National Day of Service and Remembrance

Image: Unsplash/Julien Maculan

Most people remember exactly where they were on September 11, 2001 as the first of a series of planes crashed into the World Trade Centre, the South Tower, the Pentagon and Shanksville P.A. Since then, Americans gather to remember the 3000 innocent victims. They honour and give thanks as well to the countless Police, Firefighters and Volunteers who rushed toward the disaster areas to selflessly offer their help.

Today we are invited to reflect not only on the 9-11 event and their consequences but also on the atrocities that continue to occur throughout the world and perhaps in our own neighbourhoods. A quick glance at any newspaper will draw our attention to a long list: poverty, homelessness, hunger, stabbings, war, tragic deaths. Some days it is overwhelming, I turn off the TV, close the paper and sit quietly listening.

“Listening to God, to the Universe, to the world’s pulse, we trust that healing and whole making energies are released in ourselves and the planet.”

— Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada

What is my role in eliminating such pain where I live? How can I be of service?  Then the Spirit nudges me to recall the bravery of those who have gone before me doing good, volunteering, visit the sick, praying with a friend, smile at people along the way; simple actions but with great potential to brighten a day. I can follow their lead.  Scripture tells me to” feed the hungry”, “cloth the naked”.  I can do that!  Some very wise women encourage me when they say, “Listening to God, to the Universe, to the world’s pulse, we trust that healing and whole making energies are released in ourselves and the planet”.  I believe them and find renewed energy.

What helps you to remain hopeful and helpful?

-Maureen Condon is an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph

National Sons and Daughters Day

We Are All One Drum

National Sons and Daughters Day traces its origins all the way back to 1930s Missouri, where a gentleman of the town of St. Joseph took up a young boy’s cause when the boy complained that his mom and dad each had a “Day,” so why shouldn’t he? (https://nationaltoday.com/national-son-daughter-day).  It was designed as a day for families to spend time with each other, to look at and celebrate the differences and similarities of each member. 

While it is a wonderful idea, it originated in a time where family members lived close to each other and were not scattered across the globe as many are today.  Those of us who are aging may not have living ancestors or children to celebrate with; others have chosen lifestyles or vocations that preclude parenthood entirely.  Some also say that though not biologically connected, we have been mentored or ‘parented’ by special people in our soul family or see those we meet as soul siblings. Life and definitions change with the passage of time though perhaps we simply forget old interpretations; after all, St. Francis of Assisi spoke of “Brother Sky and Sister Moon” all those years ago.

Hillary Clinton brought back the African proverb “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” into 21st Century thinking and brought us renewed awareness that when the concept of family reaches beyond the personal to embrace a sense of the ‘human family’, only then do we care and love at our best. The spark that leads us to this grace-filled understanding may be individual but when we turn it into contemplative action the way forward takes on a Spirit-filled communal impact. 

I spent part of this morning savoring Richard Wagamese’s last book, “One Drum[1].”  His words take a willing reader to the centres of our simultaneously looped human and sacred circle of experience where there is no thought, but connection with the One.  Wagamese teaches that “…we are all one song, one family, one energy and one soul.  For when [his] people say “all my relations” at the end of a ceremony or a prayer, it is in recognition of that truth… We are all one drum” (p.24). 

[1] Richard Wagamese. (2019). One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet. Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre.

-Susan Hendricks, Associate, Sisters of St. Joseph

Reflections on Ukraine

Church in Pyiterfolvo, Ukraine. Photo: Tom Childs

When the war in Ukraine started last February many memories of my travelling there on mission work came rushing back. During my travels in Eastern Europe I met many amazing and courageous people; one of those remarkable persons was Bishop Lajos Gulcasy. When he was a young minister in the 1950’s he taught catechism to confirmation classes, secretly in his house. This was against the communist religious policy in Ukraine and someone turned him in (possibly someone from his congregation). He was arrested, brutally tortured and put on trial for treason, yet he refused to deny his faith. The Bishop was sentenced to ten years in prison in a Soviet Gulag. He later explained his imprisonment taught him many things. When he was young he often cursed God for making him so short, as he believed this made him unpopular with the girls. But while he was in prison being shorter meant his clothes fit, he had enough food to eat, and he could hide in the midst of taller men in the freezing cold. Because of being shorter he was able to serve his sentence in seven years and he became a shining example to everyone who met him.

