Forward to the Fullness of Time

We are quickly moving toward the climatic week of Lent with the great celebration of the Triduum – three holy days, marking the mystery of death and resurrected life. Here in my religious community our Lenten journey has called us to a huge experience of surrender as we have bid farewell to 6 of our Sisters during these Lenten days.

Our hearts ache, and fond memories are related at the meal tables. Prayers of gratitude are voiced and a conviction of faith is expressed in song and gesture.

The scripture readings for this Fifth Sunday of Lent will indeed help us contain this experience. Jeremiah assures us that we are tenderly loved by God, just as we are. Whimsically there is even a promise that we will no longer need to teach our friends and relatives about God – because all will know God. It is that deep, deep sense of loving relationship that holds our community together during this time of loss. The mystery of death is gathered up in the compassionate love of the Holy One who places the stark absence within a promise written on our hearts.

In the gospel passage one person states “Sir, we would like to see Jesus”.  And Jesus responds that to see, one must totally surrender. Just as a grain of wheat dies in order to bear fruit, so too our surrender opens us to an awareness of the One Great LOVE within. The promise is held out: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

As our dear Sisters are drawn home into the heart of God, one by one, our experience as a Congregation widens to hold the tender mystery of Christ’s passage, from being a loving presence among humanity, to a glorified radiance calling us ever forward to the fullness of time.

And with deep gratitude we honour: Sr. Theresa Carmel Slavik, Sr. St. Edward Grace, Sr. Beta Gagnon, Sr. Clare Sullivan, Sr. Nicole Aubé, and Sr. Bernadette Boyde.

Sr. Theresa Carmel Slavik

Reflection by Loretta Manzara, CSJ

Sr. St. Edward Grace

Sr. Clare Sullivan

Sr. Nicole AubeSr. Bernadette Boyde

Sr. Beata Gagnon

How Could I Ever Forget

The liturgical readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent begin with the retelling of the Jewish people being forced into exile in Babylon. The Chaldean king destroyed Jerusalem, burned its palaces and destroyed all its precious possessions. As I listened to this age-old account, I was reminded of the millions of refugees, faced with atrocities, who fled to foreign lands. Thugs took their money and set them afloat on dangerous seas in makeshift boats and rafts.

Unlike the exiles of old, the refugees who survived, set foot on dry land in safety, not captivity. Most were welcomed warmly. However, many experienced the hostility of citizens who considered the newcomers a burden on their shores.

Throughout the following months, we witnessed copious expressions of gratitude from refugee families who were settled generously by a plethora of churches, agencies and private citizens. I wonder if we realized what impact leaving a beloved home had on these refugees. Their birthplace was radically different from this new country. At home, they had experienced peace and prosperity but all was lost in the ruins and rubble of war and hatred. What would the new land hold for them?

Sunday’s responsorial song, Psalm 137, moved me deeply as I thought of our refugees:

How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right-hand wither.

As we accompany our refugee friends this Lenten season, let us encourage them in their broken English, to share their memories of their beloved homeland. They will continue the difficult work of integrating themselves into our Canadian way of life. May their children grow strong and healthy as employment is realized and friendships abound. May their tears of lament become songs of joy.

Jean Moylan, CSJ

Remembering God’s Love Together

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” DT 4.9.

I often joke about my memory as I get older. It can be frustrating when things I really want to remember, I somehow forget. I have heard people call this the “Teflon” effect. Other memories seem to be so deeply imprinted on my mind and heart that I have carried them with me throughout my life. My memory has both gifts and gaps.

Recently my daughter reminded me of a sweet childhood memory I had forgotten. She recalled coming to me for a morning hug. I would wrap my cozy bathrobe around both of us, with her little face peeking out and then she would stand on my feet and walk with me around the kitchen. It was a lovely, warm memory, and her retelling it brought it back to me vividly.

The silver lining to the elusive clouding of memory is that I am not alone on this journey. There is beauty and wonder in our collective memory as people who have shared experiences. The gift of memory, shared in our stories is an invitation into something far richer than my solitary life.

