Happy Belated Birthday
Posted on: July 2, 2015
- In: Everyday Life | Faith
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Yesterday, my husband and I visited the Canadian Museum of History. I had planned to go this month to see a couple of special exhibits, but the free bus fare and museum admission convinced us to make the trip on Canada Day.
The return trip may not have been fun—we ended up walking back to the Ottawa side of the river to catch a packed bus home—but the visit was great.
People of all ages and cultural backgrounds faced the crowds and on-again, off-again rain to have fun with their families, visiting the children’s museum; looking at the totem poles in the Great Hall; learning about the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, sources of some key legal principles echoed in our country’s laws (even though the wait time to enter the exhibit was about an hour); exploring the story of Canada from the 1837 rebellions to Confederation.
If we take advantage of these chances to learn more about Canada’s history and the many cultures of those who have chosen to call this land home, we might be more appreciative of the freedoms and opportunities we’re blessed with just by virtue of being Canadian—freedoms and opportunities others can only dream about. And we might be more motivated to work for change on issues that matter to us: the environment, healing for survivors of residential schools and their families, support for refugees and other immigrants, education, health care, and so on.
I pray that we’d be thankful for our country’s natural resources, for the immigrants who contribute to its growth and prosperity, for Canada’s good neighbours and allies, and for the many other ways God has blessed this nation. And I pray that the Lord would continue to bless us and guide us in caring for his people here and where there is need elsewhere in the world.
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 