Living Franciscan

A Week of Gratitude Thoughts

2012-01-29T17:28:00.009-06:00

Or, a week of thoughts about gratitude. This week I received an invitation to write a prayer of gratitude.

This prayer would be for possible inclusion in a book author, June Cotner, is preparing. June previously published a book of "Graces." We sometimes page through that book before a meal to find a grace prayer that might open new doors of awareness of the gifts which surround us.

As I am thinking about gratitude, I am more aware than ever of interactions that arouse grateful feelings in my heart. I notice that when I'm busy doing whatever I think is so important, I let kind words pass right by! Today, for example, another guest said some very lovely words about her stay at Clare's Well. Instead of, "Yes, I know what you mean," I made myself really listen to her. This might not sound like much, but it was quite profound for me. I saw her and heard her on a level that I usually let pass under my conscious radar. I noticed not only her gratitude, but also mine. What a lovely, lovely shared moment I almost missed.

Bonding Through Retreat

2012-01-19T11:29:00.006-06:00

Here are women who would lay down

their lives for each other, and

for you, too.

Want to nuture such relationships?

Spend a retreat together.

These five Sisters - Ruth Lentner, Carolyn Law, Michelle L'Allier, Ange Mayers, and Isabel Berrones Morales began 2012 with Paula, Carol and Jan at Clare's Well for a week of prayer and sharing materials on Franciscan Discernment: how do we hear the will of God in our lives? The three of us 'elders' couldn't have appreciated this experience more.

I look at this photo of five of our younger members seeking the voice of God in their Franciscan lives, and I see God's face and heart. The evident love and commitment, joy in each other, hope and faith in an unknown future can only come from the impossible, non-practical Spirit we all share. None of us has clarity about what and where our community will be twenty years from now; we don't need to know the details. We know the heart and spirit.

Preparing for Christmas

2011-12-13T21:17:00.009-06:00

Sisters Carol and Paula have been at it: decorating Clare's Well living room. The new LED lights on our "tree" reflect in the windows and on the ceiling adding new dimensions of beauty for the corner of plants that we have traditionally grouped together to make up our tree the last twenty-some years. The mantel crib set is new this year. It is a gift Carol purchased from artistsans in Nicaragua when she was there on one of the mission trips she and a group make to Father Teddy Niehaus' parish down there each January.

I am touched by the extent of the world represented in Christmas each year. We not only have Bethlehem and Nicaragua but also friends and family from years and years of gifting in the ornaments on the tree. It is wonderful to remember persons like Julia Barkley who painted some of the bulbs, Connie Lacher who gave us bells from a Lorie Line concert, and beautiful 'antique' ornaments we received from our Sisters who had them many years ago at our school mission in Osakis and passed them on to us. We treasure items from Mary Kranz Odendahl who is no longer on earth. The list goes on and on.

I pray your Christmas decorations bring warm memories of treasured experiences, friends and family. Merry Christmas.

Call of the Cellar

2011-11-07T09:31:00.011-06:00

We have used short meditative readings on the nature of the season of fall before our meals these days. The season's natural movement is from outer activities to inner reflection and renewal. I notice our trees -- how can I help but notice! Their leaves are very much underfoot all over our yard even though we've had one significant picking-up-leaves-day. Letting go of showy productions, tree energy retreats to rest. Walking out of doors today, I feel the trees calling me to follow their example.

As sunlight is lessened in our northern hemisphere, I pray to own my own and the Divine light within. I'm happy to let go of harvesting and canning -- filling the cellar shelves -- and to take hold of more time to be in my own inner cellar. I pray with growing gratitude and praise for the earthy quiet of this restful, waiting, trusting soul space.

Associate Franciscan Life Group Celebrated Francis

2011-10-06T14:39:00.008-05:00

The feast of Francis of Assisi on October 4th brings out the spirit of celebration in us Franciscans. I was privileged to mark the feastday with two communities this year, the first one being the St. Cloud Franciscan Life group with 8 of our Franciscan Associates. We met on October 3rd at the Welcoming House in St. Cloud, where we shared a pot-luck lunch and an indepth sharing on a chapter in the life of our patron, St. Francis.

The story of Francis' painful separation from his earthly father was a point of discussion. Growth in inner freedom and spiritual maturity requires fidelity to God's call in difficult experiences. Francis found it necessary to turn his back on his father's wealth and the security of his business. Each of us could remember something in our own lives which, painful though it was, brought us to a new levels of relationship with God.

The second celebration was with Sisters Carol Schmit, Paula Pohlmann, and Janice Wiechman of the Clare's Well staff. We chose to spend the day traveling from neighbor to neighbor, spending some quality time with each, and sharing homemade cookies. I can't tell you what a pleasure it was for us to do this together. We ended with a picnic and a walk in a county park on a simply gorgeous day.

IDENTITY

2011-08-05T19:30:00.012-05:00

Welcome back! It has been a busy summer for me, as it probably has been for all of you. I want to go back to August 6th feast of the Transfiguration for this sharing. (The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 17:1-9.)

The scene is a mountain where Jesus frequently retreated. On this particular occasion the writer tells us that as he prayed Jesus heard the voice of God reminding him, "You are my loved son and I am pleased with you." (Put yourself there and allow God to say that to you -- son or daughter of God.)

I (and Sisters Bernice Rieland, Joanne Heim and Jeanne Schwieters - not pictured) were privileged to make a retreat in July with Jesuit priest, John Dear. This scripture which describes God's confirmation of Jesus' identity is one that John treasures. One of many books John has authored is titled Transfiguration. Early in his life, John Dear came to realize on a gut level that Jesus is his brother. He says a conscious awareness of this relationship fuels the demand that he give his life for peace and justice.

Awareness of his identity also demanded that Jesus choose to walk through the suffering he knew fidelity as a son of God required of him. One of the demands of this retreat was that we reclaim our own identity as intimately related to God, and thus to each other. Allowing ourselves to be conscious of this, we, too, will be compelled to make choices only for the common good no matter what the personal cost to us.

Father John Dear is a peace activist from the marrow in his bones. His faith that Jesus is his brother demands that he protest war no matter what ridicule and imprisonment his non-violent demonstrations against war, especially nuclear weapons, bring to him. On this day when we again contemplate the meaning of Jesus' Transfiguration, I pray for faith to know who I am and to live my live from that core identity.

Celebrating Franciscan Style

2011-06-20T10:30:00.000-05:00

We had three celebrations at our Motherhouse in Little Falls the weekend of June 10 - 12, 2011. We blessed the 4 members of our outgoing leadership team with gratitude for their 5 years of selfless service; we welcomed the new foursome with lighted lamps on the feast of Pentecost. We laughed and cried with all 8 of these truly great and dear women.

The 3rd celebration was quite unique: 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of our Sisters and Associates relationship. Pictured above is one of our current Associate Ministers, Geri Dietz, giving out bouquets to 8 others who have served in Associate Leadership since the onset of this adventure in 1986. It was that year that S. Aggie Soenneker helped to open the door to lay men and women who wanted to live the gospel more fully in community with the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls. As Aggie said then, "We don't know what it will look like or where it will lead." No one could have imagined today's spirited partnership with 240-plus Associate members from coast to coast and in many states inbetween in the U.S. plus members in Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. See the Associates website under http://www.fslf.org/

Is Rhubarb Franciscan?

2011-05-28T16:29:00.013-05:00

It is rhubarb season in Minnesota! Recipes for rhubarb desserts are abundant in Franciscan cookbooks. Here is my favorite Rhubarb recipe (which I've prepared twice already this week.) This comes from a cookbook Sister Pat Zangs facilitated when she served as Administrator at St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, a hospital known for its excellent cooks. S. Pat is one of the reasons I love our Franciscan Community; Sisters Janice Wiechman and Paula Pohlmann are two other reasons: here they are preparing rhubarb from our garden. Here is the recipe by an anonymous baker:

RHUBARB DESSERT

CRUST: 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups sifted flour, 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix like pie crust. Pack in 9 x 13 or 10 x 14 pan and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

FILLING:

5 cups chopped rhubarb

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 egg yolks

1 cup cream of evaporated milk

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups sugar (too much for me - use 1 2/3 or less)

Place rhubarb on hot crust. Mix other ingredients well with beater and pour over rhubarb.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

TOPPING: Beat 6 egg whites with 1/4 teaspoon salt until stiff. Slowly add 12 tablespoons (that is 3/4 cup) sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat well. Spread on top of baked filling and bake an additional 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I Knew This Would Happen Someday!

2011-05-21T15:19:00.008-05:00

Here I am, following myself. I thought I was signing on to follow someone else who is following this blog, and it turns out, I'm following our own. I wonder if this is how a dog feels chasing her own tail? This is not a good trait for a Franciscan. . . though it does encourage humility and a reminder of the need to be watchful.

We are gathering this weekend to celebrate the 80th birthday of our Sister Rose Mae Rausch. Rose Mae is one of our community treasures - a leader in all things good and beautiful. What a pleasure to be associated with her. You don't see her running around in circles. Her eye is on the goal. I recommend her blog: franciscanthinplaces.blogspot.com

On the other end of the age spectrum, we have little friends who delight us when they come to see our chickens at Clare's Well Retreat Farm. Here they are, presenting the eggs they gathered in our barn. There is no pretense in how they feel about having their photo taken. Such unvarnished expressions! They share this with S. Rose Mae - not that she pouts - but you always know where she stands on matters of concern to her. She is a wonderfully transparent human being. Happy Birthday, Rose Mae!

.

Transforming Tension, Choosing Love

2011-04-26T13:55:00.000-05:00

This Living Franciscan post is written by Michelle L'Allier, OSF

Holy Week is filled with the unexpected: from the jubilation of Palm Sunday to the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday; from the darkness of waiting and uncertainty of Holy Saturday to the joy of Easter Resurrection. In Mathew’s Passion narrative, we hear Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus, fully human as well as fully divine, transformed his anguish into acceptance. Ronald Rolheiser speaks of Jesus purifying sin and tension by absorbing and transforming it…taking in hatred, holding it, transforming it, and giving back love…taking in fear, holding it, transforming it, and giving back freedom.

The Sacred Path

We as Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls are on our own journey of transformation. This blog post began long before Holy Week when I was walking on the Sacred Path at Clare’s Well (shown above), remembering the Legislative Session of our Delegate Assembly. This is once-every-five years gathering is a time when we come together as Franciscan Sisters to consider in a spirit of prayer God’s call and our response to the needs of the times. At our February Legislative Session we wrestled with the opportunities and challenges we face as we consider our limited resources, wide-ranging experiences and rich spiritual heritage. Blessed with faith and gifted companions for the journey, we vision and plan together for the future with hope. At our February meeting we also affirmed our call to continued conversation of community life in the 21st Century and to explore forms of governance that more fully reflect values of collegiality and shared responsibility.

Earlier this month we had the Election Session of our Delegate Assembly during which we elected a new Leadership Team. We listened to the movements of God’s Spirit in our midst and in our own hearts and chose a team of four Sisters who will be entrusted with leading us as a community for the next five years. Of this time, Jan described a metaphor of the kitchen for our community, the hearth of the home is where we prepare food to nourish one another and others; it is where we sip from comforting and at times contentious cups of coffee, all the while staying at the table. It is a pertinent image for these times. Whether considering choices regarding the future of a community such as ours or perhaps significant personal and family decisions, or whether it means moving forward in the midst of a polarized political climate, the model of listening deeply and staying at the table until tension is transformed is an example of fidelity to love.

May we in this Holy Week follow Jesus as he shows us the way to absorb, purify and transform tension and sin rather than simply transmit them.

Spring’s new life transforms remnants of fall and winter.

How is it in your kitchen?

2011-04-10T19:45:00.015-05:00

We Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls gathered April 8 - 10 to elect new leadership. Our choice of leaders for the next five years was grounded in understanding we have a lot of work to do at this time in the history of our world, church, and religious life.

See the FSLF website for election results.

As we met around tables discerning who God might be calling to lead us from 2011 - 2016, our facilitator, Sister Marie Chiodo, said we reminded her of a kitchen. A kitchen connotes warmth, nourishment, sharing everyday basics, looking out for each other, tending the farm, arguing over cups of coffee which keep us at the table through contention and through comfort. "Is that roast done yet?"

"Stay in the kitchen," Marie said. We must stay at the table together. We are at the time of "not done yet." Doing the master planning that we must do is only setting the table. For the main course, we need to continue to grapple with the deeper meaning of religious life -- the deeper meaning of obedience in mission and community together. The kitchen table holds our prayer, memories, struggles, doubts and hopes for the future. How is it in your kitchen?

Where is it that we gather with equal voice sharing in decisions? It is right here. Staying at the table, we will arrive one day over cups of coffee at a table now set, the elusive master plan having grown organically from who we are. Will that roast be ready to serve?

I Thought of St. Francis Today

2011-03-31T16:10:00.005-05:00

There is hardly a day goes by that I don't think of Francis -- living with Franciscan Sisters brings many reasons to remember him. Our shared prayer includes readings either from his writings or from someone writing about him. Living in the beauty of rural Minnesota is another way of connecting with this saint's unique appreciation of the natural and wild. Another attribute of Francis is his faithfulness. Once he turned his face toward God, he never turned back. Speaking of faithfulness, the return of spring speaks to me of fidelity - God's and Earth's. No matter how long winter is and how deep the snow, I know spring will come again. And, sure enough, it has. It's here! This gift of seasons cycling around with such predictability and refreshment brings a certain recovery of that spiritual ability to see and hear what Francis (and Clare) saw in their ecstacy when they considered the wonder of God incarnate on Earth. God is faithful. My heart feels more joy than it has since January. The trees are full of noisy off-key red-winged black birds and Francis is right there playing his two-stick violin with them.

Hungry for Light?

2011-03-14T17:15:00.006-05:00

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but this blog hasn't been updated for a long time. My excuse is low energy and some negative feelings about winter: this winter has been exceptionally dark. The lack of light, the many days in a row of overcast skies would put me in the poor house if my living depended on writing.

Have any of you also been hungry for light? You know how we sometimes say things are as different as night from day? Night's not so bad. Night is supposed to be dark. The lack of light in daytime is something else.

St. Francis sang a Canticle to the Creatures, beginning with gratitude for Brother Sun. He must have longed to see light even more than I do: he was blind when he wrote:

Be praised, my Lord, by all your creature world,

and first of all by Brother Sun,

who brings the day and light you give to us through him.

And beautiful he is, agleam with mighty splendor;

of you, Most High, he gives us indication!

Amen.

Deep Bonds Help Navigate

2011-02-17T15:42:00.007-06:00

Change is both exciting and terrifying. I experienced both feelings during our delegate assembly meetings in Little Falls last week. Our Franciscan Community forsees a future marked by fewer members and fewer material resources. We've been preparing for these changes; this meeting helps us continue to prepare for them. We understand being small and poor is not a bad outlook for Franciscans following Christ. The trust in the assembly room was tangible even though we don't have all the answers.

One resource I became more deeply aware of as I looked over the gathered congregation in our chapel is just how powerful is the gift of our relationship with each other: these women are as truly sister to me as are my own blood family members. We are siblings in the best sense of the word. Our history is filled with shared experiences of life, death and finding the way through previous large changes. I know we can count on our relationship with each other to help us faithfully navigate the changes yet to come.

The Journey Into God

2011-02-05T09:55:00.003-06:00

I was privileged to spend a week of solitude in retreat the end of January. An annual (at least) spiritual retreat is one of the perks of being a Franciscan Sister. For my guide and nourishment for prayer this year, I took notes and a book from a previous retreat I had made with Josepf Raischl and Andre Cirino, both of whom are Franciscan. Their book, The Journey into God, is based on St. Bonaventure's work, The Journey of the Human Person into God. Joseph and Andre provide reflections and exercises which are very helpful in unpacking the depth of wisdom Bonaventure shares.

The Journey takes the one desiring God from the signs of Goodness and Beauty in creation, through those mirrors of God found in our own memory, intellect and desires, and beyond through what we might know of Grace, Truth, Being in contemplation. I am grateful for the time to be with God in this way.

F a i t h f u l Fools - S Carmen Barsody

2011-01-20T11:06:00.008-06:00

There are times I wish Kay and I would have kept the newsprint that hung on the wall in her office in early 1998 out of which came forth our name, Faithful Fools Street Ministry, and our mission statement, (which S Jan published in her previous blog.)

After walking the streets of the Tenderloin each day and sharing stories of what brought us to this place and time, we'd head back up the hill to Kay's office at the Unitarian Universalist Church and make notes on newsprint of the people, places, poems, books, beliefs, observations and longings that had come to us as we walked and talked, and encountered people throughout the day. In a magical sort of way our name and our mission statement formed itself on the newspring.

We set out as a Unitarian Universalist Minister and a Catholic Franciscan Sister aspiring to be Faithful Fools. We had both come to a place in our lives where we longed to be faithful to a way of being and seeing in the world. Our many and varied experiences in life led us to one, simple truth - we are all human. No amount of wealth or education, nor any particulr place or religion protects us from suffering or assures us of joy. We have an unabashed belief that everyone has the potential to change and be changed and the work is for a lifetime.

Faithfulness is required for us to accompany a person through deep-seated and unimaginable pain. The patience and compassion we need must be in direct proportion to the amount we allot to ourselves through a lifetime of failed attempts to change our own unhealthy behaviors and ignorant ways of thinking.

To be faithful requires that I walk with a mirror ever before me and practice constant reflection. When judgments or frustrations arise I often say to myself, "you who have never sinned throw the first stone." I've discovered over time that it ultimately takes less energy to put down the stones than to repeatedly hurl them. It is a greater gift to someone to patiently stand still and be a witness rather than to throw stones toward something or someone I ultimately know little about.

Almost 13 years of walking the streets with many Faithful Fools may not have changed the world, but lives have been changed, including my own. Faithfulness has meant never giving up on anyone or anything. If I were to name one gift I have received it is that my mind and heart have been enlarged, and my love has increased so as to have room for the vastness of human experience, and for this I am grateful.
(reprinted from Fools Fables, Annual Edition 2010-2011 with permission)

Fools Fables

2011-01-11T13:16:00.004-06:00

I just read the latest edition of Fools Fables published by our friends, Faithful Fools. I was very moved to read the many reflections on faithfulness. Coming from them, this quality has depth and significance beyond the ordinary. Sister Carmen and Rev. Kay have been walking soul to soul with men and women of the tenderloin since 1998, at least. Sister Susan has been with them many years. Carmen reminded us of their mission statement:

We are called to a ministry of presence that

acknowledges each human's incredible worth.

Aware of our judgements, we seek to meet people where they are

through the arts, education, advocacy and accompaniment.

We participate in shattering the myths about those living in

poverty, seeing the light, courage, intelligence, strength and

creativity of the people we encounter.

We discover on the streets our common humanity,

through which celebration, community and healing occur.

For more about these folks, see http://www.faithfulfools.org/ Your spirit will be enriched.

Merry Christmas to All

2010-12-24T16:59:00.006-06:00

Everything there is to be said about Christmas was already in the many cards and letters exchanged this month. . . . or was it? Is there something else I would really like to have someone hear?

As we gather with a small group on Christmas eve, I want everyone in the whole world to hear how precious are the ordinary things we do with each other. Our community chatted about the past many years we have gathered to honor this event which marks the union of Divine and Human. The holiday's emphasis is on the Human, God's choice to live a human life. This is a day which proclaims that our ordinariness is very good. We decorate our plants in gratitude for what we already have. My prayer for you today is that you enjoy the gift of your everyday life. Merry Christmas.

