Oh, Forget It

Leaving the grocery store carrying the few items I had purchased in my half-filled shopping bag, a young man approached me from a parking space between two cars in the parking lot. He wore a small toque, a light gray jacket, no gloves and said quietly, “Can you spare some change?” Whether it was my startled eyes dancing between my mask and my parka, or perhaps, wisps of grey hair poking out from under my hood, or maybe it was because I was starting to put down my groceries, but he quickly added with a smile, “O, forget it” and walked on.

Forget it indeed! How can I forget it? It has become a little bit like purgatory is going to be because I keep reflecting on the incident and remember that my first thought was, “Thank goodness I had decided not to bring my big purse but only a small change purse deep in my pocket.”

Only after that internal sigh of relief did I begin thinking about what I should have done or could have done for the young man. My relief then turned to feelings of guilt because he was probably in his late twenties and his beautiful smile revealed a missing front tooth; I could have offered him the bananas in my bag; I could have given him the Tim Horton’s gift card in my pocket that still had $6.00 on it.

I don’t really know why the young man wanted some “spare change”. He wore no mask and couldn’t have gone into any store around our area to make a purchase. Maybe he needed to buy a mask, not food? I’ll never know but I do know that I pray someone will give him whatever help he needs and when they do maybe I’ll be able to forget it and walk on.

-Sister Elaine Cole, csj

Sailing to America - A Story from the Calendar of Remembrance

In 1836 six Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyon set sail from Le Havre, France for the St. Louis Diocese in the United States. Sisters Fébronie and Delphine Fontbonne, Marguerite-Félicité Bouté, Fébronie Chapellon, St. Protaise Deboille and Philomène Vilaine were the first missionaries to North America.

We mark this day in remembrance that our Canadian communities are rooted in this history. It is said that when Mother St. John Fontbonne became the first superior after the French Revolution, the birth of new CSJ communities proliferated “like a swarm of bees”.

For an interesting commentary, we invite you to view:

This video was made by Mount Saint Mary’s University - History of the Sisters of St. Joseph - Mother St. John, Part II. The story of being missioned to America begins at 4:32.

Winter Solstice 2020

IN THE DARKNESS, BE THE LIGHT!

The cycle of the seasons includes times of darkness and times of light.  Winter Solstice is associated with renewal, a time of rebirth of the Sun and Light.  The first day of winter, December 21st marks the time of the year when the darkness will give way to the light.  Together with all creation in our Northern Hemisphere, we remember that the longest night of the year is a sign and a promise that the sun will lengthen our days once more.  In this Advent season, we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Christ who is “the true Light, the Light of the World.” 

In the beautiful prologue to John’s Gospel we read: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  The theme of darkness is a common thread running throughout the course of our lives.  Even our body was formed in the darkness of our mother’s womb.  When we were born, we passed from darkness into light.  In fact, I was born on the Winter Solstice and light and darkness are part of who I am.  Since birth, I have had an inoperable cataract on my right eye.  While I have vision in my left eye, I do not have sight in my right eye.  I was given the precious gifts of sight and light and not total blindness and darkness.

Some of my most treasured memories of growing up near Lake Huron include the awesome sunrises and sunsets which continue to speak to me of God’s faithfulness.  When a thunderstorm was brewing, my Dad, siblings and I gathered the animals into the barn.  In the safety of our cozy farmhouse, we watched fascinating lightning streak across the tumultuous sky.  Even today I feel deeply safe and secure amidst the storms of life.  God’s embrace shelters me in the depths of my being.  When I witness a rainbow arc across the dark sky, I am filled with delight remembering God’s covenant with us.

In the cool of the evening, after the work was done, my family would often relax in the backyard gazing at diamond-like stars in the summer night sky.  Sometimes we would catch a glimpse of fireflies flitting around us.  During an annual retreat, fireflies became symbols of faith and hope flickering in the darkness.  

People too can be tiny sparks of light bringing hope to others in their stormy night skies.  I remember light-filled people who have made a difference in my times of darkness.  We carry our greatest treasure within us.  It is the Christ-light which will forever shine.  It is an inner radiance which lights our way home to God.  Let us trust the Christ-light; it will never fade.  This 2021 let us be light in the darkness!

-Sister Kathy O’Keefe, csj

Celebrating a Courageous Woman

Mother St. John Fontbonne

As we celebrate the anniversary of the death of Mother St. John Fontbonne on November 22nd may her courage and flexibility inspire us during these trying times.

Covid-19 is certainly not the first set of circumstances to threaten the lives of the Sisters of St. Joseph. We can recall the effects of the French Revolution when our Sisters, and Mother St. John, our Foundress, were imprisoned and facing the possibility of execution on the guillotine when the fall of Robespierre (1794) resulted in the release of the prisoners and the end of the Revolution. Mother St. John left few writings, what has endured are the actions and the traditions she established.

May we embrace the change that these times beckon for the good of all humanity and creation.

““From the first days of her religious life, Mother Saint John had learned to adjust her plans and dreams to respond to the needs that surrounded her. In Salesian terms, she embraced the need to continually adapt herself, ceding her personal desire, and following God’s will as it became manifest through the signs of the times. (page 67)

Instead of conceiving a plan and making it happen, she opened herself so that the plan of God could take flesh and become history - in her and in her neighbour. (page 68)”

-taken from Anything of which Woman is Capable, Volume I, by Mary M. McGlone, CSJ. 2017. Permission granted for reprint.”

View the History of Mother St. John Fontbonne: Part I & II:

Memories of World War II

Since I was born in 1944, a year before the end of World War II, I experienced little of the effects of those historic six years. My mother gave birth to five babies during that time and my father, who worked the family farm, was considered an essential worker in the war effort and remained home to till the land.  Furthermore, none of my uncles served overseas. 

I knew that most soldiers were young, single, able-bodied, healthy men who were shipped across the ocean to fight in a war about which little was known. To increase my own store of knowledge on life on the home front during the arduous years of 1939-1945, I turned to the recollections of our Sisters living here in London.

I often heard Sr. Mary Eunice speak of the unique time she had dancing with the soldiers preparing to be shipped overseas to fight.  On Fridays at 3:00 pm, a bus arrived at the prominent London Life Insurance building which employed many young women.  A group of them boarded the bus that would take them on a two- hour trip to RCAF Station Trenton (now CFB Trenton) training base, located within the city of Quinten West.  What followed was dinner with the soldiers and evenings of fun, dancing, and socializing with young single men who missed home and the girls they left behind.  This excursion continued for several years with great success.

Sister Lucy recalls vividly her mother knitting socks for the soldiers while caring for her eleven children.  Lucy and her classmates at their little Josephsburg country school collected and filled huge onion sacks of milkweed pods for the war effort. The buoyancy of the milkweed floss was used as raw material for life preservers needed for its airmen and sailors.

In a similar vein, silk was in short supply during the war years. Therefore, many an innovative bride wore a gown made of silk parachute material (see video, right) that the soldiers brought home from overseas. There were other inconveniences in daily life, including a scarcity of much-needed items. Food rations and tickets for sugar began in January 1942 followed by coffee, tea, and butter by the end of the year.

Sr. Rose’s only recollection of the war was as a 6-year-old riding the train with her mother.  A young soldier gave her a dime.  She was rich!  No doubt, she reminded him of little sisters he had left at home.  Her own eight brothers were too young to sign up for the war.

“It takes Remembrance Day to visit dimmed memories of difficult days buried in aging minds.”

As I chatted with various Sisters, I could see their eyes grow bright and spirits animated as my questions stoked memories of over 70 years ago.  It takes Remembrance Day to visit dimmed memories of difficult days buried in aging minds. Sr. Joan was full of vivid recollections that came tumbling to the surface as she recalled St. Mary’s Elementary School on the outskirts of Brantford.  It was smack in the middle of a huge army camp - “Army Camp 29”.  She grew up surrounded by young, gun-carrying soldiers marching the two-mile route down the street, past St. Mary’s on Colborne Street, and into the neighbourhood in all kinds of weather.  By age ten, Joan was marching home from school with them: left, right, left, right down the street.  Sometimes, they even let her carry a gun.

Being United States citizens at the time, Sr. Kateri’s brother entered the war in 1942 after Pearl Harbour was bombed on Dec. 1941.  After enlisting, he trained in the signal corps and was sent overseas with SHEAF. Sister remembers her mother’s anxiety, always fearing that the mailman would arrive with dreaded news.  Fortunately, the war ended, and her son arrived home safely in the late fall of 1945. 

Today, in 2020 we mark another November 11th, another Remembrance Day.  The world teeters on the brink of disaster at every turn.  It is time to look back in praise of so many who sacrificed so much to make us free.  Let us pray that somehow peace will prevail in our country and in our fractured world.

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj