Jesus, the Refugee

There once was a stranger in a foreign land. His mother and father had run away with him to protect him from the threat of death at the hands of a tyrant ruler.

As a babe in arms, he did not know the danger that faced him or the challenges his parents encountered. But as a man, he had heard the stories of his youth and the difficulties his family had endured: an arduous journey, a foreign culture, a different language, a longing for family and home, a father having to find work to feed his family and a mother making a home out of what they could carry on a donkey’s back. Hopefully, they had someone in Egypt who welcomed them.

Jesus had a soft spot for the stranger because he was one, even in his own country. As he preached throughout the countryside, in village after village, city after city, he was welcomed by the rich and the poor, the prostitute and the tax collector, as well as the ordinary person. Only in his hometown was he not welcomed.

One day, Jesus was talking to his disciples and said, “When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.” His disciples, confused, asked, “When were you a stranger and we welcomed you?” Jesus replied, “When you did it to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

Since the spirit of the Divine dwells in each and every one of us, let us, through the eyes of love, recognize the face of Christ in others. Now, more than ever, let us welcome the stranger who has reached our shores, the refugee, Christ in our midst.

Associate Fernanda Estoesta, Eagles’ Wings, Chatham

Remembering God’s Love Together

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” DT 4.9.

I often joke about my memory as I get older. It can be frustrating when things I really want to remember, I somehow forget. I have heard people call this the “Teflon” effect. Other memories seem to be so deeply imprinted on my mind and heart that I have carried them with me throughout my life. My memory has both gifts and gaps.

Recently my daughter reminded me of a sweet childhood memory I had forgotten. She recalled coming to me for a morning hug. I would wrap my cozy bathrobe around both of us, with her little face peeking out and then she would stand on my feet and walk with me around the kitchen. It was a lovely, warm memory, and her retelling it brought it back to me vividly.

The silver lining to the elusive clouding of memory is that I am not alone on this journey. There is beauty and wonder in our collective memory as people who have shared experiences. The gift of memory, shared in our stories is an invitation into something far richer than my solitary life.

Moses spoke to the people and taught them to observe the law which God had commanded him to give to them, but the law had it’s meaning in their shared memory of God freeing them from slavery. This is what he urged them not to forget. They had personally experienced the plagues and first Passover which led to Pharaoh’s reluctant defeat, the terror of being pursued by the Egyptians and the parting of the Red Sea. Finally, they stood together at the theophany at Mount Horeb. They saw the blazing fire and dark clouds, and heard God’s voice declaring the covenant they were to keep. God had dramatically revealed first his powerful love and then the law which would make them like him; just, wise and in the eyes of the world, great. The shared personal experience of God’s love for them was what made the law meaningful.

We know the rest of their story, the ongoing struggle to be faithful to the covenant, because it is the foundation of our faith. In spite of the many ways they tried to remember, with more and more laws, the people often wandered. They got caught up in their day to day life and the novelty of the surrounding cultures. This is our story too.

Perhaps Lent is a time to remind us to “take care and be earnestly on our guard not to forget the things our own eyes have seen.”

What is my personal experience of God’s saving love? How God has revealed his love for you and others with whom you share faith? Christians share personal and communal experience of the God’s gift of Jesus, and his Spirit, both within and among us in our lives and liturgy. We need one another’s help to remember and not to forget.

Remembering and sharing our stories of faith makes our laws and traditions meaningful. Before we can wholeheartedly renew Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and charity, our hearts may need to recall God’s saving power and presence among us.

Guest Blogger Jane Phillipson

The Spirituality of Canning

These late summer days, I await the showing of those first red tomatoes in my small garden. I anticipate their delicious taste fresh off the vine and the enjoyment of preserving them for sauces and soups for cold winter nights.

Participating in the ‘4 P’s of Local Food: Planting, Picking, Preparing and Preserving’* and following the 100 mile radius for purchasing local food continually raises our consciousness about care for Earth. We impact global warming by reducing long distance transportation; we foster relationships with local farmers; and by canning we provide local food year round, decrease food waste and reuse glass Mason jars. However, beyond the environmental impact how does preserving: bottling and canning, deepen our evolutionary spirituality? A few sisters** generously offered to expand my musings.

Julian of Norwich prayed, “Within us-as a sheer gift of God—is the capacity to bring forth what has never been before.” Canning is a work of art and in this creative expression we participate in new unfoldings of the Universe. Graced with Earth’s abundance we share in its cycles of dying and re-birthing as fruits are transformed into delicious jams and jellies and zucchini and cucumbers into zesty relishes and pickles. Our rootedness in Earth’s values of diversity, inter-dependency and intimacy is embedded in these sacred relationships with the natural world.

Inter-relatedness is also enlivened as we recapture fond memories of our mothers and grandmothers lovingly putting down garden produce. A sense of belonging to cultural identities and ancestral heritage is nurtured as we now carry forward generational wisdoms of the land. Even if we are not attracted to doing canning, we are steeped in these connections each time we enjoy tasty homemade preserves.

Essential to inter-dependency is community building. Nature manifests this in the intricacies of eco-systems. Canning embodies our charism of presence to the dear neighbour. Together, Sisters Sharon Miller and Pauline Guidon (SSM) make jelly from their crab apple trees for the community at North Bay’s ecumenical “Gathering Place,” which welcomes the homeless, disadvantaged and economically and spiritually challenged. Sister Gwen Smith (Toronto) makes preserves with the participants at the Mustard Seed Community Kitchen. The communion climax is, “Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord,” with all sharing a dish made from the fruits of their labour. Sisters Linda Gregg and Mary Rowell (In Canada) ensure that food from the Community Gardens at the Villa is preserved and used to nourish the many retreatants that come throughout the year.

Mary Oliver in her poem, Answers, writes: “How she (her grandmother) poured confusion out, how she cooled and labelled / All the wild sauces of the brimming year.”

Preserving the fruits of the earth is a holy activity. It takes time, patience and care and fosters joy. It invites us to attend the body of Christ with reverence and a grateful heart. Even the simple act of giving a gift of preserves to family and friends is a reaching out in love. Most importantly it is an act of hope and optimism trusting in the providence of the divine, bestower of fruitfulness, ever promising the flourishing of all life.  

Guest Blogger: Janet Speth, CSJ, Toronto

Photo: Making jelly...Srs Sharon Miller and Pauline Guindon (SSM)

* Planting, Picking, Preparing and Preserving … These are the 4 P’s of Local Food, as coined by Neil Tilley, an organic farmer and advocate for environmental stewardship from Newfoundland.  

** Thank you to Sisters Betty Lou Knox, Pauline Guindon, Sharon Miller, Gwen Smith, Linda Gregg and Mary Rowell

KAIROS Reconciliation in the Watershed - October 14, 2017 @ 10 am – 4 pm

In partnership with the Sisters of St Joseph in Canada – London, KAIROS Canada will host a full-day Reconciliation in the Watershed workshop at King’s University College on Saturday, October 14, 2017. Supported by the Echo Foundation, this workshop is part of a series being delivered by KAIROS Canada across Canada this fall.  The KAIROS Reconciliation in the Watershed Program aims to increase the number and diversity of Canadians who are, knowledgeable about their immediate watershed, able to identify issues related to its protection, and make connections between local ecological issues and Indigenous rights.  The full-day workshop aims to renew the relationship between Canadians’ and their local watershed on a path towards reconciled relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

Wherever we live in creation we are part of a watershed, an interdependent eco-system nested in a larger eco-system, which is also a watershed.  We all have a relationship with the bodies of water that sustain our lives and we too are living parts of a watershed.  In Canada, our watersheds continue to be threatened by mining, fracking, oil exploration, pipeline development, agriculture, water bottling, and more.  The impacts of colonialism and industrialization have alienated us from our watersheds by creating political territories that ignore watershed boundaries and turning our water and natural resources into commodities.  Colonialism has also damaged the relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples, who affirm the interconnectedness of our watersheds, continue to offer gracious welcome to settlers and seek partnership in a just transformation of the land. 

It is time to repair these relationships and build relationships of ecological integrity with our local watersheds and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.  To do so, we need to go in to our watersheds and listen to the voices of Indigenous peoples who were its first protectors and stimulate learning, affection, and ultimately a commitment to protect our water. The Reconciliation in the Watershed workshop is a great place to start! 

This day of learning, relationship-building, and action, will include presentations and activities focused on decolonization, Indigenous rights, environmental issues, and reconciliation.  In the afternoon, the workshop will move to the Museum of Ontario Archeology, where participants will learn about the history of the land and the watershed’s first peoples.  Participants will also engage in a medicine pouch activity, to learn about the importance of medicine pouches to Indigenous nations and the sacred plants that are used, as well as the significance of the Medicine Wheel.   

Registration for this event is $20 regular/$10 students and includes lunch and activities at the Museum of Ontario Archeology.  Register here or email Mary Shamley at mshamley@csjcanada.org.

Flyer

Guest blogger: Beth Lorimer, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

As the world nears four famines, 22 million children are at risk

For Janet Tiko, every day brings the possibility of tragedy. Her nine-month-old son, Simon, suffers from malnutrition. She brought him to be treated at the Al-Sabbah children’s hospital in Juba, but Janet doesn’t know if it’s already too late.

More than one million people in South Sudan are now on the brink of famine. A United Nations declaration in February 2017 made the famine official, but the situation continues to deteriorate. There are 4.9 million people in urgent need of food and it’s estimated that more than one million South Sudanese children will suffer from acute malnutrition this year.

Unfortunately, since I last visited South Sudan in 2014, the situation for children has only grown worse. Ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and depleted stocks from the last harvest have destroyed families’ livelihoods. As people flee violence, they’re left to survive on whatever food they can find – of which there isn’t much. Children have little choice but to drink unsafe water, leading to an increase in illnesses, especially diarrhoea, which can be deadly. Immediate threats to safety and health are compounded by long-term threats to the future of a generation.

The scale of today’s crisis is staggering, but South Sudan isn’t alone. The world is now facing the very real possibility of four famines, with food crises also threatening the lives of children and families in Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. Across the four countries, nearly 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition, and 22 million children are hungry, sick or out of school.

The good news is that child deaths due to famine and malnutrition are preventable if the right action is taken early.

In South Sudan, UNICEF and partners have conducted massive relief operations since the conflict began, and have intensified efforts to mitigate the worst effects of the humanitarian crisis.

Since the famine was declared, with the World Food Programme, we  have been conducting joint emergency missions, delivering life-saving supplies and services to the affected areas in Unity State. Together, we have reached almost 200,000 people – including nearly 50,000 children –  with food aid, nutrition screening and support and basic health care. This is just one aspect of our large-scale regional response.  

UNICEF is working around the clock to reach vulnerable children and families in the most remote locations. In South Sudan this year, we aim to treat more than 200,000 severely malnourished children and provide therapeutic feeding programs at 620 outpatient and 50 inpatient sites. We’re also working with the warring parties to prevent recruitment of children into armed groups and reunite children separated by the conflict with their families.

Across the four affected countries, UNICEF has more than 750 staff working to bring life-saving aid to the most vulnerable, and that includes more than food. UNICEF is working to provide 7.4 million children with safe water, 3.4 million with measles vaccinations and 2.1 million with education.

But despite our best efforts, the scale of the crisis is far outpacing the humanitarian response. Unless more action is taken, the situation is likely to continue to deteriorate.

UNICEF has requested $255 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of children in South Sudan, as well as Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, in 2017. Last month, Canada announced $119.25 million to help scale up the response to the famine crisis, including $9.6 million for UNICEF’s work in South Sudan.

No child should die of hunger. The continued support of Canadians will make a difference in providing life-saving assistance to these children before it’s too late. 

David Morley is President and CEO of UNICEF Canada.