January 5, 2010: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. I hope you are staying warm and keeping safe in this bitter cold. Here it has been minus 20 or more degrees below zero each of the last three or four days. Yesterday it was + 5 degrees at noon—but the sun was shining on the thermometer! The fireplace outside our chapel is a nice place to warm up these cold days.

Sisters Georgine, Julien, Christelle and I spent some hours at Coborn’s Grocery Store to “Make a Joyful Noise” as part of the Food Shelf fund raiser, We greeted many people. The shoppers were very generous in their donations to the Food Shelf. The need is great. Carol told me that one day they were suppose to close at noon and they were not finished serving clients until well after 2 p.m.

Those four days of snow just before Christmas gave us about 17 inches of new snow. The piles along roadways and sidewalks are starting to get high. And the ice underneath is something to careful about both in walking and driving. Because of all the snow, I asked for a room at the Motherhouse for a few days. (I don’t like getting stuck and I can’t push a car very well and going through deep snow with a walker is a real chore,)

And by staying there, I knew I would be there to work in the mailroom and sub at the switchboard. So I spent Christmas day at the Motherhouse.

We had beautiful services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had many guests come for Christmas Eve Mass and then come to St. Francis Hall afterwards for goodies. I think many of us were surprised at how many ventured out on such a snowy night.

Most of us did not stay up to watch TV as the ball came down in Time Square on New Year’s Eve. I figured the ball would come down and the New Year would come in whether I was watching or not. So I went to bed.

Sunday, Epiphany or Little Christmas, we Sisters celebrated our Christmas together.

After our morning Mass we had Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until after 3:30 prayer. Then we had a nice social hour, a delicious meal, and sang Christmas Carols to end the evening.

We have a Sister’s retreat going on from the evening of the 8th until noon on the 14th. So it will be pretty quiet around the building those days. I didn’t count how many names are on the list, but it is quite a few. My name is on the list.

From the 13th to the 15th we will be having a Red Cross Blood Drive in St. Francis Hall. As always, I am so grateful to all the generous donor’s who share the gift of their blood.

Early Monday morning a group of about 20 persons from central Minnesota went to Nicaragua on a mission trip to work for two weeks in two of the parishes that Franciscan Father Ted Niehaus serves. Our Sisters Grace and Carol are in the group. Sr. Grace helps mostly in the medical clinic. They serve the needs of many people who otherwise would have no opportunity to receive medical help. Let us pray for their safety and well-being.

Again, I wish you a Happy New Year—a year filled with peace and many blessings that find you nearer to the Lord. “Lord, come when You are ready and help me to be ready when You come.”

Pax et Bonum--(Peace and goodness.)
Sister Mary Lou