued to hold regular quiet days and retreats for women each year for over a century. Many of the people who attended the SSA Open Morning last October shared strong memories of the many times they had sat in the Sisters’ Chapel for a quiet day and how important those times were in their own spiritual formation.

The Advent Quiet Morning last December saw nine people gather in the beautiful Robin Dodd’s designed Sisters’ Chapel to reflect on absence and presence, and the ways in which God can be found in the moments that feel like absence in our lives. There was time for silence and meditation, and for sharing in a simple Eucharist together.

The morning was significant because it represents the resumption of SSA activities in the diocese of Brisbane after a time of absence. The SSA is currently transitioning to a new way of being a religious community that envisages other ways of belonging alongside the Sisters. We will continue to hold quiet mornings and retreats for women and men in Brisbane, and these will be advertised through the SSA schools networks.

The mission of the SSA is “to prepare a place for God, first in our own hearts and then in the world in which we live.” A quiet morning is an effective way to prepare that place for God. The next quiet morning will be help at the Sisters Chapel on Friday 24 June (Feast of St John the Baptist).