St. Cloud Franciscan Life Group

2010-12-10T19:09:00.006-06:00

Our St. Cloud Franciscan Life Group has a new member: we are happy to welcome Jadzia Olson to this faith-sharing and study community of Franciscan Associates and Sisters. Jadzia has been an Associate for over 6 years and was active with the community in Morris, MN where she lived prior to coming to St. Cloud. She brings enthusiasm and a great love for community.

Present for our December meeting were S. Cordy Korkowski, Yvonne Warzecha, Geri Dietz, Kathie Pflueger, S. Janice Wiechman, and Bonnie Przybilla in back row. In front are S. Jan Kilian, S. Carol Virnig, and Jadzia Olson. Several other members were unable to be present this day. (Sorry, we took only one picture and so not all of us had time to open our eyes!)

Our St. Cloud group meets monthly and shares leadership responsibility for our gatherings. This year we have decided to not only study and reflect on some Franciscan readings but to also record some of our reflections for others to use some day. Murray Bodo's book, Francis - the Journey and the Dream, forms the basis of our current sharing. We find food for our spirits as we hear how these stories not only framed Francis' life in the 13th century but also provide a map for our 21st century lives. We find a great deal of joy as each of us shares her insights into current applications.

O Rising Dawn

2010-11-28T15:13:00.009-06:00

ADVENT !

I welcome this season. It is filled with hope, beautiful scripture readings and symbols. The rising dawn is just one such soul-enhancing symbol. From a prayer space in my room I can see the sunrise. (Yes, I look out the window during prayer.) This sunrise on the first Sunday of Advent in 2010 spoke to me once more of the fidelity of God. I know I can count on both.

Advent calls me (you too?) to pay attention. God's work, like ours, is daily and never done. Advent (the Christian world's name for the weeks of preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus) is a clarion call to us to give more of ourselves in response to God's consistent, "faithful as the dawn" presence. Hard as it can be, I must admit I need to be stripped of some damaged aspects of my life and redone in painstakingly small steps -- all this to be not simply restored but more so to be advanced in integrity to fully live the years to come.

I find it fitting to be residing in this farmhouse during Advent.

The process of its restoration is a loud and vivid image of God's call to conversion.

May your Advent, too, be rich in grace and confidence in God.

Threatened by Buckthorn?

2010-11-07T14:42:00.008-06:00

Those pretty green bushes with the pretty red berries out in our woods? A threat to the forest and its natural habitats? Yes, says the DNR, "Buckthorn forms an impenetrable layer of vegetation and shades out other plants that would grow on the forest floor. Buckthorn degrades wildlife habitats and lacks natural controls such as insects or disease that would curb its growth."

Friends from Camp Friendship were the first to alert us to the invasive plants, which by now are well established along the Sacred Path leading to Sabbath Pond at Clare's Well. We would like to pass this alert on to you. If you also have these plants around the edges of your property, you might want to contact your department of natural resources to learn what you can do about it.

The first thing Clare's Well staff did about the buckthorn was to accept the offer of a local youth hockey team to come on a Saturday morning and spend their October community service hours with us. With the help of borrowed brush wrenches, 15 young hockey players rooted out a good number of the problem plants. Several adults including Richard Wagner and his chain saw assisted the boys. This is a huge task! As Sister Carolyn Law says, "If you pull 100 a day, you might be rid of them in 5 years." We intend to keep at it for the sake of our precious forest.

Worth Saying Again: CONGRATS,Earth Citizens!

2010-10-16T14:19:00.011-05:00

October 10, 2010 was a significant day for all citizens of Earth. People gathered in 6,600 places in 188 countries on 10/10/10 to strengthen their resolve to address our human role in climate change. These gatherings prepare us for the United Nations Environmental Conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico beginning 11/29/10. We Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls (FSLF) marked the day with awards for 7 of our Associates, Employees and Sisters who motivate us to appreciate the gift of creation by their particularly bright examples. (See the post by Jeff Odendahl, Coordinator of our Franciscan Sisters JPIC Office http://www.fslf.org/pages/justice,peaceandintegrityofcreation/) Jennifer Basch, Jim Vogel and Sister Janice Wiechman were present to receive their awards. Four other recipients were not able to be present. See the JPIC website for full descriptions.

Geri Dietz, Coordinator for the Office for Franciscan Associates and Connie Lacher, another Franciscan Associate, were two members of the Earth Healers group who presented the awards on behalf of the Franciscan Community. Others Earth Healer group members include Jeff Odendahl, and Sisters Carolita Mauer,Bernice Rieland, Janice Welle and Carol Schmit.

In the names of the 7 recipients of the Earth Citizen award, a donation was made to Give Us Wings. Give us Wings was chosen for the donation because of work they do in Kenya and Uganda to bring potable water to people who are burdened with illnesses and deaths caused by lack of clean water. See http://www.giveuswings.org/

DEEPENING FRANCISCAN LIVING

2010-10-05T19:55:00.007-05:00

Franciscan community members, Associates and vowed members of the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN are rekindling fires of enthusiasm to bring about what it is God wants of us in the future. Fifty-some men and women Associates and Sisters from the St. Cloud, MN region met recently for this purpose. We were successful in firing up enthusiasm. Sometimes it was hard to get a word in edgewise. That's a beginning step for a long road ahead.

Many religious communities find themselves in circumstances such as we find ourselves: we are no longer grounded in the familiar works of institutional health care and education for which the world needed us in times gone by. We are fewer members with more diverse ministries facing an unknown future. I am aware that I am not afraid for us, but I am challenged by the need to focus the multitude of ideas being expressed in our regional gatherings. When will our next steps be clear? I pray for wisdom and patience as we sort out all the many factors needing to be considered.

Should we divest ourselves of unused space sooner rather than later? Should we find new ways to maintain and use our currently unused space? Should we collaborate with others (and if so, with whom?) to expand some of our more unique services? What/who is it God is inviting us to be and do in today's world which is so different from the one we have known?

Sisters Bea Eichten, Rose Margaret Schneider, and Mary Hrosickoski served as facilitators to help our St. Cloud regional members articulate our hopes and dreams as we walk from yeasterday to tomorrow together.

SALSA, ANYONE?

2010-08-24T09:35:00.006-05:00

What's better to do with tomatoes, peppers and onions than to make fresh salsa? Sister Carol Schmit whips up a batch every chance she gets these August days.

The produce of our garden has been supplemented by friends who "thought you might be able to use a few tomatoes."

Who can refuse?

For Sister Carol's recipe, see page 145 of Clare's Well cookbook,

Nourishment for the Body

Memories for the Heart

Healing for the Soul

Every Day Is A Bridge

2010-07-29T20:20:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about bridges. We have this bridge west of our farmhouse and hermitages. It goes over our creek and leads to the Sacred Path in the woods. This bridge can take you from our farmyard traffic to a place of shaded solitude. Bridges.

This month of July might be labeled summer; however, I see the leaves beginning to change from the fullness of green toward yellows and brown. Summer is a time all its own. I don't want to miss a day of it. Why do I feel one foot already stepping into fall? Are we always walking on a bridge from one time to another, one place to another? How do I just be here in one time, one place, one day?

In our Franciscan community, we are invested in the fullness of today's services in many parts of our world. At the same time, we look to our diminishing resources with eyes of humble servants. While we live fully today, we have an eye to the future. How are we to be good stewards for what was so necessary for us yesterday but apparently won't be needed tomorrow? We are on a bridge. I say, let's move onto and over our bridges with all the enthusiasm we can muster.

Franciscan Community Volunteers

2010-07-03T14:09:00.004-05:00

The end of June 2010 saw four young men and women taking several days of retreat to review their 10 months of service with Franciscan Community Volunteers (FCV). During this time of quiet and shared reflection, these special people gleaned insights into how they had grown from their original goals through graced opportunities to places they hadn't dreamed possible in such a short time. Katie Janssen (FCV program manager) enjoyed the lunch break on the deck of Clare's Well Retreat Farm with the 2009-2010 volunteers: Caitie Tobin, Alicia Landale, Will Braun and Spencer Buchert. FCV Director, Sister Clara Stang, sent them off with gratitude for the commitment and energy each contributed to make this new ministry of the Franciscan Sisters such a huge success.

See www.fslf.org/franciscan_volunteers.html for more information.

Franciscans Return Home

2010-06-24T14:27:00.007-05:00

We had an amazing week of sharing with our Franciscan Community. I'd say we had the deepest, best conversations ever about what it means to be about God's work in this world.

We from Clare's Well returned home to find our gardens (including weeds) excited about all the rain they had had while we were away. Several Sisters, including our newly professed Sisters Aurora and Isa, returned to their homes in Mexico. S. Joan and Associates from Ecuador returned to Ecuador.

Some whose home is with brothers and sisters who live on the streets in San Francisco paused for a week to do street retreats with a Universalist Unitarian minister, Franciscan Associates, Kay, Dene' and others in Minneapolis. The rest returned to their ministries wherever God took them stateside, remotivated to work for the reign of God.

Sister Carol's grandniece and grandnephew, Carmel and Owen, enjoyed the fence railings lining the garden east of our dining room during a visit from Ohio. Their presence reminds me these little people who follow after us need a healthy world, too.

Franciscan Associates came by the dozens

2010-06-15T19:08:00.004-05:00

The first two days of our community meeting were filled with dynamic, caring energy. Joining our vowed members in St. Francis Hall (in Little Falls, MN) were forty plus of our lay Franciscan Associates. They came from Ecuador, Mexico and multiple states to nourish and be nourished as we revisit the vision which unites us.

Stay tuned . . . .

When Sisters Meet

2010-06-10T19:34:00.004-05:00

There will be a lot of sharing when all of our Franciscan Sisters gather at our Motherhouse in Little Falls, MN June 12 -18, 2010. Just as Sister Paula Pohlman and Sister Mary Obowa (pictured here) go to it heart to heart, so will the 160+ of us catch up on one another's journey during this annual June gathering. We will delve deeply together into the meaning of our Franciscan Community life for today. What is new in 2010 that is calling to us? We will pray, celebrate, laugh and cry together, and then we will return to our homes in the U.S., Mexico, and Ecuador recommited to read our world in the light of the Gospel and to respond with fresh faith in God and one another. Will you hold us in your prayer, please? Thank you.

