If You're Happy and You Know It...

“If You’re Happy and you Know it Clap Your Hands!”
World Happiness Day

Most of us are familiar with the children’s song that begins, “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”! International World Happiness Day – and there really is such a day - invites us to do just that, to celebrate happiness and to strive to create happiness across the world and locally where our own feet are!

International World Happiness Day, established by the United Nations in 2013, is celebrated each March 20th. The intent of the day is a reminder of the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. It is a day to highlight happiness as a universal human goal and is closely associated with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals which seek to end human poverty, to reduce inequality and to protect the planet.

The past 3 years have been hard and discouraging for many. Yet, the World Happiness Report, 2022 reminds us that despite such dark times there are also many current examples of profound human kindness and increased social support on which we are invited to reflect .[1]

Attitudes also count in significant ways. It is no coincidence that with the release of the World Happiness Report each year, the Nordic countries surpass all others. “Why”? There are obvious factors such as the smallness of each of these nations but there is also more. Whether democracy, political rights, social networks, fair distribution of resources, gender equality, and other such factors are considered, the Nordic countries are always found at the top of the happiness lists!

In a business report, Fanny Aberg, of the executive company “Nordic Minds” says, in the Nordic countries, “family always comes first”. It is primarily a question of work/life balance. She continues “working hours are based on when you want to spend time with your family. It’s perfectly normal to turn off your computer at 4pm and pick up the children from daycare, spend the afternoon with them and eat dinner together.” Life in the workplace is marked by listening to all employees and informality and ambience matters in the workplace. Meetings include the Swedish tradition of “fika”; the sharing of coffee and pastries as friends.[2] Linked to this is the Scandinavian “Hygge (pronounced hooga) lifestyle. Hygge, is translated as “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality”.[3] Home life is enjoyed, dressed down in comfortable clothes, enjoying conversation and warmth together and eating comfort food. Perhaps we have much to learn from these countries! Happiness in Scandinavia is likely to be defined by a sense of simple contentment.

So, let’s celebrate this World Happiness Day – reflecting on our lifestyles, being grateful for and sharing our blessings with others. Let’s reach out to someone on this day to bring happiness to their life.

-Sister Mary Rowell, CSJ

[1] World Happiness Report, 2022 see: worldhappinessreport/ed/2022

[2] See:www.businessinsider.com/world-happiness-report-nordic-countries-why-work-culture-lifestyle;better-2022-4

[3] Merriam Webster Dictionary

Give Us Eyes to See You Clearly

In this Sunday’s longer version of the reading from John’s gospel, we witness a series of dramatic interchanges. As Jesus walks along, he takes notice of the blind man who will play a central part in the upcoming scenes to follow.

Jesus ’disciples question  who bore the responsibility for the man’s blindness. There soon becomes a juxtaposition between two differing realities, one of physical blindness and the other of inner blindness. As Jesus refutes the disciples’ assertions, he underscores their blindness, their inability to see and understand God’s ways. Ways not of retribution but ways of divine revelation.

In contrast to other reported miracles, it is Jesus, the healer who is the initiator rather than the one seeking to be cured. The focus is on the blind man, yet he remains nameless. I find myself wondering, was the omission of his name unintentional or by purposeful design?  Was the gospel writer, John, extending an opportunity to become more than merely a spectator?

If we stepped into the developing scene as the one born blind, what might we experience?

How might we hear the disciples question Jesus about our blindness? What might we make of Jesus’ self-identification, “I am the light of the world” as one unable to see light?

How might we sense Jesus’ presence as he reaches down and places the moist mud on our eyes?

What might be our experience of being able to see?

How might we feel ourselves reacting to our neighbours and the Pharisees numerous questions? Would we struggle amid our own wonderment to tell others all that had happened?

On this “Rejoice” Sunday of Lent, may the God of Goodness give us eyes to see what good we have not yet noticed in ourselves and others.

