Living the Mission Through Service

Ecclesiasticus 34:20 expresses my life’s journey.  It states “you lift up the soul, O God and make the eyes sparkle.  You give health and life and blessing.”

In this blog I want to give you a glimpse into my lived experience of responding to God’s call with deep faith, a living trust and a love that conquers all fears.

The Present

Sky-high snow banks, closed roads, and continuous snowfalls remind me of February 12, 1947.  That day, my father and I left my only sister and our home in Quyon Quebec to enter the convent at St. Joseph’s-on-the-Lake in Pembroke.  Roads were closed. We returned home.  My sister was grateful, she wiped her tears and prepared a delicious meal, celebrating our return and her first wedding anniversary.

The next day we went to Pembroke via Ottawa.  I was fearful enough of the new venture but had no idea that I would be appointed to Ottawa in 1970 to teach French with the Bazilians at St. Joseph’s High School which closed (sold) soon after.

I found myself with the Public Board.  The school paper heading – ‘A NUN!’  Were you or are you a NUN?  My fears and anxieties diminished as time went on and especially when I learned that the head of my French Department had been in the Seminary.

I taught first at Glebe Collegiate with its gifted programs, then at Lisgar, the oldest High School in the Ottawa Carleton District School Board.  There were line-ups even in the snow for cross boundary transfers.

Parents boasted that Peter Jennings, Adrienne Clarkson, Rich Little, and Lorne Green had all attended Lisgar.

After 40 ½ years of uninterrupted teaching, I, along with Sister Eileen Allison, carried out a ministry of hospitality at 476 Wilbrod Street in Ottawa.

We shared our home-cooked meals with our guests.  They shared their experiences which were life-giving and joyful.  There was no lack of interesting conversations, with varied cultures and accents, especially when members of the CRC stayed with us after their meetings, sharing the richness of their time together.

My heart is filled with gratitude for all the blessings showered on me by a loving God throughout my long life.  I believe that ‘You made me in the image of your own eternity.’  (Wisdom 2:23)

- Sister Marie Meilleur

Trump’s Wall vs. the National Butterfly Center

In Canada, we have witnessed developments that cause seemingly irreparable damage to our environment. Wood Buffalo Park’s habitat is being compromised due to damning of rivers in BC, logging, oil sands development and industry. Warming climates are causing ice on lakes to thin and permafrost to melt. A collapsed damn in Brazil has killed hundreds and buried towns under toxic mud. We are endlessly told about the damage pf plastic in our oceans and the threat of extinction for caribou, birds, fish, whales, and animals.  Yet, somehow, the threat to monarch butterflies pains my heart.

In September 2018, the United states Congress approved $1.6 billion to construct a 36-foot wall along a section of the Rio Grande in Mexico to prevent illegal migrants from Mexico to enter the United States. The Department of Homeland Security has issued waivers for 28 laws protecting public land, wildlife and the environment.  Construction of this wall, scheduled to begin in February 2019 will cut the National Butterfly Center in two, sandwiching 70% of the Center between the wall and the Rio Grande. Access to this area will be blocked for campers, tourists, and workers.  A 150-foot enforcement zone will be cleared of all vegetation.   Cleared land will eliminate, degrade, and fragment the wildlife habitat and butterfly sanctuary. Access to water and food for wildlife will be blocked; migration will be blocked.  Searchlights at the top of the will be deleterious for the nocturnal animals. Thousands of scientists have written letters denouncing the wall and there have been lawsuits have been instituted to prevent its construction.

More than ever, the voices of individuals are needed to persuade governments, industries, and corporations to place the welfare of our world above financial and political interests.  Each of us needs to pay attention and use our voices, pens, and actions to change our political and social climate as we strive to care for all of creation.

- Sr. Pat McKeon

A Community of Exchange

I’m looking out from my kitchen table at ice covered trees today.  I’m home because of the weather, but usually I’d be working at another table in a windowless office at the back of a building on Barton Street in the east end of Hamilton, Ontario. 

I work at a not-for-profit café  called    541 Eatery and Exchange, where our mission is to welcome everyone to the table.  That’s a bold statement!  For the past four years we’ve opened our doors 6 days a week for 12 hours.  The ‘we’ is about 15 staff, mostly part time, and 200 volunteers.  The   volunteers     help do everything – cook, clean, do the dishes, serve our customers, and work alongside our youth outreach worker.  Because of them we’re able to keep our payroll costs low, and that translates into really low prices.  In case they aren’t low enough, we have a pay it forward system that uses buttons as café currency.  No, you don’t have to bring in buttons with you!  We have a jar full of buttons that ‘cost’ a dollar each.  A customer can buy as many as they like, and transfer them over to another jar.  Those buttons are then available to anyone without money that day, to put towards anything on the menu.  You can use 5 buttons every day, so long as another customer pays for them in advance.

This simple system means that our customers are a mixed crew.  It’s not unusual for business people needing a quick lunch to be lining up with one of our community who sleeps rough in the local park.  It seems to us to be a sign of God’s kingdom.  It isn’t always heavenly – sometimes people are having a difficult day, sometimes customers don’t get along (that’s true for everyone, no matter how they pay for their order).  But in general we’ve made deep friendships with people we otherwise would never have met, and have come to love people who get overlooked. 

In a couple of days I’ll lead the funeral service for one of our regulars.  Most of our staff will be there, along with many customers.  Margaret was a character.  Forthright, a wearer of extraordinary hats, she was completely dedicated to dressing up for Halloween or Christmas or Easter.  She tended to talk during worship on Sunday afternoons at The Meeting Place, the congregation I pastor that meets in the café.  She sat at the same table every morning, where she played the board game Trouble with a decided competitive spirit.  Margaret found a welcome at 541.  She had a place at the table, and we will miss her. 

Rev. Sue Carr

Executive Director

541 Eatery and Exchange

www.fivefortyone.ca

This, Too, Was a Gift

The legacy of the late beloved poet, Mary Oliver, was her rare and amazing ability to turn our usual thought patterns inside out and upside down.  As boxes of chocolates fly off the shelves for Valentine’s Day, a friend gave me one of Oliver’s modicums of wisdom.

 The Uses of Sorrow

(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)

Someone I loved once gave me

a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand

That this, too, was a gift.

Imagine someone you love, gives you a box of darkness instead of delicious chocolates for Valentine’s.  What would you make of such a gift?  Would you welcome it?  While I was reflecting on this poem, I happened to stumble upon Nelson Fernandez’s blog ‘A box of Darkness’.  Reflecting on Oliver’s poem, ‘The Uses of Sorrow’, he relates it to the testimony of someone who discovered how precious all of life is when he found his box full of darkness.  He writes:

I recently came across a comment from an individual who reported having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He concluded that although the resulting PTSD stuck with him for at least 4 years, the accident instantly made him decide to never waste the gift of life, so, he got both Post-Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Growth. That accident became a defining moment for him.

This coined phrase, Post-Traumatic Growth, succinctly reinforces the gift of growth in darkness which is at the heart of Mary Oliver’s poem.  In reflecting upon my life, I too can attest to what I have discovered tucked into my own experiences of darkness. Within them, I grasped a deeper awareness of my own resilience, a greater sense of myself and even a deeper empathy for others. Usually, with time, the darkness of pain fades, but wisdom remains. Let me conclude with a quote by one of my favourite authors, Joyce Rupp. In her book Little Pieces of Light, she prays the following with a grateful heart: “Yes, I thank you for my darkness, (the unwanted companion I shun and avoid) because this pushy intruder comes with truth and reveals my hidden treasures to me.”

I hope someone gives you a beautifully wrapped box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day.  However, one day someone may also bless you with the gift of a box of darkness. What gift of sweetness might you discover in such a gift?

 - Nancy Wales, csj

King’s University College Student Awards Ceremony

The cost of university education is out of reach for many students. Academic or sports scholarships are available for those fortunate students who have achieved success in these fields. However, many students may have been prevented from belonging to either group because of their background or lack of opportunity. Yet students who demonstrate great promise for future contributions to the welfare of our society may need financial assistance to enable them to continue their education.  I was heartened and amazed at the number and variety of donors, awards, and recipients at the King’s University College Awards Ceremony on January 24.    

Sixty-seven donors presented a total of 102 awards. Some awards were established to honour alumni or former professors. Others represented interests of donors in socialjustice, education, social work, economics, law, science, or community development. But what was most striking was the variety and quality of the students. I was in awe of the ability of recipients whose volunteer work in the community, part-time employment or involvement in student leadership and organizations was matched by their ability to maintain high academic standards. It was a joy to listen to the hopes of these students and the efforts they were making to prepare themselves to make our world a better place. A senior member of the faculty commented to me: “The generous students who work hard and donate their time are also the students who make good progress in their studies.”  May their example inspire people and organizations to assist our young adults to pursue university studies.

-Sr. Pat McKeon