Happy Feast of St. Francis!

and Happy Feast of St. Therese, the Little Flower. May we all learn her “Little Way” of “loving God as a little child: a trustful, willingness to be led, taught and raised in true maturity according to God’s plan rather than her own.”

Our week together last week in our Community Meetings was a very good week. But it wasn’t all work! 

And now, yesterday and today, are more quiet days. Most Sisters have returned to their Missions.

We here at the Motherhouse prepare for another busy week: Celebration of Sr. DeLourdes’ 90th birthday (Tuesday); The Transitus (Commemoration of the death of St. Francis, 7 p.m. Wednesday evening); Feast of St. Francis Thursday; Flu Shot Clinic for the Sisters, Friday morning and for the Employees from 12 to 2 p.m.; the Orphan Train Reunion on Saturday, and Donor Day on Sunday. There is no time to get bored around here!

For Donor Day, there is an 11 a.m. Mass, followed by lunch and then the Blessing of Animals on the West Lawn. Why the Blessing of Animals? St. Francis realized that God made all of Creation…all of creation is in God’s Hands, cared for and loved by God. Animals, our pets, too, need to be cared for by humans and respected because they are made by our Loving Creator. And so near the Feast of St. Francis, many places have a special blessing of animals. There are many stories in the Life of St. Francis where he had inter-action with animals: preaching to the birds and the Wolf of Gubbio are the best known.

These last days have been beautiful and warm…and now is the promise of rain at least in some places. That, too, will be a great blessing. As I understand from radio reports, the harvest is about completed. We have some beautiful colored leaves on many trees here on campus. Pictured, too, is a wagon load of Sr. Ruth’s garden produce.



Yesterday morning I woke up to have the moon shining brightly into my room. It made me think of a little poem I learned as a child:

“I see the moon and the moon sees me.
God loves the moon and God loves me.”

Peace and blessings on your week.

Sister Mary Lou

P.S. Sunday, October 7th is the West Union, MN, Sausage Supper, 1 to 6 p.m.

Beauty everywhere...Thank you, God.

September 24, 2012 9:15 P.M.…the moon is a little over ½ full and the temperature is still 68 degrees. This is our second full day of Fall. The tree outside my window is very lovely.

I did not get a blog written last week. My brother-in-law, Karl Samuelson, age 69, died very suddenly on the 15th. He’d been at the St. Cloud Vet’s Hospital since mid-May. And he seemed to be getting better. On the 12th Cecelia took him to Willmar for the Ebenezer Church dinner, and on the way back to St. Cloud they stopped at their home so Celia could let the dog out for a little while. I visited him on the 14th. And on the 15th he called Celia at 5:30 a.m. to see if she was OK and if everything at their country home was OK. She assured him all was well. His last words to her were, “I love you.” An hour and a half later, the hospital called her to tell her that he was unresponsive. He died that evening at 8:40.

A week ago I rode around our property on my little battery-operated scooter looking at the gardens and flowers and all that I could see. There is so much beauty everywhere. Thank you, God. I think that maybe some of the flowers froze the last couple of cold nights, but there are still plenty of them that are blooming nicely yet. 

Our Visioning and Planning Community Gathering started at 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening, the 22nd, and will go until noon on the 29th. So we having very busy days this week. Almost every Sister is here for these days. Lots of happy chatter in the break times. And lots of serious listening and discussion during the meeting times. It is always so good to have everyone home.

Tomorrow our Dining Adventure will be foods from the State of Nevada. I’m eager to see what we will have for our noon and evening meals. The Dietary Department always makes foods that are specialties from the State…and decorates the counter top with interesting artifacts. On the tables are little sheets with interesting facts about the State.

On the 13th our Secular Franciscan Fraternity had a Memorial Service for our deceased members at the Veterans Cemetery at Camp Ripley. Our first Fraternity Minister, Diane Beal, SFO, is buried here, so that’s why we gather there.

Keep us in prayer as we meet this week.

Peace and blessings,
Sister Mary Lou