Saint Valentine's Day

I recall with fondness those Valentine’s Days of my youth. How exciting it was to fill out little Valentine cards for all my classmates and then to receive so many in return. Art class was dedicated to making hearts & flowers, cards for Moms & Dads. And of course, there had to be treats; little hearts with messages on them or chocolate, or both if one was very lucky.

The fact that the feast was originally named after the 3rd century martyr St. Valentine of Terni paled with the excitement of the day. History remembers him as a priest, some say bishop, who died at the command of Emperor Claudius II Gothicus because he would not renounce his faith. He is remembered as the patron saint of healing and epilepsy. I’ll share one lovely story of how our practice of sending Valentine cards may have started.

St. Valentine is said to have healed a young girl of her blindness. On the day of his execution legend has it that he wrote a letter to that young girl and signed “from your Valentine”. Sounds like a loving soul, doesn’t he?

May you feel loved and offer love to all you meet this Valentines Day, and maybe some treats!

-Maureen Condon, Associate

Images: Becca Tapert/ Unsplash

A Valentine's Day Prayer

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

- 1 Corinthians 13

Do you remember writing out Valentine’s cards for everyone in your class?  Cutting out hearts of construction paper and coming up with cute messages that would let your friends know that you cared for them?  Did you tell your parents that you loved them before you went to bed every night?  Or did you kiss them goodnight?

Let us pray this reflection on love attributed to Pedro Arrupe sj

“Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything. “

From Finding God in All Things: A Marquette Prayer Book © 2009 Marquette University. 

God of love, you bless us every day with goodness and love.

Remind us to make every day a day of love and affection.

Let us give the person in front of us our full undivided attention.

Help us be a conduit of your love to those we meet everyday.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

-Created by Sister Pat Carter and the Federation Vocation Animation Committee to commemorate both Valentine’s DAY and Family Day.

Images: Diana Polekhina /Brigitte Tohm | Unsplash

The Lost Doll and the Tooth Fairy

As somewhat of a reluctant “Facebooker,” a friend, aware of this, emailed me the link to a story she thought I might enjoy. Curious, I clicked on the link and found myself reading a moving account about a sympathetic middle-aged man and a crying girl who had lost her doll. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a brief (266 words) post that’s worth experiencing for yourself. Read it here.

The girl’s unexpected encounter with Franz Kafka reminded me of an experience of my own.

““Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way.””

As a primary school teacher, I too, had a memorable encounter with a sobbing child. I had just entered my Grade 1 classroom when I was immediately met with the sound of crying. I soon discovered one of my students, in tears. When I asked her what was wrong, she explained through sobs that she had lost her baby tooth and wouldn’t be able to place it under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy. I knew the day would be ruined for her, and maybe even for all of us, if I didn’t find a way to solve her dilemma. Then, inspiration struck.

I suggested that the Tooth Fairy would probably accept a letter from her teacher, explaining the situation and requesting the fairy accept the note in place of the missing tooth. The sobs stopped, the tears dried, and a smile returned to the girl’s face. I quickly wrote the letter and asked her to carefully tuck it into her book bag.

The next day, she came into class bubbling with excitement and handed me a thank-you note from the Tooth Fairy. It turned out her mother had played along, showing her gratitude for my creative solution.

Did this article spark any memories for you?

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian writer born in Prague in 1883, and he is widely considered one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.

The Gift of Music

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a Herman’s Hermits concert in Niagara Falls with three others. One of them had won the tickets, which made the experience even more exciting! A Herman’s Hermits album was one of the very first I ever owned, and I have always loved their sound.

For days after the concert, I found myself listening to their songs on repeat—singing along, of course! This experience reminded me of what a gift music is to all of us and what a true blessing it can be. No matter what genre one enjoys, music has the power to uplift, reflect our moods, or even shape how we feel. The melodies can touch our hearts, and the lyrics can speak to our minds.

Someone with a deeper appreciation of music could likely describe this phenomenon better, but all I know is that music has a way of reaching our souls like few other things can.

Thank you, God, for the gift of music and for all those who bring it into our lives.

-Sister Nancy Sullivan, CSJ

Image: Kari Shea/Unsplash

To Work Towards Justice is to Persevere

As someone who spent her life in the heart of Africa, where the sun’s warmth lasts throughout the year, I am fascinated by Canadian seasons and the profound life lessons they carry. My work is to look at the state of the world daily and what a sight it is today. From the grueling violence in the Middle East to the threats faced by Indigenous communities and our natural world, it is easy sometimes to feel as though our world is crumbling, and human rights an unattainable quest. Have we not learnt anything about history, one might ask? Is humanity destined to always repeat the same mistakes, and for injustice to prevail?

The fall season with its gorgeous trail of auburn, copper and crimson leaves dropping on the ground, one at a time, giving way to the long silence of winter, and eventually an astounding rebirth in the spring have been a source of deep comfort in my work on human rights. They remind me that like the seasons, injustice comes and goes, and rebirth is always within our reach. The pursuit of justice is demanding. It asks us to be patient and diligent, to cultivate hope against all odds, to never give up. Just as we know with absolute certainty that spring will come, we must trust that a more just world is possible.

This week I was overjoyed to learn that Brazil had finally convicted two former police officers for the murder of Marielle Franco, a prominent young female politician killed in a drive-by shooting in 2018. Our team in the Brazil office has devoted much of its work to this case. Marielle may not be back, and her family remains forever shattered, but this conviction breaks a culture of impunity that had engulfed Brazil for too long. It took six long years of mobilizing, advocating and campaigning in what seemed like an impossible case for this conviction to emerge. My first thought upon hearing the news was the wise words of Martin Luther King, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” What a privilege to bend the arc daily, with the support of so many of you, even in what seems like a cold winter for human rights.

To work towards justice is to persevere, to doubt, to stumble and to get up and start again, always guided by those most impacted, breaking the silence cast around the unheard, and casting light on the most forgotten wrongs. It is to look at the falling leaves, and to trust, without the shadow of a doubt, in the return of the spring.

Guest Blog by: Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada