Remembering SANTA ROSA DE LIMA PERU

Nuestra Santa:    SANTA ROSA DE LIMA PERU

Rose of Our Lady

Delicate flower of Lima

Bless this day and protect our nation

               Listen to the poor

               Who fight for justice and peace 

               And strengthen their hope.

               Inflame the faith of all people. 

Patron Saint of the Sick

She had an open door ready to receive and assist anyone in need. Father Melendez who wrote of his memories of her remembered: she did not distinguish between the Spaniard, the stranger, the Indians, the blacks, whomever was poor she attended to their need.

Patron Saint of the National Police of Peru

Rosa was sensitive to and became aware of the injustices present in her world. At the age of 11 she recognized the suffering of and the injustices endured by her father who became a miner and who worked in slave-like conditions along with the indigenous people.

Her Life Story

On the 20^th of April 1586 she was born. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother from Lima. She was baptized with the name of Isabel Flores Oliva, however her black caregiver started to call her Rosa because of her beautiful features like a rose.   Rosa lived in her parents home choosing a life of helping those in need.   She loved nature and enjoyed tending the garden.  As well she built a hermitage in a corner of the garden and began a life of solitude dedicated to her spiritual routine.  At 24 she chose to wear the habit of the Third Order of St Dominic.  She died the 24^th of August in 1617 at 31 years of age and canonized in 1671. She is venerated as patron saint of Peru as well as all of Latin America and the islands of the Philippines.

Remembering Saint Rose of Lima today

• Every church, chapel or school in Peru that bears her name will honour her with processions, novenas and fiestas
• Many little girls carry her name
• Tourists visit her Lima home, hermitage and garden and write prayer intentions to drop into the well
• The National Police Force include her their annual day of celebration   
• On the bulletin board in the Chincha Church her name in large colourful letters has been a reminder of the August 30^th date when she is remembered in the Peruvian Liturgical calendar. 

Assisted by details from Un Santo Para Cada Dia  Mario Sgarbossa and Luis Giovannini

-  Submitted by Hermanas Gloria, Maria y Mabel

August 30th marks the commemoration and public holiday in Peru, of Saint Rose of Lima, or Santa Rosa de Lima in Spanish. Saint Rose was the patron saint of Peru and the rest of the indigenous people of Latin America and the Philippines. The beautiful patron saint was born in 1956 in Lima to Spanish Colonists and was known for her piety and chastity. Today she is celebrated across Peru, with a national holiday declared in her name!
 

REMEMBER – CELEBRATE – BELIEVE

In a recent reading of Embers – One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese, I was struck by the following passage from his writings. 

“Missing someone is feeling a piece of your heart gone astray… there’s a gap in the everyday things around you…You seem to move a little less gracefully… and you now move out of gratitude for the gift of their presence in your life…”   

In the courtyard at Boyle Street Community Services located in the inner City in Edmonton, folks gathered to remember and recall the life of Vegas – a community member who died. In the centre of the circle was a bowl of sage burning which would be used by the Elder to smudge each of us who gathered as well as the offering of food which was to be left for the spirits following our time together.  The gathering was about the Boyle Street Community sitting in silence to ‘fill the gap’ they were feeling from this death of a friend. Not a lot of words were used but the sense of accompaniment was evident as I too was invited into the Circle.  Stories were told of Vegas  -  a friend, a card player, a man of few words and a man who had overcome his alcohol addiction after many years – and his time with the Boyle Street Community was the ‘gift of presence'.

The following evening Sister Kitty and I attended the Annual Memorial sponsored by CEASE (Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation).  This was the 30^th year that CEASE has organized this Memorial Service to gather and remember those who have lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, a partner, a relative or a friend from sexual exploitation and/or an abusive relationship.  A litany of over 150 names is read and silence is evident as people tear up remembering special relationships as the name of their loved one is spoken aloud.  The simplicity of this gathering is highlighted when balloons are sent skyward wishing peace and freedom to those who have died… and the line from Embers comes alive – “now you move out of gratitude for the gift of their presence in your life…”

On Sunday, Kitty and I gathered with some members of the Scarboro Community of Boyle-McAuley who knew and loved Father Rene Fumoleau, to recall and remember times they shared with Rene on his visits to Edmonton. Again, the theme of ‘being a gift of presence’ came through as stories were shared, some of his poetry was read and words that he spoke while in their presence came alive in recalling his passion for the people of Northern Canada for so many years and his commitment to social justice for many years.

These three events struck me as a connection with the circle of life and a deeper realization that I, we, are part of the sacred energy - moving, growing and  bringing everything into harmony. 

Contributed by Sister Ann MacDonald, csj

Peace on the Porch

This summer, I’ve rediscovered the joys of the porch.  For too long, I’ve hurried past that cool, inviting open-air expanse on the back of our home.  Last Sunday, I wandered aimlessly through the entrance way and found myself and my latest reading material tilted back into the comfort of a large outdoor recliner.  “Ahh”, I sighed as a warm, gentle breeze tickled my cheek, “it’s almost like being at the cottage”.  Imperceptibly, I felt my body relax and the day’s cares melt into nothing.  Soon, my eyes grew heavy, the book fell to my lap and my eyes closed in reverie.  My mind wandered back to the cool porches of my childhood days where we lazed on the lounge reading the funny papers, playing quiet games and enjoying the mist when a summer shower watered the plants at our feet.

