News from Visitation Province
Coming right up! January 12, 2023. Happy Feast Day to us!
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, Pray for us!
During the months since the 400th Anniversary, I have noticed how often Sisters and Associates make use of the song written by Robert Lebel, Let Us Hurry on the Way.
The Chorus seems to speak to where we are in these times, and how we are called “to be living signs of God’s own Visitation… for someone awaits our presence and our joy!”
Today, and any day, who might be awaiting a visit? Today, and any day, maybe I am open to being visited?
The Zoom gatherings have given us many Visitation opportunities. Sisters and Associates and special guests! We have visited, gifting joy among ourselves in our prayer, in our personal sharing and in our taking advantage of new learning.
With gratitude for all we have, we step confidently into 2023!
Eleanor McCloskey, CND
The Marguerite Bourgeoys Feast Day Mass will be held on January 15 at the Notre- Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. Guy Chapedelaine will celebrate a bilingual mass at 10:30 a.m. [EST]
Info for all who can access CTV in Atlantic Canada: CTV Mass for Shut-Ins, honoring Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, will air on Sunday, January 15, at 11:30 AST. (Mass will be taped Saturday, January 7, 10:30 am at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Church in Sydney.)
Dianne MacAskill & Donna MacIntyre, associate co-coordinators in the East
Video Recommendation
On January 1, St. Basil’s parish in Ottawa hosted an “Interfaith Prayer Service for Global Peace.” The many participants representing different faith communities spoke, sang, and drummed briefly sharing their prayer for peace in various ways. You can view the 50-minute video here if interested https://youtu.be/_IBgrRDy7Ss
Kathy Kelly, Associate
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny. (Minotaur Books, New York, 2022).
Readers of this successful Canadian author have come to expect a mystery full of twists and turns, verses of poetry here and there, some history, always history, art references, and the hunches and what if’s that are the gifts and skills of Chief Inspector Gamache. This novel (Louise’s 18th) incorporates inspiration from a Canadian tragedy, the mass murder at the Polytechnic University in Quebec (December, 1989. 14 female engineering students were killed and13 others wounded.)
For maximum enjoyment, new readers may want to explore a couple of the earlier books to get acquainted with the main characters and the village of Three Pines, Quebec.
Eleanor McCloskey, CND
The 2023 theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18 to 25), chosen by the Minnesota Council of
Churches http://www.mnchurches.org/(USA), is “Do good; seek justice.” Based on Isaiah 1:12-1. “Isaiah challenged God’s people in his day to learn to do good together; to seek justice together, to rescue the oppressed together, to defend the orphan and plead for the widow together. The prophet’s challenge applies equally to us today. How can we live our unity as Christians to confront the evils and injustices of our time? How can we engage in dialogue, increase awareness, understanding and insight about one another’s lived experiences?” – From Introduction to the Theme of the Year 2023
Kathy Kelly, Associate