Monday of Holy Week

Monday of Holy Week; what a full week of activities.  On Thursday evening several of us attended the Chrism Mass at the St. Cloud Cathedral.  It is at this Mass the Holy Oils used in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination and Anointing of the Sick are blessed.  Most of the Priests of the St. Cloud Diocese attend this Mass and renew their commitment as priests.  This was Bishop Kinney’s last time to preside at this ceremony as he will be retiring this summer.  MANY of the young people who will be confirmed this year were also present for the Mass.  I am most grateful to our Bishop and our Priests who serve the people of our diocese so well.  Thank you.

Saturday we hosted the “Seeds of Kindness” Habitat for Humanity fundraiser.  There were 31 beautifully decorated tables.  Besides a delicious luncheon, there was a live auction and silent auction plus other activities.  We are privileged to host the activity right here so we can see the great creativity of the “table setters” by just walking into St. Francis Hall.  Terry and his dietary crew make the food for the meal. (See more photos of decorated tables below.)

On Saturday evening a couple of us went to St. Francis Parish in St.  Francis, MN for the “Journey with Jesus to Calvary” presentation.  What a wonderful way to get into the mood of Holy Week.  Jane Keepers wrote the script and people of the parish were the actors.  The characters in the play shared their feelings of what it was for them to be part of Jesus’ journey to His Death.   It was a marvelous presentation.   The man who portrayed Jesus did a fantastic job.  He had a LOT of lines to memorize.

Cleaning and grinding horse radish seems to be a springtime job.  Sister Ruth and Sr. Antonette were busy the other morning cleaning the long roots.  Later in the day Sr. Ruth ground many quarts of horse radish and has it all ready for us to enjoy.

Friday afternoon there was a “Peace and Occupy Rally from 1 to 3 p.m.  along Highway 27 on the east side of Little Falls.  The focus was peace, economic justice and care for the environment.  A number of Sisters, Franciscan Associates and Friends were peacefully holding signs to help get the message of awareness across.

From this noon until Wednesday afternoon we have the Nursing Leadership Symposium meeting here in St. Francis Hall.  This group is sponsored by Aging Services of MN.  There are about 22 participants and about 15 of them are staying in our guest rooms at St. Francis Center.

Another puzzle got finished over the weekend.  It is a stained glass window of St. Francis and the animals.  It was another hard one and took quite a few days to assemble.

The announcement just came over the public address system that Sister Marcelline Virnig, age 96, just died.  May she enjoy spending Easter in heaven with Jesus.  I had stopped by her room after lunch today to say a prayer for her.

I wish each of you a prayer-filled Holy Week and many graces to bless your Easter.  

Peace,

Sister Mary Lou

P.S.  I had an error in last weeks schedule for Holy Week.  The silent Walk for Peace starts at 9:30 a.m.

More tables....