Praying Hope: A Paradox for Today

Many moons ago, the parish I attended organized a Lenten ecumenical series with weekly reflections on various approaches to praying. One session focused on “Praying with the News”.

Last week, as I was skimming the Saturday paper, memories of that long ago session came back to me. The focus was the importance of praying for all those affected by global disasters and those struggling with world and local events recorded in the news. Part of the week’s session included prayers of intercession for all the problems arising at that time. But what of now? Such prayers are still vital for the world. They are part of our human and faith commitment, entrusting the unfolding of the world to God, sending out care, hope and love in these, our, days.

Now, as we continue to greet a new year, the world is facing extraordinary times of uncertainty, and for many, days of anxiety and fear, continuing war, violence, impoverishment and environmental degradation. Like each of you, I suspect, I/we are hearing voices from family, friends and colleagues who are feeling overwhelmed to the point of “giving up” on the news. Many express feelings of being entrapped by darkness or despair; paralyzed to respond.

So what then of “praying with the news?” Reading the paper I found myself wondering if even our praying in such a way engulfs us more deeply in a negative narrative in which hope seems imperceptible.

Then I woke up to the fact that this wasn’t the sum total of my reading. I was also reading stories of care, concern, kindness and service, sometimes “sacrificial” service.  I read of the wonderfully “giving-life” of President Jimmy Carter. I read of people opening their homes to those left homeless by the LA fires, of the Pennsylvania Amish community gathered to build small homes in the aftermath of the devastating storms in North Carolina. I was encouraged by a story of people in the U.S. donating to Canadian leadership in refugee service and resettlement, by entrepreneurs bringing creativity to and investment in providing light for children in Africa, allowing them to study at night, and I was touched by accounts of numerous small acts of kindness toward neighbours and for environmental healing.

Image: Jon Tyson @jontyson/Unsplash

Immersed in such stories I was lifted beyond feelings of helplessness. Perhaps praying with the news is also then about praying in gratitude for such inspired goodness, for the people involved, for the beauty and gifting of creation, opening us to a more balanced perspective as we look at the world. Engaging prayerfully in such stories is a reminder of hope and promise. Positive news of this kind inspires each of us to commit to “the more”. It helps unbind us from the entrapment of fear, anxiety, despair and inaction. It calls us to place goodness at the heart of our lives and in the world. As American journalist, Hunter Thompson wrote:

“Good news is rare in these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.”

In praying with today’s good news we are invited to place life-enhancing energy in the world without a need to know what its gift and impact may be. In placing positive energy in the world we become expanders of that energy, carriers of hope, beacons of promise and possibility, people who can truly “real-ize” a life beyond perceived impasse. Carmelite nun, Sister Constance Fitzgerald says: “It is only in the process of bringing impasse to prayer, to the perspective of the God who loves us, that our society will be freed, healed, changed, brought to paradoxical new visions, and freed for nonviolent, selfless, liberating action, freed, therefore, for community on this planet earth.” So let’s pray with the good news, let it transfigure our lives for personal peace and free us for good.

-Sister Mary Rowell, CSJ

Image: Philipp Düsel @philipp_dice | Unsplash

It's Gonna Be Great

I mentioned to a friend at breakfast the other morning that I was on the lookout for another company tagline to lay the framework for a new blog.  She quickly suggested using, “It’s Gonna Be Great.” adding the comment, “I don’t think it’s a tagline.” I reached into the basket of my walker for my iPhone and googled, “It’s Gonna Be Great!” I soon discovered "It's Gonna Be Great" is a fast-paced song by Bud Luckey and Jim Cummings, sung by Tigger and Eeyore in the Disney film, Winnie the Pooh.

Tigger: It's gonna be great, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be great! Eeyore: Well, I'm not sure.
Tigger: Oh, stop that gloomy rumination, All you need is a little bit of Tiggerization.
Eeyore: Wait!
Tigger: Why wait? Don't you see it's gonna be great? It's gonna be great, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be great!

Later in the day, I recalled that the prophet Jeremiah, in the biblical Book of Lamentations, offered spiritual seekers similar encouragement and motivation to rise and positively step into each new day.

The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue.

Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.

With my spirits lightened, reassured, and comforted by song lyrics and scriptural wisdom, I ended the day ready for the coming of tomorrow.

Indeed, amid world events and tensions we frequently find ourselves in need of the antidote for gloomy rumination and more than a little bit of Tiggerization and scriptural comfort.

Let us remain hopeful as we do our part to contribute in making it’s gonna to be great a reality.

-Sister Nancy Wales

image: Lucian @luciandachman | Unsplash

Accounting for One’s Hope

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

We might find ourselves at times somewhat hesitant to answer this soul-searching question posed in 1 Peter 3:15. Yet, being ready to give an accounting for one’s hope has the power to ground us. Furthermore, I trust it has the potential to be life-giving for others.

