Our Primate, the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, calls us into 22 days of remembering and prayer beginning on May 31 and concluding on June 21. He asks us to pray and to renew our commitment to healing and reconciliation among all people – the Indigenous People of this land and all others who have come and settled and also call it home. These 22 days will take us to the National Aboriginal Day of Prayer, on Sunday, June 21. The National Aboriginal Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mark McDonald will be preaching at Christ Church Cathedral at the 10:30 am Sunday Eucharist on June 21
To help us individually and as a group to understand the legacy of the residential schools, there is a website, http://www.22days.ca/, which is publishing sacred stories from the residential schools on each of the 22 days. While the current day’s sacred story is on the home page, previous sacred stories can be found under the Sacred Stories link. Each story is accompanied by prayer to aid in reflection. There is also a wall of commitment to show how communities are responding to the call for remembering and prayer. I encourage each of you to follow the link and open your hearts to the truth that is spoken there.
As we seek reconciliation for the events in our past, the primate believes we also need to remember the sins of the present, asking God for the strength and courage to heal our hearts, and strengthen us to see only that which nourishes our human life together.
Currently 1,122 Aboriginal women are missing and/or murdered. All parishes blessed with church bells have been encouraged to ring them 1,122 times over the 22 days of prayer. St Marks began to ring their bells today after the Seniors’ Eucharist and Luncheon and we have rung 51 times out of the 1,122. We will continue to ring them every day until June 21.
Visit http://www.22days.ca and look for this picture and others we might take on the Wall of Commitment along with other commitments from around the country.
Fr Brian and parishioners at the Seniors’ Eucharist and Lunch June 3, 2015