Accounting for One’s Hope

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

We might find ourselves at times somewhat hesitant to answer this soul-searching question posed in 1 Peter 3:15. Yet, being ready to give an accounting for one’s hope has the power to ground us. Furthermore, I trust it has the potential to be life-giving for others.

Regarding hope, a newly published book by Maude Barlow caught my attention. As an avid bookworm, how could I resist adding it to my library? The writer is a well- known Canadian activist and author. She openly admits in the first sentence of the introduction that she has been contemplating the notion of hope for a long time. In her book, Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism, Barlow, without hesitation, eloquently delivers the reasoning behind her hopefulness amid global trauma.

The author relays her life experiences during her forty plus years as a social activist. She was active politically during the struggle for the expansion of women’s rights, the battle against free trade and globalization, and the global fight for water justice. Her recollections transport the reader through the twisting, slow course of societal transformation while conveying the lessons she has learned in the process. Barlow provides the reader with 223 pages of wisdom and encouragement. Woven within her engaging storytelling are eight cameo appearances of other notable changemakers who answer the question, “Where do you find hope?” Together with Barlow, they contribute an antidote to the temptation to succumb to a growing sense of universal pessimism.

At right, Maude Barlow being interviewed about Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism and here is a link to a wonderful 4-minute interview on Global News.

 -Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Growing Peace

As we come nearer to Christmas, we hear the music and the many greetings offering Peace and Goodwill to all.  And we all need to hear this many times over the coming weeks.  However, this is a greeting that is most welcome at this time of year, but it is also needed any time of the year.

The coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is what we long for during these remaining Advent days, and it is a longing that lives in us every day of the year. But we can’t make Christmas with our backs to the troubles of our world.  When we look around the world, we see war and hunger, natural disaster destroying crops and livelihoods, economic warnings and homelessness and sickness and death both far away and close to home.

Image: Unsplash/Tamara Menzi

David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, invites us to take our place as peacemakers in today’s world.  This longing that we all have hidden within our hearts begins when we can turn this longing into a movement for peace.  How you ask?  To quote Brother David, this peace will be…

• More than a truce: it is love and forgiveness and recognizes that the price of every gun is a theft from the poor.

• Saying yes to reverence, dialogue, and sensitivity, and saying yes to economic and educational security and affordable housing security.

• Saying no to violence, competition, and war, and saying no to the terrorism of poverty, ignorance, homelessness, racism, and ecological devastation.

• Saying yes to mercy, kindness, forgiveness, cooperation, and a convergence of the heart, whereby we summon the courage to stand up for freedom.

We can begin to make this path homeward to peace, when, as the poet Rumi suggest:

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.  There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Take a few moments to consider how to see beauty around you and metaphorically kneel and kiss the ground.

If we can try living this way, each day we can grow the Peace wherever we are.

-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ

A Taste of Christmas

How better to enter into the spirit of Christmas than by attending a special evening with London’s award-winning King’s University College Chamber Choir.

A group of us Sisters made the two-minute trip to the magnificent chapel at our former home, Windermere on the Mount.

Upon entering, we were bathed in the serenity of the setting.  Against a backdrop of plush blue and green backlit panel draping, the grand piano, violins, viola, and cello sat ready. The musicians took their places.  The uplifting tone of the evening was set.  Talented conductor, Janet Loo, stepped onto the dais, and thirty-nine beautifully gowned and suited sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses walked across the stage and stood on the tiers before us.  Thus began an exhilarating selection of intricate choruses to ring in the festal season.  In the acoustically superb chapel, the crystal-clear voices in multiple harmony soared and descended in beautiful choral renditions from a tingling, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”, to “Rosa Mystica” and the haunting, “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming”.  In a change of pace, there was eager audience participation with the ever old ever new, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”.

In one seamless evening of outstanding repertoire, we left the world of noise behind us and lived suspended in peace and calm.  As the performance ended and we headed back into the night, we were uplifted to have spent an evening where music nourished our inner selves. It was calm for our souls, pride for our hearts and a blessing to witness such outstanding musical talent. 

