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On the mornings of January 19 and January 26, Our Lady’s Missionaries and Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto held prayer vigils for the people of Haiti at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. At the first vigil, Sister Rosemary, pictured at left, gave the following reflection:
We are gathered here today because all of us have been touched in one way or another by the tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti. Perhaps we have Haitian friends who have friends or relatives missing. Perhaps we know people in Haiti and are wondering what has happened to them. Perhaps it is just that we have seen the scenes of suffering and destruction on TV.
We already know that Haiti is a very poor country - the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We already know the poverty in which these people live and the previous suffering they have endured through political instability, the natural disasters of hurricanes and now this. How can people bear it? How can we bear it?
We feel great sorrow and heaviness within us, great worry and concern for those we love who are in the midst of it, or for our friends here who are waiting for news in the midst of all this, in the midst of the questions within us.
How can this possibly be happening?
The important thing to remember is that no matter how much concern we feel for these people, how much our hearts are heavy when we think of all they are suffering, how much we long for this not to be happening to them, how much we want to do everything in our power to help them — our God of love feels their pain and suffering more than we can ever imagine.
The compassion of our God is poured out on their suffering. The love and concern we feel for them is but a shadow of the pain our God is experiencing as they suffer. All the people who are reaching out are mirroring the great love and concern of our God.
Let us hold onto this thought as we live these days and allow it to give us the courage to go on.
The Haitian people believe in this God of love. It is their faith that has bolstered me as I have tried to be present for them for the last 24 years. It is their faith and confidence in this loving God which will give me the courage to return to be with them in their suffering and will invite all of us to do what we can to be with them and help them.
By Sister Rosemary Fry, CSJ
To read more in the Catholic Register about women and men religious communities’ efforts in Haiti, see http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/3806/849/
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