Moses spoke to the people and taught them to observe the law which God had commanded him to give to them, but the law had it’s meaning in their shared memory of God freeing them from slavery. This is what he urged them not to forget. They had personally experienced the plagues and first Passover which led to Pharaoh’s reluctant defeat, the terror of being pursued by the Egyptians and the parting of the Red Sea. Finally, they stood together at the theophany at Mount Horeb. They saw the blazing fire and dark clouds, and heard God’s voice declaring the covenant they were to keep. God had dramatically revealed first his powerful love and then the law which would make them like him; just, wise and in the eyes of the world, great. The shared personal experience of God’s love for them was what made the law meaningful.

We know the rest of their story, the ongoing struggle to be faithful to the covenant, because it is the foundation of our faith. In spite of the many ways they tried to remember, with more and more laws, the people often wandered. They got caught up in their day to day life and the novelty of the surrounding cultures. This is our story too.

Perhaps Lent is a time to remind us to “take care and be earnestly on our guard not to forget the things our own eyes have seen.”

What is my personal experience of God’s saving love? How God has revealed his love for you and others with whom you share faith? Christians share personal and communal experience of the God’s gift of Jesus, and his Spirit, both within and among us in our lives and liturgy. We need one another’s help to remember and not to forget.

Remembering and sharing our stories of faith makes our laws and traditions meaningful. Before we can wholeheartedly renew Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and charity, our hearts may need to recall God’s saving power and presence among us.

Guest Blogger Jane Phillipson

We Serve in Ways that are Uniquely Ours

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mt 20:28

Here we are a few weeks into Lent-this holy time of purification when we ask God to call to us, to turn us, to orient us to a life of serving God through our dear neighbour. As we try to listen each day and especially during Lent to orient our hearts to the Sun of compassion, let us ask ourselves, “What does this look like in my life? How do I serve my neighbour? How am I reaching out to those in need as the book of Christian prayer puts it ‘for those who ask and for those who are too needy to ask’. What does this conversion look like? How is it different from how I usually live?”

There is no right answer or one answer. God calls each of us to serve in a way that is uniquely ours, using the gifts given and the graces received.

One Sister I know says that Lent is her favourite season of the year. While I am personally somewhat far from experiencing that sentiment, I do hear what she is saying: this time of purification, service and compassion is a gift to be received, an opportunity offered for us to further nurture the relationships in each of our lives. As we do so, let us consider adopting this as our way of being not just during Lent but throughout the year.

Nancy Sullivan CSJ

First Sunday of Lent : Self-Surrendering Love

I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy. Really, I know that, but in my heart, do I believe it? Do you believe that? If I/you could embody this truth, would the next forty days be a time of deep spiritual renewal and transformation?

Many of us have had our own wilderness experiences. Mine occurred during a retreat a few years ago. I was experiencing a very dark time. I felt that if I could make a general confession, I would feel better. I approached the retreat priest and with much trepidation told him I wanted to make a general confession. He said, “have you confessed these sins before?”, I said, “yes, but I’m not sure that I didn’t forget some.” He said, “have you forgiven yourself?  Do you trust that God in His mercy has forgiven you? God loves you and He knows what’s in your heart.”

Pope Frances speaks of an attitude of the heart, one which approaches life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to the other person, one who accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. (Laudato Si, p.147)

My prayer during retreat was, ‘Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner’. Toward the end of the retreat, deep in the silence of my heart, I heard the echo of these words, ‘you are my beloved daughter, in you I am well pleased.’  The darkness lifted and I was filled with gratitude and peace.

God’s steadfast love and faithfulness are reflected in the scripture readings. God makes a covenant with Noah to love and protect all living creatures and the earth itself. In the Psalm we are reminded again of the beauty and union with God experienced by all who embrace this covenant of abiding love. It speaks of a living hope, a new birth and an unshakeable faith. The Gospel takes us into the desert with Jesus where He spent forty days in prayer and fasting. He, in humility allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil. He overcame the temptations and remained in union with the Father in total self-surrendering love. 

We, too have our temptations.

Pope Frances in his Lenten message to the Church (2015) speaks clearly on what Lent should really be. He urges that instead of abstaining from food or drink, we should fast from indifference. He says, “indifference to our neighbor and to God represents a real temptation for us Christians.”

Describing what he calls the ‘globalization of indifference’ he writes, “whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard. The quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.”  He continues that, “we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this was someone else’s responsibility and not our own.”

As we begin our Lenten journey, may we be renewed in spirit and experience God’s essence of love, forgiveness and mercy.

Mary McGuire, CSJ