Fr. Bob's Corner

This weekend Sr. Christine Gebel (Our Lady’s Misssionaries) spoke at St. Mary’s and St. William’s on her work in the Philippines, and updated us on the work of Our Lady’s Missionaries. I will complete this blog with additional pictures, Sr. Christine’s message, etc. in a few days.
OUR LADY’S MISSIONARIES (OLM) is an international community of women who have devoted their lives to service, by sharing life with the poor and least privileged, while focusing on women’s concerns and working for global justice, peace and care for the earth.Link to OLM website

Message of Sister Christine Gebel (summary):

We are aware of all that God has given us – especially of all that God has given us through you and through people like you across Canada. And in turn, it is our daily call and challenge to open ourselves up and strive to freely give of ourselves to others, most especially those on the margins in Brazil, Guyana, Nigeria, the Philippines and here in Canada. You have given us that opportunity, and we are grateful.

We are grateful to the Lady’s Guild that has faithfully supported Eranilda in Brazil for over 25 years. Without your help, she would have nowhere to go but the streets.

We are grateful for your annual donation of one Sunday’s collection. We know that they are often made at great sacrifice…………

OLM’s invlovements are many and varied…
Sr. Doris Macdonell, in Guyana, uses her nursing skills as she visits the sick and elerly in their homes, patients at the Psychiatric Hospital, and seniors at a home run by Mother Teresa’s sisters. She has just returned to Canada for some holiday and asked me to bring you her love and greetings.

Sr. Glen Legault, from Crysler, ………. (Serves in Nigeria) …..visits the sick and elderly in their home, bringing them communion and words of comfort. St. Gwen also regulary visits the school for the deaf and blind that she founded and that is now run by Nigerians Sisters of another congregation.

Sr. Mary Gauthier, from Alexandria, returned to the Philippines in January, after serving on our Leadership team for 8 years. She sends her greetings too. She has spent this year refreshing her language skills and reorientating herself to our mission in the Philippines. All her previous mission experience was in small villages in the countryside. Now we live in a city, so it’s a challenging adjustment to make. Mary has been home visiting, helping people to understand and follow-up their medical problems and teaching herbal medicine.

I’d also like to mention Sr. Maejanet MacDonell, from St Raphael’s. She’s been in my heart especially this week when I visited her grave in Richmond Hill for the first time. I was in the Philippines when she died, so in a way, her death has only become real to me now. She was one of our best, and I’m sure you are just as proud of her as we are.

I know that we are not always the best at keeping in touch with you………Life is full in the missions……But I do want you to know that we understand that if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be able to be there at all. Especially for you, the people of Glengarry who have been such a big part of our history……Just like the line in the second reading, “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers.”

And so, as I go about my work in the Philippines, I feel that you are with me. I am involved in the organisation of 5 literacy centres for children who have dropped out of school or have never attended school at all because of poverty. On the one hand, they cannot aford the school supplies, uniforms, shoes, lunches or fare. Our area isn’t meant to be a residential area… the people are “squatters” on the land, so the schools are quite far away…too far for the little ones to walk. On the other hand, most of these children must work to help get enough food for their family for the day. They sometimes sell plastic bags to the shoppers in the market, collect scraps of metal to sell to a scrap metal dealer, or collect firewood to sell to those who cook with it. So our schools only have classes for half a day so that they can work for the oterher half. The people where we live speak of having a 1-eat, 2-eat, or 3-eat day, depending on how may meals they’ve had. I think that in general, for most of our children, a 2-eat day is normal for them. So, we also try to have parties now and again with as much food as possible.

I’m also involved in a muslim-Christian dialogue for peace. The history of Mindanao, the island on which we live, is full of many painful injustices, hurts and acts of violence: land or crops stolen, killings, kidnappings and so on. I belong to 2 groups where Christian and Muslims regularly get together and share about past hurt feelings in order to be able to let go of them, and then we share our hopes and dreams for a better future, a future of peace, respect and cooperation.

People often ask me what a normal day is like…but I can’t really answer that question because there are no normal days. sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I know more-or-less what my day will be like…other times I haven’t got a clue as to where I’ll wind up or what I’ll be doing. Life is full – sometime with hard feelings – hurt, disappointment, and frustration, and also with good feelings – gratitude, friendship and hope. In that respect, we’re really all the same.

And so, I ask you to do for us what I’ve said we do for you. Please talk about us… remember us to each other so that OLM’s remains alive here and continues to be considered one of the many good groups that are worth helping out. And , so is there are any young women who are interested in a temporary mission experience or in religious life, they know about us too. And most of all, please continue to pray for us.

Sister Chistine