RAINED ON BUT NOT DOWN

2010-05-23T16:44:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, 5/22/2010, was Clare's Well Spring workday. The forecast was for a perfect day to work outside -- so the heavy downpour of rain, with thunder and lightening, lasted from 9:00 a.m. til noon!! Some people blamed me for not praying right. Since when does God make things easy?

Rain-soaked Paul Soenneker and Chuck Pelzel finally brought the broken mailbox into the garage to fix it. Not everything was so portable.

Would you have continued to work outside in such weather? Ron Brown and Cory Tenor continued to plant the flowers from Ron's greenhouse into the hanging pots; the men bringing a new dock to the end of the Sacred Path continued to lug it on its way, and as the 1/2 inch of rain made mud in the yard, volunteers (about 60 in all) continued to come to the work-list posted on the garage door to see what else needed to be done. What do you think about commitment to task come rain or come shine?

Do Values Speak Louder Than Money?

2010-05-10T10:01:00.004-05:00

In a recent discussion with Jeff Odendahl concerning how to impact attitudes toward immigrants, I was deeply moved by Jeff's conviction that we use arguments based on gospel values and not on financial economy. It is true that "immigration stimulates economic growth by creating new consumers, entrepeneurs and investors", as pointed out by Doris Meissner in her op-ed, Four Myths About Immigration, in the Mpls Tribune May 7, 2010(http://www.startribune.com/) This is fine. However, it is not a Franciscan reason for supporting a welcoming attitude toward immigrants. Though much of the current debate is based on popular myths, the most powerful supportive arguments are those flowing from deep-seated belief that we are profoundly connected to everyone else. What is done to any person, matters to all of humanity.

In about 2004 the government of Spain moved to legalize immigrants who were in Spain illegally. Some reasons for legalization were economic. I read at the time, however, that a large concern was what happened to Spanish citizens when they were bent on ridding their country of "those people." They were truly bent humans, bent out of shape, distorting God-made wholeness and dignity. I want to work with Jeff, who is putting his shoulder to the wheel to lead U. S. citizens to stand tall in the fullness of wisdom, faith and humility in regard to our place in sharing the God-given gift of Earth.

MAY DAY

2010-05-01T16:43:00.007-05:00

May Day has been a day to remember workers. There are marches I'd like to be part of to show my support for laborers, and in the Catholic church we commemorate St. Joseph, the Worker. As I walk the ditches of our gravel road to clean up tossed garbage, I think of laborers who do what is sometimes called "stoop labor."

Slaves did stoop labor in the fields of our country at one time and some of those who do it today are treated no better than slaves. I think of our migrant workers -- you all know the stories. Today is a day to say thank you to them for much of the produce trucked to our grocery stores. Let's stop tolerating racism and to go out of our way to welcome new immigrants into the mainstream of our communities. No one stopped me to ask for my ID as I worked.

Strangers in Our Midst

2010-04-17T15:59:00.008-05:00

This June I celebrate my 12th year at Clare's Well. That's the most years I've lived in the same place since I joined the Franciscans 50+ years ago. The familiarity of neighbors, people at church and downtown Annandale is wonderful after the stress I've often experienced moving to a new place, starting over, learning my way around and struggling to put the right name on people. Prior to coming here, I have moved for reasons of education, needs of other Sisters, and the general call of my Community every 3 to 5 years; I must say being able to feel at home in a receptive place is a real pleasure.

I think of this when I consider families who move, not just from place to place in the same country, but here from a foreign country. How much more difficult their experience than mine when the language, customs, and color of skin are different. New immigrants have become the subject of my prayers and study over the years. We are approaching May 1, a day to pray for all workers, including the many we sometimes reject. I'd like to share this prayer I have adapted from a website for the Interfaith Immigration Coalition:

Candle-Lighting Prayer

I will light a light in the name of the Son, the refugee, migrant, undocumented Christ, who stretched out his hand to all people of the world.

I will light a light in the name of God who lit the world and breathed the breath of life into all people.

I will light a light in the name of the Spirit who embraces the world and migrates with each and every one of us.

I will light a light in the name of every undocumented person living in the shadow praying for life and a way to sustain life.

I will light a light of hope that will shine in the darkness and illuminate the day when no one in this country will have to live in the shadows, when we will find the way to welcome strangers.

God, you have made yourself known in Jesus Christ, born as a migrant, exiled as a refugee, murdered by the rightous. Teach us to love the strangers in our land as we build communities rooted in your hospitality and justice. Teach us to love as we would have you love us. Give us the courage to befriend one another. Teach us the words we need to speak as we call for humane immigration legislation in our country. Amen.

Home for Easter

2010-04-05T08:51:00.004-05:00

Sister Deb died Holy Saturday afternoon. She had the best Easter ever, and so did I. The Holy Saturday night liturgy was a celebration of her as well as of Jesus. Exuberant alleluias were the music of Deb dancing with Christ, also finished with death. Our church decked out in a garden of Easter flowers would bring a large smile to her face, just as they brought tears to my eyes considering how she would have seen them. Her brother brought a "garden of flowers" to Deb at Christmas - a dozen or more flowering plants - knowing she loved flowers and probably would not be planting another garden on earth. Happy, happy Easter, Sister.

A Living/Dying Lesson in Holy Week

2010-04-01T09:56:00.005-05:00

Some of the strongest words are from Jesus, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." During this Holy Week I watch for images of Jesus bearing pain and suffering with dignity and faith.

One power image of Jesus for me is my classmate, our Sister Deborah, who is dying with cancer and who awhile ago shared that her dying is truly an agonizing process. Her statement of pain was accompanied by another statement of her desire to go through this process with as much grace and peace as humanly possible. This is my first experience of hearing a dying person speak so articulately about what is going on for her. Deb and I have previously spoken of our impatience with process. We'd rather have projects of whatever stripe designed and expedited quickly and efficiently. "Process" takes time we could use for getting something "done." So it is with some humor that she tells me dying is a process.

Who of us doesn't want to be in control and to be able to make her or his own choices? Deb says when one has always been able to make sure her own soup was served hot, it is a stretch to have to eat lukewarm soup. In the simplest things, there is little that is more difficult than to trust one's physical care to others. Nobody can ever plump my pillow just right either. How will it be when I can't do it for myself? When one's hearing is so sharp she "can hear grass grow," how is it to be stuck in a room with noisy people-traffic just outside your door? What do you do while you are waiting in pain for the next dose of relief? What is the inner fruit when you patience grows with practice week after week, week after week? Mother/Father God, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Springtime Bonfire

2010-03-24T09:43:00.003-05:00

Oh, the pleasure of a bonfire on a spring evening! Our firepit south of the Wellness Center hosts a few groups this time of the year. Our friendship group of women (called the Prudence Group) gathered there for the Spring Equinox this week. Another group we enjoy being with is our confirmation students from St. Ignatius parish in Annandale. These 10th-graders spend a little time in quiet (really!) solitude walks in the labyrinth and woods and then gather for faith sharing and snacks around the outside fire in hopes of kindling the fire of God's Spirit in their hearts. They do as much to re-kindle the fire in our hearts as we can ever do for them.

The Gift of Years Together

2010-03-14T13:34:00.003-05:00

When I was a Franciscan novice, 55 years ago, we were so many novices our director had to expand the usual realm of places for us to work. There weren't enough jobs within the walls of the convent for our large class. I was placed in the medical records department at nearby St. Gabriel's Hospital. It was there that I met Sister Mary Ellen Dinndorf, director of the Business Office, located next door to Medical Records. She, along with other hospital sisters, took me under her wing to teach this fledgling what it meant to be a Franciscan out "in the world." She continued to walk with me as Sister and Friend all these years until her death March 13, 2010.

Sister Mary Ellen was 13 years my senior. I suppose that was more significant for me in our early days together; in more recent years, we were the same age. We had walked together through deaths of each others parents and siblings and through multiple changes in our Franciscan community as well as in the world at large. When I consider the very large hole her absence leaves in my life, I am also aware of what she bequeathed to all of us:

a model of humble service - she accepted any task she was assigned, be it bookkeeping, administration, finance, or prayer from her room in hospice.
a model of fidelity to prayer, to community, to family and friends. She could be counted on to "be there."
a model of integrity, a woman of her word.
a model of balanced living, enjoying music, games, and visiting as well as work and prayer.
a model of a vowed religious. She clung to no material possession. She gave her all for our health care facilities when we had them and led us in letting go of them when the time was ripe to turn them over to others.
a model of foresight in developing the talents of lay co-workers. She was the first of our Sister hospital administrators to give that position over to a lay man.

We are honored to count her as one of our Sisters.

Just To Be A Friend

2010-02-28T14:10:00.007-06:00

When your friend is hurting and there isn't anything you can do to take away the hurt, what can you do?

I remember times when I wasn't feeling well and our dog, Lacy, would come over and sit close to me. A child will do that sometimes, too. They seem to know enough not to try to "fix it" when such an effort on their part would only add to my discomfort. There are times when we need someone to simply be with us as a caring being whether or not they can do anything to make us feel better.

This week we have discovered that Lacy's vision is severely impaired. She walks into doorframes and furniture, appears confused and tentative in her movements, and there isn't anything our veterinarian knows of that can be done to change her condition. He recommends that we have Lacy examined by a canine eye specialist whom he knows. For now, I am thinking about what it means to befriend a possibly blind dog. If you know me, you know I want to protect her and keep her safe in ways that might only limit her more and not be helpful at all.

I have heard of several blind dogs this weekend, all of whom are healthy and adjusted to their limited eyesight. It seems that the weeks ahead will be a time of learning not only for Lacy, but for all of us. May St. Francis, dear friend of all of God's creatures, be with our sister Lacy and all of us who want to do what is best for her.

