Today, May 5 is the National Day of Mourning for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, often called Red Dress Day.
In Canada Indigenous women and girls are targeted for violence more than any other group. More than 4000 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been murdered in the last 30 years – an appalling statistic! Canada’s National Inquiry into this tragic history called upon all governments – national, provincial, territorial and indigenous – to work together to build an effective and accountable National Action Plan to address this crisis. Indeed, there is an urgent need for all Canadians to make efforts to raise awareness of this Canada-wide tragedy and to do whatever we can to make Canada a country for all Canadians.
Today let us remember in prayer all the victims of gender-based violence, as well as all their families and communities whose lives have been forever altered by the loss of loved ones.
Hoy, 5 de mayo, es el Día Nacional de Luto por las Mujeres y Niñas Indígenas Desaparecidas y Asesinadas, a menudo llamado Día del Vestido Rojo.
En Canadá, las mujeres y niñas indígenas son objeto de violencia más que ningún otro grupo. Más de 4.000 mujeres y niñas indígenas han desaparecido o han sido asesinadas en los últimos 30 años, ¡una estadística espantosa! La Investigación Nacional de Canadá sobre esta trágica historia hizo un llamamiento a todos los gobiernos -nacional, provincial, territorial e indígena- para que trabajen juntos en la elaboración de un Plan de Acción Nacional eficaz y responsable para hacer frente a esta crisis. De hecho, es urgente que todos los canadienses se esfuercen por concienciar sobre esta tragedia que afecta a todo Canadá y que hagan todo lo posible para que Canadá sea un país para todos los canadienses.
Recordemos hoy en la oración a todas las víctimas de la violencia de género, así como a todas sus familias y comunidades cuyas vidas se han visto alteradas para siempre por la pérdida de seres queridos.
Pope Francis’ decision to expand participation in the Synod has made a significant impact on the Catholic world. Seventy non-bishop members are expected to participate in the synod being held at the Vatican in October, with half of the non-ordained beingwomen. The Pope also provided for greater gender parity among religious orders participating in the synod- five from women’s congregations and five from men’s.
The Continental stage of the Synod is intended to be a time of reflection and discernment of all the local churches on a continental basis. These continental assemblies are meeting between January and March 2023 to prepare a response to the Synod’s working Document, Enlarging the Space of your Tent. This document is the result of a group reflection on the syntheses of issues and questions raised during the listening sessions of Stage One of the Synod, a stage in which we were all involved.
La decisión del Papa Francisco de ampliar la participación en el Sínodo ha tenido un impacto significativo en el mundo católico. Se espera que setenta miembros no obispos participen en el Sínodo que se celebrará en el Vaticano en octubre, y que la mitad de los no ordenados sean mujeres. El Papa también dispuso una mayor paridad de género entre las órdenes religiosas participantes en el sínodo: cinco de congregaciones femeninas y cinco masculinas.
Identificación de las intuiciones contenidas en el documento que más resuenan con la experiencia de su territorio particular.
By this time, the Sisters had been in Newfoundland for almost a year, a year in which they devoted themselves to the visitation and care of the poor and the sick of the town, traversing the narrow streets and visiting the rude shacks in which many of the Irish Catholics lived. Forty-two pupils were enrolled when the school opened, and in the following year fifty-five students were in attendance.
The Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday, has been celebrated as Vocation Sunday since 1964. 
Mary, the woman we know as Mother of God, was one like us, a person who lived each day and faced the joys and the challenges of each day. We meet her first in Scripture as a frightened adolescent who is being asked to do an almost impossible thing. The last time we meet her in Scripture she is an older woman, more confident perhaps, yet still being asked to do an almost impossible thing
In my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, when anyone meets a stranger, the first questions are “What is your name and who are you called after?” and “Who are your parents?” The first page of our New Testament, the beginning words of the Gospel of Matthew, could well have been written by a Newfoundlander! In these words we find the answer to the same questions about Mary
At the Annunciation, a young woman whose name is Mary is visited by an angel who tells her that she is to bear a son who will be special in many ways. When Mary challenges the possibility of this ever happening, the angel’s reply is decisive, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Lk 1:35). With this assurance, the young woman replies, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38)
Mary’s response was immediate. She spoke the most words spoken by any woman in the New Testament. She used echoes of words spoken by the women of the Old Testament: Deborah, Miriam and Hannah. In this song, she passionately gave what the theologian Edward Schillebeeckx called “a toast to our God,” which we call the Magnificat.
In the days before Mary was to give birth, she and Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem to be counted for the census. They had no choice in this matter. The late stages of Mary’s pregnancy and the difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem did not matter to the political leadership of the day.
On another visit to the Temple to celebrate Passover when Jesus was twelve years old, Jesus remains behind and speaks with the teachers with authority, and then he says these mysterious words to his parents, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” This time the writer tells us that “His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
The young Jewish peasant girl has become a confident woman, a teacher, a mentor and a commanding presence. She has grown into her calling to be a partner with God in the work of Incarnation and Redemption. Having given life to her son, she now calls him into his new life of public ministry, she remains with him to support and nurture him to the end, and she will remain when he is gone to support and nurture the church which continues his presence on earth.
“Spirituality is that which gives us the strength to go on for it is the assurance that God is in the struggle. Spirituality spells out our connectedness to God, our human roots, the rest of nature, one another and ourselves.” In this way in 1994 the Third World Theologians redefined spirituality and began our thinking on “right relationships.”
Let us reflect on Mary in right relationship with the environment. First we must speak to our emerging understanding of ecology, a new sense of how all creation has been created by God, is good and is interconnected. In the 13th century Meister Eckhart said, “Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God.”
There are several beautiful passages in the Gospels in which we get an understanding of Mary’s sense of self. At the Annunciation, we see Mary’s poignant inner turmoil in the face of an awesome task being asked of her, “But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). She then asks outright the question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34)
These women ancestors of Jesus suffer indignities and oppression, but live to reflect the face of God, the righteous One, the merciful One, the maternal One, the One who is found in the company of those who are marginalized, oppressed, suffering, poor and powerless. Jesus, the son of Mary, has indeed inherited the qualities of his foremothers.
The beautiful prayer of the Magnificat which Luke ascribes to Mary is a powerful description of Mary in right relationship with other people. While the first part of her psalm focuses on Mary in relationship with her God, the second part expresses Mary’s love for people. Mary rejoices in God her Saviour because God‘s mercy is from generation to generation.
Mary was first and foremost a Jewish woman, a practicing Jew who remained faithful to Judaism. She would have been aware of the Hebrew Scriptures, the sacred books she called Torah and we Christians call the Old Testament. She bears the name of the leader Miriam about whom God said in the book of Micah (6:4), “I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam