Easter Musings

In spite of all the Alleluias this Easter season, do you sometimes find your faith tested and your heart heavy?  Daily we hear in the media another item added to a universal litany of woes:  terrorist attacks in Paris and Belgium, insufficient responsible action being taken on the urgent environmental and social challenges facing the world, inhumane conditions on Aboriginal reserves, helpless immigrants fleeing war and certain death in their countries, concerns about Canada’s assisted suicide decision and the list continues.

As a teenager in the ‘60s with its flower children, opposition to the Vietnam War and valiant efforts of the Peace Corps etc., I truly believed that our generation could make the world a place where peace, love, equality and justice would reign.  I have often lamented about the sad state of our common home today and its failure to realize our lofty dreams.

Now, fifty years later, with persistence in centering prayer, contemplative living and a growing shift in consciousness, I find myself better able to come to terms with the world as it is. I strive to work for peace in my own sphere of life and to not lose heart.  My enhanced view of the world allows me to see seeds of hope being sown in our dear world at the same time as we come face to face with global violence and conflict.  The clash of armies and cultures will eventually lead to laying down arms and seeking peace.

In my Easter musings, I have been inspired by the age old message of the Pascal Mystery.  Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection are a model for seeing the troubled state of the world with fresh eyes. Recall Jesus’ words to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” (Luke 24.26)

Following the November terrorist attacks in Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois urged his people, “May no one allow himself to be defeated by panic and hatred”.  In a similar vein, the words of St. Pope John Paul II encourage us:  “Do not abandon yourselves to despair.  We are Easter people and halleluiah is our song”.

Yes, deep in my heart I do believe that we shall overcome some day.

Jean Moylan, CSJ

The Sphinx Has Gone

The Sphinx has gone. The Greek image of frozen snow, ice and sand, standing four feet high leered out over the iron girders of the breakwater.  Its base formed from ice and snow built up behind the breakwater. The lashing waves kept rolling in eroding the structure from underneath.  Frozen chunks were breaking off disappearing and floating about driven by the persistent thrust of the waves.

The Sphinx lingered on. From the window I had a side view of her sculpted face, plaintive and sad. Unseeing eyes reminded me of the old Greek myths of sirens luring sailors at sea. Meanwhile waves rolled relentlessly in land spooling white ocean sprays yards high.

One morning she was gone, not a trace of her frozen image. Instead, a flotilla of white-bellied ducks appeared romping in the tossing waves. Bobbing, floating, diving and shaking their heads as they re-appeared a few yards away. It was wonderful to view their maneuvering like a floating pantomime free for anyone to watch as they moved down the lake.

Spring is just awakening from the frozen sober days of winter. I can feel the chill in the air and even the allure of one of those spectacular sunsets over Lake Huron. Still, spring has a certain hesitancy of …Not Yet…

This is but a moment in time. I have witnessed the Sphinx, the Ducks and the clashing thrust of the relentless waves crashing into shore. I too must go. I have caught an image of the changing of the seasons, the passing grandeur of time.

Eileen Foran, CSJ
Derrynane – March 2016

An Easter Story of Coming Home

In 2012, I was asked by Sue Hamilton, the Pastoral Assistant at Regina Mundi Parish in Hamilton, to initiate a ministry of Christian Initiation of Children Who Have Reached Catechetical Age.  This ministry was created in response to the release of the Diocese of Hamilton Sacramental Guidelines: the Initiation of Children.  The document stated that,

“According to the law of the Church (Canon 852.1), children who have reached the age of reason and are of catechetical age (that is, children who have completed grade 2 or are older) who desire to celebrate Baptism are prepared through their participation in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (Part II, Chapter 1).  In keeping with this rite, they are to be prepared to celebrate the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Eucharist at the same celebration.”[1] 

My ministry with children has been joyful and rewarding and has resulted in the Christian Initiation of eight young people at Easter Vigils in the last three years.

Since there were no young candidates for RCIA at our Parish this year, I have had the opportunity to participate on the Adult RCIA team which has been a joyful and very personal experience.  Not only did my sister Josie join the RCIA team to update her knowledge of the Catholic faith, but to my complete surprise, my husband, Ted, at age sixty-five, after almost forty-two years of marriage and attending Sunday Mass for the last thirty years, joined RCIA as a candidate.  When asked, “Why now?’’ he responded that he wanted to be a better role model for our Granddaughter Allie who will be making her First Reconciliation on March 19^th, and her First Communion on May 7^th. 

Ted’s journey to Catholicism has been a gift and a blessing to our entire family and circle of friends, and an answer to the many prayers of many people over many years.  And to think that in the end, by the grace of God, it was a “little child” who led him!  (Paraphrased from Isaiah 11:6)

We are looking forward to the Easter Vigil when Ted will be fully initiated into the Catholic Church.  We praise and thank You, O Loving God, for in our family we know for sure that, as my dear friend, Josie, says, Your “delays are not denials.”       

Leanne Thompson, a companion (associate) from the Hamilton neighbourhood of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada.       

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[1] Diocese of Hamilton Sacramental Guidelines The Initiation of Children. http://hamiltondiocese.com/uploads/links/331-331-SACRAMENTAL%20GUIDELINES%20-%20Complete%20Electronic%20Version.pdf

Hope, Historical Perspective and "Sunny Ways"

As we face continuing low oil prices, a low dollar, rising food costs, and increased use of local Food Banks, hope, especially in Alberta, is low. Towards the end of January 2016 prices were especially low. Gloom and doom were almost tangible as we heard of more and more layoffs in the oil patch and in related industries.  There was a bad joke going around; even the comedian, who shared it, said it was bad. Then, the price of a barrel of oil was around $21 a barrel and cauliflower was seven dollars a head. The joke went like this: “Hey, did you hear the news? You can get three heads of cauliflower for a barrel of oil.” That joke described how bad things were. People were feeling down and depressed. Most people knew someone, a family member or friend, who was out of work or took a cut in pay and worked longer hours to keep their job. Some people were feeling hopeless. Media was playing a part too, day after day, by stating this was the lowest price for oil or the dollar since 2002, 2008 etc. Most reports were negative and in my opinion fostered even more gloom and doom. About this time the former Premier of Alberta, Don Getty, died; reports were that during his tenure oil prices were even lower than those we have just experienced. Premier Getty’s government rode out that bust and we went on to experience several more booms and busts in Alberta.

This got me thinking about historical perspective. If we know our history we can better deal with booms and busts. Depression, anxiety and fear paralyze. Those who know the past can better deal with the economic ups and downs of global economics. They can see the patterns and responses of the past and respond accordingly. They have hope and hope helps turn things around; it does not depress as do repeated gloom and doom scenarios. Constant negativity begets more negativity. A positive attitude even in the midst of difficult economic times can make a difference. I think of Sir Wilfred Laurier’s “sunny ways" that Prime Minister Trudeau has adopted. These “sunny ways”, not pollyanna ways, do foster hope. When we put things in perspective we can usually find hope and a positive way to move forward. Things may get worse especially as EI programs run down. However, recently we have seen oil prices and the dollar go up. As Christians prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery and the great feast of hope, the Resurrection of Jesus, we focus on hope in Jesus who through his passion, death and resurrection has overcome the power of sin and death. We look forward in joyful hope trusting that “all will be well” as we do our best in these difficult times and trust in the resiliency that is part of our humanity.

Lynn Rouleau, CSJ

I Saw a Cross Upon a Hill : A Donkey's Tale

Are you enamoured by my cousins, Eeyore, that loveable donkey from the tales of Winnie the Pooh or is your style more a moviegoer’s favourite, tough guy, Donkey, Shrek’s talkative sidekick?  Do you sometimes find yourself humming that delightful Donkey Serenade, keeping company with a mule?  Such light hearted fun; but let’s put aside talk of my fictitious cousins.  Since truth is often stranger than fiction, let me tell you a little about myself, my humble self whom Chesterton once described in his humourous little poem as one:

With monstrous head and sickening cry,
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
Of all four-footed things.

But let me back track a little. About thirty three years ago, as legend has it, a humble little burro was chosen to carry pregnant Mary to Bethlehem to give birth to her Child. Did this not foreshadow the day I would be chosen to carry her Son into Jerusalem?  I will never forget that day! How could I forget our humble God enthroned upon my back?  I carried him that day, cautiously weaving through the cheering crowds, when all at once ‘There was a shout about my ears, and palms before my feet.’

His mission almost finished, I heard him warn his disciples that He would soon be put to death. Put to death, how could that be?  Surely, I had gotten it all wrong! 

I’m just a donkey, just the ‘devil’s walking-parody on all four footed things.’  Perhaps that’s all you think I am. However, when a distant rumble, ‘Crucify him’, pierced my ears, I stood and shuddered.   In the distance I saw a cross upon a hill and wished I could have carried it for him. 

No ludicrous buffoon am I.  No donkey ever was. You see, because I carried the King, donkeys, generations after me, bear a cross upon their backs.  May you, my friend, I beg you, think twice before you call someone an ass – for she or he, too, bears the divine.

Guest blogger Sr. Magdalena Vogt, Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood

                The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked,
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood,
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry,
And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
Of all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient, crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

         C. K. Chesterton