Nature’s Artistry

“How beautiful the leaves grow old.

How beautiful their light and colour are in their last days.”

John Burroughs

I must confess, I miss the seasonal, northern beauty I witnessed firsthand during my twenty-two years of ministry in northern Canada. Although, I readily admit that Ontario’s autumns are spectacular, the fall of 2024, seems to be outdoing itself.

Everywhere I look, I see trees dressed in eye-catching finery. Nature, using her expansive colour palette, has gifted our orbs with a manifold array of varicoloured leaves.

As my eyes delight in this stunning  view, I am cognizant of its fragility. I am well aware that impending frost, forthcoming breezes, and chilly rains will all too soon strip the trees of their festive garments once again.

However, my northern experience, makes me confident that if we look closely, we will begin noticing Mother Nature weaving her winter wonders. Let us keep our eyes open to seeing each season’s beauty.

-Nancy Wales, csj

Images: UNSPLASH Claude Laprise | Emmanuel Phaeton

Soul Food: A Book Recommendation

If you are on the lookout for a book recommendation for your spiritual reading, may I suggest, the new book (February 2024), “Come, Have Breakfast,” by Elizabeth Johnston, csj. As a lover of the psalms, beholder of God as creative mystery, and a member of our Federation Ecology Committee I found it a perfect fit for me.

I was pleasantly surprised to find how readable yet profound  this well known, erudite spiritual writer’s insights conveyed nourishment for my soul. I appreciated the author’s use of language laced with poetic and biblical images and the book’s format of individual one-sitting meditations.

Amazon eloquently introduces Johnston’s book to potential readers:

“In her latest work, prize-winning theologian Elizabeth Johnson views planet Earth, its beauty and threatened state, through the lens of scripture. Each luminous meditation offers a snapshot of one aspect of the holy mystery who creates, indwells, redeems, vivifies, and sanctifies the whole world. Together, [the meditations] offer a panoramic view of the living God who loves the earth, accompanies all its creatures in their living and their dying, and moves us to care for our uncommon common home.” -Amazon.ca

To sample Come Have Breakfast and have an opportunity to meet with its author, Elizabeth Johnston, csj I suggest viewing Sister Elizabeth in a one-on-one interview with her book’s publisher, Robert Ellsberg, below.

-Sister Nancy Wales, csj | Avid Reader

World Food Day - October 16th  

World Food Day is a time to celebrate food in all its diversity and goodness. It is also a day to remember that many people, in our cities and in our world, are food-deprived, and even suffer hunger and malnutrition. How can this be happening in this beautiful world which produces enough food for all? Can our systems of food delivery be lacking? Can the will to feed all Earth’s peoples be amiss? How do we approach this issue when it is so complex and fraught with challenges?  

Over 820 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and 2 billion people face food insecurity, yet 1/3 of food is wasted. This is a moral, environmental, and economic disaster. Many people contribute to their local food bank or soup kitchen. Community gardens also help to address this problem at the local level; but as individuals and as a society, is it past time to examine our practices around sustainability, food systems and delivery, and consumption?  

World Food Day is a call to action; since 1979, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has highlighted the issue. Governments, businesses, and individuals must work together to feed the hungry and create a world where equality and dignity are respected and promoted. What is my response as I tuck into another wonderful nutritious and balanced meal? We do not need guilt; we need action. 

Questions to ponder:  

  1. What is my protein footprint? 

  2. Am I eating “local,” observing the 100-mile diet, as much as possible?  

-Sister Helen Russell, CSJ