The Third Sunday of Lent - Are you Curious?

The Scripture readings for the third Sunday of Lent (Year C), advances a belief that one can have a personal relationship with the Divine.

Moses sees a bush burning but is not being consumed.  He is curious.  He moves closer.

He hears a voice call his name “Moses”.   To hear one’s name is to believe that one is known. The voice warns Moses that he treads on holy ground and is to remove his shoes.

During this intimate encounter Moses learns his mission in life and learns the name of the Master pursuing him, “I AM, WHO I AM”.  This Divine voice identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 

The personal relationship established in this encounter will require trust and faithful obedience if it is to continue. God reveals Himself to Moses; the encounter begins with simple curiosity but evolves into an extraordinary exchange with the Divine.  Moses must now have a heart that remains humble and faithful to God.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells the story of another tree-the fig tree that is not bearing fruit.  In his parable, the owner of the vineyard wants to cut down the fig tree, but a compassionate gardener pleads for more time to nurture it before cutting the tree down. 

Everything is being done to bring the tree to the fulfilment of its purpose for being that is, to bear fruit.  The owner of the vineyard grants one more year of life to the fig tree.  Jesus is teaching a lesson of mercy to his disciples.  By gratefully receiving the mercy of the owner of the vineyard and accepting the compassionate care of the gardener the fig tree is given extra time to bear fruit. In a personal relationship with the Divine each is given the gift of mercy and time to bear good fruit.

Now is there a tree in your life that can pique your curiosity and draw you into an extraordinary relationship with the Divine?

-Sister Elaine Cole, CSJ

Images: Unsplash: Andy Watkins/Michal Hlaváč/

World Day of Prayer 2025

February is the shortest month of the year and we are already looking at March and planning for World Day of Prayer which always takes place each year on the first Friday of March.

This year's prayer service was put together by the women of the Cook Islands and is to be celebrated on March 7, 2025.  I appreciated finding this attached video because I had no idea where the Cook Islands were.  The women of the Cook Islands tell their story as indigenous people being colonized and their story is not unlike that of the indigenous people in our own country of Canada.

““I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.””

— Psalm 139

If you wish to take part in the prayer service, please search for the Christian Churches in your area that will be gathering to pray together for the women of the Cook Islands.

-Sister Elaine Cole, CSJ

Image: Hanny Naibaho/Unsplash

About Family

In Alberta, it was noted that February was a month without a day to have a holiday celebration.  Alberta passed the first Family Day Act in 1990.  The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta—Helen Hunley—established the third Monday of every February as Alberta Family Day.  Other Provinces adopted the holiday over the next twenty years.  Saskatchewan founded “Family Days” in 2007, and Ontario followed in 2008 then British Columbia in 2013.  British Columbia is the only province to choose the second Monday of the month instead of the third Monday. Other Provinces have adopted similar holidays in February.

Family Day is meant to provide an opportunity to spend quality time strengthening family relationships.  I’m reminded of the scripture from Exodus 20:12, that reads

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you”.

You may recognize this as the Fourth Commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  It’s rather curious to note that this is the only Commandment with a condition attached, with a ‘provisio’.  Respect, esteem shown your parents merits long life wherever God is leading you.  This could be one interpretation of the Fourth Commandment.

I believe the Indigenous Community live instinctively their love, respect and esteem for their elders and merit to live long in this God-given land.

Perhaps we should focus on our families showing the members love, respect and esteem, so that we too can live long and peacefully in this land we call Canada.

-Sister Elaine Cole, CSJ

An Indispensable Man

Years ago, when I moved and began teaching at a new school with a new staff, I found this poem in my mailbox.  It touched me in a positive way; so much so, that I kept it all these years.

“THE INDISPENSABLE MAN

Sometime, when you’re feeling important,
Sometime, when your ego’s in bloom,
Sometime, when you take it for granted,
You’re the best qualified in the room:
Sometime when you feel, that your going,
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions,
And see how it humbles your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out, and the hole that’s remaining,
Is a measure of how you’ll be missed.
You can splash all you please when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you’ll find that in no time,
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral in this quaint example,
Is to do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself, but remember,
There’s no indispensable man.”

— by Saxon White Kessinger

On December 30, we celebrate the anniversary of the death of Father Jean-Pierre Médaille, S.J. who founded our Community of the Sisters of St. Joseph 375 years ago. 

When I think of putting my hand into a bucket of water up to my wrist and taking it out without stirring or splashing, I imagine this man travelling from village to village in France, just doing the best that he could for the women of his time trying to do for the suffering people around them the best that they could.

It was my privilege to visit France over twenty years ago.  The place where Father Médaille was buried has become a parking lot and I envision not only the humility of this man but also the humility of St. Joseph the patron Saint of our Community.  It seems to me that it was not so much their physical presence on earth at the time that was important, but it was the lasting effect of what they allowed God to do with their lives on Earth that was and is still important.

When they lived their lives on Earth and then disappeared, our Earth was not “quite the same as before.”

-Sister Elaine Cole, CSJ

Memory Work - First Day of Fall

When I was a child ‘memory work’ was very important in school.  As a child, it was a big effort to learn prayers by rote, to memorize perfectly the answers to the questions in our Catechism, and to memorize certain numbers of lines of poetry.

Then later in life I began to understand all the things I had memorized as a child.  The prayers, Catechism answers and poems, were no longer just words strung together but the words I had memorized found their way to my heart.

Trees by Joyce Kilmer, is one of the poems that touches my heart every year as I ponder their awe-inspiring beauty in the Autumn of their lives.  I’ve even found that my memory works best when I sing the poem. 

May these words reach your heart today.

-Sister Elaine Cole, csj

Trees

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the Earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer, 1886-1918

Images: Ricardo Gomez Angel @rgaleriacom | Aaron Burden @aaronburden Unsplash