A Heart-Touching Experience

The other day while driving along a busy north London roadway I spotted a shopping cart full of someone's worldly goods. What I saw next broke my heart; on the ground was a man, motionless, lying beside his "house". I was in an inside lane of a busy four lane road, and somewhat distracted while driving. "Is this man okay, is he just sleeping or has he overdosed accidently?” I was unable to handle a moving vehicle and do some kind of physical assessment of the man. However, I did pray that someone would stop and help this person.

Still concerned, I checked my side view mirror and noticed that a woman, dressed in black, was moving toward the man. My heart-felt burden turned to peace. I witnessed a random act of kindness. I don’t know the outcome of their encounter but hoped that it might end in him finding a home.

This led me to reach out to Unity Project (a shelter helping homeless young people). I met Sylvia, a woman on a mission to assist the homeless. She embodies their Mission Statement, providing emergency shelter and transitional housing for youth and adults eighteen and older that is safe. The most powerful statement I heard from Sheila was “that a person during their first walk down the alley to Unity Project’s front door, feeling completely ashamed with very low self-esteem, to ask for help and then weeks or months later they walk away from Unity Project with their heads held high.” I made my donation, and though not much, I hoped it helped in some way.

To the woman who did stop to help this man, I say thank-you from my heart.

Guest Blogger: Monica Spilsbury (retired staff nurse of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, London neighbourhood)

A Dad’s Day

Becoming a Dad changes you - completely.

It’s miraculous, really. 

The hardest part? Being there. And I don’t mean showing up, I mean being present. Fatherhood really hammers home the difference. It helps you realize how much you unknowingly phoned in important parts of your life — work, volunteerism and the friendships that matter. 

Being a good dad is hard. 

Everything gets hyper-focused. But focused doesn’t always mean easy. A selfish to selfless transition is a turbulent one. Even with a life partner that makes Wonder Woman look dazed and confused. (Thx love! xoxoxoxo)  

Over time you settle in. You wise up (sometimes). You start to calibrate your parental antenna to some universal truths about advice for your kids in this modern age.

Like:

• curiosity and creativity are more important than any string of characters at the end of an email signature;
• report cards influence life outcomes far less than we give them credit for;
•  the most valuable people in this world don’t do what they’re told, they tell the leaders what should be done;
• happiness has little if anything to do with material possession (especially in the long term);
• you never need as much stuff as you think you do;
• And perhaps most importantly, that you should never watch In the Night Garden, no matter how much your kids beg. ‘Cause some things, you just can’t un-see.

And on and on…

But the best thing about father’s day is being home with your kids, and loving them. 

Of all the things that make up the foundational pieces of our lives, family is by far the most important. 

You can tell a lot about a man by how he holds himself as a father. 

I didn’t get a chance to spend as much time with my Father as I would have liked. He worked morning, afternoon and night shifts, 10,000 feet underground, for 30 years, so I would never have to. 

The bottom line

I’ve got more from my kids, Molly (5), Cooper (8) than I can ever give back in a life time. 

I worry less these days about them not listening and realize I need to worry more that they’re always listening. And that parenting with purpose is something you practice, not something you perfect.

It’s about making a conscious effort to create a more profound relationship with the people that you love.

Everything else, I think, will fall into place. 

Guest Blogger Jeff Sage

Jeff Sage is a Senior Strategist and Co-Founder at sagecomm, a London-based strategic marketing firm specializing in brand, product and cause positioning for brands across North America.

The Month of Ramadan

The month of Ramadan is one of the most blessed and sacred times for the global Muslim community. It is currently upon us and will last until June 26th. 

This year, Ramadan happens to fall at the start of summer, whereby able-bodied Muslims are obliged to fast, abstaining from all food and drink during the daylight hours.

According to the Qur’an, the singular purpose behind the fasting is to attain a reverent and deep awareness of God.

The aim of the fast lies beyond the physical aspects of sensing hunger and thirst, intensified due to the heat and the lengthening of the summer days. There are many elements related to the fast that are conducive to bringing about higher states of spiritual consciousness of one’s state of being.

For example, when one senses the pangs of hunger and thirst, this should bring about a sense of empathy toward others who are less fortunate and do not readily have access to a steady supply of sustenance. Not only should this provide an impetus to help the needy, but it should also direct us to the Giver of all sustenance, instilling a deeper sense of appreciation and gratitude toward God for all of the countless blessings He has bestowed upon us.

The fasting also can provide a sense of self-discipline and sacrifice.

Furthermore, when a Muslim fasts, they also should abstain from acts that would be considered sinful, such as a lustful gaze, backbiting, speaking lies or causing any form of harm toward others. This leads to a Muslim fasting not only by their stomachs, but by their other limbs and organs, including their eyesight, tongues and hearing, abstaining from all that which displeases God.

Taking it to another level, indeed, the highest grade of fasting is that of the heart whereby a person consciously abstains from overly thinking of anything other than God Almighty, remembering and thanking Him in every aspect of one’s existence.

This also represents the innermost core of the concept of reverent and deep awareness of God, the very purpose of performing the fast.

Abd Alfatah Twakkal is the imam and spiritual leader of the London Muslim Mosque.

Proud to Protect Refugees

The recent election results in the United States have caused panic and fear in many people, causing them to turn to Canada for refuge. It is important to note, however, people all over the world have been seeking for a safe haven prior to the current political status of the United States. After the election, there were over 200,000 visits on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website inquiring about how to move to Canada; if this number seems high, well the United Nations estimates that there about 24 million refugees in the world today, and half of these refugees are under 18. That makes around 12 million children who have been made refugees looking for safety. I think the numbers speak for themselves, and they are staggering… overwhelming.

