Ann Marshall

Good Neighbours Day

Who is my neighbour?  That is a question straight from the bible and in today’s confused society can have many interpretations.  Is the neighbour someone like me? Is my response coloured by moral judgement, feelings of pity, fear or indifference or by love, the right thing to do?

What is stirring in your heart as you look at the innumerable social needs demanding attention. Yes, the needs can be overwhelming and can shut you down but they can also stir you to action.  The choice is personal.

Image: Jon Tyson @jontyson/ Unsplash

I chose to get involved and started to volunteer one morning a week at St. Joe’s Café, our hospitality centre here in downtown London, where the guests who come each morning for breakfast became familiar and I could put names to faces.

Some of the guests come sick and struggling with addictions or homelessness, poverty, or loneliness, and some come for the social contact and the delicious food. The staff and volunteers welcome each person with dignity, kindness and words of understanding and support. As I sat thinking about my experience at the café, I received a call from a friend, a new Canadian, who was asking for advice on how to help two undocumented coworkers who were let go from their workplace. They contacted her in great need. She said to me,

I love Canada, and I want to pay forward the help I was given when I was lost and needed hope to face the future. 

The answer to ‘who is my neighbour’ is revealed each time I step out of my comfort zone to extend kindness, a listening ear, or comfort to a brother or sister in need.

-Sister Ann Marshall, csj

...a Time of Healing

ASH WEDNESDAY….a Time of Healing

Restoring right relationships with self, God, one another, and creation is an act of love that is central in all faith traditions however it is expressed; it is the work of a lifetime and essential to peace and harmony in all creation.  

For Christians, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is an invitation to rethink our relationships with a renewed desire to transcend our ego and live more lovingly with one another. Traditionally the practices of prayer, self-denial, and support of the poor and marginalized seeking justice mark this sacred season. These 40 days are observed in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his public ministry and for us they are a preparation for the celebration of the great feast of Easter, the living out of our mission of love.

For Jews, the ten days of Awe culminating in Yom Kippur are the holiest days of the year, a time of fasting, prayer and reflection focusing on the sins of the past year and seeking forgiveness.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik describes the 5 steps to forgiveness: admit your wrongdoing, detest it in your heart, commit to turning away from it, make restitution and finally ask for God’s forgiveness. Self-forgiveness is an important part of this process of atonement.

Sweat lodge ceremonies, spiritual practices of Indigenous people, are sources of healing, wisdom and gratitude where one purifies the mind, body and soul in order to restore right relationships with creation, our brothers and sisters and the Creator.

Lent is a time to strengthen your relationship with the God of Jesus, a time to reflect on where you are and where your heart is calling you to grow.  God loves you just the way you are but loves you too much to leave you there. The choice is yours.

-Sister Ann Marshall, csj

An Interview about Christian Meditation

My grandson and I have had a nice chat about Christian Meditation. He thought that writing the blog as an interview would be easier for him. 

Hi Sister Ann,

In my blog my Grammy calls me James, that’s my middle name. Thank you for starting Christian meditation, it really got me to believe in God,and I do it all the time, thanks to you. Peace be with you.

Q. What is the best part about Christian Meditation for you?

A. Peace and quiet with God and having a good relationship with God.

Q. How do you get the peace with God?

A. How I get peace with God is easy, I go to a special place in my school and I do Maranatha.

Q. Where is your special place at school?

A. My special place is at the big field and then there is a cabin and right behind the cabin I do Maranatha.

Q. Do you only do Christian Meditation at school?

A. No actually I do it all the time, if I get mad in my house I just go up to my room and I do Christian Meditation. It is very peaceful up in my room. And when I’m done I feel very calm and relaxed. And I’m not angry anymore.

Q. Do you only do Christian Meditation by yourself at school?

A. Actually I do, I used to do it with friends but now I don’t. They all got bored of it.

Written by James.

From James’ mother:

James has definitely benefited from meditation. When we have noticed him getting frustrated and angered he then takes a few minutes to himself and he feels so much better. James has even caught me when I was feeling frustrated and would ask if I needed “maranatha time”? -Cheri, James’mother

The Many Faces of Poverty

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, ‘Some people are so hungry that they only see the face of God in bread’. One can witness this every day on the news from Yemen, Tigray, refugee camps in Kenya, Bangladesh, Haiti and closer to home in shelters for migrants in Western society.

Sometimes when I watch the news, I weep with the mothers who are desperately seeking food for their starving children walking hundreds of kilometers in hope.  Some stories are particularly poignant and remain with me:   a mother who set her dead baby by the side of the road, too weak to bury the body, as she struggled to get her remaining children to a camp in hope of help. Mothers who do not have the luxury of grieving the death of a child because her other children are looking to her for survival. The story of the father who had to make an unconscionable decision to leave his near dead child on the side of a road himself depleted from hunger and responsible for carrying his other children who were too weak to walk while being pursued by gruella warfare. Doctors at camps who cannot hold out hope for pleading mothers because they no longer have medicines or food for these extremely malnourished and starving children.

This is the chaotic world we share brought on by human activity: war, climate crisis, greed, and indifference.  However, it need not be the end of the story if we, you, and I, choose to make a difference, step out of our comfort zone and do that one thing of which we are capable and which we have been avoiding.  Listen to your heart and act now - later will be too late. 

-Sister Ann Marshall, csj

Resources of note:

Remember your local Food Bank this season.

CANADA DAY - ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

July 1, Canada Day: From Another Perspective

Our hard-working Refugee Committee has had the privilege of welcoming and accompanying several individuals and families settle in Canada over the past 7 years. I invited 3 individuals to share the significance of becoming a Canadian Citizen.  Their names are withheld for privacy reasons, but their stories are uplifting and instructive.

One woman from Eritrea came to Canada through Cairo, a second woman fled Ethiopia to Cairo and then on to Canada, the third a young man who immigrated from Thailand. We feel blessed to have been a part of their journey, and share their feelings this Canada Day.

-Sister Ann Marshall, csj

Image: Unsplash/Hermes Rivera

1.       I have voted for the first time!  Canada is very important to me because I believe it is the most peaceful country in the world.  It is my country that gave me the freedom to speak and learn.  Above all, I have received equality, honor, and respect from this blessed country.  When I am in Canada, I feel much safer than in any other country. 

I want to say a lot, but I do not know enough words to describe my country, Canada, and the people in Canada.  God chose me to be a Canadian - who I could be.  I love Canada and everything about Canada and Canadians!

Image: Unsplash/Lewis Parsons

2.       Being a Canadian citizen to me is critical. Being a Canadian citizen means, being a person who has the freedom to travel in and outside the country with respect and safety, and always knowing that you would come back home at any time. As well as having access to more opportunities in the communities. For example, having the right to vote, and working in the parliament. In addition, speaking up for your rights against the government.

Image of Thailand: Unsplash/Panuson Norkaew

3.       This is what I have been feeling about citizenship. There is a tiny hole in my chest whenever people ask me "Where are you from?", I always answered, "I am from Thailand."  I also wanted to tell them that I'm not Thai but I am Burmese from Thailand. If I say it, it usually causes confusion, and I must explain to them why and how. So, I don't usually say it. Also, I am not really proud of myself for saying I am from Thailand because I am not a Thai citizen. I cannot really say I am Burma/Myanmar citizen either. 

I was born in Thailand and raised in a refugee camp. My parents are from Burma/Myanmar, which makes us a Burmese family. As a Burmese child who did not legally become a Thai citizen according to Thai law even though, I was born in Thailand. Also, I did not have Burma/Myanmar citizenship because I was not born in Burma/Myanmar. Legally speaking, I do not have a country until this. Now, I can say I am a Burmese Canadian proudly. Becoming a Canadian citizen will fill the tiny hole in my chest next time I get asked. I think this is why it is important to me to be a Canadian Citizen.