-Sr. Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Unsplash/Guillermo

St. Joseph's Day

Today the Sisters of St. Joseph mark another year to celebrate the feast of our patron, St. Joseph.  We don’t know much about him from Scripture and what we do know mostly centers around the Nativity stories as told in the Scripture.  We don’t know when he was born or when he died.  So what do we as Sisters of St. Joseph find so compelling about this quiet carpenter?  The image of pilgrim comes to mind.  Not a pilgrim that goes out to the desert to find God, but one who is open to find God where we are.  Joseph can teach us how to discover the presence of God within and around us.  

Growing into the life of God is not an exercise in spiritual gymnastics.  It is one long, day by day attempt to put on the mind of God wherever we are and whatever happens to us along the way. 

Growing into the life of God is not endless prayer taking us out of life’s challenges.  In fact, like Joseph, we are here to grow through everyone of those challenges and move day by day into a deeper communion with God.  If we do have special prayers or leave for some quiet time, these are little rests along the way meant to build our strength for the rest of journey ahead.

“like Joseph, we are here to grow through everyone of those challenges and move day by day into a deeper communion with God”

Joseph’s quiet and challenging life reminds us that we usually find God in the ordinary things we do day by day.  The many attempts we make to turn our attention towards God, in prayer, in service, in compassionate listening are simply signs that God is with us.  This is what Joseph’s life journey can show.  Joseph, an ordinary carpenter listened deeply and met the challenges of each day.  Joseph was not God, but a mentor for any of us who want to know how God is present in our daily lives.

Happy St. Joseph’s Day to all who have shared this journey and continue to seek God each day.

-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Header Image: Unsplash/Saint John's Seminary

Tending Our Irish Roots

Canadians live in a land of immigrants who never forget their homeland. Most Canadians love this great country and have found it to be a peaceful place where they can flourish, enjoy freedom, and educate their children.  However, deep in their hearts, immigrants long to visit their homeland and do so, if possible.  This longing is true in my own family that emigrated from Ireland prior to the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1847. 

My great-grandfather arrived in Canada with his three brothers and two sisters. As a young man, he arrived in Huron County. There, he purchased and cleared land from the Canada Company, married the maiden from across the fields and became part of an Irish settlement that prospered as the generations passed.  

His brothers and sisters settled nearby. Of course, the new settlers missed family and friends in Ireland but visiting their roots was not an option.

Years passed and our grandparents kept the stories of Ireland alive in our minds.  Finally, during the ‘60s, when families had saved sufficient funds, the third generation Irish in my area began to realize their long-held dreams to visit the land of their ancestors. My generation, the fourth, followed suit as we longed to visit our motherland where our ancestors had toiled to make a living under the heavy hand of the British.

Our Michigan cousin, a history buff, researched all things Irish. He and his family made several trips to the Old Sod and encouraged us to do likewise.  In preparation, we studied his detailed outline of our family in the Galway region.

In 2013, I had an opportunity to cross the ocean and bask in the sights and sounds of Ireland. As we landed at Shannon airport, old songs of Ireland once sung around our living room piano, came rushing to my mind.  My heart sang, “Where the River Shannon Flows” as I walked over its famous bridge at twilight.  “Christmas in Killarney” came to mind in that pretty city.  Of course, “Galway Bay” hummed in my heart as I sat on a wooden bench staring into peaceful water surrounded by gentle morning mist.  A few days later, at the end of our bus trip around the famous Ring of Kerry, who appeared coming out of a rest area building but my first cousin Ann and her husband from Windsor.  They too, were exploring Ann’s Irish roots.  We were surprised and delighted!

Now in our sixth generation, my brother and his wife recently took their daughter and son, his wife with baby in utero and their two-year-old daughter to see the beauties of Ireland.  The children are young, but already they have been inducted into tending our Irish roots.

-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ 🍀

Header Image: Unsplash/Philipp Baumann; All other Images: The Moylan Family.