Another prayer vigil is planned at Toronto City Hall’s Peace Garden for 11:15 a.m. on Feb. 9 with Sr. Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ giving the reflection.

Prayer Vigils for the People of Haiti

On January 12^th the people of Haiti experienced a 7.0-magnitude earthquake.  As a result they experienced unspeakable suffering, deaths and devastation.  Our hearts and lives cried out in pain and sorrow as the whole world witnessed this nation of sorrow and expressed a desire to be with them in solidarity.

First Vigil

On Tuesday January 19^th a group of concerned friends gathered at the Peace Garden at Toronto’s City Hall for a prayer vigil for the people of Haiti.

Rosemary Fry CSJ, a Sister of St Joseph who was in Haiti (and has since returned to Haiti) led us in reflection.  Rosemary expressed how immensely God loved the people of Haiti and how greatly God was present to them now.

Second Vigil

On Tuesday January 26^th, the Prayer Vigil continued at the Peace Garden at City Hall.  Jean Leahy CSJ led the opening prayer, reading a reflection by Lorraine Malo CSJ, a Sister who has since returned to Haiti.

Deeply touching us is the picture of the young boy arising from the devastation and the people welcoming him joyfully. 

Indeed Haiti is a nation, a people of miracles and resurrections. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian martyred saint, would say it is the duty of a person to stand publicly as a witness in truth and solidarity with our suffering sisters and brothers in times of great suffering.

We hold this duty seriously and are joined by all our communities and friends from wherever they are. God hears ‘The Cries of the Poor’!

By Susan Moran OLM

On February 2 in Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines, Sr. Anie Montejo OLM renewed her profession of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for two years.  Rejoice with us!

Our Lady’s Missionaries have been involved with the Ecologos Institute for about four years.  You might be interested in reading an excerpt from an e-mail that we recently received from them:

 “Water is the first need of all life. For us humans, it’s 75% of our bodies and 95% of our blood. You can’t get much more basic than that.

 Yet, everywhere water is being polluted by horrible substances. The trend is far from being turned around. Take the Great Lakes for example. Pollution multiplies at an alarming rate. Lake Erie is once again on the verge of collapsing as a life form. And large parts of the other lakes and their tributaries are near the same point. What are we thinking? Imagine the terrifying impact for North America if this continues. This same tragic trajectory being experienced by the Great Lakes is repeated in waterway after waterway across the earth.

The hour is already late. It takes time and enormous effort to turn back the chemical trajectory of bodies of water. The time to act is now. We have a plan, and we’re hopeful, inspired and excited by the possibilities for drawing large numbers of citizens into action.  We have a pool of talented, dedicated people with the skills needed to reach out like we never have before through social networks and on-the-ground collaborations so that citizens are empowered to clean and secure the water they depend on.”

Find out more at  www.ecologos.ca

On Tuesday, January 26 at 11:15am the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto and Our Lady’s Missionaries invite you to join us at the Peace Gardens in Nathan Phillips Square (at Toronto’s City Hall) for a prayer vigil for the people of Haiti.  If you can’t join us in person, please join us in spirit by keeping the people of Haiti in prayer at the same time.

Below are a few photos of the vigil that was held last Tuesday at the Peace Gardens.

For several years, Marty MacPhail has managed the OLM website and we are grateful to him.  Recently Marty has put in a whole lot of extra work to change this website to its new design and make it interactive.  Once again, thank you Marty!