Daisies

During my retreat this summer, I enjoyed sitting on a porch that overlooked a large pond. There happened to be a planter on the porch with three daisies – two were fully bloomed, while the third was still a bud. They caught my attention because daisies were my sister Helen’s favorite flower and I had two special experiences involving daisies the day of her funeral many years ago.

My last evening on retreat, I noticed that the two fully bloomed flowers had now reached their peak and would start to wither, but the bud had finally expanded a little. The final morning of retreat I felt compelled to walk over to that porch again and check on the bud. Overnight it had nearly fully opened. I found this significant, even though I didn’t know what it meant for me in terms of my retreat.

 One day after returning home from retreat, I found myself reflecting on those daisies. I considered how the opened, fully bloomed flower stays about a week or so before it begins to die. In contrast, most of the flower’s “lifetime” is spent on the earlier stages of growth – from seed, to stem and leaves, to bud, to full bloom. [Not being a botanist, I may not be exactly accurate here, but you know what I mean.] Comparatively, the culmination – the full bloom – lasts for only a short while.

The analogy to human beings and growth in the spiritual life became apparent to me. Typically, it takes a lifetime to come to full bloom, with most of one’s years spent on the earlier stages of growth. Moreover, much of this growth is so gradual that it can easily go unnoticed. But finally, there is the “full bloom.” What immediately came to mind next was the verse, “Es ist vollbracht” – the German rendition of John 19:30 of the passion narrative usually translated in English as “It is finished.” I was moved to check the Greek-English Interlinear New Testament where I found that the Greek “Τετέλεσται” is more literally translated “It is accomplished.”       

Like Jesus’ life, we might think of our own lives as coming to “completion” once we have reached “full bloom” – when we have carried out our mission or when we have become all that God created us to be. [Of course, all analogies fall short, and we can quickly come up with examples where, humanly speaking, we would say that some lives never have the chance to fully bloom. But it’s impossible to speak for all of the “flowers” in God’s garden.]

At this point in time, my takeaway from my retreat experience concerning the daisies is this: to be ready to meet God is to be fully bloomed. I pray to be “fully bloomed” when it is time to meet God.

Guest Blogger, Sr. Marian Maskulak, cps, Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood

The Negotiators

They’re back, those four roving tom turkeys.  This morning, I spotted them shuffling between the rows of cars in the parking lot near the Scouts Canada premises.   They seemed to be collaborating seriously as they stepped along the path.  Well, what’s up?  I presume that Tom and his brother-in-law Tim have lured the accompanying two American relatives across the border seeking asylum for their families here in Canada.

According to environmental experts, these birds have roots in Virginia, USA.  They have deep concern for their families who are multiplying rapidly.  With the present government upset and trade talks, the future looks grim.

The sheltered spot along the banks of the Thames River looks inviting.  It is well treed for winter protection  and there are few wild predators.  Human beings are afoot but pose no threat.  Tom boasts to his friends of Canadian laws that protect their species.  Happily, gun control is stricter here  in our fair land.

How long will the trade talks continue?  In the meantime, I wonder when we will see Tillie Turkey arrive with her brood bobbing past the dining room window, nibbling a few blades of grass as they head to their new Canadian digs.  You’re doing good work, negotiators!  May the NAFTA trade talks results come to beneficial  fruition for all, as planned.

- By Sr. Eileen Foran

Hope - A Matter of Perspective

We often get overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of problems facing our world today.  When we see the big picture, it is often hard for us to come up with solutions that might help us find hope in our world today.  I can get caught in this trap and realize that not much good comes from getting stuck in a place that offers little in the way of solutions to problems facing us today.  Some of work I do, involves helping our city (London, Ontario) find safe, affordable housing for the hundreds of people who are in search of a place to call home.  These are people who have limited income, face enormous barriers to work, child care, and education.  Some are paying 50 to 60% of their income on housing.  Some live with mental illness, others are unable to work until their young children are in school, because they cannot afford child care.

These are barriers individual people struggle with each day.  To help improve changes for these people, there are many in our city who are trying to increase the stock of housing for the hundreds of people who are in need.  I belong to a small non-profit housing group.  We are all volunteers, and what we have learned over the years is that nothing seems to be able to move ahead quickly.  One of my observations is that getting to a “how” to make housing available happens at a policy level at all levels of government but that alone is not enough.  Our local communities also need to invest in housing issues to assist some of our vulnerable citizens.  Gatherings where both policy makers and local communities can work together to help design solutions that work in each community could create the change needed to make housing happen more quickly. One size does not fit all.  I wonder if bringing multiple stake-holders together with the shared goal of finding or creating more affordable housing might be a new approach with better outcomes.  I think it is worth a try.

Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ | London Affordable Housing Foundation 

London, Ontario

A Tale of Two Summers

Calmly, I sit by my window on a rainy, late August morning, my thoughts roll back to earlier summer months. May comes to mind with its early spring buds. Daffodils, narcissus, tulips push through the warming ground to bright sunlight.  June explodes with nature in full bloom.  Birds cheer from the thicket, trees burst forth in full leaf, and grass is green and lush.

July and August offer months of freedom for children to cherish. Brides and grooms offer their lives to each other. For students, it’s a time of happy holidays. Fun and freedom abound as life changes gears. Family vacations, staycations and everything in between become the norm.  Reunions, barbecues and outdoor living spring up everywhere.  Regular, bountiful rain and life-giving showers are generously bestowed on the earth and gratefully received.

However, as I ponder wonderful summer, an unease stirs within me. The rain seems wetter, colder, more persistent under thick, low-hanging gray skies.  My mind turns to those in our beloved country who suffer under forest fires and long for blessed rain to relieve their misery.  Theirs has been a summer of danger and grief bringing with it lives forever changed.  While we have rejoiced these many weeks, they have lived with despair.

Musing on life’s blessings and challenges, I sense in the air a hint of fall to come.  Nostalgia visits my heart. Summer is waning. Sunrise appears a little later; I begin the struggle of rising in the dark.  Is this the first whiff of the coming cocooning and hibernation?  Holidays are dwindling. Stores are hacking back-to-school supplies. Routine is on the horizon.

Sadly, there were no holidays, barbecues or fun in the sun for families in the furnace of forest fires. I wonder will their workplaces still exist?  Will children return to school as usual?  One can only hope and pray for winds to turn direction and copious rain to fall upon the burning inferno. Meanwhile, let us hold in our hearts those who knew not summer’s joys. - Sr. Jean Moylan, csj

Lots of Jobs Available! Really??

It seems not long ago that Canadians searching for employment were mostly out of luck.  Well-paying positions were scarce, unskilled jobs scant and student summer work, not likely. Freshly minted teachers needed not apply for teaching positions.  Skilled trades students vied for the few apprenticeship openings.  People holding PhD credentials were driving taxi cabs.  Job seekers seldom found work in their areas of expertise.

Now, a decade later, a front-page article in “The London Free Press” heralds, “Worker shortage is holding back Southwestern Ontario’s economy with no simple solutions.”  Suddenly, the economic engine is roaring back to life.  Or is it?  True, the Free Press article is an awakening call to inform readers that many jobs need workers immediately.  However, it leads me to ponder what might be some of the obstacles that are causing job seekers to hesitate before rushing to pick up the phone and fill out applications.

Might a significant number of positions be low-paying, part-time jobs which reinforce the term “the working poor” who barely subsist, have little job security, no benefits and certainly no pension plan?

Might the work be quite a distance from where the job-seeker lives without public transit, vehicle or means of relocating family, if necessary?

Might the employment opportunity involve precarious duties, poor working conditions and undue physical/mental stress?

Unless we can engage at the levels of business and government and find creative solutions such as the now cancelled living wage initiative etc., there will “no simple solutions”, as the Free Press article asserts.

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj