L’ARCHE ANTIGONISH NEWSLETTER February 2018 - Issue 15 4

The Gift By Tina Angustia

“Happiness comes from loving each

person with tenderness and compassion”

- Jean Vanier

THE FOURTH WISE MAN

As I start 2018 with a heart filled with gratitude and hope, and also some doubt and fear, I look back onto the year that was. I close my eyes and I see Christian Gerro, our Fourth Wise Man who went on a journey to meet the Child who was to be King. Of all the Wise men, our guy was kind of unprepared and confused. He was left behind by the others who wanted to be first. He was not your ordinary Magus. He did not have any gift. Or so he thought. This is the story of “The Gift,” the play staged at the Bauer Theatre by L’Arche Antigonish for many years now. And I have to say, each time we do it I am always, always blown away by the magic it brings to me and to many others. The play is a production of over 60 people: members, volunteers, and friends of ours. There are the chaos and buzz of putting up an endeavor like this. Oh, did I mention

stress? Yes, there is stress too from the early beginnings of preparation. Sometimes I shake my head and ask myself how we can even do this year after year. Come performance time, I know why. “The Gift” is us. This is our story. Every year, we gather our creativity and courage to stand to tell our story of hope, struggle, joy, and love. Year after year, with our own stories of confusion and drama, we do it for the love of each other and the fun it brings to us and to the wider community of Antigonish. The story of the Fourth Wise Man is our own story of searching and being lost, of meeting the Love and Light, and finding in our own journey "The Gift" we've been searching for that has always been with us and around us. When I reflect on my life, I am most times unprepared too. Most times confused and unsure of what gifts I bring. When I live my day-to-day, I see myself always searching for what is true, for what matters. And when I keep my eyes and heart open, I see. I call myself blessed to see this most days. I see around me the gift of dance, music, art,

beauty, strength, friendship, and togetherness in joy and grief. Christian Gerro onstage is the Fourth Wise Man who dared to be different. He opened his heart to receive and give. He kept going despite the blocks and hindrances. He knew what he believed in. He believed in himself and what his journey is about. Christian Gerro in real life is all these things and more. He is my everyday Wise Man. “The Gift” is a gift to me. It gives me the grace to see and celebrate what we are and what we can do together.

Save the date: February 18: International Potluck @ St.James United Church Hall, 5pm-8pm March: Art show at the Tall and Small

ENJOY THE SNOW

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Elizabeth MacDonald “Painting makes me

happy and relaxed. Feels good. All

good. I paint snow, stars, sky. You

see in my windows. I just can’t

stop painting. I want people to go

outside. Walk. Be happy.”

Michael Boddy

“I like to draw and paint houses. I

like to design my own pictures

with glass. I like to create ocean

scenes, whales, rainbows,

lighthouses, many sea creatures,

Nativity scenes and I like to use

the L’Arche boat symbol. I like to

draw every day. I feel like my art

makes people happy. I might get

an idea like a lighthouse, then I

look somewhere like Google Images

for one that looks right to me.

When I find one I like, I draw it

out and then I go to the boxes of

colored glass and get started.”

Meet Our Great Artists!

L’ARCHE ANTIGONISH SOCIAL | Issue 15 3

The L’Arche Antigonish Foundation is very pleased to announce a grant from the Harry E. Foster Charitable Foundation of Newcastle, Ontario. Funding will support Hearts & Hands, the arts program of the L’Arche Antigonish community. This program provides meaningful work and therapeutic creative activities for 17 resident members plus 9 day members, all of whom have intellectual disabilities, some with dementia. The program includes dance, visual arts, weaving, music (therapeutic and free form), origami, and other creative endeavours members wish to explore. Funds will be used to purchase arts supplies, photography equipment, and musical instruments. The support for the program will directly benefit participants. L’Arche embodies the principle that meaningful work or daytime activities are central to a person’s dignity. Members currently have only small-sized canvases; large canvases will allow freer expression.

I had the pleasure to fill in at Cornerstone Day Program for three months this year, from October – January. My time at Cornerstone was a time of peace, joy, and friendship. I am thankful beyond measure to have had the opportunity to spend time with the folks there for the past three months. I always felt that I was a bit of an “old soul,” so I knew that I would enjoy things like baking, drinking coffee, and watching “The Price is Right.” But there was just so much more to it than just doing those three simple things. My days were spent doing so many things – joking around with Donny while eating homemade Rice Crispies squares, learning from Eileen how to make rolls, or simply sitting with Mary Kathleen,

More and different musical instruments will increase participant numbers and types of expression. Photography equipment would enable members to reproduce art works, print cards and enhance the annual calendar, thus increasing art sales. The L’Arche Antigonish Foundation is also very grateful to the Bishop William E. Power Foundation for its support for the expenses related to the L’Arche annual retreat. Each year L’Arche Antigonish holds a three-day retreat for all its members, and each year attracts new members, residents, assistants, and staff. The retreat, time away from work for a few days, brings together all members, new and continuing, with different gifts, from various countries around the world. They explore their lives together in L’Arche and grow in the mission of L’Arche while nurturing their spirituality and enabling richer work and living spaces.

singing songs and breaking into uncontrollable laughter for hours on end. The moment I walked through the door and sat down to discuss the day (with a cup of coffee, of course), a calmness would appear, and whatever would happen during the day I would leave thinking, “Wow, what a great day.” These are memories I will cherish for my entire life. I learned so much about being present during these months; I learned that we do not always have to be busy in order to have a productive day, but instead if we just take time to “be” in every moment, special things happen. There is a sweet, sweet simplicity that can be found in every single day, and that is what Cornerstone showed me. Whenever I reflect on my time there in

the weeks, months, and years to come, I will be reminded of my friends, and I will be reminded to choose joy, every day, no matter what.

Community Cupcakes

Ingredients: - 1 cup low fat milk - 1 teaspoon cider vinegar - 1 cup all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour -1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder - ¾ teaspoon baking soda - ½ teaspoon baking powder - ¾ cup packed light brown sugar - ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Instructions: 1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/ line 12 – 18 standard muffin tins with paper liners or spray with Pam baking spray. 2) In a small bowl stir together milk and vinegar. Set aside 3) In a medium bowl whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 4) In a large bowl combine brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla. Pour in the now curdled milk and mix all ingredients well. 5) Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thin and wet similar to a runny pancake batter. Divide batter among prepared muffin tins. Bake for about 18 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the tins to 10 minutes before removing to cool completely. 6) Once the cupcakes are cool top them with a light frosting.

Variations to suit all in community

Diabetic:

Use Splenda brown sugar baking blend to replace brown sugar

Gluten Free:

Use a gluten free flour blend such as Bobs Red Mill to replace all-purpose flour.

Vegan

Use almond or rice milk to replace low fat milk.

Successful Grant Applications

By Janet Stark

Time of Peace, Joy, and Friendship

By Emily Perry

RECIPE CORNER

L’ARCHE ANTIGONISH SOCIAL | Issue 15 4

It is with a heavy heart that I let you know that Bernie Vosman passed away early this morning. Bernie came to live with us such a short time ago yet it seemed as if he has been with us always. Whether walking with Carol Anne to the CACL ‘I help her’, shoveling the walk around Hope House ‘Making it safe!’ or teasing Joven ‘He’s bad!’, Bernie’s joy and sense of fun infused those around him. Bernie could transform a room as he reached out to each person and laughter fill the space. Bernie took great pride in his work and was always up for the next adventure. He wanted nothing to do with just sitting around, calling people to do more together - bringing people together, building community but, doing this humbly and with a joyful heart. I remember after a recent L’Arche event, Bernie, quietly seeking out all the people who had organized our time together to thank them. He wasn’t looking to be in the centre of the big group and thank them in front of everyone but, as a man

of humility and gratitude, to quietly let them know how much he appreciated all they did and how much fun he had. Bernie’s tenderness was most evident when he spoke of his mom. He was a good and attentive son who was so happy he could just walk down the hill and visit her every day. Bernie loved his family and being witness to their faithful journey with him in hospital these past several weeks, was a privilege. There were 15 members of Bernie's family with him when he died and I'm sure their presense comforted him. Our hearts and prayers are with Diny and the rest of the Vosman family. Last month we dedicated our Christmas plays to Bernie. The end of the last line of the play is, ‘and together everyone received the greatest gift of all – the gift of love’. Bernie brought this gift and we are a more loving community because of it. Rest in peace my friend.

- MP3- Player - Rocker Recliner - Adult Coloring Books - Wool for Knitting/Crafts - Piano Music book - Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer - Plastic Container - Dish Washer - Snow blower - Rakes

OUR WISHLIST

A Word from Community Leader

By Beth Wolters

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A Letter from Jean Since November 10, I have been back in my little house next to La Ferme, by the L’Arche community chapel in Trosly. I admit that I am happy, my life is quiet and physically I am well, despite great tiredness. As my heart remains weak, I am waiting for it to grow stronger. Odile Ceyrac and Chrstine McGrievy, the leader of my L’Arche community in Trosly, have been very supportive of me and they continue to watch over me during this period of recovery which has been extended until the end of February. I spent my mornings in my room on the first floor resting, praying and reading. I derive a lot of joy in contemplating the birds through my window. A big crow often takes up position at the top of the tree not far from the house. He watches everything with a very preoccupied air. He is like a gang leader! Some other smaller birds swirl to the right and left at top speed. And some tiny l ittle birds also sit in the tree. They are called kinglets and they are magnificent. There aare also some chickadees and then flocks of sparrows that seem to travel in groups of twelve. Still others come and go, like these little turtledoves. Just imagine that yesterday I even saw two birds that seemed to be wearing a red hat. They looked like clowns. I do not know what they were doing but most of the time they looked so funny. And in early January in Trosly daisies are beginning to appear in my little gardens! Is this a sign that spring is on the way? I have had to cancel all the retreats and conferences that I was due to give at la Ferme and elsewhere. Antony Paoli, the leader of La Ferme, who has also given me a lot of support, has kept up the retreats at La Ferme by calling upon some wonderful people to replace me. The grace of L’Arche and the Gospel continues to be announced and I am very happy about that. In October, when I was still in the hospital, I felt that a new stage of my life was beginning, a life more given to prayer, silence, reading, solitude and a few meetings. I thought this would be a good ending after a very busy life with L’Arche and Faith and Light. Now I have the impression that it is not an end but a beginning. A beginning of what? Only God knows, and God is full of surprises! So I wait for something new. Each day is a new day to know God better, to love Jesus better and to work for the Kingdom of God and for peace in our poor world. I discover that I do not know how to pray, but I have always been told that wanting to pray is already a prayer and I very much desire it. I want to know Jesus better. One day, I asked a contemplative sister how she prayed. She said, “I wait for Jesus.” So I wait with a lot of desire, hope and patience; I would like to know him better and be more united to his heart that loves each person. To learn to love as God loves each person in our great human family around the world, each with their wounds, their culture, their suffering, their religion, their expectations, their hopes, their weariness. In the meantime, I am reading two books: Jesus: An Historical Approximation written by Jose Antonio Pagola and Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. The first is a theologian and historian of very great breadth, who is very knowledgeable about Isrea in the time of Jesus. How did Jesus announce good news to the Galileans when they were being horrible persecuted by the Romans, tyrannized by Herod, battered by the Temple leaders, and abused by rich people who forced them to pay ever-greater taxes? Jesus went to these poor people and said to them, “The Kingdom of God is with you!” He transformed them by revealing to them that they were loved by God and that happiness comes from loving each person with tenderness and compassion. The second author, Howard Thurman, is a black American pastor, the grandson of a slave. He speaks of his crushed and suffering people. How could they understand and know the religion of the whites who were persecuting them? So I think of those slaves crushed over and over again and those Galileans to whom Jesus spoke, a world of suffering. Today there are so many people in pain who are asking themselves: Where is God? My prayer goes out to all those people overwhelmed by suffering in a world where there are so many immigrants, refugees, people engulfed in loneliness, or in prison. For all these people, I offer this new stage of my own – rather comfortable – life. May the kingdom of God come! This kingdom of love where each person discovers they are God’s beloved, and called to love others. At the beginning of the year, we had the pleasure of receiving a visit from Nayla Tabbara who founded Adyan with Father Fadi Daou. Adyan is a centre in Beirut that helps Muslims to know the Christian faith and Christians to know Islam. She came to La Ferme to give us a talk on unity. It was a very beautiful conference. She is a Sunni Muslim, with a huge desire to help Christians and Muslims to know each other better and to discover the value of each one. I often think of her and all those Muslims and Christians who are working for unity and mutual understanding. There are so many people creating division but fortunately there are others who want to work for dialogue and true encounter. I had the joy of spending a delightful Chrismas dinner with my foyer, le Val Fleuri, where by tradition each year, I set light to the Christmas pudding – which is not always very appreciated in France. I would like to sing a very big thank you to each and every one of you, my brothers and sisters from our L’Arche and Faith and Light communities and so many other friends who have sent me your Christmas wishes for good health, and for a new year holy and happy. Thank you, thank you: alas, I cannot answer each one as I would like, but know that each card or letter received is immediately transformed into a moment of communion, friendship and prayer. Yes, than you to God for our great family around the world which he has raised up and given us.

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Shared Dinner at Jubilee House

Tommy enjoying a meal at McDonalds

Kyle showing his dance moves at the Play

Margie, Gus, Debbie, Christian and Lisa sharing a meal together

Heather and Emily visiting 98.9XFM

Mark and Karen enjoying a dance

Drumming circle at the Play

Our 4th Wise Man and our Natalie

Our three Wise Men

Beth visiting L'Arche London