During vacation, when we children holidayed in Stratford at my uncle and aunt’s home, every house on Downie Street had a front porch. Daily, my aunt waited on the porch for her husband to return from work while the delicious aroma of supper wafted from the kitchen through the screen door.  On almost every summer evening, most porches on the street were occupied by couples reading the newspaper or simply restoring energy after the long day’s work in the 40s and 50s.  Sounds of children playing filled the air.  Fun was the order of the day until the streetlights beckoned them back to their home porch.  How luxurious it was to close those summer evenings with popcorn and maybe lemonade on the sturdy front porch.  We sat enthralled as crickets chirped, June bugs hit the porch light and the silvery moon smiled down upon us.  Here we learned of life, love, comfort and the true meaning of family.

As my drowsy eyes brought me back to my own comfy porch, I realized that vacations aren’t necessarily those costly trips for which we plan and save all year.  Vacations can be a joy and energy restored right at home on the ever- present porch.  All we need do is decide to use these resting spots as our parents and grandparents always did.  Peace and serenity are as close as the porch on your home.

- Sister Jean Moylan, csj

NO ONE PUTS THEIR NOSE IN OUR BUSINESS

Summer, winter, spring and fall – I have seen it all.  It sounds like the perfect ditty I could sing about the things I have seen on my morning commute to work these past eleven years, until yesterday morning. Now I’m not a morning person, but I am a sensate, aka Eagle Eye.

Here am I on my way to work, driving along behind this humungous vacuum truck.  Large black letters you can’t miss advertise its contents – SEWAGE WASTE.  Instinctively I wrinkle my nose and squint to decipher the smaller print underneath SEWAGE WASTE.  And I laugh out loud as I decipher the clever slogan, “No one puts their nose in our business.”   I mean, who would want to?  As the ponderous  stinky truck and I drive in tandem for quite a while, I can’t help but ponder the idiom emblazoned on its rear.  You see, in an odd sort of way, you might say that is what I do in my ministry as a hospital chaplain many a day, put my nose in other people’s business.  Where else but in a hospital is a chaplain at times the only person in a patient’s life privileged to be invited into ‘their business’ not only to hear their story but to hold their pain. If this isn’t sacred, this gift of ‘putting one’s nose into another’s business,’ then what is?

No one likes a nosy parker.  Yet, we are meant to be “our brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9). Obviously, there is a very fine line between being nosy parkers who put their noses in someone else’s business or offering support to those in need.  We can find ourselves on treacherous ground whenever we try to strike a balance between being nosy and reaching out to help our sister or brother. There are the familiar stories of Cain and Abel; Esau and Jacob; Joseph and his brothers; the brothers in the Prodigal Son, all stories of brothers who refused to be their brother’s keeper.  Yet, here we are, meant to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper.

And how about this? When we are in trouble and turn to God in prayer, are we not asking God to put his nose in our business, which can at times compete with the smelly waste in that sewage truck?  Of course, God knows about our ‘stinky’ business long before we ask God to put his nose into it.  God is always seeking us out.  There are many familiar stories about God pursuing us, but perhaps none is as poignant as the haunting poem ‘The Hound of Heaven’ written by the English poet Francis Thompson.

I fled Him down the nights and down the days. I fled Him down the arches of the years.

I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind, and in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.   …….

Rise, clasp my hand, and come, halts by me that Footfall.

Is my gloom, after all, shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

Ah, Fondest, Blindest, Weakest, I am He whom thou seekest.

Whatever our story may be, God never gives up on us. In the same token, let us never give up on each other. As our sister and brother’s keeper we are responsible for each other.  In appropriate, caring ways we are meant to put our noses into each other’s business.

 - Sr. Magdalena Vogt, cps

The Hound of Heaven, David Torkington

We came in peace

One Giant Leap

Fifty years ago on July 16^th 1969 at 9:32 am (EST) Apollo 11 was launched from Kennedy Space Center and on July 20th we will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

The three occupants referred to as “Three Amiable Strangers” were Moon Commander Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin as Lunar Module Pilot and Mike Collins as Command module Pilot.  Written on a plaque and placed on the ground where Neil and Buzz walked were the words:

“Here men from the planet Earth

First set foot upon the moon

July 1969 AD

We came in peace for all mankind”.

In an article written by Mark Aloysius SJ entitled “Encountering the Self in Space” he poses a question for us to ponder:  “Has space exploration deepened our understanding of our own selves as human beings within the cosmos?”. To read his entire article click here.

“That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." -Neil Armstrong July 20, 1969.

Click here for Memories of Apollo from people all over the world

FUN FACTS: 18 Apollo Facts You've Never Heard Before 

-Sr Mabel St. Louis, csj

Photos: Source: NASA