Make the Season Kind

CBC is embracing a heartwarming campaign to spread the Christmas spirit. Their public service announcements feature a series of recognizable public figures sharing the message of “make the season kind.” To augment this message each celebrity stands holding a cardboard box filled to the brim with groceries. These PSAs encourage us all to make the season kind, highlighting the importance of giving.

Reflecting on these powerful messages, I found myself pondering a “what if.” What if people calculated the amount they spend on Christmas shopping and redirected a portion of it to their local food bank? Historically, tithing has meant contributing a tenth of one's income to a faith community. What if we considered applying this same practice to food security by calculating 10% of our Christmas spending and donating to a food bank. In light of your calculated amount, making a donation, in whole or in part, would be a meaningful, modern twist or addition to a long-standing practice.

I donated 10% of the amount I calculated that I spent on gifts this holiday season to my local food bank. I offer a friendly challenge to those of you who are fortunate enough to enjoy food security -  make your own donation.

Let us make this season one of giving in a way that truly nourishes our communities. ‘Tis the Season. 💗

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: JESHOOTS.COM @jeshoots/ Unsplash

Rebuilding the World

The Danish construction toy company, Lego, promotes the “Rebuild the world” campaign to create a better, kinder, more fun place. Current times are often best described as unsettled, uncertain and often unkind. Now is the time to respond to the clarion call for people of goodwill to help fashion a better, kinder and a more fun place, in which to live. How might we envision this place in which all would be welcomed and safe? As you imagine this better world, focus on what you see around you. Next, consider what needs to change to take this fancied place to a wholesome world that all can experience as reality.

In my Advent reflections, I recognize that the role I can play to make a difference is in my everyday interactions, small acts of kindness, and the manner in which I use my words and actions to build trust and understanding. I can listen more carefully, speak with empathy, and take steps to ensure that others feel heard. I can advocate for fairness and justice, using my voice to support those who need it. Most importantly, I can create and nurture spaces where others feel safe to express themselves without fear of judgment.

As we move through Advent and into the new year, I commit to engaging in actions — big and small — that help to build this better world. It’s in every moment that we choose to act with courage and kindness, and every time we look beyond ourselves to see the needs of others.

As Thomas Douglas, a Canadian politician, who championed universal health care against all odds urged fellow Canadians, "Courage, my friends, ‘tis not too late to build a better world." Let us take his confidence to heart, and through our words and actions, add one more Lego block in the creation of safer, kinder towns and cities.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Xavi Cabrera @xavi_cabrera/ Unsplash

Spreading Goodwill - Giving Tuesday

True giving from the heart is an expression of love.

~ Cara Stein

Spreading Goodwill

Each year, businesses capitalize on the media frenzy surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday, hoping to lure in early Christmas shoppers. These high points of consumerism, however, are the opposite of what Giving Tuesday represents. Giving Tuesday, held on the first Tuesday after American Thanksgiving, is an international day of giving that kicks off the Christmas and holiday season. It has grown in popularity and received positive reception, with large corporations like Google and Microsoft acting as supporters and promoters.

On Giving Tuesday, individuals are invited to respond to the calls for support from a wide spectrum of charitable organizations, contributing funds that enable these groups to continue providing vital, supportive services.

This December 3rd, consider yourself invited to participate in the spirit of the season by contributing to one of our local charities, thereby gifting neighbors and spreading goodwill in our community.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Image: Unsplash/Lina Trochez @lmtrochezz

The Blessing of Memories

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they are called memories. Some take us forward, they are called dreams. ”

— Jeremy Irons

Today, my heart was touched by the blessing of memories. The month of November offers me several occasions to think of my departed loved ones, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, and the anniversary of my mom’s death on the 19th.

As I recalled my loved ones, the phrase of our Jewish neighbours,  “May her or his memory be a blessing,” came to mind. One of the gifts of longer years is the treasure-house built up of memories to access, to be enjoyed. The beautiful human ability to evoke times, places, and relationships is indeed, as our faith companions often say, a blessing.

I invite you to recall one particular memory stored in your heart’s treasure house of memories today and behold the blessing.

-Nancy Wales, CSJ

IMAGES: Unsplash/Nathan Dumlao; Alex Guillaume

Celebrating Mother St. John Fontbonne

Love in the Underground

Mother St. John’s Anniversary of Death, November 22

Most of us are stunned with the recent results of the U.S. election.  For us Canadians, it is almost unbelievable that such a majority of Americans, our friends and allies, could choose Donald Trump over an excellent, integrous and forward-looking candidate like Kamala Harris.  How could this happen?

I won’t join the hordes of pundits who are trying to analyze what the Democrats did wrong, or what the Republicans did right.  What interests me, is just what is going on world-wide that makes this happening understandable?

The world’s pulse shows us a global shift to the far right, politically.  Many countries have had elections in the recent months and nearly all have opted to oust the incumbent, and choose someone farther to the right, more conservative, a party or an individual who promises to “make America great again”, “fix what is broken”, or “restore common sense” and make things stable the way they used to be.

People everywhere are experiencing chaos on many levels: floods, hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, wildfires; housing crises, rising interest rates, economic instability, political polarization and upheaval of many kinds. Even the Catholic Church is experiencing the revolt of some Bishops and rebellion against Pope Francis’ leadership. Chaos seems to reign.

This is a scary moment to be alive. Folks are looking for something, someone, who can restore some order and stability. And so, they reach for someone who looks like a strong leader, who seems very sure of him/herself, confident and unafraid.  So they vote for an apparently strong leader, one whom they think will take charge, get a grip on things and bring them back to “normal”, i.e. the known, the secure, the stable. Of course, we all want stability and predictability. 

However, that impulse will not give us what we are looking for if that leader takes us in the wrong direction. Going back is not the way forward.  Helping us to ruin the environment even faster than at our current rate, will not bring us more stable global temperatures.  Deporting our countrymates, bullying other nations, reacting with force will not bring about peace.  Manipulating the markets for our own profit, will not produce economic stability.  These actions proceed from fear and end up producing more fear. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”

Species that survive as the world evolves are not those that cling to their old ways of behaving, but those that adapt, change, and find new ways of doing things.  These species are not acting out of fear, but out of an urgency to survive.  Those that survive are not the majority, but they are the ones that make it to the next stage in the evolutionary process.

The earth and the universe proceed from Love and thrive on love.  When fear is the major dynamic at work, we need to counter that fear with creativity, bonding, mutual assistance, i.e. love, hope, trust, and gentle confidence.  In this war of world-views, “moving with love” is our way forward.  During the Second World War, thousands of people refused to cooperate with the Reich, by quietly working underground, harboring Jews, forging false documents to create new identities for them, carrying messages to the allied forces, and generally reaching across the divide, to do good, to be who they believed they were and wanted to be into the future. In time, that underground swell helped to carry the day.  Today we are called to be the underground, cooperating with the universe in its evolution into Love:  under the lies, to speak truth; under the hatred, to spread love, under the bullying to stand up for the undocumented, or the minorities, under the vociferous far-right of some versions of Christianity, to live the Gospel truth of love, compassion, inclusion and sharing.  It’s not glamorous.  It’s not big screen, but it is effective.  And it is Gospel. 

Mother St.John Fontbonne

Mother St. John and her Sisters lived through the reign of terror of the French Revolution.  Their moment in history took them there.  Our moment in history takes us here, now.  Will we react with fear, or keep on “moving with love”?

-Sister Mary Diesbourg, csj