Regarding hope, a newly published book by Maude Barlow caught my attention. As an avid bookworm, how could I resist adding it to my library? The writer is a well- known Canadian activist and author. She openly admits in the first sentence of the introduction that she has been contemplating the notion of hope for a long time. In her book, Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism, Barlow, without hesitation, eloquently delivers the reasoning behind her hopefulness amid global trauma.

The author relays her life experiences during her forty plus years as a social activist. She was active politically during the struggle for the expansion of women’s rights, the battle against free trade and globalization, and the global fight for water justice. Her recollections transport the reader through the twisting, slow course of societal transformation while conveying the lessons she has learned in the process. Barlow provides the reader with 223 pages of wisdom and encouragement. Woven within her engaging storytelling are eight cameo appearances of other notable changemakers who answer the question, “Where do you find hope?” Together with Barlow, they contribute an antidote to the temptation to succumb to a growing sense of universal pessimism.

At right, Maude Barlow being interviewed about Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism and here is a link to a wonderful 4-minute interview on Global News.

 -Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Hooked!

I could say I am hooked on crocheting during this latter part of the pandemic. It is incredible what a ball of yarn and a crochet hook can do for you.  Did you know research found knitting and crocheting lowers heart rate and blood pressure? Besides many other benefits, it also calms anxiety.  Perfect during this long pandemic, for what could make any of us more anxious than this pandemic with its numerous unfathomable unknowns. Studies also show that people in my age range and up who are “knitters and crocheters have the healthiest brains and memories.” (https://littlethings.com/lifestyle)  

Besides the mental and psychological benefits of crocheting, there are also physical ones, such as improved hand-eye dexterity and coordination.  It is not surprising, then, that crocheting has been popular for a long time.  For one thing, it is portable, as all you need are a simple hook and yarn. I would say, let us keep knitting or crocheting and if you do not know how, this just may be the perfect time to learn these skills.

Frontline 'hero bear’

Perhaps you are wondering what causes me to write about a hook and yarn in this reflection. Trust me, I am not about to spin a yarn, but here is my tale. While crocheting a baby blanket recently, I began to cogitate about how this pandemic continues to impact our lives in so many ways. While looking at the crochet hook in my hand, and the yarn wrapped around my fingers, it struck me what a great symbol a hook and yarn are for what we are busy doing right now during this pandemic - shaping a new reality.

Life tends to be bittersweet much of the time. I dare say, this pandemic is no different. When planet earth hooked the Covid-19 virus, we were thrust into this global catastrophe. For many, this pandemic has been a devastating experience.  Yet, if we take a moment to cast a backward glance over these past fourteen months, we may just be amazed to also discover many blessings.  We all know about the many tragedies and how much in our world has changed during this pandemic. It has not only changed our lives, it has changed us, or as author Charlie Mackesy puts it, "Isn't it odd, we can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside.”

Yes, so much of what has happened has impacted and changed our innermost being. You may have come upon the saying doing the rounds on social media, “There are 4 ways you can come out this pandemic. A chunk, a drunk, a monk, or a hunk.” There is undoubtedly some truth to this, which brings me back to the hook. In response to the stress of the pandemic, what may have happened on our insides that got us hooked on things on the outside?  Are we now hooked on something lifegiving, like crocheting for example? Or are we hooked on something destructive, causing us to flounder or even to fall for it, hook, line, and sinker? Getting unhooked from any destructive habits, whatever they may be, is never easy.  However, getting unhooked from such habits triggered by the pandemic is a step in the right direction to reclaim our happiness and freedom, especially now that there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

In crocheting a hook is used to interlock loops of yarn.  Not all hooks or yarns are created equal; neither are we. Our individual life threads are unique ‘yarns’ and we each have unique hooks (talents) to interlock the threads of our present reality into a new, life-giving reality. What has been unveiled during this pandemic, is that we really are one, and not merely one in a virtual reality. We need each other to shape the new reality we all long for.

To create such a reality, we all need to discover anew our own hook, our own gifts.  Even if it is just one hook, let us use it for the good of all, for the future of all of us.  In her delightful children’s book, The Invisible String, Patrice Karst writes about people being connected by love over long distances by an ‘invisible string.’ If this pandemic has taught us nothing else, it has shown us how our invisible, individual life threads are hooked and interlocked with the threads of everyone else throughout the entire world. Even more importantly, let us remember, we are interlocked by a life-giving ‘invisible string’ with God, gracing us with all we need to shape our new reality. 

“we are interlocked by a life-giving ‘invisible string’ with God, gracing us with all we need to shape our new reality. ”

Blessed and strengthened by this grace, and relying on each other’s goodwill, we can shape a new future, a life-giving reality. I dare say if we are hooked on hope - we can do it, together.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps