Recommendations for spiritual resources
Join Dan Schutte on a self-directed virtual Lenten retreat and make the journey from ashes to glory. https://www.danschuttemusic.com/lenten-retreat-individual/
Includes:
- Twenty-one video presentations by Dan, including three new ones
- Accessible from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday
- Downloadable updated retreat workbook-journal
- Each presentation includes both the reflection and an inspiring song
- Retreat concludes with optional live Zoom conversation with Dan
The season of Lent has traditionally been the time when the community of Christians makes its annual retreat. It’s an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with God and renew our faith. Imagine it like spring cleaning when we throw open the windows to let the fresh air of springtime renew our homes.
Dan Schutte has created a way that you can stay at home and make a Lenten retreat at your own pace and on your own time. Each of the twenty-one reflection videos includes an inspirational piece of music to further enrich the prayer.
Access to the videos will last from Ash Wednesday till the evening liturgy of Holy Thursday.
When you register, you’ll have the option to join a live Zoom conversation with Dan and others like yourself who’ve been on the retreat.
Registration includes a downloadable retreat workbook/journal to help you reflect on your experience and offer you a place to keep notes if you find that helpful. Registration fee is $100.00
Mary Morris, CND with members of the Beacons of Hope Spirituality Committee
Wednesday, February 23, 2022, is Pink Shirt Day in Canada!
It’s about recognizing bullying behavior and standing against it. The theme this year is Lift Each Other Up. Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students, Travis Price and David Shepherd in Berwick, N.S. took a stand against homophobic bullying after a new student was harassed, embarrassed and even threatened for wearing pink. Travis and David bought pink shirts and distributed them to their classmates to wear the next day. The message went out online and large numbers of students showed up in pink, together against bullying.
In Canada, Pink Shirt Day is marked on the last Wednesday of February; many other countries now recognize and promote the day, sometimes choosing different dates. Bullying – at school, at home, at work, anywhere – can seriously affect mental wellness. Studies show that people who have encountered bullying are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, poor self-image, and even suicidal thoughts.
Our diversity is becoming more visible everywhere as people continue to embrace their culture and identity more openly. The call to Lift Each Other Up and show greater acceptance, respect and kindness is a call to greater inclusion of and caring for others. Have something pink to wear on this day?
Eleanor McCloskey, CND
Healing in All Directions with Eva Solomon, CSJ: The 90-minute recording of her conversation where she shared stories from her life as an indigenous woman including her religious vocation which led to her ongoing ministry to indigenous peoples is now available at https://stbasilsparish.ca/
Kathy Kelly, Associate
Coastal Connections – Atlantic Canada: I came across this PODCAST on Facebook and was happy to find that #8 in the series featured Dr. Irene Novaczek, a former member of the Institute of Island Studies at UPEI. She is now a "Watershed" activist and is also very concerned about "more sustainable marine aquaculture." I felt that this concern fit with our JPIC creation-centered priorities.
In this presentation, she spoke of the interrelationship of "ocean health and seaweed.” Having had, as many of us may have had, a negative relationship with seaweed sometimes when we were swimming, I thought this might be of interest. Dr. Novaczeck's research indicates that seaweed, Irish moss and eel grass are essential to the "nutrification" of all marine-life ecosystems, in particular, she referred to mussels. Presently, because of Climate Change, our marine waters are warming, which will greatly affect the survival of all marine life. No doubt all of us, on PEI especially, would regret not having mussels available.
Being amazed to think of seaweed as being so critical to other eco-systems, I thought it showed how very little we sometimes know about the interrelationships in creation that affect our lives. Of course, seaweed products are apparently now prominent on our own grocery shelves.
Of course, this reflection is based on my past experience of seaweed, as I have never seen or eaten edible products (I don't think) nor do I know if seaweed is still prominent in the waters in which we swim. I was just so fascinated with the idea of research on seaweed, I had to share!
Anne T. Gillis CND
Interview with Jane Goodall in which she spoke of Hope from her recent co- authored book, The Book of Hope (I’m currently reading it and would recommend). She said, that in spite of the many challenges in the world such as climate change, she is hopeful about the future. Her advice to what individuals could do in the face of the magnitude of global issues was to focus on the consumer choices each of us make. Her next adventure as she approaches 90, she said was death and she shares reflections on that.
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2002637379880
Kathy Kelly, Associate