October 9, 2008

What a glorious day…bright sunshine, temps in the upper 60s, a nice wind and 2 inches of rain the past couple days. Thank you, God.

Last Friday night, the evening of the day before the Feast of St. Francis, we had the Transitus, the commemoration of the death of St. Francis. It was good to have so many Sisters, Associates and Secular Franciscans join us. It is a very prayerful and meaningful prayer service. Then on Saturday was the Feast of St. Francis. We started the day with Morning Prayer followed by brunch. The 11 a.m. Mass and Homily focused on St. Francis…and of course wonderful music all the way through.

Saturday afternoon I went along with Sisters Mary Ann and Annella to Browns Valley for the Profession of three new Secular Franciscans. (Browns Valley is a long way from Little Falls!) Again, it is the people there that make the event special. I re-met Tom who was working at Morris when I was teaching there—a long time ago. Tom expects to be ordained next May. God bless him in his studies.

Sunday afternoon a friend and I went to West Union, MN for their Sausage Supper and then continued on to our cottage on Ottertail Lake. My brother said they served over 1,700 hungry folks at the Supper. That’s a lot for a little, rural parish.

We had rain Sunday and Monday and that was OK. I forgot the cribbage board. I had it on my list but didn’t check the list before I left home—well, so much for a list! But with no cribbage board, we played many games of Farkel instead. And I will send a cribbage board to the cottage the next time someone goes that direction.

The trip back to Little Falls on Tuesday was beautiful. Seeing all the gold, red, yellow and greet trees and grasses was beautiful. Times like that make me very grateful for the gift of sight. And then the memory of the beauty continues to live on.

God and the angels sure were taking care of me. I took the car out to get two new front tires put on before the winter snows. After he got the tires on he came and stood in front of me and said, “You have a BIG problem.” I don’t understand “struts” and I do know what a “spring” is. Anyway, he told me that the front, driver’s side strut was broken—hanging down, and that I should not have been able to drive the car and should have heard a lot of noise if/when I made turns, and the tire should have been torn to pieces. Nothing like that at all! However long the strut was broken, or how it broke, I have no idea. The car stayed at the garage and he brought me home. Like I said, God and the Angels were taking good care of me. Thank you, God and Angels.

Saturday we have the Fall Gathering of Secular Franciscans, hosted by the St. Thomas More Fraternity in Inver Grove Heights. On Sunday we have Associate Commitment Day at the Motherhouse. One new person will be making her commitment and all other Associates present will be renewing their commitment. Always something going on.

Let us all pray for honest and trustworthy political candidates and that God guide our decisions as to how to vote.

Peace and blessings,
Sister Mary Lou