Christmas is an Invitation

Christmas is an invitation for each one of us

To be in our world what Jesus was for his world;

A beam of light in the midst of darkness,

A ray of hop in the midst of despair.

If Jesus is to be born into today’s world,

It must be through us.

We must be the beam of light,

In the midst of darkness.

We must be the ray of hope in the midst of despair.

To the extent that we need the invitation of Christmas,

To the extend will the world receive the gift of Christmas:

Peace on earth and goodwill toward all.

-Sister Mary Jo Fox, CSJ

IMAGES: Unsplash/Robert Thiemann, Tiard Schulz

World Teachers Day

Who was your favourite teacher? I would wager that you remember more about their ways than about the subject material they taught. You might recall with appreciation how they supported you with gentle encouragement. In fact, “Nine-tenths of education is encouragement", states the 19th century , French novelist and writer, Antoine French.

As an educator myself, I recall my grade twelve biology teacher. She modelled for me the necessity of being an enthusiastic teacher. Although she had taught certain lessons numerous times, she still enthusiastically joined us in the wonders as we dissected our first earthworm.

My biology teacher must have seen in me the potential educator. She placed her trust in me to teach her biology class when she was confined to our care centre with pleurisy. I was her substitute teacher.

“Nine tenths of education is encouragement ”

— Anatole France

Each evening after supper in the dining room I would head to her temporary room in the infirmary. At her bedside on second floor, I would receive my one-to-one lesson on blood vessels, heart valves and all things related to the functioning of the human circulatory system. The next morning, buoyed up by the confidence she placed in me,  I would bravery pass on my newly acquired knowledge to my peers.

The one advantage Sister gave me, the student teacher, was a handwritten note  from her to read to my classmates. The note clearly stated that we were responsible for the unit on the circulatory system, and on her return to class, we could expect a test!

World Teachers Day on October 5th offers us  an opportunity  to reflect back on our school days and remember that particular teacher or hopefully teachers who offered us support through encouragement that impacted our lives.

Let us celebrate World Teachers Day as Teacher Appreciation Day.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

A Journey Through Wildfire Evacuation

August 13, 2023, was a typical Sunday morning. My plans for the day were to attend Mass at Assumption Parish, Hay River and then possibly travel down the highway to catch the last part of the music jamboree in the hamlet of Enterprise. That afternoon our lives would be changed, and our plans up-ended.

I returned from Mass but did not like the look of the sky, it was too yellow. After watching the Blue Jays baseball game, I noticed a ridge of grey clouds in the sky toward town. The ridge grew deeper, and I thought, ‘There is a fire in the sky.’ As I drove into town, vehicles were lined up at the first gas station and many vehicles were heading out of town. By the time I reached the second gas station, with more than 50 vehicles on either side of the pumps, a huge, ominous mushroom cloud had covered the whole town, black and grey. At that moment, the alert came across my phone to evacuate immediately. Having been in Fort Simpson for two days, I had only a quarter tank of gas, not enough to get very far.

Friends, Gertie and Don, “adopted” me and my cat Ts’udaa, and eventually we headed to High Level, Alberta. We would be there for five weeks. As an evacuee, I was blessed to be in a comfortable home, unlike others who fled with their campers or were in a hotel room in various cities and towns throughout Alberta and beyond.

All photos by Sister Maggie

We received daily updates from the Town of Hay River and from NWT Fire. Never have I been more interested and concerned about the direction of wind and its speed of gusts. I have learned so many terms related to firefighting such as duff, blacklining, breaching perimeters, and back-burning. An amazing fact is that when the smoke was too intense and thick that the water bombers and helicopters with buckets could not fly due to poor visibility, the smoke shielded the sun. As the sun was shielded, it allowed the air below to cool and the ground crews could make headway building the perimeters. At times the “duff”, which is the leaves, twigs, and vegetation on the forest floor that is “returned to Mother Earth”, was at times three feet deep. The bulldozers and crew with shovels removed the vegetation, water bombers soaked the area, and then planes dropped fire retardant. This was to build a protective perimeter around our town. When the fire advanced it would hopefully not breach the “blacklining” but extinguish itself. And it worked, thankfully!

When we received word, after 5 weeks, that it was safe to return home, we knew it would be an emotional drive. The small hamlet of Enterprise that had been celebrating a music jamboree that Sunday morning, was 85% gone, the small community/neighborhood of Patterson Road was completely gone, as we neared Hay River vast expanses of trees had burned. In other sections trees had intentionally been cut down to reduce the fuel to feed the advancing fire. There were still many hotspots and smoking embers.

