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‘Twas the day before Lent, and all through St. Mary’s (the smaller community within MH Combermere) there was great rejoicing. It wasn’t the enjoy-yourself-before-Lent kind of thing. It was much more practical than that.

Finally, after seven months and five days, their elevator passed inspection and could now be used.

No more would those unable to use stairs have to listen in through a sound-system to events happening in the third-floor auditorium. No more would the men working on the second floor renovations need to lug heavy tools and materials up and down stairs. No more would the laundresses have to lug heavy laundry baskets to the upstairs dormitories.

From St. Mary’s a great thank you and alleluia wafted its way to heaven. Then it was Ash Wednesday, and St. Mary’s alleluias were turned to “oh, no!”

Once again, it wasn’t because of Lent, but because the power and water system, due to a problem with an electrical panel, were now inoperative. (The elevator, which is on an alternate power system was now almost the only thing that was running!)

But this time, fortunately, the situation did not continue for long. The power and the water were back on in a few hours.

Back to what Shrove Tuesday really is. We had opportunities for confession and our traditional pancake supper. And a few days before that, we had our traditional variety, mostly comedy, show.

This year, the show was emceed by Frank Brick and Veronica Ferri who used a “time-machine”—empty Tide boxes and vacuum cleaner parts taped together, a “machine” which enabled Veronica to “vanish” into another era (behind the curtains).

Between acts, using the time-machine remote, she patched in to Frank to describe the rather odd places she landed in. Frank, our local sports expert, identified with details most of these times and places as the scene of famous sports events—except for one eerie, scary pre-historic place where Veronica kept landing.

Here are just two of the skits: The women guests singing Cindy Lauper’s song, “Time After Time,” performed a skit about the guests trying to get to morning prayers on time.

Then guess which MC narrated a “Ferri Tale:” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

Mama Bear (Joo Eun Lee) and Papa Bear (a guest, Bernard) gave one-liners in Korean and Baby Blair (MH priest, Fr. Blair Bernard) whined, cried, and spit out his porridge.

Now we are in Lent. Lent in Madonna House, like everything else here, is difficult if not impossible to describe. We, of course, follow the Church’s customs and traditions: we receive ashes, make Stations of the Cross, and attend the Lenten Masses with their beautiful readings and hymns.

We have fewer food treats, and our after-lunch spiritual reading is about Lent. But mostly, our penances and other practices, sometimes including private retreats of various kinds, are worked out individually with our spiritual directors.

And through all of this, God works in each of our hearts to give us each a Lent that is unique to each of us. But somehow, in a way I can’t describe, the atmosphere is Lenten.

Of course, all of Lent points to Easter; in fact, it has no meaning without Easter. One concrete reminder of this is the making of pysanky, the beautiful Ukrainian Easter eggs. The staff at the handicraft center teach the craft to whoever wishes to learn it, and throughout Lent, we make them. It is said that if people ever stop making pysanky, darkness will overcome the earth. We are definitely doing our part.

During Lent also, Friday afternoons are set apart for staff study. This year, as sometimes happens, we can choose our subject. Some of us are studying in groups and others, individually.

The topics range far and wide, and are one more indication, as if we needed another one, of the uniqueness of each of the staff.

Here are some of the topics: the Vietnam War, wood-fire kilns, crafts with wire, mammals of Ontario (including walks to find and identify tracks and scat), painting, and drawing.

Catherine would be thrilled with the use of our handicraft center during this time: individuals and one group are wood-carving, setting up a loom, spinning, sewing, or potting.

And yes, there are religious topics as well: Madonna House history, the theme of “divinization” in the writings of Catherine Doherty, the desert (physical desert and desert spirituality), and Ignatian discernment.

Whereas staff study has been going on for many, many years, something else was added a few years ago as Lenten input, and that is what we call, “Basement University.” This is a weekly DVD or cassette that is both enjoyable and educational.

Like our staff study, the topics range far and wide. We started before Lent, and so far this year, subjects have included the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, bees, pottery, a factory-city in China, and a nature film about grasslands.

The elevator is not the only situation the men have had to deal with on an ongoing basis. That’s just been the most obvious one.

They have been attending to many projects, including continuing renovations of the new dormitory for older staff, dealing with new furnaces in various buildings, overseeing the replacement of the art gallery floor at the gift shop, etc., etc., etc.

And dealing with ice. We wrote about ice last month. Well, that ice finally got covered by a good snowfall, as it always does sooner or later, which solves the problem. But now, beginning with the day after Ash Wednesday, we have ice again.

So far, due to temperatures continuing to rise above freezing and then going back down again, we’ve had ice underfoot for almost two weeks—ice that varies in texture, changing continually.

Driving is usually not bad for long, for our township is good about clearing the roads, but walking? Now, that is an ongoing problem as long as the ice lasts.

The men try to keep up with sanding the paths, especially before prayers in the morning when the ice is usually the hardest and most slippery, but what they do is never effective for long, for the ice is continually melting or freezing—not to speak of the effects of snow and rain.

So we wear cleats (at least some of us) and walk carefully, very carefully. There is no doubt that the angels protect us as we make our way s-l-o-w-l-y between our various buildings and between the main house and St. Mary’s.

Now, let’s finish with some news in brief. We mentioned the retreat for the men of the area last month; well, in this time-frame the women had theirs—actually two retreats, for there are more women making them than men. Fr. Kieran Kilcommons and Sandra Novecosky gave the first retreat and Fr. Michael Weitl and Sandra, the second.

The care-givers at Our Lady of the Visitation, where some of our elderly stay, had a day of recollection. Marysia Kowalchyk and Zoyla Grace took a workshop in painting icons.

Blessed, joyous Easter and Easter Season to each of you.

P.S. Our directors general have just returned from a visit to Russia, where we have a house, and Rome. We will tell you about this next time.

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