Marian Centre Edmonton

Here at Marian Centre all the many jobs in an average household are ours. A great chunk of time is spent in cleaning up.

My job, in part, is dusting, tidying, and ironing. Mostly it is washing dishes—cleaning up.

We serve two meals a day to the Brothers Christopher (street men)—breakfast from 10:30 to 11:30, and dinner between 1:30 and 3:30. Breakfast dishes consist of cups, between 150 and 190 of them, spoons, 18 platters, and 9 large teapots.

Dinner dishes comprise cups, silverware, plates, dessert dishes, platters, bowls and teapots. We serve from 150 to 180 men each day for dinner, and quite often the count is 200. I wash the dishes during the meals.

At 3:30 when the men’s meal is over, three women staff members come to help me put the finishing touches on the job.

Christ and dishes we will always have with us. What a comparison, you may say. Yet, what a wonderful comparison!

Before ascending into heaven, Christ said to his apostles, I will be with you all days even unto the consummation of the world (Mt. 28:20). What loving words to dwell on and in which to find new courage!

The phrase, "Dishes we have always with us," people don’t say it because it is such an evident truth.

Why do we have dishes? To put food on, which mankind may eat. Man is made in the image and likeness of God. Christ put himself, as it were, in the place of mankind in want, when he said, As long as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me (Mt. 25:40).

Taking these words to heart then, Christ ate and drank from the dishes I’ve washed today. And tomorrow he will drink and eat again from clean dishes. You, too, who cook for husband, little ones, brothers, sisters, friends, and guests—Christ in them drinks and eats from cups and plates, the food you’ve cooked in pots and pans.

Piles and piles of dishes everywhere used to be a chore for me. Now washing dishes is a work of joy, because Christ is in it.

Last Sunday several of us went for a hike up the side of Grey Mountain which towers above our new home. We found lots of ice, especially high up; and there was a thin coat of ice on a lake below us.

As the path brought us higher, we saw many little peaks and domes. The pointed peaks are young mountains, we learned, the others the old timers. They did not interfere with each other, but rather the opposite. They made a whole complete picture.

I thought it was the plan of God for the souls of men. We are all different, yet we touch each other, manifest the glory of God, and are parts of the same picture, the same mosaic. We do not conflict in his divine hearts.

We returned home, glad we are privileged to be here among the native people. We returned with rosy cheeks and relaxed bodies, and with gold nuggets of peace, a new knowledge of God’s infinite beauty, and a renewed love for him, hidden in the pockets of our hearts.

Recently I received a novena leaflet in honor of Our Lady of Hope. On the cover is a picture of a statue of the Blessed Virgin holding a fairly large crucifix in front of her.

This picture has become very dear to me, because it makes thoughts of courage grow in my mind. It seems almost as if Our Lady speaks through her smile, and says, "Look what I have for you. Is not my gift lovely?"

Lovely and wondrously loving, too, because it represents Christ’s death on the cross to redeem all mankind for love of us.

Before Christ died, he gave his Mother to the whole human race to be our Mother always. Christ gave all of himself, and his Mother also, to us. Now it is Our Lady of Hope who gives her crucified Son to us.

"O Holy Mother Mary, Our Lady of Hope, when we receive our crosses from the loving hands of God, help us to grasp them fearlessly and say with conviction, though facing the hard reality of life, "Sweet the nails and sweet the wood."