June 17, 2008

My, it’s been a long time since I wrote an entry! My little scrap of paper is filled with many reminders of things to talk about.

All last week we participated in "Community Days". It is a gathering of all the Little Falls Franciscan Sisters at the Motherhouse here in Little Falls. All 187 of us were here, except for my classmate, Sister Camille Squillace, who is getting chemo treatments and was not able to attend. I called her each night to give a report on the happenings of the day. An unplanned for event was the funeral for Sister Sheila Mortonson, age 92, on Wednesday. She was one of my High School English teachers at St. Francis High School quite a few years ago! Our meeting days were full and very good. Terry and the dietary staff did a marvelous job of feeding us. Today seems pretty quiet around the place with most of our out-of-town guest gone home.

Today we had two events that were fun. Four young people told us about their projects for the Youth in Theology and Ministry (YTM) program. This program is facilitated through St. John’s University with the purpose to develop leadership skills in high school students. Four young men and women shared their projects with us. Our Community helps sponsor this program. It makes my heart happy to see the involvement in the Catholic Church that these committed youth witness to.

We took a break in the middle of the presentations to move next door to the dining room to celebrate Sister Mary Obowa’s birthday. Sister Mary is our Community Minister. Our treat was German Chocolate cake with fresh strawberries and ice cream. Yummmmy!

On June 8th we celebrated the 60th Jubilee of 11 of our Sisters. Together that’s many years of service! On June 22nd we will be celebrating five of our Sisters who have been in our Community for 75 years. And on August 10th we will celebrate our five Golden Jubilarians.

The first weekend in June, I was at the Regional Secular Franciscan meeting in Buffalo, MN. I was the "Friar Witness" for the Fraternity Elections…not too much work involved for me. I just had to be there to see that they were doing it according to the Constitutions. And they did. Our Brainerd Fraternity Minister, Ed Feiler, is now the Regional Minister.
We have a Blood Drive coming up June 25, 26 from 2 to 8 p.m. and 27th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Let us pray for a good response to the 350+ post cards we sent out.

Today I got something done that I’ve wanted to happen for a long time. With the assistance of our neighbor, who can climb a ladder, we exchanged all of the outside light bulbs with energy efficient light bulbs.

Let us also pray for all the people whose homes and property are being damaged by the vast amount of flooding all along the rivers from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. My heart sinks every time I see pictures of the damage. What is God telling us? May the Lord give strength and courage to all those who are in harm’s way.

Peace and all good.
Sister Mary Lou