Life is worth our attention

June 17, 2013

Over the weekend I was reading from Jim Gilbert’s book, Minnesota Nature Notes. A quote from Carl Linnaeus, Swedish biologist who taught in the 1700s, wrote, “Also the smallest things deserve our attention.” And, “Every form of life created by God is worth our attention.” (p 153) As I rode my battery-operated cart around campus on Saturday, I remembered this quote. We have so much beauty around here. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean.



Early Saturday morning (1:45 a.m.), Sister Baptista Schik, age 83, went to heaven. Her health has been declining for some time. May she be enjoying life with the Lord. May her sister, Sister Sylvia, experience comfort and strength. Peace and blessings on the Schik family. Sr. Baptista’s funeral is Wednesday at 11 a.m.

The Bloodmobile will be here this week: Tuesday and Wednesday 1—7 p.m.; Thursday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call Sr. Julien at 632-0663 to make appointments. There are plenty of openings on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday is pretty scheduled until about 5:15. God bless all the generous donors.

Last Saturday was the funeral for Sister Mary Wentland. MANY relatives and friends were here to remember this remarkable woman. Sr. Elise was the homilist and summarized her life very well—remembering her patience and good attitude during her 9-year battle with cancer. One prayer was:

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited…
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot eat away peace,
It cannot destroy confidence,
It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot shut out memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot reduce eternal life,
It cannot quench the Spirit,
It cannot lessen the Power of the Resurrection.

Today is Kids Day. Some employees are bringing their children to work with them today. The six children have a busy day planned: a nature walk, decorating flower pots, sand art, to Mass with the Sisters, “Kids type foods” for lunch, Bingo, etc.



We are recognizing the Transportation Department on Thursday morning. Sr. Phyllis does such a fine job getting sisters to their appointments, etc. Thank you for all your work.

Friday afternoon some of the Youth in Theology and Ministry (YTM) participants will tell us about their projects this past year. These young people attend two weeks of theology classes at St. John’s one summer, do a project and then two more weeks of theology classes the second year. I am eager to hear about the projects this year. They do wonderful things.

A second duck, that we named Agnes, is sitting on eggs in the courtyard. She has her nest right next to the wall. Elsie set up a camera in Allen’s office so we can see her movements on the computer. It’s hard to see her because of all the foliage all around her, but we are keeping an eye on her. We think she is sitting on 10 eggs.

This weekend Little Falls celebrated the Dam Festival. The weather was perfect. There were LOTS of people in attendance and MANY activities for Kids. Most things happened right at Maple Island Park. On Sunday afternoon the Bald Eagle Water Ski Team put on two shows. Saturday evening four students, ages 12 and 13, from St. Francis Music Center were part of the evening program. This group named Power Plant was fantastic. There was a petting zoo. Pictured are Sisters Donna and Sharon enjoying the llamas. Adela and I enjoyed the fireworks show. We parked the car near the Initiative Foundation building and could enjoy the show mosquito-free.



One more big puzzle was finished last week.



Peace and blessings,
Sister Mary Lou