School in Pyiterfolvo, Ukraine. Photo: Tom Childs.

In 2006 when my home congregation from St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Scarborough decided to take part in a mission trip to Eastern Europe we helped to fundraise and build a high school in Pyiterfolvo, in western Ukraine. We were told by many parents there that education was the way to a better future for their children, community and country. However we never could have predicted that today that school would be used to house and feed fleeing refugees from eastern Ukraine. We are each called to help each other (Matthew 22:37-39). This requirement was made even more acute during Covid when all of us needed to love and help each other.

We live in challenging and dark times with humanity always seeming to repeat the mistakes from the past. The war in Ukraine is a recent example of this. The suffering, brutality, and destruction of this war, caused by Russia, are heartbreaking.

Velyka Dobron', Ukraine. Photo: Tom Childs.

We as individuals and as part of communities and countries, need to do much better. We are very blessed to live in Canada and we should never take our rights and privileges for granted. Many of the young people I met in Ukraine are now fighting in the war: some of them have already made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in a war they did not initiate. When you see hate or indifference in the world and your own community stand up, silence is complicity. Think of the courage of someone like Bishop Lajos Gulcasy. There is a lot of goodness in the world and we must always have hope that we can stand, or work, together to protect others.

‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’.

Micah 6:8

 -Thomas Childs, Guest Writer

TOM IS A HUSBAND, FATHER AND GRANDFATHER, WAS BORN AND RAISED IN TORONTO AND NOW LIVES IN PETERBOROUGH. HE IS ALSO AN ORDAINED ELDER AND LAY MISSIONARY IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA.  

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Title Image of Ukrainian Flag: Unsplash/Max Kukurudziak

Celebrating National Best Friends Day

BEST FRIENDS

Think back to your childhood – a time when for most, kindergarten paintings feature straight-lined skies of blue, grasses of green with vast amounts of space between filled with all manner of imaginings. Time and friendships seem eternal and so energizing that we feel we will always have that one BFF, best friend forever.  But something happens as we mature.  The horizon expands self-perception and our understanding of the world and community deepens.  Needs change as may the concept of friendship;  in fact, many do not survive the constant changes both friends inevitably undergo.

I have moved so often between cities and sometimes countries that friendships could have become superficial and transient merely as a self-protective measure against loss.  But a few have remained for a lifetime even though time and distance have separated us.  I often wonder about these particular friendships -- what makes them special compared to others that have been let go?    

My dear friend, Elizabeth, is one such person.  We met when we were eight or nine at a girls’ school in Scotland.  We couldn’t have been more different in personality or come from dissimilar backgrounds.  I was the wild Canadian from the colonies; she was the very proper Scottish young lady with a hint of nobility in the family’s background. Perhaps we opened each other’s eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world? Curiosity and non-judgmental awe at each other’s uniqueness and difference definitely formed the backbone of this friendship and continues to this day. 

When my family returned to Canada, Elizabeth and I made a solemn vow to remain friends and keep in touch forever – as do many children – but we took this ‘vow’ seriously. Over the years, we have seen each other in person perhaps seven or eight times but the friendship remains miraculously strong thanks to letter writing and telephone calls.  We have cried with each other through life’s trials far more than either of us cares to admit, offering each other support by actively listening not only to what is said, but also unsaid.  We have welcomed each other’s children into our hearts as if they were our own and accompanied each other on our spiritual journeys although they follow very different paths. I will never forget Elizabeth’s horror when I said how delighted I was to enter the crone years!  She interpreted crone as witch or hag and my delight in reaching this stage of life was incomprehensible to her.  When my dear mother died, Elizabeth flew to Canada and together in prayer and thanksgiving we created and conducted the very private burial service that was held for Mum. 

Like our mothers before us, we, too, now are aging and the ravages of time are insinuating their way into our relationship. Elizabeth is experiencing small hints of memory issues and I continue to experience the symptoms and side effects of a chronic disease.  It is unlikely that we will see each other in person again but the blessings of our friendship continue.  Little did we know but in making that childhood vow we had unconsciously invited Spirit into the relationship so that all that has followed is bathed in the holy water of Grace and Infinite Love.  Because of that, this beautiful Trinitarian relationship will continue whether on this earthly plane or the one to come.

