Come on, Folks

Come on folks, we can do this….

United Nations Covid response

I feel like Rick Mercer wanting to rant a bit concerning the Covid Pandemic.  We have been on this journey for eight months.  In the beginning, we all felt it would pass like the flu.  But that has not been the case.  This virus, the enemy we can’t see, can kill us.  But why do we seem so ready to tempt fate and ignore the very simple and possible guidance we hear day after day about washing hands, social distancing, wearing a face mask, and stay home?  It is not perfect, but these behaviours can make a huge difference.  I don’t understand why so many seem to ignore or push against this simple guidance.

Those who claim these guidelines are violating my rights, I want to ask what if exercising your rights are endangering me or others around me?  Our rights are not absolute, nor are they only personal.  These human rights assume we live in communal settings and we have to balance the personal and the communal.  We must work together. 

Are these guidelines inconvenient?  Yes, sometimes they are, but we are strong enough and mature enough to weigh what will benefit all of us.   Are we tired of the impact this virus has had on our lives?  Yes, but if we value our own lives, and the lives of loved ones, and neighbours in the towns and cities and rural areas around us, we can encourage each other to keep living in safety. And we know that many scientists working in labs in Canada and other countries are working long hours to find a vaccine to help all of us.  The motto we see on TV in our schools, at our health care facilities, and in our businesses, and written on sidewalks in chalk by children – WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER – are not empty words.  We need to listen to each other, see the multiple perspectives that need to be considered, and we can hang in together until a vaccine is available to help us resume our usual activities.  In the meantime, help each other at home, call a neighbor or friend and family member, facetime or zoom someone you care about, and encourage each other.  And as we all stay close to home in the weeks ahead, we will get through this.  And those of us for whom faith is important, we can turn to those spiritual centres within and find some peace and calm to help us through the day.  Really all we have is the present moment and it can teach us a lot about ourselves, and it is full of many blessings.

-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Requiescet in Pace

The loss of a loved one is painful and deep. Recently I experienced this, again for the first time, when Ted, Leanne’s husband, phoned.  That he took the time to call me personally, to tell me the circumstances of her passing, was an honour since Leanne comes from a large family which could have taken up all Ted’s time. Leanne and I had a special relationship – I can hear many others who had known Leanne much longer say so did we.  Leanne and I partnered in introducing Christian Meditation into the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board beginning in 2011.  It was a friendship of like minds and hearts. I used to say to her ‘Leanne, we are tied at the hip’ as we trotted off to school with brown bag lunches and high hope of engaging with the students and teachers. Leanne had just retired after 40 years teaching and was 20 years my junior and she used to say, ‘Sister, you make me feel young’.

For Christians, November is the month dedicated in a special way to remembering our beloved dead.  It is also the month the world honours those who made the ultimate sacrifice for country and freedom.  So I could say that Leanne’s passing was appropriately timed even though she has left a huge crater in the lives and hearts of her family and friends still on this side of the veil. I thought this evening as I prayed my evening prayers (Night Office), now Leanne you know the answer to all those questions we used to ask each other:

what does living your faith look like;

how does prayer work for you;

how do you forgive deeply and authentically unforgivable hurts?

Rest in peace my friend

- Sister Ann, csj.

Talk the Walk

We often hear the expression “Walk the talk” to denote a person who is authentic in living out his/her values that are professed verbally.

But when there is an invitation to “TALK THE WALK” it has a slightly different twist: it assumes that the person has already or is engaged in the walk that is professed.  For example: Recall a time when you have experienced a situation in which you have been unexpectedly called upon to speak or act out of personal truth and conviction,.  What was that like for you?

This Talking the Walk is done in the Kairos Teaching and Sharing Circles that have recently been birthed to educate mainly Non-Indigenous peoples, although not exclusively, about the history and culture of the Indigenous peoples of Canada.  The TALK is given by an Indigenous person, who has and continues to WALK in the steps of the ancestors.  These Talking and Sharing Circles have become another forum along with the Kairos Blanket Exercise, for the true history of the relationship between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous peoples of Canada to be told from the Indigenous perspective and provide an opportunity for ALL people in Canada to become more knowledgeable to “Walk the Talk”.

We, as a nation have just embarked on implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report that came out in 2015.  We have an opportunity to SPEAK OUT, to move towards reconciliation.  https://secure.kairoscanada.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=800

In our own personal lives, what might it mean to “Talk the Walk”, to “Walk the Talk”?  

- Submitted by Kathleen Lichti, CSJ

Neighbours on Downie Street

From my second-floor window – at 7:30 a.m. each day I watch a young mother, a teacher, wheel her 2-year-old twin daughters down the steps and get them settled in their van.  This daily routine also includes her interaction with a middle-aged man from our neighborhood.  His name is Kelly and he is a regular visitor sharing his news early in the morning in a rather loud tone – which could be about his dog or what his plans are for the day.  The mom, while getting her children settled takes time to listen to Kelly and offers encouraging words to him as he retells (a couple of times over) the story about his dog and what his plans are for the day. 

Kelly approaches the window of the van and offers a wave and blows kisses to the children and then crosses the street and returns to his own home, giving this mother some positive affirmations as she heads to her classroom for another day.

With this pandemic and my own inability to volunteer with the marginalized, I think I have received a gift that is happening right outside my window every morning.  I feel that I am participating in this exchange between these neighbors – as I witness the respect for one another, and kindness being given freely to Kelly – who represents many in our society today who are not treated with respect or dignity.

I am realizing that being present can happen in many different ways…

-Sister Ann MacDonald, csj

In the Spirit of Gratitude and Hope

As the celebration of Thanksgiving approaches, I write to you in a spirit of gratitude and hope. At this time of year, it can sometimes seem like a time of loss, as we see trees and gardens completing their summer cycle. In the midst of COVID, this sense might be heightened.

In the past two weeks, I have harvested my vegetables and flower seeds. I have been filled with gratitude for the food I have been able to share. As I have picked cranberries, both high bush, and low bush, I have been grateful for the quiet, reflective time in the silence of the trees. Thanksgiving filled my heart as I remembered the beauty of each flower that graced my yard this summer.

In collecting seeds from some of the flowers, I experienced a sense of hope as I looked at the tiny seeds, and knew the potential each seed held in bringing new life and beauty next summer. I smiled the other day as I sat reflecting from my recliner. Looking out the front window, I was surprised to see a small sunflower blooming on the edge of the riverbank. With a closer look, there were two more sunflower plants growing. No doubt, a bird or squirrel had dropped the seeds. Such potential of new life!

Walking through the backyard a few weeks ago, I noticed a delicate, soft, cream coloured pansy in full bloom, growing away from all the other flower beds. It caused me to ponder, what an unlikely place to grow; how did it land here; how did it survive my footsteps?

We have each been blessed with the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.These are our seeds to sow; our gifts to share. Which particular gift is yours to share? During these days of COVID our works and presence in our communities may be altered, and yet we are still called individually and as a group of dedicated women, to be witnesses to our values or pillars of faith, service and justice. Where might our seeds fall? How might my gift give life to another? I may never know.

Blessings, Sister Margaret Ann Beaudette, csj

In the gift of this new day,

In the gift of the present moment,

In the gift of time and eternity entwined

Let me be thankful

Let me be attentive

Let me be open to what has never happened before…

Taken from Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter, Morning and Night Prayer, J.Philip Newell