Though it didn’t take long to get back to the usual, there wasn’t time to catch our breath, for we were immediately into a very busy season. For this is the time of the celebrating of Advent and of the numerous feasts during Advent, and of all the work of preparations which these involve, not to mention the preparations for Christmas.

And suddenly, after a mild autumn and early winter when we had none at all, the snow came in great quantities. It snowed and snowed and then snowed again.

As I begin to write this, it is snowing still again—a heavy moist snow, for the temperatures, for the most part, have not yet fallen much below freezing.

Snow

This is the loveliest kind of snow, the kind that sticks to the trees and everything else. So all around us these days is exquisite beauty, and to enter the woods—even the tiny patch of trees along the path to the statue of Our Lady of Combermere—is to enter a fairyland.
But, as is true of just about everything in this fallen world, heavy snow (both in quality and quantity) has its challenges, as anyone who lives in northern climates knows.

One problem around here is that, while the leafless trees easily shed the snow, the more abundant evergreens, with their long fan-like needles, hold it. Branches, even strong ones, break; and there is always the danger that they fall on parked cars damaging them (which didn’t happen) and on electric lines causing power outages (which did).

And as everywhere where there is snow that stays, it has to be shoveled and plowed and blown and pulled off roofs—all of these comprising a major work of the men in winter.

But at the same time, in spite of the busyness, there is a certain quieting in winter—a contentment with being in a warm house, a doing of work that doesn’t give the pressure that both growing and newly-harvested crops do, an entering into the peace and waiting of the Advent season.

In winter, too, though there are not necessarily fewer guests, those who come, for the most part, stay longer. And it is the guests that I am mainly going to write about this month.

Visitors

As we have said in this column more than once, though visitors to Madonna House have always come from all across Canada and the United States, more and more of them (and consequently more and more of the new staff) are coming from outside of North America. They are certainly bringing an added richness to our lives.

Two of the more concrete and easily described ways that this is happening are in the areas of food and languages. Hugo Isaza from Colombia, South America, one of the new staff, for example, occasionally (especially in summer) makes avena, a delicious drink made with oatmeal, milk and ice flavored with cinnamon.

And is there any other religious community in the U.S. or Canada that frequently has on the table as a condiment, kimchee, a fermented and highly seasoned dish made from a certain kind of cabbage, radishes, lettuce, red pepper, and onions?

Last summer, Maria Park, our first Korean staff worker, grew the kind of cabbage needed and, with the help of others, both Korean and non-Korean, made approximately 25 large pails of it before she was transferred to her first mission house in Regina, Saskatchewan.
In terms of languages, we are often hearing different ones. Our after-supper rosary, at which a different person leads each decade, for example, is rarely led completely in English. And two staff and one applicant, on their own initiative, have begun to study Korean.

Of our applicants (those in formation to become staff workers), the five second-years are all non-North American. The men are from Grenada and Poland, and the women from Korea and Belgium. Of the five first-years, one is from England and another from Ukraine. And not one of the women applicants of either year has English as her first language.

Multi-lingualism

Our multi-lingualism was beautifully reflected in our recent celebrations of St. Nicholas Day and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Every year the liturgy class for guests (and applicants who have not taken it as guests) present the story of St. Nich-olas in whichever fashion they choose. This year they did it, delightfully and humorously, with sock puppets, and the three beautiful sisters (to whom St. Nicholas gave dowries) spoke Korean, Portuguese, and French.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe was, I think, especially beautiful this year. In early morning, we processed in the snow to the island chapel with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and then we had a time of unstructured prayer when anyone could lead or sing a song to Our Lady. The songs were in several languages.

And for our Mass, the songs were, as they always are on this day, mainly in Spanish.
In the evening, there was a variety show, beginning with a presentation by the liturgy class of the story of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The narration was in English, but Our Lady (Angela Lee), regally beautiful in a traditional Korean dress (a hanbok), spoke Korean; Juan Diego (Anthony Ho from Hong Kong) in traditional Chinese dress, spoke Cantonese; and the bishop, (Jean Pierre Lebel) spoke French.

In the rest of the program, staff worker Irene DeRoche (originally from Carriacou, West Indies), who worked with the deaf in MH Toronto, led three guests and applicants, whom she had taught, in still another language. They signed, (that is, presented in sign language) the song, “The Rose.” And David Guzman, a Mexican-American guest who MCed the evening, sang a song in Spanish.

The day had been joyous as this particular feast day usually is—a day in which we, Our Lady’s children, sing to her and pray to her. And after the presentation that joy spontaneously burst into dancing when Latin American music was played.

Liziê Santos, a guest from Brazil, and Hugo were the ones who really knew how to do it, and they did it beautifully, but some of the rest of us danced, too, trying to do what they did, or just dancing to the music in any way that we were used to. Others watched, and, all in all, it was a lovely ending to a wonderful day.

And the next day, Sunday, St. Mary’s had a Mexican supper cooked by, among others, three Mexican-American staff and one Mexican-American guest.

Northern Lights

Here are a few shorter items of news: One evening, the most magnificent Northern Lights that most of us had ever seen flamed across the sky. Larry Klein and Dawn Kobewka each gave a talk at the Ecological Farmers of Ontario Conference. The carpenters and others who had worked on the renovation of the kitchen had a supper to celebrate its completion.

One guest (Jason Timmins) and one applicant (Emmanuella Kim) received the sacrament of confirmation. Four staff reached their 25th anniversary as members of Madonna House: Marian Moody, Teresa Reilander, Gretchen Schafer (who does the graphics for this newspaper), and Bryan O’Brien.

And so ends our news for this month.