A particularly wonderful one took place on Sunday, August 12th—a picnic to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cana, our retreat-vacation for families.

We had issued an open invitation to all the families who had ever come to Cana, and we estimate that over 200 people came. Most came from the area or from relatively near by, and a few came from far away. One family came all the way from Wisconsin.

There was a Mass, a few short speeches, and a picnic supper.

The families brought their own food, and the MH kitchens prepared a picnic supper for our community. Madonna House supplied the dessert, ice cream, for everyone.

It turned out to be a day beautifully graced by God with an atmosphere of peace, harmony, love, joy, and fun.

There were so many touching sights on which to feast our eyes and souls. Children, of course, were playing everywhere, and watching them was a pleasure, and there were many reunions between old friends.

All day long, the Hamon twins, and other babies as well, were passed from one staff worker to another.

Eight short months ago, these twin girls were born prematurely and with complications, and we, as well as many others from the area, were praying mightily that they would live. Now here they were, healthy and thriving.

In the evening, the Mombourquette family brought out their instruments and started singing and playing the Scottish music of Nova Scotia. It wasn’t long before we were dancing.

As the evening went on, their music was given some unusual accompaniment, which resulted in the sort of mixture that is typical in our international community.

Fr. Francis Azah, a visiting associate priest from Ghana, asked if we had an African drum. We did, and he joined in. So did staff worker Steve Héroux with the durbuki, an Arabic drum that Archbishop Raya had given us. On Steve’s lap sat a little blond boy, aged three or four, whom Steve proceeded to teach how to drum.

Then staff worker Hugo Isaza (who is from Colombia) brought out a player and some CDs and led us in a Latin American salsa. At one point during the salsa, a man suddenly wheeled a woman, probably his mother, in a wheel chair under our arched arms. She was beaming.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and this was not our only recent celebration.

The farm, which had already hosted an open house for all at MH, which we told you about last month, held one for local families, friends, and benefactors. Four hundred invitations went out and approximately three hundred people came, including Dalton Reagan and Agnes Coulas, both of whom had lived on the farm before Madonna House bought it.

There was lots of time for visiting, reminiscing, and seeing around the farm, lots of space for the children to play, and live music to listen to.

Our third celebration of the month was one that is always the highlight of summer—August 15th, the feast of the Assumption and for MH, the anniversary of a number of other things, including some of our promises and ordinations.

It is a day we fill with flowers, denuding our gardens to make huge bouquets for chapels and dining rooms. I don’t ever remember the bouquets as big as this year.

August 15th has also become the day we celebrate the 25th and 50th anniversaries of promises, regardless of what date they were actually made.

This year, there were four silver jubilarians: Cynthia Donnelly (who came up from MH Washington for the event as part of her holidays), Cathy Mitchell, Martha Shepherd (of MH Ottawa), and Scott Eagan.

Réjeanne George celebrated her fiftieth anniversary. At her request, her celebration was a very simple afternoon reception, and one joy for her was that a few members of her family were able to come.

Among the numerous photos of Réjeanne that were on display was a list of all the postings she has had throughout her fifty years. Her apostolic life, as she says in her article, has indeed been rich.

She worked closely with Catherine Doherty as head librarian in MH Combermere; was founding director of houses in France; Honduras, Moncton, and Alpena, Michigan; and served as director of training for applicants.

This has indeed been a very busy summer. Besides the celebrations and all the usual work—farm, gardens, the shops, carpentry, food processing, maintenance, hospitality etc., etc.—one major activity that took place throughout the season was our summer school.

This year we advertised it on the Internet, and our guest dorms have been full for much of the summer.

Many of us have said that it was the best summer school yet, especially in terms of the talks. This month the themes included poverty and simplicity, living as a Catholic in 2007, and vocation.

Staff have also gone out to give talks. Paul Mitchell and Anne Marie Murphy were on a vocation panel at the annual Peterborough Diocesan Youth Rally.

Mary McGoff gave two workshops, mainly on communication skills, to the resident assistants of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, a local Catholic liberal arts college. She had been invited to do so by one of their teachers, whose housemother Mary had been when that teacher was a longterm guest here.

August 2nd was the first anniversary of the tornado that hit Combermere, and Canadian Martyrs, our parish, held an ecumenical prayer service in thanksgiving for God’s protection. As the service drew to a close, we were given a powerful reminder of the event—a thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds!

Summer is a very busy time here, and usually, even without all these celebrations, we are tired at the end of it. However, even with the extra work the celebrations entailed, both they and the summer school have been very life giving.

Believe it or not, 2007 marks still one more major anniversary—the 60th of the foundation of MH Combermere. We celebrated it simply among ourselves on May 17th, the actual date. But a few of us were asking, wouldn’t an open house celebration be a good opportunity to share with the local people some of what is happening here?

It’s not too late; the whole year as an anniversary year. Should we have an open house, Cathy Mitchell, local director of the main house, asked at a recent staff meeting. There were several questions and comments, and then a unanimous "yes" emerged. It was beautiful to see.

Yes, this indeed is a year of celebration and thanksgiving for the wonderful works God has done in our midst.