May 5, 2009

Greetings and Peace to you.

Here we are into May already! April and May showers are bringing May flowers into view. A row of beautiful tulips lined the entrance area of St. Francis Xavier Church in Sartell, MN. Little wild blue flowers bloom in our back yard. Yellow shrubs shine in our neighborhood. Our bleeding heart plant grew from an inch to seven or eight inches last week. Spring is truly here. Showers and thunder storms seem to be in the offing for the next several days. God is good. May we have seasonable rain throughout the growing season. May farmers and gardeners have a good growing season and a fruitful harvest.

I noticed the plastic-covered temporary green-houses on the parking lots at Coborn’s and at Hardware Hanks. That sure puts me in a mood for digging in the dirt.

Last Tuesday a group of Red Hat ladies had a tour of our convent. They came for lunch, to see a video of the Altar Bread department and our ministry of sending altar breads to 150 churches in Minnesota and many other states, to see the Franciscan Life Office, our library, and our Chapel. Hostesses, Sisters Christelle and Mary Lou and Pat Sharon, librarian, joined them in also wearing red hats.

This morning we received word that our Sister Mary Dorine Zupan went to meet the Lord last evening. We will have Franciscan Wake Friday evening, May 8th, and Sr. Dorine’s funeral on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

Another death last week was that of Fr. Tom Agar, age 59. I worked with him at Assumption Parish in Morris, MN. many, many years ago when I was principal at St. Mary’s School. Since the end of February Tom has been very ill. He was scheduled to be ordained the end of May, but was ordained early, March 20th, in the critical care unit of the hospital in CA where he was a patient. He will be buried in his hometown of Brown’s Valley, MN, on May 9th, 2009

Because of a meeting with the Secular Franciscans on March 28th, I was not able to attend the Little Falls Regional Meeting that same day. So I attended the St. Cloud Regional Meeting on Sunday May 3rd. It was a great gathering with many Sisters and Associates in attendance. The picture shows Associate Rick Dietz and I wearing our hats for the afternoon activity.

This is the season for First Communions. Saturday evening I attended the Mass at which my great-niece Kate Woeste received her First Communion in Sacred Heart Parish in Sauk Rapids. It was a mini family reunions since most of my family was there.

The finishing touches are being completed on the work in the new Motherhouse kitchen. It is beautiful. (I heard that Josie will bake bread and use the new ovens tomorrow.) The end of January the cooks moved all the necessary cooking items to the small kitchen in Hurrle Hall, across the street from the main dining room. Now they are in process of moving all these things back. And in a few days they will be doing all the meal preparation in their new facility. God bless them for the wonderful way they have made all the adjustments needed in these past three months. You have been an example of Franciscan Joy through this whole renovation process.

Have a good week.
Pax et Bonum
Sister Mary Lou