Happy Easter! Have a Beautiful Day!

Today is Easter Sunday...

May you have a joyful and peaceful day...  Enjoy our beautiful world... and the people around you!

Here in Ottawa I'm hoping for NO rain! 

But if it does rain, I'll remind myself that "April showers bring May flowers"!

Good Friday Walk

Last Friday, Terry and I headed to Almonte to participate in their annual Good Friday "Walk of the Cross" - that started outside Old Town Hall and continued down streets in older neighbourhoods, stopping at various churches along the way.

The event was very well organized. A portable PA system, seen in the picture below, was pulled along from church to church in a wagon.

For me, it was interesting to see these neighborhoods and their churches - although we didn't step inside.

I wasn't sure how many people would join in the walk - but the day was sunny (if cold), which probably encouraged more people to participate.

There were lots of older folk like me - but also families with baby strollers.

An interesting day - as we wandered down streets I had never visited before.

All in all, the walk took about an hour - one of the advantages of walking in a smaller town.

Maundy Thursday

Yesterday was "Maundy Thursday" - part of Easter's "Holy Week," which culminates in Easter Sunday.

I don't remember ever learning the meaning of "Maundy."

Then I saw this explanation which happened to pop up in an email.

 

According to this article, Maundy Thursday commemorates the day that Jesus gave the commandment: LOVE ONE ANOTHER! 

To commemorate it, maybe we should give each other cards - like valentines - with those words... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

I know I could use a regular reminder.

Camino Souvenir

After every virtual walk, participants receive a medal as a souvenir.

My Camino de Santiago metal arrived a few days ago. 

On the back is a seashell - a symbol of pilgrimage. Seeing it reminded me of the "Benedictine Experience" my daughter and I participated in at Canterbury Cathedral in England. At the end of our week there, Esther de Waal, our tour leader, gave us each a seashell and explained its significance. 

Mine had holes in it - perfect for making into a pendant, which I have hanging on the wall.

Easter Centrepiece

My cousin sent me a photo of her Easter-themed centrepiece. 

It's reminiscent of a garden, she explained... a tomb in a garden.

It's lovely, I said. I never would have thought of something like that.

I may have got the idea from a website called Catholic Icing. I get a lot of craft ideas from there, she replied.

I've never heard of it - but it's definitely something to look into.

Easter Sunday: More Jerusalem Memories

Today is Easter Sunday - the most significant day in the Christian calendar...

On this day, Jesus rose from the dead! Hallelujah! [which means Praise God! in Hebrew] 

Or as Orthodox Christians greet each other on Easter Sunday:

"Christ is risen!"

"He is risen indeed!"

Today's blog is illustrated with a few more pictures I took on my most recent visit to Jerusalem.

The top picture is the city of Jerusalem taken from the Mount of Olives. This corner of the walled Old City was the site of the Jewish Temple in Jesus' day. Two mosques are now located there, one with a gold dome, the other with a silver dome.)

The second photo shows some very old olive trees on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem

The third shows a church on the Mount.

Looking at the pictures brings back many good memories - among them, of my son and me just sitting there, quietly soaking it all in.

My Meandering Path of Religious Study

One of my goals in retirement - I hesitate to call it a “hobby” - was to learn more about the history of Christianity. I was curious to see how Christianity has changed over its 2,000 year history.

What an adventure it has been! I started out learning about 1,600-year-old Benedictine spirituality, thanks to a book my friend Janet lent me. Strangely enough, as old as the Benedictine tradition is - I immediately felt at home!

Part of the adventure has involved meetIng authors of books I was reading: I met Kathleen Norris and Phyllis Tickle at conferences in Toronto, and Esther de Waal at a week-long retreat at Canterbury Cathedral in England. 

Terry and I both met Barbara Brown Taylor at a conference in Chautauqua, NY. Now he’s a big fan.

We returned to Chautauqua with our daughter a year later…

More recently, during the pandemic, I enjoyed learning about the Jesuits - from The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by James Martin. 

I’ve read online about the Moravians and now subscribe to an online daily text from them.

I’ve read books by Quakers. I’m currently reading a book by Anthony Bloom, a Greek Orthodox leader. Two years ago I was able to take a course in Greek Orthodox icon making, in an attempt to understand that aspect of their faith.

Looking back - I had no master plan for any of this - but it’s been an interesting journey! I wonder where it will meander next.

Good Friday: Memories of Jerusalem

Easter always reminds me of Jerusalem - especially my last trip there with my youngest son - shortly after I retired.

The above picture above was taken from a roof-top restaurant where we ate our last night in Jerusalem. The entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is across from the tower construction site (with scaffolding all around it).

The above picture shows my first classroom - in an international school housed in a building that had originally been built to be a hospital. My son was interested in seeing the places where I had lived, studied and worked.

When I was living in Jerusalem, as a university student and then a teacher - my daily routine kept me busy. I rarely visited religious sites (just as now I only visit the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa when showing out-of-town guests around).

This picture shows me with my former neighbor - in the apartment building where I lived most of my years in Jerusalem. It was a delightful surprise to discover that he and his family still lived in the apartment his parents had once lived in - and that someone was home when we knocked on the door. 

(I remember him as a high school student!)

Here I am standing on the rooftop garden of the house. In the distance - past the hills - is the town of Bethlehem, a 15-minute drive away.

Flat roofs of houses also have practical uses. Many heat water with solar panels placed on the roof. The barrels near the panels hold water for domestic consumption.

When I returned to Jerusalem with my son, I made a point of taking him to as many religious sites as we could fit in - especially those in Jerusalem, among them "Gordon's Calvery" - in the picture below.

Nearby is the "Garden Tomb" - which many believe is the place where Jesus' body lay after his crucifixion. 

Here it is - with a line-up of tourists waiting to get in.

After visiting these two sites, we walked over to the traditional location of the tomb (where Jesus’ body lay for three days) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This older traditional site has a church built over it, so it's hard to imagine it as a tomb in a garden, as it is described in the New Testament. This picture, taken inside the church, shows the lineup of people waiting to enter the tomb.

Jerusalem looks very different now than it did when Helena, the Christian mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, came to Jerusalem, in the fourth century, to build shrines on all sites of religious significance to Christians. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has a long history: Originally built in 326 AD, it has been damaged  a number of times - due to religious conflict - and then rebuilt again. No pilgrimage to Jerusalem is complete without visiting it.

Very Interesting Book!

I’ve just finished reading a most fascinating book about an American Jesuit priest who was imprisoned in Russia for over 20 years. His ordeal began in the early days of World War II and continued until he returned to the USA in the early 1960s.

His time in Russia included five years in solitary confinement in Moscow, followed by 15 years in a forced labor camp in Siberia.

What was fascinating to me was the priest’s mindset... that enabled him to survive and even thrive under such adverse circumstances.

The discipline of his training as a priest helped him order his days so that he didn’t go crazy. The prison system was geared to breaking a prisoner. In solitary confinement, he was stuck in a small room all day long, not permitted to talk, sit down, or lie on the bed until bedtime. His thoughts and reflections as he lived through this is fascinating. Then came the 15 years of slave labor when, against all odds, prisoners who had religious faith were sometimes able to encourage each other, even though they were given no free time in which to talk and mingle.

The book is interesting to me also because my own family history zigs and zags through many of the same places. My father, born in Poland in 1910, lived in Siberia with his mother and her family, during the First World War, while his father was in the army. Siberia was a childhood memory my father occasionally talked about. It was also where many of my mother’s relatives and neighbours ended up when Stalin confiscated their farmland, when my mother’s family was fortunate enough to immigrate to Canada.

The historic timelines of the book had special meaning for me, too. The author joined the Jesuits in 1928, the year my mother (at age 9) immigrated to Canada with her family. The author continued his religious training in Rome before going to Poland as a priest. In September 1938, the same month my mother began to teach in a one-room country school in the Peace River country in Alberta, war began in Europe and the author, who was at this time a priest in Poland, ended up in Russia with many Poles. Before long he was imprisoned as a “Vatican spy,” and his 20 years in prison began. 

