My Heart Is Moved

My earliest memory of Valentine's Day was hearing my mother tell me that my father did not do any shopping except for Valentine's day. “He had to make sure his children would have Valentines” she would remind us.   

Every year, I loved hearing that story. It spoke to me of my father’s love for us, and of a wife who also treasured this memory of her husband who had died much too young, leaving her a widow, with seven children.  My Irish mother had a wise way of basting that story like an egg, and it is forever etched in my memory and treasured in my heart.

In keeping with the theme of love and loss, I find myself reflecting on all the good-hearted health care workers in all parts of our world.  They have been kind and caring for critically ill, frightened, and dying patients with Covid 19. To this, there has been an outpouring of gratitude by the public, rippling through towns, cities, and the entire world. Witnessing the commitment of health care workers, we ourselves have been empowered to rise up, to give more. 

We shift into a deepened oneness with the suffering, the caregiver, the “dear neighbor” hence, consciously expand our circle of loving to include all people.

This Valentine Day I predict there will be more home-made Valentines. There will be more flowers given. This year I will remember the life-giving energy of significant people who currently touch my life, especially those people in the past who have loved me into life. They are etched in my soul. 

 - Sr. Patricia St. Louis csj         

Small Things, Great Outcomes in a Time of Pandemic

The renowned Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, claimed that “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” This week we were reminded of that truth on hearing of the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore whose image leapt onto the “global stage” and into the hearts of the world, as with his “walker”, he did laps of his garden at his home in England. Perhaps the person most surprised by his sudden fame was Captain Moore himself! With a challenge set by his family, Captain Moore took to walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday in order to try to raise 1000.00 pounds sterling to support front-line care workers in the National Health System during the challenging days of the pandemic. In the event, by his centenary celebrations, Captain Moore raised an astounding 32 million pounds for the cause contributed by people around the globe. Before beginning his venture Captain Moore had said, “one small soul like me won’t make much difference.” How wrong he was. The difference he made was phenomenal and not simply in terms of the monetary outcome but perhaps most of all by the witness he was to all of us of the reality that small things truly matter.

How many of us, I wonder, have asked a question similar to that expressed by Captain Moore, “What can I do – I can’t make any difference in these challenging Covid days?” We may feel overwhelmed in these times, sure that we have little to offer in the context of so many restrictions, fears and uncertainties. Yet, perhaps one of the greatest contributions we can make is to embrace the small things of life and let them challenge us to move beyond despair and apathy to reach out to others and, in turn, to be freed of inertia and personal despondency. We can make a difference.

St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Of course, Captain Moore is a contemporary example of what has been understood spiritually throughout the centuries. Possibly, one of the most well-known advocates of the promise of small things was St. Thérèse de Lisieux, the nineteenth-century Carmelite nun, who within the confines of a cloistered religious community in France, came to the realization that in the end what truly matters is doing the small things well.  Thérèse’s impact on the world beyond her physical boundaries was and continues to be, immense. Hers was a commitment to the chores and to the people we encounter in the humdrum moments of our lives. She reminded us that “nothing is small in the eyes of God” and she admonished us to “do all that you do with love.” Similarly, this idea is found in many great spiritual traditions. American Rabbi, Berel Wein, for example, points out that, “in truth, it is the small things that define us.” The Torah, he says, is seemingly pre-occupied with the small things in life and he concludes that “great ideas are only communicated through small things, everyday behaviours, the mitzvoth of life.” Only through fidelity to small acts does the great become realized.” Likewise, in the Islamic tradition, it’s said that the prophet Mohammad claimed that the deeds most pleasing to God are the regular constant deeds even though they may be very small. One also senses that in the mindfulness of the Buddhist tradition is the reverence for the small things of life. Regardless of one’s values or faith, fidelity to the small things becomes the means of sharing love, care, and positive energy not only in our local spaces but beyond into our communities and the world and we may never know the impact.

“nothing is small in the eyes of God”

The small things matter and perhaps especially so in the place in which we find ourselves today. This time of pandemic is a time when perhaps all people, no matter how strong, are struggling. Some with feelings of despondency, fear, loneliness, hopelessness, a sense of inadequacy, mental health challenges, sickness and grief. In this context, small things truly matter. At a personal level committing to the regularities of daily living keeps us engaged and balanced, lifted up. Even if we are feeling overwhelmed and unable to do anything, the reality is we can! A friend of mine, a psychiatric nurse, the late Sister Angela Cooling, OSA, once said to me very wisely, “always remember there is nothing about which something can’t be done”! What are some small  “somethings” we might consider in this time?

We can always undertake acts of kindness, affirmation, and patience in our homes and communities. Beyond our homes, these ‘’acts” might be practised through a phone call, a card or letter, a zoom call. Perhaps those of us who are able to do grocery shopping can think of helping another who is unable to do so or maybe we can purchase a small treat to deliver to another person. At the beginning of the pandemic, I read of two inspirational high school students, “regular boys” who on seeing an elderly man struggling at a supermarket, spent all their own money on buying paper bags and small items they thought older people may appreciate and then with great care in terms of infection prevention, delivered these gifts around their neighbourhood. The joy they brought to many is incalculable.

What about forming an on-line group of those who are willing to write notes to residents of long term care facilities or jails or notes of affirmation and gratitude for front-line workers? We might gather our communities together on-line to share the reading of a book to lift spirits and for personal growth or to share together conversation involving those who may not normally be in our circle or who cannot reach out for help and community. Other groups might take up necessary advocacy these days. Perhaps, like Captain Moore, we can think of a small way to raise funds to help others. Like his, our small acts can have great outcomes. Significantly, we can always pray for healing and hope together online or personally. Using our creativity there are multitudes of possibilities for those small things we can still do until the “clouds of our day” lift. Small things matter. Together let’s embrace them with love and let’s share them to accelerate the heartbeat of care in our world today. With Mother (St.) Teresa of Calcutta may we know that “There are no great things, only small things done with great love.”

-Sister Mary Rowell, CSJ

Celebrating 100 Years in Pembroke

Written by Mary McGuire, csj Published in the Eganville Leader in February, 2021

During the next 11 months, we will continue to share the amazing story of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada/Pembroke Site as we celebrate 100 years of our service and witness in the Diocese of Pembroke and beyond. As we tell our story we would like to express our gratitude, love, and prayers to so many of you who have been with us on this journey. Our Congregation is witness to the love and support you have bestowed on our community and we will be forever grateful for these gifts. We would like to say a heartfelt thank you and invite you to read our story in the months ahead as a way of celebrating this important milestone with us.

We hope you enjoyed reading the January story about the humble beginnings of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada/Pembroke Site. As we continue to share this grace-filled story, you will be inspired by God’s abundant love that he bestowed on our Congregation. In this second article, our story continues with the building of a new Motherhouse on the property known as St. Joseph’s-on-the-Lake.

After our initial move to the property, it became clear that a new building was needed to house our growing community and it was to become a home to many Sisters.

On September 15th, 1952 a ceremony of the ‘Turning of the Sod’ for a new Motherhouse was carried out by Bishop Smith who succeeded our initial benefactor, Bishop Ryan, in the Diocese of Pembroke.

The main and first section of our Motherhouse was built only a few hundred feet from the original farmhouse and was completed in 1954. One Sister recalls loading wheelbarrows with furniture and pushing them across the field. Mattresses were a problem as they often fell to the ground. A watchful eye would catch them and say, ‘Don’t ruin the mattresses. That’s all we have’.

This first expansion included the building of our Chapel, which was the heart of our home and was blessed by Bishop Smith on December 12th, 1954 during a Mass of Thanksgiving. Many Sisters, priests, and neighbours gathered to celebrate. Following the Mass everyone was invited to lunch in our dining room where the celebration continued.

The Spirit of God was ever-present, guiding us in forming a community of genuine, caring women and the loving support was palpable. We felt the oneness of being a vital part of something much bigger than ourselves. Our journey to fulfilling our mission was just beginning.

Over the years our Chapel was offered to the public for Eucharistic celebrations and times of quiet prayer. We had the honour of hosting many sacred events including a wedding, a baptism, and some wakes (or funerals) of lay people who had requested this. We also held the wakes and funeral masses of our own sisters in the Chapel.

Throughout the years there was continual progress toward the completion of the Chapel and the facility’s furnishings. The many donations included the beautiful Stations of the Cross which were a gift from Father Dowdall and a new Chapel organ was donated by the Catholic Women’s League of Eganville. A statue of St. Joseph was a gift from Father T.J. Hunt and was erected on the lawn in front of the Motherhouse. The plaque at the base of the statue was donated by the Berrigan family. We are very pleased that the St. Joseph statue has found a new home at St. Joseph’s High School in Renfrew.

In 1962, an administrative section, known as the East Wing, was added to the main building. This contained a board room, offices, approximately fifty bedrooms, and a spacious auditorium. This addition meant we had more space to accommodate more Sisters as well as host important meetings and events and offer our facility to other community organizations when needed.

In 1967, the West Wing was built to accommodate those aging Sisters who were suffering from ill-health after their years of hard work and dedication to their missions and professions. These special accommodations and facilities included a welcoming and comfortable infirmary, designed and furnished with attention and skill, and provided ideal quarters for those requiring nursing care. As our health care facility grew we were able to take in priests and laypeople who needed this type of assistance. We had 24-hour nursing care and a Doctor who visited weekly.

This health care facility was of great use to Marianhill at one time. For a short period in 2009, during a transition for some hospital patients to transfer to the new Carefor facility on MacKay Street in Pembroke, we offered our home to 12 infirm patients on our second-floor health care unit.

A full-size therapy pool was also part of this west wing addition. Over the years the Sisters made the pool accessible to the local community who needed this type of therapy for healing. One of our Associates, Anita McGean, volunteered to oversee and schedule appointments to swim in the pool on a weekly basis. A referral from a Doctor was required and it was recognized as a way to give back to our supportive community. It was such an important part of our ministry and was so appreciated. The use of the pool was offered free to those who would use it and there were many gestures of appreciation. One man, after a serious accident, said, “This therapy pool saved my life and allowed me to walk again.”

Although these expansions provided a warm and welcoming home to the Sisters we were always aware that the land and its original purpose as a farm shaped our culture as a Congregation. Farmers are very dependent on the weather (God’s Providence) and dependent upon each other as neighbours. Those traits inspired the hospitality and simplicity that characterizes us and our community. Our attentiveness to the needs of smaller communities, especially rural communities, has been a value of our Congregation in our apostolic outreach over the years.

From those early days of our journey, a debt of gratitude is owed. The Peterborough Congregation sent 27 of their Sisters who volunteered to join the Pembroke Congregation early in our existence. This was a pure gift to our community and would not have been an easy decision to make at that time.

Priceless was the friendship of Bishop Ryan and Father Dowdall who went above and beyond their contributions of interest and precious time. Father Dowdall was unfailing as the most effective public relations promoter of our community.

With bricks and mortar, our story supported a foundation in Pembroke to be of service to God’s people. The Sisters were open to all possibilities. Wherever there was a need, the community responded. We received so much affirmation and support. It is true when you give generously from the heart, it is returned one hundredfold. This was our experience and we are so grateful.

This story ends in thanksgiving of a very special gift that we received - one that we enjoy to this day. In 1968, through the generosity of the owners, a summer camp on the Madawaska River, not far from Combermere, was donated to the Sisters of St. Joseph. The large and completely furnished dwelling was built by Monsignor Biernacki and at his death, was inherited by a number of priests who were both American and Canadian and had, in former times, enjoyed the hospitality of Monsignor Biernacki at ‘II Nocturne’, as it was named. This four-season camp is beautifully situated on the River and was gratefully accepted by the Sisters who continue to use it throughout the year.

Stay tuned as our story unfolds in 2021!

Written by Mary McGuire, csj Published in the Eganville Leader in February, 2021

This is Us

“This is Us” is currently a popular TV series. It is also a popular LIFE series at our residence in London, Ontario, Canada where approximately 80 women - Sisters of St. Joseph, share life.

Recently, an invitation was given to anyone to be part of putting together a beautiful puzzle of a male and female cardinal.  There they were, all 500 pieces, with uniquely odd-shaped pieces waiting to be crafted into a beautiful picture as seen here.

Beside the pieces, was the following invitation:

“When a red cardinal appears, the spiritual meaning is that it is a symbol of hope in God, especially in times of stress and despair, to encourage hope and persistence.

This puzzle, in the process of completing it, is meant to be a reminder of the importance of us living together, helping each other to put together, the pieces of our lives, as we journey through this pandemic. Some pieces will fit, some will not, but will be used when others fit into the picture.

WELCOME TO BEING A CO-CREATOR OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT!! 😊”

After about three weeks, the beautiful symbol was realized and the co-creators were asked to describe their experience of being in this very simple process and how it was similar to living in community.

These were the various responses:

-we are all interested in the same thing

-you learn about the other persons who help to put it together

- it is a small welcome recess in the day

-we support each other in various ways, as we do in community

-in working together, we experience being with somebody

-I am happy to find pieces that fit

-it is heartening to see together, the end product coming to completion

-like the odd-shaped puzzle pieces, so are we, as the diverse pieces of our life come together

-various personalities come together and we appreciate the gift of accommodating at times and leading at other times.”

-we are creating something new and enjoying doing it

-we are making connections on many levels

-it captivates one’s ability to attentively see the unfolding of something beautiful

-look at a piece, then look at the WHOLE to see where it fits

Through the lens of “puzzle-making”, we can look at this world in the political upheaval in the U.S. especially and hope that better hearts will prevail to bring about a picture of harmony and collaboration.

Looking through this same lens, we can hope that in our lives together, we can create a microcosm of a loving and compassionate entity that will spill out into a world so desperately in need of compassionate love.

Amanda Gordon, the poet laureate of the U.S. presidential Inauguration reminds us:

“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

If we are brave enough to put the pieces of the puzzle together, we CAN collaboratively co-create a beautiful world.  WE CAN BE THE LIGHT.

-Sister Kathleen Lichti (and several other “puzzle solvers”)

Celebrating Vowed Life

In 1997, Pope St. John Paul II instituted “World Day of Consecrated Life” as a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life.  This feast on February 2nd is attached to Candlemas Day, on which candles are blessed symbolizing the light of Christ to all peoples.  The Pope wanted to emphasize the gift of consecrated persons to the world and urged them to be, “true experts of communion and to practice the spirituality of communion” (Vita consecrate, n.46). 

Today, in “Laudato si” Pope Francis invites us to be “architects of universal brotherhood, custodians of the common home: of the earth and every creature” (cf. Encyclical “Laudato si”). He elaborates in “Fratelli Tutti,” “Be brothers and sisters towards all, regardless of faith, culture and tradition” (FT n. 100).  In other words, be ministers to the dear neighbor without distinction as our founder, Fr. Medaille directed in 1650.

Of course, the groundwork for the ability to be what is urged in papal encyclicals begins in the life of every individual religious congregation.  In a 2017 video, “Why We Love Our Vocation,” newer members were asked why they love their vocation. Their answers resonated with my own experience. For example, “It’s freedom to be in love with God and available for God’s people.” “It’s an opportunity to show a different way of being in the world.” “You pour your life into God and God pours life back into you.”  “It’s living with people who have similar values and support each other.”  An enthusiastic young seminarian declared, “Consecrated life is an adventure” and a dancing young Sister enthused, “It’s living in the joy of the Gospel.”

“standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me.”

As for myself, reflecting on my 54 years in consecrated life, I have been blessed in every way, “standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me.”  I am a part of the valiant women who strive to grow deeper into God every day.  Our overflow of God’s steadfast love pours into the world in service to God’s people.  Living in community can try my patience but it expands my mind and heart.  Loving support surrounds me.  If push comes to shove, I can reach out to any Sister and receive unconditional love.  If I am healthy, I’m encouraged to develop my talents in service to the dear neighbor.   If I am ill, I’m surrounded by healing care.

Father Hardy, Sister Jean, Sister Yvonne and Mary Jo at Sister Jean’s 50th Jubilee

I love how we support each other in happiness and sorrow. At jubilees, we can blow off the chapel roof with joyful song and celebration. In death, we are accompanied with prayer and solemnity.

Consecrated life is an amazing global network of generous vowed women and men leaving their nets and following Christ to minister to others in the joy of the Gospel.  Be assured that in the lyrics of Earth Mama, each of us can say, “I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer and my shoulders will be there to hold the ones who follow me.”

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj

Sisters of St. Joseph, Community Photo, 1993