"Gratitude is the Memory of the Heart": Sisters of the Good Shepherd

"The coming generations will learn equality from poverty, love from woes."

(Khalil Gibran)

Photo: Gigi

Nuns - just how much d'you know about 'em? Quiet, retiring, gentle ladies who live away from the world as Brides of Christ, pray a lot and sing beautifully? Well, I was taught by nuns from the age of six; some were quiet, shy and retiring, others not so much! At various stages, nuns taught me to hopscotch expertly, play netball very badly, swear in French and Latin and how to tell the gender of a hedgehog (answer: with difficulty). I've known nuns to be feisty, grumpy, arty and hilarious. What the majority of them have had in common was a faith in God and a belief in the essential goodness of people.
I belong to a section of the Catholic Women's League outside of Brighton; recently, the group invited a lovely nun from the Philippines to talk at our monthly meeting. Some of the group had already met Sister Genny from the Sisters of the Good Shepherd when she joined the recent Parish Retreat. She's currently staying at Geo House in Ashurst, Hampshire; a retreat and mission centre jointly formed by the Volunteer Missionary Movement and the Montfort Missionaries. Those of us she spoke to, even briefly, on our coach journey were greatly impressed by her warmth, humility and the obvious joy she's found in the missionary work of her order. We were keen to hear her speak more about their global communities.

Sister Genny welcomed the opportunity to share the dedication of her congregation with the CWL: which is primarily to protect, educate and help women and girls around the world. The Roman Catholic Order of the Religious of the Good Shepherd (there is now an Anglican community for women which has the same name) was originally a branch of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, founded in seventeenth century France by St John Eudes. He was personally dedicated to opening safe-houses for prostituted and abused women and children. After the French Revolution, these established communities rehabilitated displaced women and orphaned infants. Genny reminded us that in times of war and social deprivation, women and children are often still the most affected.
The congregation was modelled on St John Eudes' order, founded by St Mary Euphrasia (Pelletier) in Angers, France, in 1835. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd today are guided in their missions by her words; she believed that "One person is of more value than a world". Canonised in 1940 for her lifelong devotion and fidelity, she originally used donations to "purchase" and house female African slaves who had been brought to Europe. In her lifetime, more than a hundred Good Shepherd convents were opened, establishing sixteen provinces throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the United States. In 2010, the congregation was comprised of more than five thousand Sisters working in seventy two countries, now including provinces in Oceania. Originally a cloistered order, it's now largely apostolic: with Sisters working and residing in deprived communities as outreach workers, social workers, special needs teachers, health care advisers, nurses and advocates for social justice and change.

She spoke movingly of the work of the order in her homeland. The Philippines is a huge archipelago of seven thousand islands and the Sisters now have communities spanning at least one hundred of them of them. Her family are indigenous to the country; the Philippines have multiple ethnicities, having been claimed by several empires over the centuries, only gaining independence in 1945. Genny told us that the indigenous population has historically been forced further into the mountains and forests. These areas are not only vulnerable to the scores of typhoons and seasonal floods which hit the islands each year, but have also been plundered by overseas mining and wood-trade corporations; unfortunately, I learned that one of the largest mining companies to stake a claim there is British. She stressed that it's often difficult to talk about a loving God to those with hungry stomachs. As well as educating previously unschooled children, the Sisters are involved in re-working rural areas to provide local trades and goods. One of the local communities of the Good Shepherd opened a training centre for young people; this centre now produces internationally acclaimed jams, marmalade and peanut butter!

With the twelfth largest population in the world, an additional eleven million Filipinos live overseas; 81% of these migrant workers are women, traditionally sending money home to the Philippines. Genny explained that sex-trafficking is still rife in the Philippines, as it is elsewhere in the world. Often, "jobs overseas" are promised to girls by neighbours or even family members; the girls are unwittingly sent across the world to a life of modern-day slavery. The Sisters provide a presence in airports and areas known to be part of this trade. As well as counselling abused women and children and providing sanctuaries, there are now Good Shepherd centres providing guidance on International Labour Laws and advising migrant workers on welfare rights and benefits and, of course, loneliness and homesickness. Genny had recently asked to visit the "red-light" areas in Southampton, a stone's throw from the leafy grounds of the priory she's been staying in. She says her personal preconceptions have been challenged by her experiences as a nun: how love for families and the need to survive and can still force the disadvantaged and marginalised to compromise and even endanger themselves. We may find the idea of prostitution distasteful, yet it's a strong love that will force a mother onto the streets for her child, or a daughter for her elderly parents. Or simply for food, to see another week.

"Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them as they ought to be."

(St Augustine)

In 1996, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd became affiliated with the United Nations as an NGO (Non-governmental Organisation). This enables them to actively work with or on occasion challenge the UN to promote justice and peace where there is poverty, inequality, victimisation and conflict. In the UK, some Good Shepherd homes have been taken over by Social Services, but there are still some communities in Newcastle, Manchester, Kent and London; also in Ireland. Sisters in the UK sell Fairtrade produce from Thailand to raise funds. "HandCrafting Justice" was created by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1997 as a fairtrade marketplace for goods produced in developing regions sponsored by the order. The approach is holistic, providing spiritual empowerment and economic opportunity; telling the stories of the craftsmen and women to those buying the handmade goods. As well as Thailand and the Philippines, goods are marketed from across Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific. And of course, you can shop "HandCrafting Justice" online! They have some truly beautiful and unique things: www.handcraftingjustice.org

Genny will be returning to the Philippines in May, to learn where her next mission will be. She spoke to me of working in her beloved homeland but also of her concern for the women and children in stricken Syria and Lebanon. She speaks about the work of the order and her own experiences without reference to notes and seemingly often without drawing breath! She speaks from the heart and is just naturally charismatic. Note to my brother-in-law if he should ever read this post: Sister Genny would dispel your notion that nuns are shy, silent and mousey and don't live in The Real World. Wherever she finds herself needed, I hope she'll stay in touch with her new friends in the UK.

 

"Gratitude is the Memory of the Heart"

(St Mary Euphrasia)

"A Woman's Heart"  Eleanor McEvoy (with Mary Black)

 

The Real Thing...

(NASA's authentic and gorgeous photo of the Helix Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2003,  frequently dubbed "The Eye of God'.  Disregard any other "big brother", online or elsewhere).

 

 

Friday's Child

Photo: Gigi family album

"Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go, 
Friday's child is loving and giving, 
Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day,

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay."

(English fortune-telling nursery rhyme, circa 1838; uncredited)

I was born on a Friday, and the number thirteen has followed me through life from house numbers to close friends' birthdays to holiday flights and exam numbers. So yesterday's date held no fear for me. Yet at least three people reminded me that it was Friday 13th and that I am "accident prone". This is not entirely true, although I do love heights and have a habit of then falling off high things or not being able to find the easy way down: but these are all different stories. I would go so far as to say that thirteen has been something of a "lucky" number for me; certainly it is a familiar one and I'm very comfortable with it.

Various cultures have noted similar folkloric aspects of the number thirteen: this could be partially due to cultures around the world employing lunar-solar calendars; due to the number of lunations in any one solar year, there are twelve "true" months, with days left over for a smaller and allegedly portentous month. The end of the Mayan calendar's thirteenth "Baktun" is still feared by many today as the harbinger of the alleged 2012 apocalypse.  In many ancient cultures, the number thirteen represented femininity, corresponding to the number of lunar and menstrual cycles in a year. As the solar calendar repressed the lunar cults by ultimately replacing the lunar calendar, the number thirteen became an anathema.

When Christian monks were charged with organising the calendars and therefore the regularity of religious festivals, a year which contained thirteen full moons instead of twelve would cause a great deal of upset; it would be considered an "unfortunate" year for that reason alone.  And yet the moon moves thirteen degrees around the earth every day, and it takes thirteen days for the new moon to become full and another thirteen to wane back.

In ancient Iranian civilisation and the Zoroastrian religion, the number has always been considered sinister. The thirteenth day of each new Iranian year is still considered a day when evil powers may thrive. Despite the wishes of the Islamic government, this day remains a holiday for many in Iran. In the divinations of the Mesoamerican peoples, thirteen was the number of fortune and misfortune; whilst in pagan wiccan traditions, there would usually be thirteen members in a coven and "adepts" would be initiated into the craft at thirteen years of age. Yet in Judaism, it is the age when a boy becomes a "Bar Mitzvah", a full and mature member of the Jewish faith. There were indeed thirteen principles of the ancient Jewish faith; according to the Rabbinic Torah, God has Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. The number thirteen relating to cycles is also held sacred to the teachings of the Kabal.

Notably, many religions have twelve followers (disciples) of one Prophet or Messiah, a brotherhood of thirteen. At Jesus' last supper, there were thirteen people around the table, until Judas departed to betray Him. It's still considered "unlucky" to seat thirteen people around a dinner or meeting table: many companies, establishments and hotels may use a different way of numbering to get round the issue of thirteen seats, rooms or floors. Whereas in numerology twelve was seen as the number of completeness, reflected in the twelve months, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve successors of Muhammad; the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing completeness.

Historically, a hangman's noose, when it was still knotted rather than clamped, would comprise thirteen knots; it was thought anything less would not break a neck. Coincidentally, there were traditionally thirteen unlucky steps to the gallows. Fear of the number was recognised as a phobia in 1911, triskaidekaphobia. Sufferers will go to great lengths to avoid anything relating to or labelled as thirteen. ( The fear of Friday 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia, incorporating "Frigga", after the Norse goddess that Friday was named after). Yet many celebrities and in particular sportsmen and women favour the number; in my own favourite sport, rugby union, thirteen is worn by one of the two starting centres. Notable centre and Ireland national captain Brian O'Driscoll (love him) has frequently stated that the number thirteen jersey has been lucky for him.

Elsewhere, there are thirteen cards in a suit, whatever your dexterity or fortune; although the thirteenth card in a tarot deck is the card of death! A baker's dozen is rounded up to thirteen loaves. Thirteen colonies originally formed the United States of America; the flag originally had only that number of stars, with new stars added as other states joined the union, but to this day the flag retains thirteen horizontal stripes. There are thirteen shots fired to salute United States Army, Airforce, Navy and Marine Corps generals and admirals. In fact, thirteen is unusually related to United States symbols, The Great Seal being a perfect illustration. The Seal has thirteen stripes, thirteen olive leaves and thirteen olives, thirteen breast coverts on the eagle, thirteen layers of bricks in the pyramid, thirteen arrows in the grips. In Catholicism, the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 were said to have recurred on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months. The feast day of St Anthony of Padua, one of my and my Dad Tony's favourite saints, falls on 13th June; devotions to him include dedicated prayers on thirteen consecutive Tuesdays, and St Anthony's Chaplet of thirteen sets of prayer beads.

And what of Friday? In some cultures, particularly maritime environments, it's been seen as unlucky to embark on a journey or a new venture on Friday since the publication of "The Canterbury Tales," at the end of the fourteenth century. A more recent legend tells of the Royal Navy commissioning a ship, HMS Friday, in the nineteenth century, specifically to dispel such superstition. Her keel was laid on a Friday, she was launched on a Friday and she set sail on her maiden voyage on a Friday; under the command of Captain James Friday. Unfortunately, she vanished without trace and no wreckage has ever been found. This may be due to the origin of this particular urban legend: the inimitable Irish comedian Dave Allen "commissioned" this tale for his 1970s T.V. show!
The phrase "Black Friday" was coined in the 1800s in reference to stock-market crashes and other socio-economic disasters. However, there is no recorded evidence in folklore for a "Friday 13th" superstition before the nineteenth century. A biography of the composer Rossini, published in 1869, reveals that "he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number; it is remarkable that one Friday 13th of November, he died". Indeed, many theorists claim that any Friday 13th superstition is a modern amalgamation of the two older, separate superstitions. Dan Brown's 2003 novel "The Da Vinci Code" popularised the historical connection between Friday 13th and the Knights Templars. On Friday 13th October, 1307, Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of hundreds of Knights Templars: the majority would be executed, apparently for heresy and immorality. More accessible for most Christians, the grief and pain associated with Christ's betrayal and crucifixion on a Friday has been compounded by the number of diners at His last supper.

The Greeks and many Spanish speaking peoples consider a Tuesday 13th to be an unlucky day: the only recorded explanation I can find for this may be that Tuesday was named after the god of war and discord, Mars or Aries. Again, confusingly, in Italy Friday 17th is held to be an unfortunate date.

This year on Friday 13th January, the luxury cruise ship "Costa Concordia" sank at the Tuscan island of Giglio; at least thirty people were killed and many more injured. On the same day, Europe plunged to new depths of financial crisis as the credit ratings of nine countries were downgraded by the credit agency Standard and Poor's. Yesterday, Friday 13th April, an earthquake hit Palermo in Sicily. On Friday 13th April 2029, scientists predict that the asteroid Apophis will have a worryingly close encounter with our planet, far closer than the orbit of any communication satellite. There have been many days in many years when misfortune has struck or the ways of evil in the world have been clearly visible. Some of them will have been Fridays and the thirteenth days of the month. Many more will not. Days, dates and numbers, like colours, perfumes and melodies, will continue to have associations or familiarities for individuals or groups of people, some of whom would baulk at the notion of superstitions. And religious reverence and ritual may always involve an element of superstition; reverence and devotion need not be diluted by that. I still don't walk under ladders, partly because my mother told me it was disturbing the Trinity; partly because I feel I might just trip over. I asked my brother-in-law to place an each way bet on the Grand National today, on a jockey I thought had a good chance of becoming the first female competitor to win. She came third, which is still pretty fine! I realised afterwards that her horse "Seabass" was numbered thirteen. I have a feeling he won't have placed a bet for me as he thinks I know nothing about the gee-gees. Now, that would be bad luck...

"Perfect Day" Lou Reed & various artists (BBC promotion)

"Egg"

"Egg"
Your friendship breaks in me

like an over-yolked egg,

all sunshine yellow and sustenance.

Because You love me,

I can face those who do not see me;

because I have meaning for You

I stand tall when there's no place for me.

I breath

because there is air;

I rise

in the cooling rain;

I shine

underneath the sun;

I dance

by the light of the moon;

I sing

because my heart still beats;

I believe

because You have faith in me.

Your friendship breaks in me

like a thousand tiny birds,

sweet cacophony of Easter chicks.

Because You know me

I understand some things need not concern me;

because You gave Yourself for me
I take the world as it is.

I heal

because there is time;

I hope
 because  the dawn breaks;

I try

because of the stars;

I reach

when the sky is so clear;

I run

to a brighter horizon;

I believe

because You have faith in me.

                                                    Gigi

Have a Blessed Easter!

 

 

"Now The Green Blade Riseth"   The Choir of Ely Cathedral

"Now The Green Blade Riseth"

(John Crum)

Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain,
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

In the grave they laid him, love whom men had slain,
Thinking that never he would wake again.
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green,

Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain.
Quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
Thy touch can call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

 

"Fast" humour for Lent...

 

"One far fierce hour and sweet": For Palm Sunday

"The just will flourish like the palm tree"  Psalm 91 (92)

"The Donkey"

(G.K. Chesterton)

When fishes flew and forests walked,

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood,

Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry,

And ears like errant wings,

The devil’s walking parody

Of all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient, crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

Many people are familiar with G.K. Chesterton's poem, which has become synonymous with Palm Sunday. It's a bitter-sweet poem, capturing the poignancy of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, only days before he would be arrested. humiliated and crucified. Some of those throwing palms before him and calling him the Messiah would be among the crowd baying for his blood. I found the poem unsettling when I was in junior school; now, I find it touching and uplifting.

In Eastern tradition, the donkey was an animal of peace, as opposed to the horse, the steed of kings but also an animal associated with battle and war. Jesus' entry to Jerusalem symbolised his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging ruler. I wasn't previously aware that in the 16th and 17th centuries, Jack-'o'-lantern type figures made of straw would be ceremoniously burnt on Palm Sunday. The straw effigies represented Judas Iscariot; a revenge for his betrayal of Christ. Centuries before, in pre-Christian times, straw or other foliage figures representing winter were burned to prepare the way for spring: Easter traditionally falls at the spring equinox.
The palm itself was a pre-Christian symbol of victory. The Romans rewarded champions of the games and celebrated military success with palm branches. In Judaism, the palm represents peace and prosperity; in Kabbalah, it becomes the Tree of Life. The Qur'an tells of Mary leaning on a sturdy palm tree in the throes of her childbirth; a voice tells her not to be distressed, that she should shake the tree and fresh dates would drop to sustain her.
Palm trees have been around for a long time: some palm fossils are said to be 80 million years old. Both tropical and evergreen, some trees may live for 100 years; others, like the Talipot palm, wait several years to flower and fruit, then burst into a huge inflorescence, only to die once the fruit has ripened.

"The Coronation"

( John O’Donohue)

It was a long time ago in another land.
Who could tell how it really was before belief
Came towards you with a hunger that could not see you
Except against white air cleansed of the shadow of earth?

No inkling that you were a free spirit who loved
The danger of seeing the world with an open mind,
How you strove to be faithful to uncertainty
And let nothing unquestioned settle in your heart

You loved to throw caution to the wind when you danced.
To be outside in the dawn before people were,
Letting the blue tides of your dreaming settle ashore.
The village said you put the whole thing into his head.

In the glow of your silence, the heart grows tranquil.
No one will ever know where you had to travel.

For some reason, the folk song "Wild Mountain Thyme", also known as "Will Ye Go Lassie Go", has always been evocative of Easter time for me. Typically, I've been playing and humming it endlessly while I typed this post for Palm Sunday. The song is a reworking by Northern Irish Francis McPeake of a traditional 18th century Scottish ballad. It reminded my Mum of her own mother; now it reminds me of her. Mum's birthday falls around Easter.

The imagery is very verdant, with flower-covered mountains and the scent of summer in the air. Although the tune is mournful, with the hint of loss, the lyrics tell of gathering together to pick wild flowers to celebrate a homecoming. Maybe that's what it is. Barnsley Nightingale Kate Rusby's version is gorgeous; here, it's called "The Blooming Heather".

Have a peaceful Passion Week.

"The Blooming Heather / Wild Mountain Thyme"  Kate Rusby