What's Strong With You?

Recently, a recurring line from a TV commercial caught my attention. Repeatedly, we are asked, “What’s strong with you?” Not wanting any viewer to miss the query, the line is printed several times across the screen.

Upon reflection, I decided to adopt this line as my entry point for Advent 2021. What insights might I gain if I sat with the question,

“What’s strong with me?”

How might my experience of Advent change if I withdrew my attention from self-reflection on the question, “What’s wrong with me?” Could I better put the focus on my inner strength and the graces given me by the Sacred Strength Giver? How might this shift in perspective open my heart to new graces? What might I discover about what buoys up my spirit? What messengers of new strength might I identify as the ones who bring tidings of good news and encouragement into my daily life? Who in my circle of interactions might I find an opportunity to thank for their recurring strength?

As Advent begins, I challenge you to join me in reflecting upon your own life.

What’s strong with you?

Sister Nancy Wales, csj

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Header image: Unsplash/Waldemar Brandt

A Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent

This Sunday, November 28th marks the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Church’s new liturgical year. It is likely that we will hear again the beautiful strains of the Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. In its words we hear, in our hearts, a yearning and a personal call for Christ to meet us on the journey of our lives anew. Christ is always present in all things and in every moment and event and yet in Advent we ask for a new beginning, a fresh encounter with Christ as the time invites us to wait in patient hope to celebrate the birth of Jesus again; the incarnate Word en-fleshed  in the world.

The world in which we find ourselves, however, may seem less than hopeful at present. We continue to experience the devastation of the Covid pandemic, increasing news of global and local violence, the effects of ecological destruction accompanied by immeasurable human pain, poverty and displacement and the deep suffering endured by indigenous individuals and communities in light of the further revelations of the harm and cultural destruction wrought by the residential schools. Many will also be profoundly discouraged and saddened by examples of corruption and polarization in the Church, where the Good News of the Gospel seems to have been forgotten or abandoned and in the collapse of other institutions that formerly we may have trusted. 

Hope may seem far off and yet if we truly call on “Christ, Emmanuel, God-with-us, to come we are already” expressing hope even in the darkness. In the Advent season we are reminded to encounter Christ again and any encounter with Christ calls each of us to BE hope in the world.

Advent invites us to prepare for the celebration of Christ’s coming by reflecting on our lives. The season presents an opportunity to gift us some time for quietness and inner reflection as we wait in hope. Am I able to enter into Advent in this way before getting caught up in the “razzmatazz” of contemporary celebrations of Christmas?  In the second reading in the Lectionary for the first Sunday of Advent, St. Paul, in his Letter to the Thessalonians says, “May God make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.” As I call out for Christ to come again and as I encounter Him on the journey of Advent will I increase and abound in love for all? – the very reason for Christmas. What will that love look like? How wide and inclusive will it be?  Perhaps each day of the season as I greet the morning I might ask, not “what will I do today but rather, how will I love today? May our love continue to grow as we once again approach the  celebration of the birth of Christ in the world, the world of our times. And as we love so will we be and become like Christ, hope for a new day, the joy of Christmas!

-Sister Mary Rowell, csj

Generous Listening

Finally, attention to the almost-lost art of listening! September 26th being the National day of Listening, I thought it might be appropriate to focus on how we are called to listening to what Indigenous voices are saying to us these days as Canadians.  To what are we listening and what are we really hearing about Residential Schools, about murdered and missing women, men, girls and boys?

What are we really hearing and believing from Indigenous Elders who are survivors of Residential Schools? What is heard? What is heart-felt? What is the message in the revealing of hundreds of graves found on the grounds of former residential Schools? Are we brave and sufficiently honest to acknowledge this dark history of Canada that was one form of cultural genocide?

Krista Tippett says of listening: “Generous Listening is an everyday art and virtue, but it’s an art we have lost and must learn anew. Listening is more than being quiet while others have their say. It is about presence as much as receiving; it is about connection more than observing. Real listening is powered by curiosity. It involves vulnerability — a willingness to be surprised, to let go of assumptions and take in ambiguity. It is never in “gotcha” mode. The generous listener wants to understand the humanity behind the words of the other and patiently summons one’s own best self and one’s own most generous words and questions.”

In being present to  Indigenous Knowledge Keepers who have committed themselves to truth telling, I have found from my own experience that it requires of me, the listener, to be open minded, eager to learn the truth, respectful, and have the ability to create an atmosphere of hospitality and to provide a safe environment.  When that happens, relationships begin to develop, because of the mutual respect that grows.

If one has already made up one’s mind about Aboriginal people, true respectful listening cannot happen. One is simply unable to move the shared intellectual truths from the head to the heart. For any steps toward reconciliation to happen, the heart must be affected. 

The Doctrine of Discovery, promulgated in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, has done incredible harm to the valuing and appreciation of the First Peoples of any land, and especially, in this case, of Canada.

Thankfully, THAT doctrine has been definitively denounced.

The scar tissue left from this doctrine has left a deep wound that is in need of healing. We, non-Indigenous people, need to be healed from our ignorance and arrogance, our shame and shock.  Indigenous peoples need to healed from the belief that they are inferior, less than, and hence are not worthy to be in relationship with all creation and to share the resources of the earth equitably.

If one opens one’s heart in this listening process, one discovers that the First Peoples of Canada have a deep respect for the land, for all creation.  “All my relations” is not just an idle phrase.

For us non-Indigenous people especially, but not totally, there is a useful resource available for further assistance in developing relationships between First Nations peoples and us non-Indigenous people.  It is the guidebook put out by the Jesuit social forum: A Guide to Listening to Indigenous Voices .

Ideally, it is very workable with an Indigenous person or more, to be in these Sharing Circles.

The time is now. The place is here.  Let’s move forward together in creating a more just and sustainable world.

 - Sister Kathleen Lichti, csj

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Images provided from Unsplash: Jonathan J. Castellon | Lee Campbell

Moving with Love

Every day brings a bit of revelation. What might that be today?

Nature itself reveals a daily love offered by our ever- creating God. Earth is awakened by the warmth of the morning sun. Even in winter the sun’s rays periodically break through the cloud. Snow sparkles with the light of the moon. Nature has a way of reminding us that Divine Love accompanies struggle.

Some fragments of a hymn text by Brian Wren come to mind: “This is a story full of love, a song to set us free . . for Wisdom guides the flow of life.”

We mark this day, remembering the life and death of Mother St. John (1759 – 1843). Jeanne was indeed a woman full of love, whose life story was a song of struggle and fortitude during the French revolution, a story of generous courage after the terror as she gathered women religious into the Congregation of St. Joseph. Gifted with wisdom she heard the call to send Sisters to the new world, and from there this little Congregation of St. Joseph in Canada gradually was birthed.

History of Mother St. John Fontbonne Part 1

History of Mother St. John Fontbonne Part 2

What might the revelation be for us today? Perhaps to see with new eyes, our own invitation to live out God’s call to fortitude, courage, mission. As our little community here in Canada accepts its call to age gracefully, we lean with fortitude into deep trust. Although our human resources are few, our relationships, and partnerships are many. We encourage one another to see the possibilities for service that abound (making sandwiches for the soup kitchen, being present to our neighbours, praying for others, seeking justice). The mission by which we once were recognized (hospitals, schools) is giving way to working with others at the Mount Community Centre in Peterborough, the Hub in London, our Associates and Companions across Canada.  All these present energies are like rays of sun breaking through the limitations.

With courage and conviction Mother St. John led this “Congregation of the Great Love of God” through the devastation of war, and the stripping of its identity. Through this day of remembrance may we be evermore fully women of courage, of fortitude and of heart.

Together let us watch for the graced surprise that comes our way this day!

-Sister Loretta Manzara, csj

Image: Unsplash | Emmanuel Phaeton