After being released, he worked in Siberia as a priest. Then, after being forbidden from working in a church, he found a job as a car mechanic in southern Russia. He never expected to be allowed to return to the USA but a prisoner exchange brought that about - a year before I headed off to university.

The story is fascinating, not only because it shows how difficult political prisoners’ lives can be, but also because it reveals a survivor’s mindset.

Blessing a House...

I have read about blessing a house, but have never participated in a house blessing. The first time I heard of the practice was in an account by Catherine Marshall (one of my favorite authors). She felt a strong desire to have a rental property owned by her family blessed before renting it out, after several tenants living there had experienced a lot of unhappiness. She asked friends to come to the house and join her in praying that future tenants would find the house a blessing.

Interesting... I remember thinking...

More recently, in Liturgy of the Ordinary, author Tish Harrison Warren mentions how, if one of her priest friends is asked to bless a house, he doesn't leave out the bathroom! When he gets there, people gather around to hear what he'll say. 

He anoints the bathroom mirror with oil and prays that when people look into it, they would see themselves as beloved images of God [made in God's image and] that they would not relate to their bodies with the categories the world gives them...[seeing only] what is lacking or wrong about our bodies.

I really love that prayer!

Summer Reading: Learning About the Jesuits

One of my goals, since retiring, is to learn as much as I can about the 2000 years of Christian history. I initially wanted to know how much had changed over the years. Not a lot, I've discovered - which is pretty amazing!

Along the way, I've read about some of the the giants in the faith... Madame Guyon, Benedict of Nursia...

A year ago, in Toronto, while taking a course on Greek-Orthodox iconography, I met a young woman who was planning to study at a Jesuit community in France.

A pretty, dynamic young woman, she was, by profession, an accountant.

I told her I had bought the book of "spiritual exercises" of Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits. But I hadn't started reading it yet.

Try the "at home" retreat version, she suggested. It's easier to do on your own.

So I bought the book she mentioned - and it has sat - untouched - on my bookshelf ever since...

I recently came across another Jesuit book - less intimidating than the "spiritual exercises." A modern "best seller" by a young American priest, it's an enjoyable summer read -  The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.

Interesting, informative - and written in a humorous way.

Once I finish it, I may finally dig into the famous "Spiritual Exercises" - probably the "at-home" version!

Easter Sunday: Living in HOPE

Today is Easter Sunday - a celebration of HOPE! Christianity is based on HOPE -  the HOPE of life after death...

But we all need HOPE every day... In my teaching days, I tried to remember the saying:

Never deprive anyone of hope. It may be all they have...

In these days of social distancing, I find that I especially need HOPE...

As I watch my garden begin to grow, I HOPE that the flower beds will bloom and bring us joy, as they have in previous years...

I also HOPE that life that life will return to "normal" soon - so that we will again be able to congregate together and be physically present with those we love...

(And even go to farmers markets again!)

This is my HOPE and PRAYER!

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday - one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar.

On Good Friday, I usually spend time reflecting on the death of Jesus on the cross, and what that means to me as a twenty-first century Christian. Over the years, I've participated in various holy week traditions that I'm going to think about and miss:

Walking the stations of the cross...
Having a prayer vigil...

Will I be able to replicate these traditions this year - at home - perhaps sitting in front of a computer...?

It will definitely be different this year - away from the community that I call "church."

Anniversary of Resurrection Day

Today is the birthday of one of my cousins... I mentioned this event in my blog last year...

April 5 is also a significant date for Christians: It's the date of  the resurrection of Jesus - in the year AD 33.

Some years ago, I visited the garden tomb - near the Old City of Jerusalem - where some believe the grave of Jesus is.

The second site - historically considered to be the tome where Jesus was buried - is inside a church within the walls of Jerusalem's Old City.

The last evening my son and I were in Jerusalem (in October 2008), we ate in a rooftop cafe in the Old City. I took pictures of the view from the roof.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is across from the scaffolding in the photo to the left. The tower being restored is part of the Lutheran Church - and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a few steps away.

