Just came back from our Community retreat. Our theme was about “finding God in the ordinary and the ordinary becomes full…becomes mystical.”

In L’Arche,as in any other family, we do ordinary things day in and day out. Nothing fancy with our chosen lives. We cook breakfast together. Mondays-porridge, Tuesdays- toasts, Wednesdays- cereals, Thursday, toasts and eggs, Fridays, cereals, Saturdays- pancakes, Sundays-bagels or whatever is there. Week in and week out. Porridge is porridge, cereals are cereals. We get bored with them sometimes but breakfast is always a special time. We gather together to start the day in prayer and in gratitude that we have each other. In gratitude that there is always food on the table. Simple food spiced up by conversations about the snow, about the old man and his dog, about work, about how the day is going to look like, about the Philippines, about Columbia, about Toronto, Piper’s pub. We can go on and on with our conversations, yap, yap yap as Joe White would say. Ordinary themes about the different facets of life that bind us together. With porridge and stories, we get filled.

One of us said, putting nail polish on a friend’s fingernails is a moment of grace. Or having a cold shower in the morning, a sip of ice cold diet coke, putting one’s legs up while hanging out in the veranda on a summer day…these and more are moments where we are who we are, where we are living in the gift of the now.

There are many difficult times too, times of struggles, of sorrow, of loss, of pain. Of anger, of injustice, of doubt. On these times we are carried by our faith in our shared hope that we have each others’ hands and prayers.As Community, we beg for courage to continue with our journey despite and in spite of our woundedness.

This retreat asked us to write 50 gifts we are truly grateful for. In the beginning, I thought- whew! 50?! That is quite a task! But I was indeed surprised to be able to list down 50, and not to brag, my list was even longer than that! And Tom’s list was my inspiration. His list is the proof that, if we are open to God’s grace and mystery, even the littlest of things can look really grand.

I am very grateful for Tom’s presence in my life. I will always remember his love for me. And even if time will come when we might forget, I remember a dear friend saying: All love is remembered in God’s memory.

Finally, I wanted to share this beautiful story we heard today.

Once there was a core member drawing images by the beach. An assistant came up to him and asked, “Could you draw a house?” “Of course!” And he drew a house. The assistant asked again, “Could you draw a tree?” “Certainly!” And he drew a tree. The assistant requested again, “Could you draw JOY?” The core member stopped for a while, looked from one end of the beach to the other, shook his head and then smiled: “Oh, there would be not enough space, I think!”

=)

Mark Bowie celebrated his 30th birthday on Wednesday 2nd March.

An excerpt of an inspirational performance from a Christmas play put on by the L’Arche community in Antigonish. Tommy Landry captures the crowd with his gift of music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ez7vDRBJyE

A play featuring members and staff of L’Arche Antigonish as well as some community volunteers, was so well received last weekend an encore presentation is scheduled.
The Gift was performed to a full house at the Bauer Theatre Nov. 27.
The play, written and directed by the L’Arche assistant Natalie Cameron, is an inclusive production featuring members and staff of L’Arche Antigonish, St. F.X. students and local volunteers.
Local artists Murray Gibson, Katie Jamieson, Nancy Nunn-Stubbart, Anne Camozzi, Brian Riley, Ian Pygott, Cara Jones and Peter Murphy with Lilly Carty offered their “gifts” to enhance the play. It became a community project with more than 80 people being part of the production.
“We all had so much fun working on the play,” Cameron said.
“It was such a thrilling experience we will never forget. People felt so valued being welcomed into the theatre community and having friends and family witness their performance. People were really touched by the performance and the message that they received – there was not a dry eye in the house.”
The play is based on the Christmas story, portraying the journey of the fourth wise man. He dreams about the birth of Christ and decides to visit Him, but he has no gift to give.
As he is travelling, he meets many people along the way and receives many gifts – gift of the earth, celebration, culture, acceptance, guidance, truth, solidarity, peace, faith, welcome and hospitality and the greatest gift of all, love.
The gifts are given through the art of singing, dance, music and acting.
Yvonne Haley was in attendance for the Nov. 27 show.
“It was truly a work of art and love,” she said. “It was beautiful, it was very touching. I couldn’t help thinking it was the perfect way to start the Christmas/Advent season with the meaning that was portrayed throughout The Gift.”
Through the dance, music and narration, gifts were shared with the fourth wise man.
“It really showed love, acceptance and peace that we should all share with each other,” Haley said.
She added the Bauer Theatre was the perfect setting for the show.
“That combined with what the L’Arche people did and the interaction with the audience – while they were changing from one act to another the audience would sing. The whole thing flowed from beginning to end.”
There was great participation from the audience, she added.
“You feel the emotion of the audience – it was beautiful.”
The Gift really highlighted the true meaning of the holiday season, Haley added, including love and acceptance.
“That we all have a gift for each other is what I felt and that we all have something to offer – not based upon our abilities and what we can do. We all truly have a gift to share.”
All those involved in the production need to be credited for this play, Haley said.
“There are very talented people in our community and they’re very willing to share with the people of L’Arche.”
She added anyone who is able should attend the encore performance.
“It will really set them in the Christmas spirit.”
An encore presentation of The Gift will take place Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Bauer Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The Play was such a huge hit and we had so much fun performing it we’ve decided to do a SECOND SHOW!!! Thursday 9th December, 7pm at the Bauer Theater. Spread the word.

Come see L’Arche perform “The Gift” – The Journey of the 4th Wise Man. Saturday 27th Novemaber, 3pm at the Bauer Theater. Tickets are on sale, you can buy them at Horizons 4 West Street or call 863-1075 to reserve tickets.

L’Arche Antigonish has a page on facebook. Click on the link below if you want to see the page and become a friend. We will be updating the page regularly with news, events and photos.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LArche-Antigonish/165464923479261

This week we will say farewell to Monika, who has been an assistant here for 2 years.   We celebrated Monika by giving her a traditional hand-printed apron.  We also send her off with our best wishes as she will be getting married next month – Congratulations Monika and Martin!