Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
We are God’s beloved children. This is our identity. To deliver us from the bondage of sin that separates us from God and true happiness, God sent his Son into the world and a Saviour is born for us. What a precious gift! After he paid the costly price of our redemption by dying on the cross, he resurrected and ascended into heaven where our true home is. For our sake, the Risen Christ established the hierarchical Catholic Church. All are invited to be part of his great family, as brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters of the one Father in heaven. With the Blessed Virgin Mary, as our Mother, and all the Angels and Saints in heaven, we are never alone in our lives’ journey to face its challenges. In this community of God’s people, we find the light and strength to press on and be renewed.
In this 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, we are especially called to cultivate the strong virtue of hope. Trusting in God’s steadfast love and his promises, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, hope will sustain us through hardship, prevent discouragement and spur us to live the virtuous life that gives us the ultimate happiness - eternal union with God.
In this Jubilee year there are many special graces of hope within our Church. After God took Pope Francis home to his house on Easter Monday, he gave us our new Pope Leo XIV. At his blessing to the world, we were much encouraged by his very first words: “God loves everyone. Evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. So without fear, united, hand in hand, with God in ourselves, we go forward.” Indeed, a Saviour has been born for us! God is with us!
In our local Church, we are blessed with His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto. For the Jubilee, he penned for us this year another beautiful Pastoral Letter: “That Blessed Upper Room.”
In his penetrating reflections of the grace-filled events of Jesus and of the early Church in the Upper Room, he invites the faithful to grow in faith and live as authentic disciples of Christ! May the nine dimensions of the Catholic Christian life that he synthesized in it bring forth transformative graces to us all.
Our community is blessed to have Rev. Fr. Dominic Borg, OCD as our Chaplain who celebrates the liturgy and Sacraments for us. His scripture-rich homilies are drawing a growing number of daily communicants. Stationed in our guest house, he is far from retiring, but tirelessly continues his spiritual ministries reaching far and wide. May God grant him continued health for the benefit of us all!
On July 16, many friends came to our Solemn celebration of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. God has ordained her to be the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church. We rightly love and honour her for her unceasing maternal love and intercession for our needs and salvation. May we always find consolation, strength, and peace under her mantle.
On October 1, His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo joined our celebration of the centenary anniversary of the canonization of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. In his homily, he pointed out her 3 Loves - of Jesus, of the Church and of the missions and salvation of souls – that motivated her utmost generosity, to repay love with love. In her “Little way” of love and confidence, like unpetalled roses, she spent herself entirely in acts of charity.
As a reminder to offer our good deeds to God, the sisters made Sacrifice Beads that were shared with our guests with the Blessed Roses.
Like all human families, our community too experiences joys and sorrows, and faces challenges such as illnesses. To nurture the virtue of hope, each week our sisters took turns putting a quote on hope on our notice board.
Each time we passed by we were reawakened to this great virtue. Relying on God’s great mercy and the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ we pressed on to live out our vocation – as Love in the Heart of the Church, to pray and intercede for all her needs, and the salvation of mankind.
In July we welcomed Sr. Mary of the Holy Spirit who was transferred to our community. Coming in the summer, she was quickly put to the busy work of beekeeping and gardening. Undeterred by hard work, she soon became the new busy bee of our community.
Again, God blessed our bees with much honey this year for honey sales in the parishes.
The bees are such amazing creatures, and they inspire us with many beautiful lessons. Being communal, their entire life is in the service of the community to the point of death!
Being a cloistered community, we cannot live our way of life without the very generous support of our friends, benefactors, and volunteers. Besides financial support, they also bring us supplies, groceries and run errands for us. To them we are eternally grateful, and we keep them, living and deceased, in our daily prayers and offer Masses for them.
We cherished the visits of our friends, the sharing of their joys and difficulties with us. We keep their needs and intentions in our hearts and prayers. We place our hope in God who has given us the grace of the Jubilee of Hope.
Hope is the Shining Star of Bethlehem. It is not to be seen under the sunshine of prosperity, but to be DISCOVERED in the darkness of adversity. (Charles Spurgeon) May Hope be THE ANCHOR that grants us all stability. May it remind us that we all are wrapped in God’s Unconditional and Steadfast Love like the Baby Jesus in the manger.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and may you be abound in hope with the power of the Holy Spirit! (Romans 15:13) Indeeed we are not alone in our troubles, for a Saviour has been born for us! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
