News from Visitation Province
100th Birthday of Sister Mary Meagher CND
Happiness is being 100, so there was great joy in Kingston on December 10th as the CND Community hosted a party to anticipate the December 12th birthday of our century old Sister Mary Meagher.
Representatives from every walk of her life showed up to express congratulations and good wishes on the occasion. Her many relatives present ranged from her 98 year old sister, many nieces and nephews, down to a fourteen month old great, grand niece. There were many former students, friends from along the way, and most of her companions living at the Providence Motherhouse.
A short program consisting of a brief review of her life, intermingled by a few songs by her niece and nephew-in-law, highlighted the events of a life lived between either Toronto or Kingston. Mary responded with words of joy and gratitude for life and for those gathered to rejoice with her.
Rosemary Shannon, CND with sisters of the Notre Dame community
100 Communities for 100 Days: Global Rosary for Nonviolence and Peace
If you truly believe that the Holy Mother is steering us to serious prayer at a time when the world is in desperate need of it, and also believe she’ll answer us here is an invitation.
Become part of a community of Catholic people around the world who desire
to do something to transform hatred, harm, violence and the destruction of peace, by making a commitment to praying the rosary daily for 100 hundred days:
Beginning January 1, 2024 to April 9, 2024 through the New Year, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and finishing a few days after Divine Mercy Sunday.
If you feel called to participate, all that is required is to say five decades of the rosary daily for one hundred days, with each decade dedicated to the much-needed healing and transformation of the present global suffering as follows —
Violence against women, children and genders.
Violence against the Earth.
Violence against religious affiliations, beliefs and practices.
Violence against nations and races.
Violence in families and homes.
Commitments have already been made from individuals and communities in Toronto, Tokyo, Nairobi, parts of the U.S., and in some convents in Italy.
United in the hope of bringing Christ’s peace and nonviolence to all who live on this planet.
Ann Gotfryd, Associate
Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15: 7
Fifteen of us from the Toronto and Beyond Associate group gathered for our Advent Reflection on Dec. 10th.
Happy to be together, we considered how Advent is all about “Being Welcomed”:
Mary’s yes to welcoming the Christ child into her being;
The welcome Mary received from Elizabeth;
The not so welcoming inn keeper, who still made space in his stable; and
The shepherds who gathered to welcome the King.
We asked: What pressures to be efficient; what distractions, and other preoccupations make it more difficult for us to be open and welcoming this Advent?
We were reminded that Jesus - the person we want to welcome into our hearts during this season - often comes to us disguised as a stranger. If this is true, as Jesus himself says it is, then we celebrate Advent every time we welcome someone in Jesus’ name and on his behalf, every time we look beyond ourselves and notice someone in need of love and compassion.
Recognizing that we are and continue to be a community of welcome, we shared how 2023 invites us to bring to this Season of Advent a new awareness and attention to this spirit of welcome.
Our time together closed with the beautiful hymn, Long Ago Prophets Knew as we offered one another warmest wishes for a holy and happy Christmas.
Toronto and Beyond Planning Committee
We have heard it… We have lived it, and we yearn for it to be true again: Advent is a time for utter amazement! In the midst of so much, barrenness, violence, wars, and wonderings. How do we keep planting seeds of hope? Many times in my life ‘An old woman’ has broken through my darkness to open the way. Once again, she has done it…. Helped me name a barren, scarred darkness in me, and then in my world I still know that the cry for Hope is louder and more powerful still …. Yes, it happens!
I invite us all to take a few minutes to journey with one special old woman who had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. “Changing the face of the mountain” invites us into her journey. Maybe we can each find simple ways to plant the seeds so needed in the dark corners of our hearts, in the challenges of our communities and in the urgencies of our world?
Here is the link: youtu.be/1V0kHPUYq0M?si=7YHGi4HQSxiiANUd In hopeful unity this Advent season,
Lorraine Costello, CND for Spirituality Committee
Annual Christmas giving to benefit residents at Joseph Street
Thank you to Barb, Kingston CND associate, for collecting funds from sisters and associates, to provide gifts bags to residents of Joseph Street, part of Kingston “Home Base Housing, Ending Homelessness.”
Home Base Housing works on ending homelessness by caring, identifying, and meeting the needs of vulnerable youth, families in distress, and single adults, to have immediate shelter, find a place to call home, and to sustain a roof over their heads.
This year 10 men and 5 women received recyclable bags filled with toiletries, gloves, hats, and kitchen essentials, including instant coffee and candies.
Joseph Street has been the recipient of the annual Christmas gift bags for many years. Thank you for the generosity of sisters and associates to continue this outreach project.
Mary Myers, Associate Coordinator
Movie Recommendation
Killers of the Flower Moon is a 3.5 hour critically acclaimed movie about the grim and hash realities endured y the Osaga peoples living on their oil rich 1920s Oklahoma land. As with most Scorsese movies the story is intense, and the violence portrayed graphic. The greed, murders and manipulation sed to obtain he oil money from the Osage peoples is portrayed through the stories of an uncle and his two nephews and the Osage woman one of the nephews married. The acting is excellent, and the language, customs, reality, and strength of the Osage peoples is well reflected. Although the murders of the Osage women can’t be undone the main perpetrators are finally brought to justice through the persistent uphill demands of the Osage people with Washington.
Kathy Kelly, Associate