That first night home after I had gone to bed, I noticed a brightness in the sky. Going to my window, I saw a small stream of Northern Lights. I picked up Ts’udaa and we stood on the front deck for several minutes. The sky was star-studded and there was a gentle stream of white lights. It was as if our Creator was saying, “Welcome home. All will be well.”

Pictured here, trees cut intentionally so as not to become fuel for fire.

The first week home I was very emotional and on guard. The look in the sky and the direction and strength of the wind caused me to be on guard. Helicopters continued to fly over my house carrying buckets of water to hotspots. I went to town in those early days of returning, and three sentences were spoken as we met each other; “Welcome home”. “How are you?” “Where were you?” We often spoke softly and hugged. Many emotions still too close to the surface.

As I met firefighters in town I would stop and thank them, tears welling up in my eyes. Their response was, “We are happy we could bring you home. It is what we do. It is a privilege, this work.” Several jurisdictions from Alberta sent pumper trucks and crew. Fire crews from many provinces and countries such as New Zealand and South Africa joined in the fight to save our town.

Still, after these days and weeks it is very emotional to recount the events of August 13 and the following days of evacuation and the drive home.

During evacuation, the many prayers, phone calls, texts and emails were a tremendous support, not only to me, but to the crews in their tireless efforts.

Although difficult amidst such trauma and devastation, it is important to realize that the life of the forest depends on fire, naturally. It is the heat of the fire that allows the cones to release their seeds so new growth can take place. We know that next spring there will be new growth, bright green amid the charred trees still standing and beautiful purple fireweed will bloom.

-Sister Maggie Beaudette, CSJ

Good Neighbours

SEPTEMBER 28 - National Good Neighbor Day

We hear a great deal about conflict and suffering in our cities and towns, as well as in many far-off places. We also know that in many of these places, there are countless stories of "good neighbors." These are the people who step up in the face of need and do good deeds. Most of them do not make the headlines. Therefore, I am writing this blog to call attention to these good deeds that go unnoticed, yet make life a little easier for us or someone else.

I have a little story about a neighbour of mine.  We needed to replace the storm door at the front of our condominium.  The neighbour had us examine the door on his place and said he could order one like it and then install it for us.  Other then the cost of the door which we paid for, all the labour and time were generously offered by this good neighbour.  He checked with us each step of the way, and worked very quietly doing this deed and then came back to see if we were satisfied at the end of the process.  He asked for nothing and was glad to help.

This deed and so many other countless good deeds seemingly unnewsworthy, that actually make the world go around. Look around you today or tomorrow. There are many neighbors around us who could benefit from us being a "good neighbor".

Welcome all these moments – they are moments of grace in which God is among us.

- Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Images: Unsplash/Christian Stahl

National Day of Encouragement

Can you remember those early days of COVID when we longed to leave our homes and go to the grocery store or the drug store or for a walk in our neighborhood?  We were cautioned daily about where we could go and warned that it was important to wear a mask, sanitize our hands upon entering and exiting buildings including our own homes.  In the stores we moved down the aisles in an orderly fashion, keeping our distance from the person ahead of us. Rarely did we see anyone stocking shelves and only met workers at the checkout counter behind plexiglass not seeing any smiles or hearing greetings of welcome.

I recall the urge to offer words of encouragement and thanks to those folks who faithfully served my needs during those long months of isolation from the mainstream of society.  It seems to me that ‘many of us were kinder and more caring’ and took time to recognize people when we passed them on the street those days.  It meant a lot to have someone say hello (even though they were masked) and we found other ways of acknowledging people with a nod of our head or a deliberate attempt to have eye contact.  We learned and lived the importance of encouraging folks to “carry on” as best as they could given the situation we were living in during those 3 years of COVID.

A recent incident has called me to be mindful of using words of encouragement when I meet people during my day.  A young woman whom I have recently met called me over to her table and said these words “I am proud of you!”  I was taken back at her words, thanked her and asked her why she would say this. “Because you are old, and you are volunteering here” was her response.

In the end, it is not what was said but rather realizing that someone has taken a risk perhaps to recognize another person and make a comment that could be the highlight of the person’s day.

I invite you on this National Day of Encouragement to take notice of the folks who cross your path today and offer words of encouragement and kindness.  Words can harm and words can heal – it is our choice!

-Sister Ann MacDonald, CSJ

Header Image: Unsplash/Katrina Wright