Sister Jean Moylan, csj

Garnishes of Beauty - Edible Flowers

At Stillpoint House of Prayer, we are blessed with Karen and Jasmine, a mother and daughter team, who prepare nutritious and appealing meals for our guests.  Admiring their presentation of food, someone on retreat commented “They have a spiritual gift.”  This statement got me thinking.  When someone takes a bit of extra time to add a garnish as a creative touch, this gesture shows that person cares.  The added ‘ingredient’ brings beauty with the potential to touch a person’s soul and can stir up a natural response of gratitude to God. Edible flowers are garnishes that offer a delightful sensory experience. The thought of eating them may seem unnatural to some; however, for centuries, cultures around the world have brightened their recipes by adding flowers. When innovative cooks use flowers and artistically arrange them on a plate, they enhance our lives with a burst of colour, interest, taste, and texture.  The flowers are meant to harmonize with the foods and accurately represent what is contained within the dish, give a clue to the flavour of the meal, complement the taste of the dish, enhance food’s aromatic qualities, and fill empty space on the plate.

There are many options for edible flowers that can be used throughout most seasons.  Nasturtium, pansies, marigolds, tulips, cornflowers, verbena, geraniums, honeysuckle, johnny jump-ups, and calendula flowers are just some of the varieties available.  When the anthers are removed, gladiolus act as lovely receptacles for sweet or savory spreads or mousses.  Roses are sweet with subtle overtones, ranging from fruit to mint to spice, reminiscent of strawberries and green apples.  Although all roses are edible, the darker varieties have a more pronounced flavour.

Always check to make sure a flower is edible and, when in doubt, don’t eat it!  Azaleas, buttercups, daffodils, delphinium, and wisteria are poisonous. Never use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat.  Roadside flowers are not to be harvested because they may have been exposed to vehicle exhaust and salt runoff from the winter months.  Anyone with allergies proceed with caution.  When dining out, ask if a flower used as a garnish is edible.   

Edible flowers are always best when picked fresh from the garden at a cool time of day; morning is often best.   Be sure to wash the flowers and check to be sure that no insects are stuck inside your flowers. The petals are the best parts of many edible flowers so remove the heel at the base of the petal as well as the stamens, pistils, and calyx of larger flowers.  Some, like pansies, however, can be eaten whole.  After cutting the petals away from the bitter base of the flower, carnations can be steeped in wine, candied, or used as cake decorations.  

Every year when planning the landscape of your garden, be sure to add varieties of edible flowers.  These flowers not only add beauty to your landscape, but valuable nutrients as well.  As perfect companion plants, they will naturally enhance your gardening success.  Most edible flowers like roses and lavenders contain vitamin A, C, and E.  Antioxidants also protect the body from damage linked to disease and ageing. Now, this is “flower power”!

-Sister Kathy O’Keefe, csj on behalf of the Federation Ecology Committee

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RESOURCES from Google:  The Ten Best Edible Flowers to Grow in Your Garden    Stephanie Rose      Mission on The Tabernacle:  The Spiritual Gift of Creating Beauty    Becca Hermes          10 Benefits of Edible Flowers    Teleflora

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS:

• BEFORE CONSUMING ANY PLANT OR FLOWER, CHECK WITH A MEDICAL OR PLANT PROFESSIONAL.

• NOT EVERY FLOWER/PLANT IS EDIBLE – In fact, sampling some flowers can make you very, very sick.

• You also should NEVER use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat.

• Never harvest flowers growing by the roadside.

• Identify the flower exactly and eat only edible flowers and edible parts of those flowers.

• Always remember to use flowers sparingly in your recipes due to the digestive complications that can occur with a large consumption rate.  Most herb flowers have a taste that’s similar to the leaf, but spicier.  The concept of using fresh edible flowers in cooking is not new.

Interfaith Friendships

Image: Jeremy Yap/Unsplash

I was inspired to share this inspiring article from the Center for Action and Contemplation. The article is by Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core.

The article describes how asking youth to share with each other stories from their diverse religions, how values held by all of them can lead to joint participation in a service project that implements these values.

You can find this inspiring and hopeful article here.

-Sister Pat McKeon, csj

To Explore Further. . . Read Richard on interspirituality and solidarity.