When Sisters Die

2010-02-20T14:47:00.005-06:00

I've had several occasions lately to consider the necessity of grieving. I do not do it well, sometimes not at all. When things are painful, I shift into low gear and keep going. Then, one fine morning I wake up feeling very tired and I wonder why.

We had a guest at Clare's Well recently who came for "time out." He shared that his wife is in the end stages of breast cancer. His grief was deep, buried in his effort to "be there for her."

It was the day after he left that I sat with myself and realized I felt very sad for him. The deluge of my tears, however, was out of proportion to my concern for him and his wife. I was startled as I journaled to see I hadn't connected with the fact that a few days earlir I'd visited two Sister friends in Little Falls who are dying. Sister Deb is my classmate and oftimes vacation companion. Sister Mary Ellen has been my mentor and friend from my first days in community over 50 years ago. Two who have been so significant in my own life's journey are about to die. How am I responding to this impending loss? I visited them and more or less "left them in Little Falls."

As Sister Sharon chided during a recent discussion on how we handle the deaths of so many of our Sisters (about ten a year), "We bury them and go back to work!" We are faced death and grief all around. I am as guilty as anyone of swallowing hard and "getting on with life." Once I realized that was exactly what I was doing now, I shared with Sisters Carol and Paula about how sad I feel for the inevitable deaths of Deb and Mary Ellen. I do better not trying to grieve alone. I see how debilitating it is to "stuff' sadness. Thanks to our guest who shared his grief with us and helped me get in touch with my own. I am still very sad, but I know I am and I have a little more bounce in my step, too.

Homemade Crackers

2010-02-06T20:39:00.003-06:00

We Sisters enjoy making foods from scratch. However, making homemade crackers is a bit new for me. Here I am, making something called Flatbread which turns out to be delicious crackers. I serve them just for a snack or with a dip. (You can see by the picture, that I use quite a bit of flour (on my apron and on the counter) for rolling out this rather sticky dough.) Here is the recipe I got when I took a Community Ed class:

FLATBREAD

2 1/2 cups white flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup rye flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup soft butter

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Mix the dry ingredients with the butter as for piecrust. Add the buttermilk. Mix. Roll into a log, wrap in wax paper, and chill for a couple of hours.

Cut the log into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a thin round --about as thin as wax paper. (I find it works best to keep most of the pieces of the log in the refrigerator while rolling and baking one at a time so the dough doesn't get too sticky.)

Place rolled out piece on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Score (cut) with a pizza cutter so results will be small crackers. Bake in 350 degree oven until lightly browned (about 10 - 12 minutes.) Cool on cooling rack. Enjoy.

This recipe makes nearly two ice cream pails of crackers. They keep very well for a long time. In February, we are still enjoying some from Christmas.

Reflection on Haiti’s suffering

2010-01-27T10:56:00.000-06:00

By Sr. Carolyn Law

Two weeks have passed since the heart wrenching earthquake which devastated much of Haiti. The news is beginning to fade yet efforts to attend the wounded, the homeless, the grieving continue. Emergency aid continues to be needed for the near future. Then the important long term work of rebuilding will need to be sustained.

Bill Moyers essay on Haiti aired January 22, 2010 on his PBS program is worth watching and can be accessed at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01222010/profile3.html. In his essay, he points out the callous idiocy of TV evangelist Pat Roberson assessment that this earthquake happened because Haiti had supposedly sold its soul to the devil in order to overthrow the French colonizers. The French had run Haiti as a slave colony to produce coffee, sugar and tobacco for Europeans. When the slaves revolted and drove out the French, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. president and author of the declaration of independence, refused to recognize the government of Haiti.

Moyers also criticizes the honorable David Brooks, political pundit of the New York Times, for assessing the Haitian nation as “progress resistant” among other disparaging remarks. Moyers then goes on to more accurately relate the history of exploitation and oppression by outside and inside forces in this small nation, the poorest in the hemisphere.

The theology that poverty, sickness, or misfortune is a punishment for one’s sin is a mistaken one. In contrast, the theology of liberation which sprung from reading the Gospel through the eyes of the poor preaches a theology of compassion on the part of God. God is the one who hears the cry of the poor and acts to right injustices, inequality and suffering.

In the daily prayer of the Church, we pray the hymn of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, because it is an accurate and poetic summary of the message and mission of Jesus, the Christ. This hymn of praise is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1. It seems right to pray it now in the midst of the many crises in our country—the disorder in our banks and economy, the fight over healthcare, the vitriolic hyperbole of an election year. Place yourself in the shoes of someone who is poor or beaten down as you savor the message of Mary’s prayer.

CANTICLE OF MARY
My being proclaims your greatness,
And my spirit finds joy in you, God my Savior.
For you have looked upon me, your servant, in my lowliness;
All ages to come shall call me blessed.
God, you who are mighty, have done great things for me.
Holy is your name.
Your mercy is from age to age toward those who fear you.
You have shown might with your arm
And confused the proud in their inmost thoughts.
You have deposed the mighty from their thrones
And raised the lowly to high places.
The hungry you have given every good thing
While the rich you have sent away empty.
You have upheld Israel your servant, ever mindful of your mercy
Even as you promised our ancestors;
Promised Abraham, Sarah, and their descendents forever.
(Translation Psalms Anew)

MAY IT BE SO!

MISSION TO NICARAGUA

2010-01-15T08:37:00.003-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

My heart and prayer are with friends in Apawas, Nicaragua these days. Sisters Carol Schmit and Grace Skwira are working in this makeshift medical clinic with Dr. Ron and Kay Brown, dispensing love and support along with medicines. They and 18 other Minnesotans are led to this area each January by our Franciscan missionary friend, Father Ted Niehaus, who works with 75-plus scattered villages in remote areas of Nicaragua. Volunteers of all ages endure the rugged travel and meager living conditions to work with him and to build relationships with these Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. This year only 5 of the group of 20 are first-timers. (Photo: L-R Sister Carol Schmidt, Fr. Ted Niehaus, Sister Grace Skwira)

My companion, Sister Paula, and I are keeping the home-fires going and praying we don’t get any really big storm while Carol’s away. She is our best snow-removal person. I can operate the snow-blower, but I’ve been known to blow snow in the garage and on the farm-house porch . . . . As Franciscans, we are delighted to have some of our community bridging us with these dear people; however, Carol, we are quite ready for you to come back home to us!

BLESSINGS ON YOUR NEW YEAR

2010-01-11T10:05:00.000-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

I wish each of you blessings as we begin a new year. And may we know the blessings which we have already.

Last month I was able to travel to Arizona to visit Sr. Ange Mayers. I had visited her there some years ago and always wanted to return for another immersion into the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in the heart of the Sonoran desert of Southwest USA. Sr. Ange will be leaving her ministry there soon and so I needed to go or forego the experience. Fortunately I had some frequent flyer miles to use up and so I made the time for this trip.

Sr. Ange has lived and ministered among the Tohono O’odham people for over 15 years. This is in addition to her previous ministry of ten years in Tucson with the Yaqui and Tohono O’odham. I have known Ange since we served together in Venezuela back in the late 1980’s. Still I was very impressed with her poise, presence and persistence in living with deep faith, love and patience amidst challenging circumstances.

Ange’s place of ministry lies 120 miles west of Tucson. So while there is much beauty in the desert and in the people, there is also harshness, solitude, and suffering. There is the beauty of the large saguaro cacti, the sunrise and sunsets, the quiet of the starlit nights, and the surprise of many birds in the arid landscape. There is the beauty of the native people who live close to the earth, with authenticity and simplicity. There is the harshness of poverty, the too often suicides or early deaths, and the scarcity of resources for jobs and education. She has walked with the people there ministering a religious promoter, facilitating leadership training for parish members, teaching faith formation for families, adapting sacramental preparation to the needs of the people, and promoting growth in mental health. Most of all she has been a Franciscan presence, being first of all a sister to her brothers and sisters living in this part of the earth. To read a more see Ange’s brief autobiography our web site under “Meet the Sisters” at www.fslf.org.

Visiting Ange was a blessing that I continue to treasure. There are many things and people for which to be grateful as well. I am grateful for family, friends, my Sisters in community. I am grateful my work in the healing ministry and for all of the gifted healers that work to heal the wounds of the earth and her people. I am grateful the sun, and the moon, the air, the earth and for fire. The following prayer is a little long for a blog but seems so appropriate to share at this moment. It is a prayer written by St. Francis toward the end of his life and demonstrates Francis’ mystical union with God and all God’s creation.

The Canticle of the Creatures

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, and the honor, and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no human is worthy to mention Your name.
Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Son, who is the day and through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness of You, Most High One.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven You formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather, through whom You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom You light the night, and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, shall they be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.

Christmas Garden

2009-12-28T17:11:00.002-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

This is the Christmas of snow storms in Minnesota. Guests can’t leave or come until the French Lake township crew plows our road. Sister Carol is out on the tractor blowing a path through our driveway. Sister Paula is sledding down a hill. The view outside is exceptionally lovely with the snow. Mother Nature has extravagantly arranged tall grasses and the remains of our summer’s garden to please anyone’s artistic eye.

This storm gives me extra sit-still time and I used some of it to wonder about our array of decorations-- why do we decorate at Christmas and who are the decorations for? We put up:

• outdoor lights for neighbors who pass by;

• bows and greens on the fence for family and friends who stop in;
• big red bows on sunflower canes in the garden for the fun of it;

• a fireside crèche of homemade angels, stable, and holy family for us to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

For whatever reasons we decorate, I credit the experience of decorations for bringing up memories of Christmases past. Visions of decorations from my childhood continue to thread their way through the years and help to make a continuity of my life. As I muse over my many years of trimming trees with people I’ve lived with, I tend to remember the joy of it all. I feel a deepening gratitude for my life. The gift of years and the mystery of memory work together to highlight the best of experiences and to help me forget what wasn’t so great. Daniel Gilbert talks about this in his book, Stumbling on Happiness. Some things about decorating for holidays were really not much fun. But even a dead garden, looks good with a bow on it.

Leisure, a gift for today…

2009-12-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

When I attended college at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul several decades ago, we were invited to read a classic book for our philosophy class, Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. Fifty years ago when this book was printed, it was considered a great philosophical masterpiece. Piefer states that leisure is the foundation of any culture and issues a warning in this book: “Unless we regain the art for silence and insight, the ability for nonactivity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture and ourselves.”

How am I practicing leisure? Just today, I was again challenged by a message I sometimes convey, non-verbally, of course. I received a call from a friend, and she said,” I really hesitated calling you, because you are always so BUSY.” After I hung up, I thought to myself, I really dislike that word…busy. Do I use that word to convey that I am so very needed, important and popular that my life is in a frantic spin, too frantic to give a few minutes to a friend?
The truth of the matter is that I have made many efforts for balance over the last number of years. With my ministry at the Franciscan Welcoming House and at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Sartell, it is true, my plate runneth over on some days.

We all know people in our family and friend circles with a strong sense of leisure. We can take lessons from them. Francis of Assisi, our patron, took time to enjoy the little birds in flight and all of nature, to share a picnic, and to allow time to commune with God in solitude. Leisure helps us to tap into the more important dimensions of our hearts and souls. Now is the time to substitute that b-word busy, with a new b-word, balance. Now is the time to be persons growing in our appreciation of leisure.

.

All good gifts around us, are sent from heaven above

2009-12-08T10:21:00.001-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Time to write the December blog. I am having a hard time deciding on a theme. There are many to choose from. Christmas is coming and before that is the observance of Advent. In between my community celebrates the Feast of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception on December 8th. In the northern hemisphere the day is short. Darkness stays late in the morning and comes quickly in the afternoon. Ere in Chicago, peak sun is gone by 2 p.m.

Shall I write about the opportunity for accepting winter’s invitation to tuning inward and reflect or comment on the end of the year distractions? Then there is the beautiful song sung on Thanksgiving Day, All Good Gifts, from the musical Godspel that continues to reverberate in my head and heart. Here is a selection of the words to this song of gratitude:

All good gifts around us, are sent from heaven above.
Then thank the Lord, then thank the Lord for all his Love.

Then there is still that question of Afghanistan. Our president Obama prepares to announce his plan for nation building in this distant land. (I write this on November 29.) He who campaigned for peace and dialogue among nations is put to the test for also promising to be tough on terrorism. The parallels with Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam are striking. Robert McNamara’s Johnson’s Secretary of Defense is featured in the captivating movie The Fog of War. This movie is a must see for those who haven’t seen it and a must re-see for those who have. It is available for viewing on line at www.freedocumentaries.org .

I have written a couple of times about this difficult issue. I mentioned that my peace group has been reading and reflecting on Afghanistan. Here are a few more factoids I have gathered:
Afghanistan is about the size of Texas, 2/3 of it very mountainous. It borders Iran, Pakistan, China and several former USSR states on the north. On the crossroads between the east and the west, it is a buffer state.

The people are largely rural, tribal and Islamic. (The occupying force is largely “Christian”.) The population is approximately 25 million. In 1999, there were 500,000 widows from the Soviet’s war and the subsequent civil war. Afghanistan had the largest refugee population in the world. (I don’t know about now.) Since war destroyed (and destroys) their agricultural and industrial economy, poppies for heroin greatly contribute to the survival of many. Northeast Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Women suffer disproportionately from war. When women prosper, every one prospers. Of the 30 million land mines laid during the Soviet’s war in 2000, 10 million remained to be cleared. Osama Bin Laden got his start fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. The central government of Afghanistan has never been strong, repeat: never been strong.

By the way, last week there was a short news item in the newspaper stating that the Obama administration has decided not to sign the international treaty to ban the use of landmines. After review it was decided to continue Bush’s stance on land mines. Curious, isn’t it? While more than 150 countries have agreed to the land mine ban treaty, other countries who have refused are China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Russia.

There is always much to reflect on and I hope that you have some time this December to do so holding the many mysteries and conundrums in your heart and mind. Here are the two verses from the Godspel hymn of praise:

We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand..
He sends us snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain...
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain...

We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest, our life our health our food,
No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts!

All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above..
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all his love.
I really want to thank you Lord!

What Do You Know?

2009-11-30T08:08:00.003-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

I had never heard of Chundra Lela until her story came up at one of our early morning prayers. Chundra lived a remarkable life searching for God in every holy shrine in India in the late 1800’s. After many years her hunger for God led her to the Christian Scriptures and she believed and was baptized. As much as possible she became what she now believed. She freely shared her faith with others and gave her material belongs to others who needed them.

Chundra’s life reminds me of another message which says, “What you know, you don’t know until you live it.” Isn’t that a powerful word to take to heart?

In his life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano has this to say about our patron: “He was no deaf hearer of the gospel; rather he committed everything he heard to his excellent memory and was careful to carry it out to the letter.”

I plan to keep this message before me in the weeks to come. I am involved in our Franciscan Sisterhood’s reflection on what it means to be a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls at this time in our history. I think I am learning all sorts of things from those Sisters who have gone before us. They were dependent on God in prayer, creative and committed to serving God and the poor, and lovingly faithful to one another. I think I “know” these things. I feel a big nudge to also live what I know. I think it is true, people can tell what we really hear and know by watching us live.

Spinach and such things.

2009-11-09T13:52:00.003-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Did you ever notice that even though cooked spinach is such a good food, it doesn't really taste so good until butter is added to it? Spinach with butter tastes very good. St. Bonaventure wrote in his work "The Journey oo the Human Person into God" that all of our senses are means to know God. We see God. We see God's beauty in nature. We hear God's beauty in the songs of birds and children. We feel God's love in the caress of a loved one. We taste God's loveliness in butter.

I am tempted to say that since butter tastes better than spinach, then butter must be more beautiful and closer to God. However, I know that the imperfection lies in my taste buds and not in the spinach. If my taste buds were more Godlike, the spinach would be equally tasty to me and equally reveal God's closeness.

Rocks are close to God too. Here is a way that not so ordinary rocks will help us out of a pickle, the global warming pickle. In the September/October issue of the Audubon magazine, the following notice is given:

Peridotite, a rock found at or just below the earth's surface, could fight global warming, according to scientists at Columbia University's Lamot-Doherty Earth Observatory. In Oman, they found that exposed peridotite reacts with carbon dioxide, absorbing up to 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas each year and transforming it into a solid mineral. By their estimates, simple, relatively inexpensive drilling and injections of pressurized CO2 could speed up the process; the exposed peridotite in Oman alone could sequester four billion tons of atmospheric carbon a year - one-seventh of the 30 billion tons the world emits annually. Every continent except perhaps Antarctica contains substantial amounts of the rock."

Rocks and hills and scientists bless our Godd!! Algae bless our God!!

Algae is being cultivated to produce biofuel. The potential is enormous. Recently there was an environmental event in Chicago and a car arrived from the Southwest, driven on the first produced biofuel gasoline from algae. There is enough potential that a small percentage of desert land could be used to produce all the gasoline that the USA needs. I am sure there are a few kinks to work out, but the knowledge base is there. Imagine our Sister Algae is helping to solve global warming and also bring an end to oil wars.

Speaking of oil wars, there is oil to the north of Afghanistan. You can view on-line a really good documentary called "Rethink Afghanistan". Its at www.rethinkafghanistan.com. Did you know that during the 1800's the Russians and the British were fighting eachother in Afghanistan? The two expanding empires bumped up against each other. Neither empire won. From 1979 to 1988, the Soviet Union tried to control Afghanistan. That is called the Soviet's Vietnam, only it was worse because they ended up bankrupt and that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Now, 20 years later, and who is fighting in Afghanistan? And are we heading toward bankruptcy?

Anyway, time to sign off. Peacemakers bless our God!

.

Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise

2009-11-04T10:22:00.004-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise is a new prayer book blessing our community.

I, personally, enjoy using the psalms, scriptural and Franciscan readings presented to us day by day. Our community here at Clare's Well uses it as we gather in our chapel either with just the three of us or with our guests, who sometimes join us.

Of particular delight to me are the weekly daily themes during what we call Ordinary Time. These are divided into the four primary values highlighted in our Franciscan Rule: Conversion of Heart, Poverty, Contemplation and Minority.

In the spirit of saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, Conversion of Heart means turning to God again and again, allowing ourselves to be drawn to our Loving Source in repentance, gratitude and worship.

Poverty calls us to remember we have nothing of our own. We live sine proprio, without property, in gratitude and trust we have all we need and can be generous in sharing.

Contemplation: that delightful uncomplicated prayer module by Francis and Clare. "My God and my all", says it all.

Minority means "to conform oneself, through a life of penance, to Christ who is the servant of God ..." Francis modeled the servant Christ in his life, recognizing all are equally mirrors of God, who is to be loved and served in all.

Our book is published by The Franciscan Federation of the Third Order Regular of the Brothers and Sisters of the U.S. That is a big long title which includes us. Our Franciscan Brothers and Sisters (including Sister Elise Saggau from Little Falls) worked together for years to bring it to birth. I can't do justice to a commentary on the prayer book in this short time. I am blessed with the daily reminders, not only of sacred scriptures which are in most prayer books, but also of reflections from Franciscan sources, including our Rule and Life, writings of Clare and Francis and others. Thank you to all who worked to bring us this nourishing collection of prayers and readings to support us as we live lives steeped in Conversion of Heart, Poverty, Contemplation and Minority.

Surprises in Sickness and in Health

2009-10-27T11:55:00.000-05:00

By Sister Michelle L’Allier

With confidence let them make known their needs to one another so that each can
find and offer to the other that which is necessary. Blessed are those who
love the others when they are sick and unable to serve, as much as when they are
healthy and of service to them. Whether in sickness or in health, they
should only want what God wishes for them. For all that happens to them
let them give thanks to our Creator.

—The Rule and Life of the Brothers and Sisters
of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, 23.

It’s been quite a summer! In the heat of late July I had an unexpected immersion into the unfamiliar. Several days into my visit with the Sisters in Mexico, I began coughing. Each day got worse, and I went to the doctor upon my return to Minnesota. To my surprise, I learned I had a serious case of no, not H1N1, but bronchitis!

Increasingly exhausted from the bronchospasms (a new word for me!) that seemed to consume me; I moved gingerly trying to minimize the consequent pain. Most surprising, however, was how distressing it was when I had coughing spells and couldn’t breathe, followed immediately by a struggle to get oxygen back into my lungs.

Suddenly it felt as if I were in another dimension of life…the range of what I could deal with was limited to getting from breath to breath and all else faded into the background. Generally I’ve been blessed with good health and lots of energy. After two rounds of antibiotics and two types of inhalers, the debilitating coughs had lessened, and a troubling side effect presented itself: I lost my voice! Anyone who knows me knows that this was significant…I love conversations!

What to do with the increasing disconnect? I was feeling better due to medication, rest and so many peoples’ kindnesses to me. While grateful for others concern and prayers, I also felt an increasing anxiety about the extended loss of my voice. My fear was: what if it was permanent? After three weeks of hoarseness, I was considering going back to a doctor when I woke up from sleep with a persistent question: what if the hoarseness was caused by the very medication I was on? The antibiotics were done, and I felt better; could it be the inhalers I was still using for the “left-over cough”? After consultation I discontinued the one that contained steroids and day by day my voice strengthened…May I never take the gift of voice for granted again!

Why do I share this story? After several ups and downs in the recovery process, I now have more energy and feel healthier than I have in two months. I have learned once again how easy it is to take the precious gift of life and health for granted. In my next post I’ll explore some of my reflections ranging from health care to the ever-changing landscape of what is good or not for us (discernment of right timing and placement). Stay tuned!

.

Celebrating my 25th Jubilee in My Home Parish

2009-10-19T07:58:00.001-05:00

by Sister Carmen Barsody

Did I know when I was a student at St. Andrew's School being taught by Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, that I would one day join them? No.

Did I know when I left college to be a lay volunteer in Maracay, Venezuela, when my restless heart was searching for more meaning than would come from a degree alone, that I would discover not only how I wanted to be in the world, but with whom I wanted to be in the world - inspiring, visionary dedicated and Faithful Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls? No

Do I know that my heart is grateful for the 25 years of being a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls? Yes.

St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi were young people in a world where war and greed were causing greater despair and unrest. To read the stories of their lives compels us as Christians and Franciscans 800 plus years later. When some wanted him to model his life after the more enclosed monastic form, Francis proclaimed, "the world is my cloister!" The Franciscan way is an itinerant way of life; the brothers were sent two by two into the world to give witness to the Gospel by serving others.

In the gospel today the rich man goes away sad when Jesus tells him he had to sell all to follow him. When I read the gospel I was drawn to the word "sad". It was the man's sadness that revealed how attached he was to his wealth. For Francis and his followers the act of relinquishing their wealth in order to be free to serve brought deep joy. It is not what we have that is the problem. It is when we are so attached to what we have, and place our wealth and comfort as our highest value, that we are no longer free to be generous with our lives and resources. The words of Jesus to the rich man were challenging in their clarity. You must let go of that to which you are most attached in order to attach yourself to God and neighbor.

The gift of Francis and Clare to our world is that their fervor to live the mandates of the Gospel - to bring good news to the poor, proclaim sight to the blind and free the oppressed; to love God with one's whole heart, mind and soul - ignited the hearts of people from all walks of life. For Francis religious men and women, priests and deacons were not the only ones called to live Gospel-centered lives. When those who were married or had commitments to family responsibilities became ignited by his spirit and challenged by his message, he encouraged them to be faithful and serve where they were, and wrote a rule of life for the Secular Franciscans. You have Secular Franciscans here at St. Andrew's, people whose desire is to make the Gospel their highest Rule of Life, and to do it with the support of a community of people, a fraternity of sisters and brothers. Francis and Clare longed for all of us, men, women, youth, children, sultans and kings, priests and religious, wealthy and poor, to discern every action with our hearts on fire with the Gospel. Francis would say, let your body be your tongue.

I have lived, served and traveled to many places in my 25 years, including the streets, soup kitchens and shelters in Minneapolis. I will be honest, most of the time the commitment to follow Jesus in the footprints of Francis and Clare wrenches the heart – being amidst people living in extreme impoverished conditions, living amidst gangs and drugs, addiction, greed and indifference, homelessness, attempted suicide and prison, hopelessness and hopefulness all intertwined in the streets and homes of our world. It wrenches the heart and that wrenching enlarges my heart and makes me even more passionate to invite others to walk with us as Franciscan Sisters, as Secular Franciscans, as Lay Associates and Franciscan Community Volunteers, as Priests and Deacons, as Christians in this world.
With all the passion I can muster I say to you, to the youth, children and adults, be generous with your lives and your resources 24 hours a day, with your family, with your parish, with your neighbor, with your co-workers, with your God.
When you come to church, know that this time of communion and worship is to nurture and inspire us so that we may all do what is ours to do, from the tiniest kind greeting and embrace of another, to major acts of necessity and kindness.
I truly am celebrating my 25 years as a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls and there is great meaning in being able to celebrate here in my home parish. It is where I was nurtured and formed in familial and communal love. You, my relatives, classmates, church community and Franciscan Sisters have supported me all my life, and most explicitly supported my ministries from the first huge step to Venezuela, to the churches, streets and homes of Chicago, Nicaragua and San Francisco. Your generosity has touched many lives and made many things possible together with the labor and commitment of the people who live and serve in those areas.

My Franciscan Sisters are here. The Secular Franciscans and Lay Associates with our community are here. Sr. Karen is here at St. Andrew's School, a teacher and a witness to God's creativity and love, most especially with the children. Your own parish ministers and leaders are here. In the words of St. Francis I say, "Desire one thing alone, the spirit of God at work within you." And to any women out there who have considered religious life, come join us. We are teachers, pastoral workers, foster moms, justice workers, missionaries all. We are alive with the spirit and our love and joy in God and one another is great.

.

Peace! Salaam! Shalom!

2009-10-14T16:10:00.000-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Peace to Afghanistan!

My little peace group, a chapter of Pax Christi, decided to take a 3 month incubation period to study and reflect. We felt a need to regroup and refocus our efforts in raising consciousness about peace issues. For this we chose to read about Afghanistan in order to go beyond sound bite journalism and try to understand the larger context of the war in Afghanistan.

I find the subject of Afghanistan a difficult subject…a far away land, confusing terms, confusing characters, and confusing reports. We end up with more questions than answers. There are two things so far that I find disturbing. One is the reports of the terrible treatment of women by the Taliban.

Ah, but who are the Taliban? The Talibs are religious students that come out of the ultra-conservative Islamic religious schools called madrassas. When the Taliban came into power, they enforced a variety of rules including those that restrict the freedom of women. These restrictions include not working outside the home, being completely covered by the burqa when in public, never leaving the house without being chaperoned by a male relative. They are not allowed to attend school. Violation of any of these rules may result in a beating or even death.

In Kabul, the capital, 70 percent of the teachers were women. Forty percent of the doctors were women. Half of the university students were women. Afghan women held jobs as lawyers, judges, engineers and nurses.

The other thing that disturbs me is how the Taliban came to power in the early 1990’s. After 10 years of war that destroyed their country and its infrastructure, the war left a power vacuum. Those 10 years of war were in a significant way financed by our country. In fact, the financing and arms flow from our country helped the Taliban get established in the first place. This part of the history is often brushed over. We are complicit in the creation of this tragedy. Does this disturb you?

Continued militarization of our nation’s involvement in Afghanistan is not the answer. Time to find peaceful solutions to conflicts. Otherwise, bigger messes are created. Of course, the “how” leaves us with more questions than answers. I am drawn to prayer this prayer:

Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,
From despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts.
Let peace fill our world,
Let peace fill our universe.
World Peace Prayer

Peace be to Afghanistan, to her people, to her women and children.

.

TWO WAYS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE

2009-10-05T09:46:00.004-05:00

by S. Jan Kilian

“There are two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein

“Miracle: a divinely natural occurrence that must be learned humanly.”
I chose this definition of miracle because it speaks of learning, learning to notice (and perhaps comprehend) the extraordinary in what has become too familiar to be of interest. It doesn’t take an Einstein to know there are very many ‘miracles’ in what we call ordinary, every-day days.

September 2009 was a month of apples, tomatoes and wonder-working friends who helped move produce from yard and garden, through the kitchen, on to shelves of sealed jars of future meals.
What were the miracles?
There were no murders,
not even harsh words,
when we felt overwhelmed by extraordinary crops
in the midst of needing to provide hospitality
for extraordinary numbers of guests
while one or another of us was on retreat or vacation.
Isn’t it a miracle that neighbors and family
still come to help like they did when I was
a kid on the farm?
I am so glad I noticed these gifts:
overly-generous trees and gardens
accompanied by
sisters and friends who came
and worked
through sweat and aching backs.
Thank you for September miracles.

“Francis of Assisi, a Saint for Today”

2009-09-28T08:20:00.000-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

October is a special month for me, mainly because it ushers in the Feast of Francis of Assisi on October 4. We Franciscan cherish our great patron. When I was little, I saw Francis in private gardens and parks, usually with a bird on his shoulder or maybe taming the wolf of Gubbio, a story we all know from our Franciscan tradition.

When I walked the Umbrian valley in Assisi in 2007, I was again washed over with the spirit of this great 13th century saint. There are many visitors to Assisi, and all comment on the serenity and peacefulness of this area. Francis, the simple little man from Assisi, by his spirituality and life has touched the hearts of many. We who are Franciscan have no exclusive claim on this saint. He is for the entire church. Many have captured deeply the heart of Francis. Francis was above all a Gospel person, one who knew and lived the Beatitudes.