One might wonder why it is inside the city walls. The answer is that, although Old Jerusalem has long been a walled city, the location of the walls has changed over  the last 2000 years. Churches were built on many holy Christian sites - among them, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, inside the current walls of the Old City.

When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire (rather than the worship of the emperor himself), the mother of Emperor Constantine, whose name was Helena, visited the Christian sites in the Holy Land, building or beautifying churches in many places. This happened 1700 years ago, about 300 years after Christianity began.

She also built one on the Mount of Olives - referred to often in the Gospels.

I wonder if it's the church we visited...

The Mount of Olives is across the valley from the Old City... A beautiful sight to see!

I Wonder...

The 40 days of Lent will soon be coming to an end - on Easter Sunday, April 12.

The word 'Lent' doesn't originate with the French word  lente (meaning slow) - but I've heard some people say their lives do slow down during Lent.

This year, for us, life has really slowed down as we practice self isolation and social distancing.

We no longer walk in the mall for fun... (Actually, the mall is closed.) No dinners with our children... We only talk to neighbors from a distance...

I thought of Lent - with its association to the French word for slow - as Terry and I walked down a street that would normally be bustling - if restaurants and cafes were all open. Very few people or vehicles are on the street.

I wonder...

As I notice a few families out walking together on the quiet streets, I wonder:

Will children look back and remember this time fondly because they got to spend more time with their parents? Will families, spending more time together, grow closer?




I wonder...

I haven't heard many people talking about praying for a quick end to this COVID-19 pandemic...

I know some are praying.

I've been thinking about the words of this ancient call to prayer for healing of a land.

I've also been praying that this time of isolation and distancing will end quickly.

Here's the call to prayer. To me, it sounds like a promise...

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I think we all have to continue to avoid spreading this virus - by physical distancing and taking necessary precautions, like washing our hands, avoiding touching our face... But let's not forget to pray for a miracle!

Terry tells me I'm an impatient person... I admit I am!

I want to see my children and grandchildren soon. I want life to return to normal! I know I'm not alone in this - which is why I'm praying for a miracle!

Online Church - A New Experience For Us

"Social distancing" brings changes to our daily and weekly habits. Churches have closed their doors to services: "Services have been cancelled - but prayer has not been cancelled," my daughter's church notified its members. I assume they mean private prayer - which, of course, can be done anytime, anywhere - hopefully more frequently during this global health crisis!

The church Terry and I attend has stopped holding public services but last week they still had a regular service. We decided not to attend. Instead we watched a live stream of the service at home on our computer...

This week the church's only service was online. But we did receive a mid- week pastoral call asking how we are.

One could, of course, watch religious programs on TV.

Live streaming may not have the quality of a TV broadcast, but it did make me feel I was still participating in the church community we are normally part of.

Advent Reading...

I like to pull out books to read at different times of the year..

I always travel with a book, though I don't always read it...

I took two books to Toronto when I was there in November. I didn't open them! I did, however, read stuff online...

Now, during advent, I've dug out a few books I'd like to read...

I've chosen ones to make me reflect on the "reason for the season" of Christmas...

It will be interesting to see if I get any reading done... December can be a busy time!

Woman Mystic - From 1000 years Ago...

One of my "hobbies" in retirement has been learning about Christianity through its 2000-year-old history...

A few years ago, I first came across the writings of medieval mystics who were women. I have especially enjoyed translations of their writings by a young woman named Carmen Acevedo Butcher I'm currently reading a book of daily selections called A Little Daily Wisdom: Christian Women Mystics.

In it, I found a lovely poem/hymn written almost 1000 years ago by a woman called Hildegard of Bingen, who - as the 10th child in her wealthy family - had been "given" to the church. A child prodigy, she went on to be a brilliant writer and speaker.







Here is the poem that I found so lovely:

God's Soul is the wind rustling plants and leaves,
the dew dancing on the grass,
the rainy breezes making everything grow.
Just like this, the kindness of a person flows, touching
those dragging burdens of longing.
We should be a breeze helping the homeless,
dew comforting those who are depressed,
the cool misty air refreshing the exhausted,
and with God's teaching we have got to feed the hungry:

This is how we share God's soul.