July 6, 2009

God bless the six people who went to an organically-grown strawberry patch near Bowlus and in about three hours picked two hundred pounds of berries. We have had many meals with fresh berries on the menu. They are so good. Again, thanks, pickers.

Last week I forgot to report on the Blood Drive here at the convent. Though we did not reach our goal of 260 units, we did receive 231 units…and that can help a lot of people needing blood. May God bless each of the donors and of course all the staff and volunteers who worked together to make the drive a success.

Also, last week we had a special evening presentation by Rev. Robin Hoover, Ph.D. He is the director of Humane Borders and he spoke about their work. What an informative talk. Two of our Sisters, Audrey Jean and Kizzie, work with this group. You can read more about it on the web: www.humaneborders.org.

Wednesday morning I went to Nisswa to attend the funeral for Larry Fyle, brother of our Sisters, Sharon and Blanche. He was a member of the local fire department for a long time. My first clue to that was when I came to the church and saw two BIG fire trucks parked in front. The boom of Fire Truck #1 was lifted high and a USA flag was suspended from it. Larry was also quite a fisherman. May he be enjoying life with the Lord. Peace, blessings and comfort to his family.
On returning from Nisswa, I worked at Coborn’s for a couple hours at the brat sale. The proceeds went to Oasis-Share-A-Meal. Many groups volunteer to serve a free meal every Thursday evening at First Lutheran Church to all who come. In a couple weeks, the Franciscan Sisters and Employees will furnish the meal.

I was at two nursing homes Thursday…The Lutheran Home here in Little Falls and Bethany in Brainerd. I was very impressed with all the beautiful flowers and plants that welcome guests. At the Lutheran Home, there is a little garden that I had never before seen. Around the edges of the big cement slab are about 25 large clay pots. In the pots, residents planted tomatoes and flowers and many other plants, too. Each pot has the name of the gardener. There is something so healthy about digging in the dirt and watching the plants grow.

And of course, the big event of the weekend was the West Union 4th of July Parade. There were maybe a few less groups in the parade, but it was a very nice 40-minute parade. Following the parade there was a short program in the city park and then a pot-luck lunch for everyone. Lots of people stayed to eat and to visit. There was a marching band. Then members of my family were part of the Kazoo Crew marching band. They even did a few formation routines. It was a good day.

Let us keep Bishop John Kinney in our prayers. He will have his second back surgery on July 10th. May the surgery go well and may his healing go fast. God bless you, Bishop, and the surgeons and your other care-givers, too.

God bless you. Peace and goodness.
Sister Mary Lou

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June 30, 2009

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What happened to summer? (It’s 56 degrees here right now at 10:15, as I write this.) I guess summer is supposed to be coming back by the weekend.

I went past the Community Gardens the other day. They are looking good.
The potatoes, corn, beans, peas are growing well. The recent rains and heat have helped a lot. And we all know that rain is so much better than water from a hose.

Last week we had 29 Girl Campers here from Tuesday morning until 6 p.m. on Thursday. What a nice group of girls. There were many activities planned to keep them busy. On Wednesday the girls joined the Sisters for our 11 a.m. Mass. The young lady who did the first reading did a superb job, as did the young lady who read the intercessions. They show good leadership qualities for their local parishes. They pitched their tents in Assisi Park—south of the Motherhouse. A couple showers didn’t seem to dampen any spirits. Nineteen Sisters assisted with the camp in various ways. I helped with registration. The west entrance was a very busy place when the girls arrived. It was good. God bless all the girls who came and all those who helped with the camp.

Then on Friday we had the funeral for Sister Clara Schroedl, age 76. She is the last member of her family to die. We were so pleased to see half the Chapel filled with her nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.

My weekend was busy. I was at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, MN, for the Regional Gathering of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO). There were 59 of us from MN, IA, WI, NE, ND. There were 14 Spiritual Assistants present. I did a presentation to the Spiritual Assistants Friday afternoon. On Saturday, Sister Nancy Miller, Dubuque, IA, Franciscan Sister, gave wonderful presentations on “Living the Gospel in Your Own Home.” Saturday evening we had a Memorial Service commemorating those of our members who died since our meeting last June. Each Fraternity listed the names of those who had died in the past year. I read the names of our twelve Sisters and three Associates. At Saturday evening’s social hour we honored Tom, who will be moving to MD, after being with his local SFO Fraternity for the past 30 years. God bless you, Tom. In our closing prayer, Sunday, we had special prayers to close the Year of St. Paul. As we were leaving Sunday noon, we noticed the nest of baby barn swallows on the post of the overhang in front of the building. The mother bird came past with lunch for her young, but there were too many of us watching, so she did not stick around very long. It was so great to see those five little mouths wide open. (I was too slow with my camera to get that picture.)

Yesterday our two novices left to return to Mexico. Sister Isa has been living at our house the past three months. Sister Isa cooked some delicious Mexican meals for us.

Have a safe 4th of July. I am planning on going to the West Union 2 p.m. parade, on the 4th. All are welcome to come for the parade. After the parade there is a pot luck meal in the city park. Let us pray for good weather for the parade and meal.

As I am writing this, I am listening to Party Line on the radio. The guests on today’s program are talking about the St. Francis All School Reunion, July 18 and 19. It is a very interesting program. The reunion will be a BIG deal. There are over 500 registered so far. On the 17th there will be a reunion for the nurses who graduated from the Breckenridge School of Nursing.

God bless you.
Sister Mary Lou

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