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HAPPENINGS (Canadian
Divine Mercy Centre’s Update – February 2005) Dear friend, supporter and apostle of
Divine Mercy: It is hard to believe that another year
has passed here in the Lanark Highlands … how time flies when you are having
fun in the vineyard of His Divine Mercy!
We were hoping that we could announce in this update that we finally
have a resident priest; due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable
to do so. However, some of the priests
of the Society of the Divine Saviour (Salvatorians) have visited the Centre and
are very excited about the prospect of their future plans here. In early spring, we had Rev. Fr. Zeno with
us for a two-week holiday before he filled in as temporary administrator at
Sacred Heart Parish in Lanark until his brother priest, Rev. Father Yarek came
to take his place in August. Later in
the fall, Father George (the Polish Father Provincial) and Father Adam (the
Polish Father Secretary) of the Order came to visit the Centre. The Salvatorians had a fruitful meeting with
His Grace Archbishop Anthony Meagher, where they discussed future plans for
their Order and their presence at the Canadian Divine Mercy Centre. Father Provincial asks for your prayer
support in this matter, so that any remaining hurdles may be removed. He also extends his greetings and spiritual
blessing to the Canadian Divine Mercy apostles and looks forward to
establishing a Canadian House for the Society of the Divine Saviour here at the
Centre in the not-too-distant future. We continue to have quite an array of
guests for individual and silent retreats, groups for day visits and weekend
working retreats. Young and old,
singles, couples, families – all those who have come searching for God’s mercy
have found, by the grace of God, His peace here and have returned home ready to
do battle with renewed fervor. We have
also had the pleasure of sharing birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries
and family reunions with some exceptionally beautiful people. It is wonderful to see God at work in
people’s lives! Parishes and prayer groups continue to
request speaking engagements, where we share the message of mercy and
reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the many highlights is the Advent
retreat at Holy Cross Parish in Ottawa where I shared part of my conversion
story with an extremely large and very receptive congregation. If you feel prompted to have a speaker come
to your area, please contact us. We
have a large variety of talks and teachings from which to choose. All of them, of course, are interwoven with
the mercy of God. May the merciful Lord
be praised forever! Father Gates and a group of young
people from Cornwall were here in May for a Search Weekend; smiles and tears,
laughter and learning, listening and sharing; it was heart-warming to see and
hear some of the young people’s love of the Lord! The music ministers Chantal, Lynne and Aulf added tremendously to
the effectiveness of the retreat; there were many hearts renewed and some were
touched for the first time by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Ursula and John donated ten Rhode
Island Red laying hens this spring; thanks to them, our guests can enjoy
farm-fresh brown eggs every day. Bill,
Kathleen and Margaret were also generous – goods for our yard sale, chicken
nests, farm equipment and a newly constructed split rail fence were among their
contributions. Our Cornwall friends
Carole, Sandra, Ken and Joyce continue to keep on the lookout for all kinds of “goodies” for the Centre too! Neil and Theresa helped me to lay the
patio stones in the Grotto of Our Lady of La Salette, while Steve helped me to
shingle the complicated 7-metre diameter dome roof. It was truly an awesome sight to see the completed project, with
an array of beautiful flowers donated by some wonderful people who wanted to
remain anonymous. We also did some more
landscaping in the front yard so that the approach from the road is more
appealing. With sod covering the
hillside, the entrance to the Centre looks like the entrance to a park; we are
hoping to add a fountain into the natural rock that will hopefully become a
beautiful, peaceful sitting area beside restful waters for our guests and
visitors. In August, we hosted a house full of
young people from Ottawa for a Youth for Christ retreat weekend. Ah, what can I say? Although it was hectic and noisy, it was
tremendously rewarding to see the young people willingly embracing Christ’s
teaching. May God bless them richly and
keep them on the “way to Heaven”. A work crew of men and women from the
London area joined us in September.
While Andy, Cedric, Dave, Gaston and Jack worked on concrete footings
and framing of the new wood shed, Anne, Rose and Maria were processing garden
produce and helping with assorted household chores. A couple of weeks later, Andy and his brother Nick were back
again, to continue with the framing of the 32’ x 46’ structure. Unfortunately, the snow began to fly before
the project was complete, so it has a temporary tarp roof until we can get
around to putting up some roofing steel.
In the spring, we will want to put the roofing on this shed, so if you
have access to cheap roofing material and/or are willing to help to install it,
please contact us. Much of the roof of the main house has
been tarred, repaired or tarped. We
thank you graciously for the donations that have come in for the roof project;
at the present, we are “in limbo” about proceeding with a new roof, since the
Salvatorians would like to enlarge the retreat facility once they take over the
operation of the Centre. We will keep
you posted on the progress in future newsletters. A three-day retreat for a group from
Cornwall ended with the celebration of St. Faustina’s Feast Day on October 5th. What a blessed day! Like every year since we have been here in
the Lanark Highlands, the weather was beautiful and God’s blessings flowed as
abundantly and sweetly as the county’s famous maple syrup! A group of eleven ladies from Ontario
met with an old friend from Edmonton to participate in a weekend retreat
entitled My Walk with Christ: Doorkeeper or
Shepherd? This talk deepens our journey
with the Lord Jesus, whatever our calling, for God wants us all to become
sanctified. When the others had gone
home, Lorraine, Theresa and Ursula stayed for a while longer to help with the
harvesting and processing of our garden produce. Because of the short, wet summer, the harvest was not as
plentiful as the previous year’s crop, but we give thanks for all that we receive
while many of our brothers and sisters go without food. We also want to thank Claire and
Gertrude who donated hand-made rosaries, Mark who donated slabs for the wood
furnace, Martin and Suzanne who donated venison for the freezer as well as all
those who donated clothing, furniture, lamps, bedding, towels, food, Canadian
Tire money and Club Z points. Last, but
certainly not least, eternal gratitude is due to our most faithful regular
volunteers (Edward, Georgette, Nora and Patricia) who help out with the
everyday chores: counting and shrink-wrapping
prayer cards and leaflets, laundry, sewing rosary pouches, cutting and stacking
firewood, etc. I would like to close with a poem I
received from a lovely neighbour lady named Mae, whom we sometimes drive to
doctor or physiotherapy appointments.
The poem, written by Jimmy Drynan in 1970, was given in thanksgiving to
Mae. We would like to extend our
heartfelt thanks to you using Jimmy’s words. Living Examples
There isn’t a
word that a preacher can say No matter how
lovely or true Nor is there a
prayer that his eager lips pray That can
preach such a sermon as you. You vowed to
serve Christ and men know that you did They’re
watching the things that you do. There isn’t an
action of yours that is hid Men are
watching and studying you. You say you’re
no preacher, yes But you preach
a wonderful sermon each day The acts of
your life are the things that you teach It isn’t the
things that you say. If Christians
were Christians as they profess Men would
notice their glorified meen And say “What
wondrous things they possess Who follow the
meek Nazarene.” Christians
remember, you bear His dear Name Your lives for
others to view You are living examples, men praise you or
blame And measure
your Christ by you. P.S.
SOME LAST MINUTE NEWS:
We have just been informed that our long-time volunteer “Mother” Nora
has been diagnosed with cancer. Please keep her in your prayers as you
implore the mercy of God for the sick and the suffering. Yours in the service of our merciful
Lord, Willy Effinger, Administrator. |