National Good Neighbour Day

Originally, National Good Neighbor Day was created in the early 1970s by Becky Mattson of Lakeside, Montana. In 1978. United States President Jimmy Carter issued Proclamation 4601: “As our Nation struggles to build friendship among the peoples of this world, we are mindful that the noblest human concern is concern for others. Understanding, love, and respect build cohesive families and communities. The celebration has since become one of international significance.

Using the occasion of Good Neighbor Day has facilitated for me a most delightful trip down memory lane. Many past good neighbours popped into mind. Let me introduce you to a few.

Mrs. M. our next-door neighbour about 65 yr. ago was very good to 5 yr. old me. What defined good in the mind of this child? Well, she and I traded bird, flower, and animal cards from Red Rose tea. I always ended up with a full set and at that age I couldn’t imagine why she always traded her singletons. Though the cards have long since been donated, her kindness and fun have always stuck with me.

In Ottawa in the 70s many young children neighbours would knock on our door to see if I would come out to play. They wanted to play football because they had seen me walk up the street with one, a gift for the coming weekend. We had great fun until I took a tumble and then they became my caregivers, bringing me dandelion bouquets. Their reaching out to me, then and now, is one significant definition of good neighbour.

Most recently, I have young neighbours on both side of me. We all enjoy gardening and so often chat over the fence and exchange veggies. At most, they are half my age so their interest and willingness to engage with this white-haired lady brings me joy and awareness of what is important to the youth of the day. Their help with the heavy lifting doesn’t go unnoticed.

I often pray in the yard and am stilled by the birds, squirrels, rabbits, the cool breeze, and the shade of the maples. These too are good neighbours and ask only that I watch, listen, and learn from them.

Are all neighbours good? I guess it depends on your definition.

Are all neighbours, near or far, dear? Absolutely! May we pray for and enjoy all your neighbours and strive to be good ones.

-Maureen Condon, CSJ Associate

A Royal Light Bearer

Jesus said to the people: “No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.”

Yesterday we celebrated the funeral of Queen Elizabeth – and I would say she certainly is an excellent example of someone, of a woman, who lit a lamp and put it on a lampstand when she was crowned Queen of England in 1953 at the tender age of 25.  On the day of her coronation, she spoke these famous words: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Image: Unsplash/Vladimir Fedotov

During her 70-year reign she did not hide her light under a jar but put it on a lampstand letting it shine brightly. I doubt she would have been able to let her light shine brightly all these years, right to the very end of her life, had she not fostered a close relationship with Jesus, who spoke much about the light – proclaiming “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” And in Psalm 119, we read that Jesus’ word is “a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path.” Jesus’ word was the light to Queen Elizabeth’s path all her life. As she expressed in these words: 

“To what greater inspiration and counsel can we turn than to the imperishable truth to be found in this treasure house, the Bible?”

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

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