Local Crops that Feed the World

This summer, while travelling the highways and byways of our beautiful countryside, did you ever wonder what happens to the crops in the fields along the way after they are harvested?  Well, here’s one answer.  Tucked into the landscape on Hwy. 8 in southwestern Ontario is the pretty town of Mitchell.  Set off to the left amid the fields ripe for the harvest and down a lane sits a constellation of huge silos and dryers waiting to receive the precious mature grains from the millions of acres of crops grown in the miles of surrounding fields.

A small army of skilled workers labor year-round and especially during the summer months at Mitchell’s mammoth grain elevators to receive the bountiful harvest of corn, canola, soybeans, white beans, etc.  Following the harvest, these grains are hauled by an assortment of huge trucks and grain wagons to the waiting elevators where they are sorted and dried, if necessary.  Then, the produce is poured into various sized bags and bins and shipped worldwide.  Some of the countries receiving the grains include the USA, Europe, England, Australia New Zealand, and parts of Africa.

My nephew has been employed at the Mitchell grain elevators for several decades. On chatting with him recently, I was amazed as he related the daily process to prepare crops from field to destination to ensure that the product will make its way around the world to feed the hungry in foreign lands. This scenario is repeated many times in grain elevators that dot the land throughout our countryside. Indeed, across Canada, many other foods are grown locally and exported to distant places. Think of potatoes from PEI, grains, and a variety of vegetables from Ontario, wheat from the prairie provinces, delicious apples from Beautiful BC as well as dairy products from most provinces. These are a fraction of products grown in Canada’s fields and greenhouses.

Not all land in Canada is arable. We must pay close attention to protecting rural areas and precious farm soil.  I’m sure you’ve heard the recent saying, “They’re not making land anymore”.  Therefore, I wonder how a group of greedy developers could convince Ontario’s premier to dip into Toronto’s Green Belt and destroy thousands of acres of precious protected land! Thank God for the uprising of thousands of voices that caused the Ontario government to reverse its decision and enable the Green Belt to continue to help feed the world for generations to come.

 -Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

IMAGE: Unsplash/Ant Rozetsky

A Grateful Heart - Blessings of Creation

What a generous Creator we have and what fruits and blessings are ours from Mother Earth!

Autumn colours along the Hay River

We have been gifted in so many ways. As the Season of Creation ends, and we ready ourselves for Thanksgiving weekend, my heart is moved by all I have experienced, been taught, and so graciously been gifted.

During the past 34 years, living and working in the Diocese of Mackenzie – Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, sharing life with many Indigenous brothers and sisters, I have come to grow in the spirit of generosity and thankfulness.

One of the valuable lessons I have been taught is to always be thankful and respectful to the Creator and Mother Earth for the gifts that have been given. The years I have lived in the fly-in community of Lutsel K’e, on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake and now, among the Dene at Katlodeeche First Nations in Hay River, I have become more aware and try to live in a spirit of gratitude. As my friend, Georgina reminds me, “We must always be thankful and say Mahsi and then give back to the land”. Often the gift of tobacco is offered.

I have learned to be aware and grateful for such gifts as safe passage on the lake and the river, the abundance of fish, many varieties of berries, sap dripping down the trunk of a spruce tree hardening to spruce gum, many plants with medicinal and healing qualities.

Haskaps, sheltered by their leaves

This past summer I experienced an opportunity to be grateful to Mother Earth for the gift of haskaps, a berry I had been introduced to a few years ago. My friend, Sheila, was thinning her bushes and gave me 5 or 6 saplings, rather scrawny looking ones. Although scrawny, their roots were tender but strong. I planted them and the saplings survived the first winter and then the next. In the third year the saplings had grown into a low bush and produced blossoms. Last summer a few berries appeared. This summer the bush produced abundantly.

Just enough haskaps for a recipe

The haskap bush produces fruit in the month of July. To look at my bush you would think it was only a lovely green shrub as the berries grow inside, under the leaves. In abundance, I picked every few days. It seemed like the bush never stopped giving. I picked just what was needed for the recipe I was following.

As I picked, I was very aware of my responsibility to be grateful for the berries that grew. I did not have tobacco to offer the land for her generous gift of the berries. I thought, “What gift can I give? What are my gifts that I can share in thanksgiving to the Creator for the generosity of these berries?”

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I live beside the river, and I have been gifted with a beautiful singing voice. And so, I offered a song. I sang “By Cedars They Shall Stand”. I sang in thanksgiving not only for the berries but for the ways I am gifted each day.

-Sister Maggie Beaudette, CSJ

World Teachers' Day

GOD BLESS TEACHERS one and all!  

Yes, those of the past, present, and future, in any and all parts of our world!  Teachers are water to precious sprouting seeds, that parents have planted.  Teachers to children, are sunshine affirming dreams, giving branch to new dreams of these fragile flowers.  They are the leaders/builders and parents of the future.

Image: Unsplash/CDC

Teachers are not created equal, nor are parents, or any other group of skilled workers created equal.  We are not robots, clones. Teachers come into the profession with the best of intentions, talents, just like the rest of us in whatever we do, and they have my admiration and respect.

Sr. Teresa Hayes with Renfrew girls at St. Joseph’s Academy | CSJ ARCHIVES

I hold strong admiration too, for the women who immigrated to Canada/US for the purpose of being teachers in the new world, among these women, were the Sisters of St Joseph (1851 Philadelphia).  They accomplished much with sparse communal and academic resources, in a similar but lesser way than teachers in Third World countries must do today.

In Africa, as an example, the zeal to learn in children is very strong and the needs for bare basics in all areas of life are enormous. Out of this poverty, leaders will rise because the spirit of God prevails in and through all things, and even despite human errors and limitations.

However, today, in our time, it is fitting and imperative that first world countries continue to reach out to help. The need has never been greater, due to added stressors from climate change, for which we are all largely responsible.  I suggest that in a collective healing and loving way, right now, we do more than just read this article, know facts, and feel helpless. We can also get involved as suggested below:

Image: Unsplash/Leonardo Toshiro Okubo

Today, now, as a small gesture of Solidarity and Thanksgiving, let us take a few moments to visualize and send a blessing out to all teachers past, present or future throughout out world but especially mindful of Third World population that hunger and thirst daily for education and basic needs.

As you begin…

• Take two or three deep relaxing breaths, then close your eyes…sense the heart area in your body… notice your chest expanding and contracting during two or three slow deep breaths in and out. 

• Visualize before you, planet earth, suspended in quiet dark universe…see it surrounded by billions and billions of bright stars, as you take in this remarkable view, notice how peaceful and quiet it is around you.

• Feel in your heart a stirring of energy. Visualize that energy moving outward towards earth radiating over earth and blessing all teachers, filling them with healing light and love, wisdom and gratitude.

Be with this sharing a few moments longer - then, when you are ready, let this visualization fade from your awareness and open your eyes.

-Sister Patricia St. Louis, csj          

A Book Launch

Book Launch:  In the Fullness of Time

On a beautiful fall afternoon, a special book launch was held at the Sisters of St. Joseph residence to celebrate the publication of Sister Kathleen Lyons’ book, “In the Fullness of Time”.  Printed in slim booklet form, it distills the wisdom mined in significant dreams that the author received throughout her adult life – a gift given to us in her 93rd year.

With the invitation of Pope Francis to a synodal process urging the world to embrace the pressing issues of humanity, Sister Kathleen was inspired to share the wisdom of her dreams regarding the importance of the feminine in the culture and the Church. The Pontiff’s teachings and urgings for our world to embrace the pressing issues of humanity today drew Sister Kathleen to respond to the call for wholeness by sharing her insights gleaned in the messages communicated to her through her dreams. The Pope’s urgings set forth a clarion call to free the feminine spirit that has been held captive for centuries in our world and Church.

Working with a Jungian psychologist in Switzerland, Sister Kathleen learned to bring the unconscious into consciousness, contemplating dreams and surfacing their symbols.  Thus, she was able to decipher significant dreams and relay their messages to others.

In tandem with the dream messages, Sister highlights significant scripture passages which call us to a new wholeness where everyone’s voice, especially the feminine, is heard in society and in the Church.  New beginnings must also replace the repressive structures that stifle the voice of women longing to have their truth revealed and respected.

The thrust toward unleashing the feminine spirit that leads to wholeness is urged today by Pope Francis in his speaking, writings, and bold new action.  His recent proclamation of the synodality process whereby we listen to ALL voices in our Church is right in line with the prophetic words of hope and possibility about which Sister Kathleen has described eloquently.    

At the end of Sister Kathleen’s presentation, one of our Sisters stated, prophetically:

 “In the Fullness of Time” is a small book but it seems to be evolutionary.

Can you not see what is happening in our Church and society?

Are we on the precipice of change?

YES!

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj

Moving Forward with Truth and Reconciliation

Moving Forward with Truth and Reconciliation…

As I write this blog I carry with me the experience I had at the gathering at the N’Amerind centre in London to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, 2022.  Many people gathered from the Reserves around London and within the city.  This moment carried within it a strong message of hope that we want to move forward in strengthening the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. 

As soon as I joined the crowd and heard the MC welcome everyone, people began turning to each other and introducing themselves.  The jingle dances then warmed the circle with their movement to the beat of the sacred drum.  It was not long after that that we were invited to join in the circle dance holding hands and moving together again to the beat of the drum.  This was a symbol of what can be and how we all can learn to move together.

Finally, the unveiling of the art created by some very talented Indigenous artists along with an explanation of the meaning of this art was so important to capture the intent of this day.  I know there is much healing to be done. However, the day did not centre on the pain of the Residential Schools but began with welcome and an invitation to learn from the symbols, the stories, the dance of these people and an opportunity to approach this day with curiosity, and appreciation of their deep spirituality.   And it can begin with the stories which the paintings reveal.  These murals invite us to take some time to let the art speak to us or raise question. This is a new way to help us learn from the work of artists who can use their talent to reveal some very fundamental insights of Truth and Reconciliation. 

-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ | Office for Systemic Justice