“The Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council, founded by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in 1998, proposes that the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) be a National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. All are invited to join their Indigenous sisters and brothers in a special way this day through prayer and acts of solidarity….” Ordo 2021-2022, p. 86.
What acts of solidarity can we participate in today?
- Start the day by learning whose traditional land your house sits on and make a land acknowledgement to your family
- Spend some time reading the Executive Summary of the MMIWG report
- Read a book like 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph or anything written by Richard Wagamese
- Watch a movie like Smoke Signals and enjoy Indigenous humour
- Take a walk by a body of water and appreciate all that water does for us
- Read Amnesty International’s guide to being an ally to Indigenous peoples
- Plan to participate in a Kairos blanket exercise to learn about the effects of colonialization
Let us pray…
Creator, Healer, Spirit,
guide our steps today as we walk in solidarity with our Indigenous sisters and brothers.
May we see the truth and beauty of Indigenous culture and spirituality.
Help us to acknowledge when our thoughts and feelings become defensive or subtly ethnocentric.
Our desire is reconciliation and reconcili-action.
We don’t want one without the other.
Amen.
Pat Carter, CSJ
Sr. Pat is our CARFLEO Chair This post originally appeared in Seeds of Faith: A Novalis Blog. Subscribing to their blog is an excellent way of nurturing your spirituality throughout the liturgical year.
A Blessed Land
Creator of a blessed land,
we walk in gratitude and humility
among your creation.
We gaze in wonder at your majesty.
Bless those of us who first dwelt on these lands.
They heard your voice in the winds and in the raven’s cry.
They saw your beauty in northern lights and Sister Moon.
They felt your beating heart in the rhythm of the seasons.
Forgive the trespasses of those who came later: many times, clumsy, blind and cruel. Teach us to listen to your songs,
teach us respect for the first dwellers,
teach us sincerity and integrity.
May all your peoples’ hands extend into a mighty basket to hold
hope for reconciliation,
perseverance to reconcile,
and courage to be reconcilers.
The Indigenous people living within Canada have suffered greatly at the hands of settlers, including churches. The Indigenous people of Vancouver, British Columbia, are the Musqueum. Their name translates into “People of the grass.” This
photo was taken at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia on the “Pole Walk,” which features totem and memorial poles of West Coast Indigenous communities.
From Northern Light: A Canadian Prayerbook by Les Miller, Novalis, 2020