Just a couple more days left of 2011

It seems like a very short time ago that we started writing 2000! And soon we will be writing 2012. I hope you had a good and peaceful Christmas. A friend gave me a “Keep Christ in Christmas” magnet that I proudly put on my car. With all the stress on “buy, buy, buy” one can easily forget that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” We had a very nice Christmas here at the Motherhouse. We had full-house for our Christmas Eve Mass. I was so pleased that so many came to St. Francis Hall afterwards for hot chocolate, goodies and to visit with one another.

Theologian Howard Thurman (1899-1981) said, “When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the shy is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among all to make music in the heart.” I say: “There is plenty to do.”

About a month ago I talked about our Caring-by-Sharing Program during Advent. The Franciscan Sisters, employees and volunteers, raised $1,393 that was donated to the Minnesota Military Family Foundation. What a generous gift.

Sister Justina Bieganek will celebrate her 100th birthday on January 16th. We will celebrate the event on Sunday, Dec. 15th, with an 11 a.m. Mass and a reception from 2 – 4 that afternoon here at St. Francis Convent. Congratulations! It will be a great day for her. And knowing her, she will probably be going to work at the Music Center the next day.

Last evening at our Local Community Christmas celebration, we had fun with the Christmas “Chat Pack” cards (from our Gift Shop for $7.99). The questions are good conversation starters…and bound to be a source of lots of laughs.

On December 22nd, Sister Julien and I took part in the Food Shelf fund-raiser at Coborns. We “Made a Joyful Noise” from 3 to 7 p.m. The generosity of shoppers helped the Food Shelf reach and go over their goal. God bless you, generous shoppers.

Starting today and until Saturday noon we have a Girls Retreat going on. There are 10 girls and each has a Sister Companion. I appreciated all the extra voices for the singing at Mass this morning.

Starting Friday at 6 p.m. and for 24-hours we have “Prayers for Peace.” Each hour for the 24-hours there will be a Sister or an Associate praying for peace. Then on New Year’s Eve we have a special 7 p.m. prayer service in Chapel.

Peace and many blessings in the New Year. Sister Mary Lou

P.S. I wrote this article yesterday and when I looked for it this morning, it had disappeared. I must have forgotten to save it, though, I thought I did. I’ll remember next time!