Many people don’t know what to do with these figures; some in denial, some blame refugees themselves for their plight, some try to find ways to open their homes and their borders. You may have seen television reports of a huge detention facility near Toronto. Some Canadian born children have been detained, or have been forced out of their own country because their parents are failed refugee claimants. Family separation should not happen, but it does. Families are torn apart.  Because of the length of time it takes to navigate the stages in the refugee process, parents are sometimes separated from their children for years before the family can be reunited. Even when parents are reunited with their children, sometimes it has been so long that the children don’t know the parents. Heartbreak like this should not happen, people being deported to danger should not happen, people should not be feared because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of any group, but they all happen.

As Canadians, we must recognize not only our neighbors from the South unable to acquire immigration status, but also acknowledge those from a different place, a different continent, the rest of the world. 1 John 3:18 says “…let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth,” therefore, it is up to each of us to be Christ bearers, to stand up and say hello, welcome in.  Join us.  We respect you.  We acknowledge your pain and suffering.  We are inspired by your courage. We learn from you. We are stronger with you.   

My name is Claire R., Ministry Specialist for Inland Protection of Refugees for the Diocese of London, and I am Proud to Protect Refugees.

Women at the Heart of Change

For the next two years Development and Peace’s Share Lent theme is “Women at the Heart of Change.” It may seem very ironic that the Roman Catholic Bishops through Development and Peace are championing a woman’s right to belong, to take part and to be active in the society to which she finds herself. We have many stories of women being at the forefront of change in the developing world. There are many reasons for this but one of the most important ones is the desire for women to help their communities grow in peace and prosperity.

Many countries are at or recovering from war and horrific violence, much of it aimed at the killing of men and boys of communities but also at the women and girls through rape and enslavement. When women and girls are finally set free, their fathers, husbands, brothers, uncles and parents are often dead. That means they must fend for themselves. How they will survive is often up to them and how they will react, hope and move forward into the future with their children is what Development and Peace is trying to help them accomplish.

Mary and Martha are in this situation in today’s gospel. Lazarus has died.  This puts Mary and Martha in a terrible predicament. Not only has their brother died but they also are now considered outsiders of society. They have no male protector. This means they will most probably lose their home, be made to travel away from their friends, be considered outcasts in their community because their protector has died. Martha’s words to Jesus “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

It is not just out of love of her brother that she asks Jesus to bring her brother back, she is also understanding that his loss will directly impact her and her sisters’ lives, in ways that will be really hard to take. Jesus says to her: “Your brother will rise again.” And Martha speaks from the heart when she says “I know that he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus gives her hope by saying:  “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Martha’s response is our example and call—no matter the tragedy, loss or difficulties going on in our lives do we believe in God? Martha says, “Yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” Martha, despite her sorrow and fear of the future, still believes in Jesus. Her sister Mary, also believes and her comment to Jesus is, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died” and her weeping causes Jesus to weep too. Weep for their loss, for their fear and for his own loss of a friend.

Martha is the pragmatic one, Lord, she says, he has been dead for four days and there is already a smell. But Jesus’s comment to her and Mary and the crowd is, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.” Move the stone. His call to Lazarus to “come out” and his instruction to the villagers gathered with his sisters “unbind him and let him go” remind us of God’s goodness to us. Of God’s willingness to respond in mercy to all of our needs.

What encourages me as a woman in the Catholic Church is the very last line of this Gospel. “Many of the Jews who came with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.”

Mary and Martha in this story are catalysts for others to believe in God. It was their faith in Jesus and their hope in him despite the four days of death that caused them to say “If you were here this would not have happened.”  Their plea for their brother and themselves encouraged the crowd to come to know who Jesus was and to believe in him when Mary and Martha’s trust in him was proven.

Often times we feel there is not this concrete example of resurrection for us and for others in our daily struggles. When have we seen God call out and someone rise from the dead?  But then our own Catholic Church is a living example of resurrection. The Pope is now dialoguing about the need for women deacons. Our church is allowing girl altar servers, women in many other ministries often thought of as men only, including myself preaching here today. Women are at the forefront of working through organizations like the Catholic Women’s League on issues of life, ethics, safety and justice. While not perfect, our church is constantly being resurrected in new and fascinating ways. Some of us may feel it is not fast enough but then we again can look at this gospel story. Jesus was told three days before Lazarus died that he was ill. Yet he tells his disciples we will finish what we have to do here and then we will go, this will allow God to show his glory. When they finally leave he tells them Lazarus is sleeping because he does know that his friend is probably dead because of the delay. But Jesus keeps repeating God has a plan for this too.  Something good will come of this. We have to understand that God’s time is not our time and that this is the part of the mystery of God which requires belief despite all odds.

In the Global South, women, out of necessity a lot of the time, are striving to provide a future for themselves, their children and families. It is up to us to help them become like Lazarus, unbound and free to achieve what they need, to help themselves and their communities grow in peace, justice and love.

Please be generous as you put your Share Lent envelope in the collection basket this week. Help Development and Peace, help the people of the world, stand together and be free again.

Ruthann Fisher, Pastoral Associate
St. Francis of Assisi church and
CSJ Associate, Kitchener area, with Sr. Lucy Godfrey’s group