Blog
Christmas Message
From the heart of silence leaps the living Word
like the dayspring rising where the dark is stirred
by our hope turned eastward toward the promised light
though the eyes see nothing but the depth of night.
(Genevieve Glen, OSB)
May Divine Love move us ever forward in acts of healing and whole-making.
Warmest Christmas wishes.
May Deep Peace be yours this Christmas Season,
The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada
A Special Celebration This Year
There were twenty of us aged 5 to 91 years, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian gathered for the first time after COVID to celebrate being with one another again or meeting each other for the first time. These were refugees associated with the Sisters of St Joseph Refugee Committee in Hamilton as well as members of the Committee.
We went around the circle and asked what each was looking forward to over the holiday time. One woman said, ‘being with friends like you’ before tears began rolling down her cheeks. Another woman and her son were relieved after becoming permanent residents seven years after arriving in Canada. At this time last year, they had their plane tickets as they were being deported back to their home country even though they feared for their safety should that have happened. We are so thankful that those circumstances changed and we were able to celebrate together this year!
Everyone brought some food, and the variety was amazing. Games were played with the biggest hit being the old-fashioned game of Musical Chairs. Much laughter ensued.
I have the privilege of being included in many celebrations with family and other friends but this particular celebration will hold a very special place in my heart.
Image: Unsplash/Kolby Milton
May we all find and spread joy with being with others, whoever those ‘others’ may be. This is truly the joy and hope that God promises.
-Sister Nancy Sullivan, CSJ
“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
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
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
