August 12, 2008

Greetings. The blog I wrote last week disappeared from the face of the earth! And it was a good one, too. So, I’ll back up and see if I can recall at least a few things I wrote about.

On Sunday, August 12th, we celebrated the 50th Jubilee of five of our Sisters. It was a grand celebration. We had a special evening prayer service the evening before. The Chapel was full for the Sunday Mass. With many Sisters home for the Jubilee celebration, the singing and music was GREAT for all events. Terry and the Kitchen Crew were outstanding in the good things they provided for us and all our guests.

Yesterday we had the Reception into the Novitiate for our newest member, Sister Aurora Tovar. She comes to us from Mexico where she has lived and worked with our Sisters who are living and working there. We welcome you, Aurora. May your novitiate experience give you a better idea of who we are: the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota. Sister Aurora will be living in our house in Waite Park, MN for the coming year.

The Sisters Retreat ended last Thursday noon. We had LOTS of Sisters making this retreat. I stopped into St. Francis Hall for a couple conferences. I liked what I heard. The rest of the time I was subbing in the mailroom for Sr. Georgine. The retreat director was Sister Kathleen Warren, OSF and the theme was Being Peacemakers.

This coming Sunday is the Rural Life Mass at the Jim and Debbie Knopik farm just north of Little Falls. Bishop John F. Kinney will be here for the 11 a.m. Mass. Let us keep in mind the valuable part farmers play in our lives.

Yesterday afternoon, last night and this morning we have been blessed with about 4/10s of an inch of soft, gentle rain. We are grateful for this rain and we will gladly take more. The fields, gardens and lawns are grateful, too.

On August 2nd over 200 volunteers painted 7 homes in Morrison County. This was sponsored by the Paint-A-Thon committee. I am on the advisory board for this group. We had a beautiful day and most of the work was completed before noon. We sent the enthusiastic painters off to work after a substantial and free breakfast at First United Church, which is just across the street from the Convent. The Franciscan Sisters donate caramel and cinnamon rolls for the breakfast. I was very pleased to see the number of youth who participated. It maybe was a Confirmation project for them. It was a good one.

God bless you and those you love.

Peace,
Sister Mary Lou