Susan Jeffers wrote, “As we open our hearts to others, we begin to discover the truth of our own inner beauty, inner strength and inner light” and become at one with the God-Within-Us. Yet at the same time, we die to self to welcome in the other.  Through this humbling acceptance of each other, our lives have been richer and our worlds infinitely expanded beyond space and time.   “All is gift, my friend, a gift from our loving God” (Kathy Sherman, csj).

Susan Hendricks, Sisters of St Joseph Associate

Nazareth Community, Peterborough.

MAY 20 - WORLD BEE DAY 🐝

World Bee Day - A few years ago a local organization started a community beekeeping program in Peterborough. I have always found bees fascinating creatures and so I decided to join an enthusiastic bunch of other people. What I learned took me down a path of self-discovery, which was both educational and illuminating. It was nothing like the path the Israelites took out of Egypt (Exodus 3:8) but it was still a turning point for me -- and although beekeeping did not flow with milk there was always lots of honey.

There are over 20,000 species of bees. Safeguarding bees, safeguards biodiversity.

It is estimated that in the world today there are between 20,000 – 30,000 species of bees, with approximately 4,000 species native to North America. Up to 75% of our crops rely on bees and other pollinators like butterflies. At the same time all pollinators are seeing a dramatic drop in their populations due to climate change, use of insecticides, loss of habitat, and other factors. And the main culprit of all this damage is humans.

The star of the bee world is the honeybee. We see it everywhere, from packages of seeds to a Cheerios box. Often overlooked but just as important are solitary native bee species like the Leafcutter, Mason or Sweat Bee. The European honeybee was brought by settler colonialists 400 years ago to Turtle Island (North America), for the sole reason that it produced honey and beeswax. This type of bee is not a native species but is considered by biologists to be an invasive species.

Image: Unsplash/Art Rachen

In our human history, honey has been a constant. For example, honey has been found in the pyramids in Egypt. It was coveted for its purity and sometimes became more valuable than gold. It was also used by many cultures through the ages as a medicine, taken internally or used as a salve for burns or other injuries.

In our world now, stories of bees and insects often fill the news; in the past few years we’ve read about killer bees and murder hornets. These are chilling images, but not new ones, as these scary harbingers of fear and death show up elsewhere in the story of the Israelites. (Exodus 23:28 and Deuteronomy 7:20). I would wager that the majority of people would prefer the honeybee over a murder hornet any day. Having worked with honeybees and having had unfortunate run-ins with hornets I would definitely take the former.

We live in a world struggling to come out of a pandemic, seeing the terror of war, facing climate change and addressing so many existential crises coming at us we can easily become overwhelmed and discouraged. The decline of bees and other pollinators has affected the ecological balance of the planet. What can each one of us do to be the change in the world? It starts with educating ourselves (and those around us) and being aware of the world. To look at things with a child’s viewpoint. There is nothing more wonderful then when I work with children at a hive or in the classroom, and when I see the wonder of this blue orb in space (we call Earth) through their eyes.

We – adults and children—can help bees and other pollinators by planting flowers which attract them. We can help bees by buying honey from local beekeepers, not using insecticides, letting dandelions grow in the spring (as they are one of the first sources of nectar) or by learning more about native bee species in our gardens. If we help one species we help all the world. That would be a good lesson for humanity to finally learn. It’s appropriate that the purpose of the UN World Bee Day is “Bee engaged: Build Back Better for Bees”.

United Nations World Bee Day, May 20

By: Tom Childs

Tom is a husband, father and grandfather, was born and raised in Toronto and now lives in Peterborough. He is also an ordained elder and lay missionary in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.  

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Timeline leading to World Bee Day

20 May 1734 – Breznica, Slovenia Birth of Anton Janša, who came from a long line of beekeepers, became a pioneer of modern apiculture. Bees were a frequent topic of conversation with neighbouring farmers, who would gather at the village and discuss farming and bee-keeping practices.

1766 - Anton enrolled in the first bee-keeping school in Europe.

1769 – Janša worked fulltime as a beekeeper.

1771 – Published the book Discussion on Bee-keeping in German.

2016 – At the FAO Regional Conference for Europe, the Republic of Slovenia proposed World Bee Day to be celebrated on 20 May each year, with the support of Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Association.

2017 – Proposal for World Bee Day was submitted for consideration at the 40th Session of FAO Conference.

2017 – UN General Assembly unanimously proclaimed 20 May as World Bee Day.

20 May 2018 – First Observance of World Bee Day.

*source: https://www.fao.org/world-bee-day/en/