July 21, 2008

The last sentence of today’s first reading for Mass from Micah is: "You have been told what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God." Sure sounds simple, doesn’t it? Let’s all keep on implementing that directive in the best ways we can.

Outside the Motherhouse dining room is a 6 foot by 2 ½ foot paper "thank you" banner from the Habitat 500 Bike Riders who had a spaghetti supper and stayed on our campus last Tuesday evening. They began their ride in Maple Lake, MN. on the 13th and would finish it back in Maple Lake on the 19th….with 500 miles of biking in between. There were little tents and clothes lines everywhere. This was their 16th annual ride. Last year nation-wide they raised over $336,000. WOW!

Last Friday night was the 15th annual Relay for Life cancer walk at Flyer Field here in Little Falls. I attended the dinner for Survivors and did the first trek around the field—the 1/4th mile Survivor’s Walk. My friend Larry Sharon walked with me at my slow pace as did Ted Pfohl, next year’s Committee Chair. As we neared the end, they both slowed down so I wouldn’t be the last one to finish. I thought that was very thoughtful of both of them. At the 10 p.m. Luminary Ceremony they announced a total of $171,405 collected so far. There were 42 teams—450 walkers. Last year Little Falls was the #1 fund raiser in the mid-west region of the county and #9 in the nation for Relay for Life contributions. Congratulations folks for your great work. See you again next year.

We had our monthly Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) gathering on Saturday in Brainerd. Our speaker was Dr. Robert Kapitzke, a Religious Studies teacher from St. Cloud Technical College. He had a very informational talk on the history and beliefs of the Muslim religion. St. Francis went to visit the Sultan in his day. We felt we needed to know more about this religion. The important thing for me was to hear again that the religious fanatic Muslims are a very small percent of Muslims. So often we lump them all together and that is not fair. Most of them are good and peaceful people.

Last April 11th we had a Dinner and Dance scheduled for developmentally disabled persons and their families of Morrison County. We had a blizzard that day. The meal and dance were rescheduled for yesterday, the day nearest the Feast of St. Camillus. We served 253 meals to our guests at the Little Falls Ballroom. There were many smiles and much joy as they danced their hearts out the rest of the afternoon. St. Camillus Place is the home on our campus that cares for 14 adult residents with developmental disabilities. This was our 23rd annual Dinner and Dance sponsored by the St. Camillus Advisory board. I am on that board. We are grateful to the many service clubs that donate to help pay for the meals.

The Pope has declared this year, (June 29, 2008 to June 29, 2009) as the year of St. Paul. Father John Echert, from the St. Paul Seminary was speaker at Our Lady of Lourdes Church here in Little Falls, last Wednesday evening. In two hours I learned a lot about the life of St. Paul, his travels on his three missionary journeys and his writings. Reading the writings of St. Paul will make a lot more sense to me from now on. And I am motivated to study more about St. Paul—quite a guy!

August 2nd is the day for our Paint-a-Thon here in Morrison County. Volunteers will be painting 7 homes of elderly, disabled and needy persons. Please pray with me for good weather that day.

We got 1 ¾ inches of rain Saturday noon. So again everything is lush and green…and my car got a good washing.
May the blessings of the Lord be upon you.

I bless you in the name of the Lord.

Sister Mary Lou