Winter has arrived!

November 26, 2012

Winter has arrived! The low this morning was 3 degrees. I think the snow from Thanksgiving Day is on the ground to stay.

Sister Mary Alice Rudnicki, age 97, died very unexpectedly at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, November 21st, in Clare Residence. We will welcome her body back to the Motherhouse today with a short prayer service at 3:30 today. The funeral for Sr. Alice will be tomorrow at 11 a.m.

I hope that each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did. Pictured here is the veggie tray that Kelly brought for our family potluck meal. There were 37 of us gathered at Richard and Louise’s home near West Union. It’s always good to see all the family.

The tragedy of two teenagers being murdered last Thursday, has put a damper on feelings here in Little Falls. May the Lord bless with comfort and peace all the families and friends of the two youth.

On Saturday, Sister Ruth’s mother, sisters and sister-in-laws came to do Christmas baking. She said she didn’t count how many coffee cakes. But it was LOTS. She shared a couple with the Sisters for brunch on Sunday. Yummy!




Our EnLUNCHment on Wednesday will be a Memorial Service remembering the Sisters who have died in the past year—14 since last November. Eternal Life give to them, O Lord and let Perpetual Light shine upon them.

Saturday night the Heartland Orchestra will be presenting their Christmas Concert at the Public High School. It is always a great program.

On Sunday, December 2nd, our own St. Francis Chorale will sing their Christmas Concert in our Sacred Heart Chapel at 7 p.m. It is always well worth listening. We usually have a full-house for the event. Thanks, singers, for sharing your talents with all of us. God bless you.

Blessings on your week.

The first Sunday of Advent is this coming Sunday. That means Christmas isn’t far behind.

 Peace,
 Sister Mary Lou

So many blessings and graces

November 20, 2012

Let us praise and bless the Lord for all God’s goodness to us.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING to each of you. We have so many blessings and graces; it would be a LONG list to list them all. How blest we are to have a God who loves and cares for us in such generous ways…and friends who do the same for us.

Last Friday evening, 16^th, Sister Giles Weyandt, age 84, left us for heaven.  I knew her best as an elementary school teacher and principal.  She was a good one.  When I was stationed at Morris and she was at Osakis, I picked her up many times when we went together to principal’s meetings in St. Cloud. She had a great sense of humor and wonderful musical talents that she willingly shared. She is the last of her family to die. Think of the welcoming committee there was to meet her at heaven’s gate… along with her dear friend, Sr. Marcelline.  Eternal life give to her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.  Her Wake was last night and her Funeral is today.

Our Give to the Max Day last Thursday was very successful. 105 generous donors gave us $15,385 in that one day.  THANK YOU. The computer system was acting up because of the high volume of users so maybe some donors maybe just gave up.  God bless you all.

Next Tuesday, Father Brenny will be the presider at our daily 11:30 Mass. He wants to celebrate his 83^rd birthday with us by joining us for Mass and lunch. Happy Birthday, Father. Thanks for all the good you’ve done these many years.  

In December the Music Center will present many concerts for our entertainment. Next week I will list those I know of.

Mass on Thanksgiving Day is at 8:30 a.m.—NOT at 11 a.m.

This morning the temperature was about 25 degrees, and it is VERY foggy.  May all travelers have safe journeys.  It is 9:40 a.m. now and the fog hasn’t lifted very much if at all.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving.  Safe travel to all who go to visit family and friends.

Peace and blessings,

Sister Mary Lou

Roses delight in November

November 12, 2012

In one day: bright sunshine, fog, thunder and lightening, rain, and snow. That’s what Saturday was. We got about ½ inch of rain here in Little Falls. This morning there was snow covering the grassy spots and our low temp was 13 degrees. We’d better get started getting used to these temps! It’s 23 right now.

This morning we celebrated the 90th birthday of Sr. Maureen Blenkush. She was enjoying every minute of the special attention. Thank you, Sister, for all your years of ministry as a Franciscan Sister…and all your humor so have generously shared.

Saturday evening’s program by The Rose Ensemble was FANTASTIC! The singing was great! The title of the program was Il Poverello, the story of St. Francis. They are not afraid to open their mouths and let the sounds come out. The guest instrumentalist, from Italy, was so much fun to listen to and to watch. One time he played two flutes at the same time. He also played a unique bag pipe. Another time played a drum and a flute at the same time. The Chapel was nearly full. They sold CDs of some of their programs. One lucky lady won a free CD for filling out the evaluation. The group liked singing in our Chapel because of the great acoustics. They’ll be back sometime, I’m sure. (www.RoseEnsemble.org)

Election Day was a busy day. I worked at the Ward 1 polling place. We had LOTS of people come to vote. Many were same day registrations because they were new to our area or had moved since the last election. May all the newly elected officials work for the Common Good. God bless them all. May those who were not elected work with those elected for the benefit of everyone.

GIVE TO THE MAX day is Thursday the 15th. Support your favorite non-profit organization (and the Franciscan Sisters) and the amount will be doubled.

I hope the hunters were all safe and had good results.

Have a good week. Peace and blessings,

Sr. Mary Lou

Stepping up to the plate

November 5, 2012

We are into November. There's a look and a feel of the season in the air. Little bits of moisture are falling. God bless the deer and wolf hunters and keep them all safe. Our sympathy to the families of hunters who lost their lives this past weekend.

Thursday afternoon, All Saints Day, Sister Helen Ann Klepaida, age 93, died and joined the saints in heaven. Her funeral will be Saturday, November 10, to allow her family time to get here. Eternal Rest give to her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.

Last week we had the American Red Cross Bloodmobile here. Our goal was 233. We received 262 units of blood. And there were 28 who came and could not donate blood for some reason or another. Because of that big storm, Sandy, over 300 blood drives had to be cancelled in states east of here. The need for blood is great. So our area residents really stepped up to the plate in making our drive a great success. THANK YOU, DONORS!

Saturday evening we had our Harvest Supper. The whole meal was delicious but the roasted vegetables were my very favorite: potatoes, carrots, rutabagas and parsnips. Sr. Donna said she peeled three 5-gallon pails of carrots last week…and when we had left-overs for supper last evening, there wasn’t a carrot in the serving pan for her. We served 381 meals and filled both dining rooms. There were many take-out meals, also. Special thanks to all of the volunteers and supporters.

Each November the Church remembers the deceased. Each year Sr. Joel puts up a display in Chapel where are listed the names of the deceased Sisters, priest of the diocese, our family, friends and Associates from the past year. There is also a book where we can write the names of deceased that may not be already listed. This list is placed on the altar each day of November during Mass. So we are remembering our beloved dead each day of November.

Saturday evening, at 7 p.m. the Rose Ensemble will be here in our Sacred Heart Chapel for a concert of vocal and instrumental music. One report says it is “A Musical Journey through Assisi, Florence and Rome.” Special guest performer is the ever-playful wind and percussion virtuoso Isacco Colombo from Milan who plays bagpipes, shawm, recorder, double flute, piper and tabor. (I don’t know what some of those instruments are. I’ll find out.) The Ensemble is just returning from Spain where they received two first place awards in international competition for their music… and to think they are coming to us here in Little Falls the end of this week! I’m looking forward to hearing them. This is their first time here.

Elections are tomorrow. I am an election judge and will be working the early shift from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Be sure to vote and take a friend with you.

Peace and blessings on you.
May all hunters and travelers be safe.

Sister Mary Lou

PS. Here's some Halloween fun for you!