Francis has been named the Patron of Ecology. His deep sense of the interconnectedness of all creatures came to him not from books, but as he spent time in reflection and mediation of the goodness of God. He lovingly called each creature by the name of Brother or Sister. He spoke with tenderness of each insect and plant and all that adorned the earth

As we practice good ecological principles in our home, neighborhood or workplace, recycle our ‘stuff’, care for plants, the air, the earth and all creation, let’s turn to God in thanks for leading us on the path of good stewardship and gratitude for all good gifts. Let us be grateful to Jesus who blest the earth by His presence and made holy our created world.

Happy feast of Saint Francis to all of you!

Sister Cordy Korkowski, OSF

.

Francis and Other

2009-09-16T10:24:00.000-05:00

by Sister Carmen Barsody, OSF

I share with you an experience I had one morning when I lived in Nicaragua. As I left my bedroom and walked down our hall, I looked out toward our neighbors in the barrio, seeing the scrap wood houses and empty barrels because the water didn’t come that night, I heard a voice say within me, “I don’t ever want to be where I don’t wake-up and not see this reality and have to be in direct relationship with this irreconcilable disparity.”

It was also in Nicaragua that one day we were talking about this famous question of what it means to be Franciscan, and Sr. Joanne Klinnert said, “What Francis did was follow his spirit, and so, to be Franciscan is to follow your spirit!” The Spirit moving in Francis was larger than Francis. It moved in relationship with his experience of what was happening in the world and in the church in his day. I remember a slogan used by the National Vocation office a few years back which said, “May the unrest of Christ’s peace be with you.”

We know Francis didn’t set out to join one of the religious communities of his day. In his unrest he set out to be with and to serve the lepers. His heart was enflamed by humbleness of Christ. He made his whole body a tongue. The emphasis was given to becoming and living the gospel, not merely talking about it.

Leonardo Boff, in his book, ST. FRANCIS, challenges our use of phrases such as “preferential option for the poor”. According the Boff and his understanding of Francis, it wasn’t an "option" to be with the impoverished and marginalized, it was the foundation of Francis’ life. Let our own bodies and lives be our tongue, for in this we will find perfect joy.

.

“WE’VE HAD NO SUMMER!”

2009-09-08T07:21:00.002-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

“It is already September and we have had no summer!”

I have heard this comment many times recently. The tone of voice is whiney. The cause is our having a relatively cool summer in Chicago. I used the fan only a couple of days. I politely agree with the speaker but inside I am asking “Where were you during June, July, and August?”

The sun rose and set each day this summer and we breathed every minute of each day. We have worn our short sleeves and shorts. We have donned our sunglasses. The birds migrated north, hatched their chicks, and now are migrating south once again.

Time flies fast under two circumstances: when we are having fun and when we are too busy. When we are having fun we are totally in the present moment and present to those we are with and to our experience. This is delightful. I think the complaint about “no summer” is a result of the second condition—too busy. When we are too busy we risk losing our sense of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a presence of awareness, a quality of self awareness and awareness of what and who surrounds us.

My brother-in-law, Bill , is an interesting and nice guy. He is a psychologist and teaches mindfulness classes. Bill and I recently did a mindfulness yoga exercise. The movements were slow and easy, while stretching and strengthening. Mindfulness yoga invites the practioner to slow down and be aware of one’s experience. Mindfulness invites us to be in the present moment, not second guessing the past, nor anticipating the future.

Another body-mind practice is Alexander Technique, a re-education of movement and posture. This technique calls living into the future “end gaining.” End gaining causes us to be ahead of ourselves. When we get ahead of ourselves, we lose contact with the present moment and ourselves. Then we get tense and lose fluidity of movement.

The Franciscan version of mindfulness is “living with a contemplative attitude”. Contemplation is stopping, being present to moment and seeing this moment as gift. A gift can never be possessed, analyzed or callously manipulated. A gift cannot be judged. A gift is cherished.

Have you had a summer? If not, slow down. It is never too late to start slowly down. Now is the moment. Take a deep breath. Be aware of the air flowing in and flowing out. Repeat. Smile at the gift of breathing, the gift of the sensation, the awareness of LIFE. This is a sure path to mind-full contemplation.

.

MILKWEED and CONVERSION

2009-09-02T14:37:00.001-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

The caterpillar is finished eating milkweed leaves. “Watch! It will hang on to the jar in its ‘J’ form any minute now.” We watched. The caterpillar crawled around and around the jar. When it paused again, one of us said, “Now! It’s ready. Watch.” But . . . . the caterpillar moseyed on for yet a couple of hours until the caterpillar said, “Now!” and hung itself up on the jar’s edge to prepare its cocoon.

The monarch caterpillars’ going into their cocoons and coming out butterflies are familiar images of transformation. I had occasion to observe several this summer. Their stretching and flexing on the outside spoke to me of a wrenching process going on inside to accomplish the predictable conversion: worm - cocoon - monarch butterfly.

All of us creatures are designed to make transformational decisions from within our own selves. This was brought home to me during the Franciscan retreat I recently made at St. Francis Convent in Little Falls. Just as the monarch’s blueprint is written in the core of the caterpillar, so everything each of us needs for becoming Christ to the world is available in God’s design indelibly recorded -- you know where. Stop. Sit. Let the inner flexing, turning, stretching happen.

The gift (charism) of the Franciscan life is the life of conversion, a life of daily turning to hear and respond to God. This is not a logical, rational process. It is a work of our hearts, a work of love carried out in community. It involves surrender, letting go, sometimes darkness. It calls for shedding protective coverings, stripping ego, becoming Christ. Francis and Clare of Assisi encourage me with their example. I was happy to be able to retreat and ‘hang it up’ for at least a short while. I’m grateful to have let some important processes turn over in my spirit. I feel new. I think I’m finished eating milkweeds.

Baking Bread

2009-08-10T07:59:00.002-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

I have always been intrigued with bread. This stemmed way back to my teenage days when under the guidance of my mother, she taught me how to make white bread. I practiced diligently. Once when my parents left for a few hours, I tried to do it on my own. I was about nine years old. It was a disaster. I ended up taking the entire pan of dough into the deep pasture and with my large spoon, made a mountain of white dough. I threw a little grass over it to camouflage it. I told no one. Later in the evening, because I felt very guilty for wasting so much flour, I went back into the pasture to check my dough. There were three chickens stuck in it. I released them, walked home and said nothing. Years later, I told my parents the story. They got more than a chuckle out of my ordeal.

My mother won a Pillsbury Bread Baking Contest at one time. I was so proud of her.
From those early days of bread baking, when white bread was THE bread, we as a family enjoyed coming home from school and diving into a loaf or two of white bread. It was always well worth the wait.

I have moved out of the ‘white bread’ category to many other types of breads. Several years ago, I purchased the book, 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood. He states in his book, “Bread links all cultures together. It holds a social and gastronomic significance for everyone. In this most recent book, Paul Hollywood outlines the recipes for Basil and Olive Foccacia, Chocolate and Sour Cherry Bread, Brioche, Olive and Sundried Tomato Bread and many more. Having grown up in Liverpool, the oldest of three boys, and testing recipes in his father’s bakery, Paul Hollywood came to realize the variations and different types of bread were endless. His recipes attest to this.

Bread has been very much on my mind during the month of August as we celebrate the weekend Liturgies hearing the Gospel of John each weekend with the theme of bread. Jesus was very familiar with bread. Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread come down from heaven…and whoever eats this bread will live forever”. John 6:51 Bread truly is good for the body, and good for our spiritual connections with our faith.

.

In The Key of V

2009-08-04T08:38:00.004-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

What is it to be Franciscan? Is it to be a living word of truth in this broken world?

There is no truth if you are not true to your own deepest inner voice. I suppose we all know that when we allow ourselves to listen. I was given another “Sit still and listen, Jan!” experience recently. My illusions about a certain situation were painfully taken from me; my fairyland bubble burst by a friend true enough to herself to help me see that my view of a treasured relationship was not reality. I fought the truth. It would be less painful, I thought, to go back to the make-believe. With help from my community, I can let in the light of truth.

Valandra,one of Clare’s Well recent guests, writes her music in the Key of V! She sat in our chapel to sing stories from her life experience and left us her CD, Rhythms of My Heart – Healing From Within. Proceeds from the sale of her album go to Childline, a registered charity committed to protecting children from violence and abuse in South Africa. I am strengthened by how Valandra shares her truth in music.

Mechthild of Magdeburg wrote in the 1200’s:

“Fish cannot drown in water,
Birds cannot sink in air,
Gold cannot perish
In the refiner’s fire.
This has God given to all creatures,
To foster and seek their own nature.
How then can I withstand mine?”

Our Franciscan Community struggles these days to recognize and live the reality of God’s image in us in this 21st century. I am a part of that search. The ground has shifted considerably since I joined our congregation over 50 years ago. I try to journal regularly about new realities as they are revealed to me. And, on a regular basis, I have a lot of “reality checks” to make. What key do I write in? The key of J is fun. I need help to harmonize with the key of F for Franciscan.

.

How wonderful to name God as beauty

2009-07-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Last month for the celebration of the 25th and 75th jubilees of our Sisters, the jubilarians requested that we use a new arrangement for the singing of the Mass parts. They had chosen a Mass called “Jesus: the Compassion of God”, written by David Haas. The opening call to worship is:

Lord it is good to be here,
Your beauty to behold
We long to proclaim your vision
And call this place our home.

How wonderful to name God as beauty. St. Bonaventure, an early Franciscan theologian, wrote “In all things beautiful, we see Beauty itself.” Of course, he meant that in seeing Beauty we see God. Seeing the 4 jubilarians process in with such dignity was indeed beautiful and we made beautiful music to celebrate their milestone.

Meanwhile here in Chicago, July 4th has come and gone. July 4th was a cool and rainy day. Sunday July 5th was a perfect day, partly cloudy, a soft breeze and mild temperature. I took a bike ride down along the lake. There was much beauty there as well. There were families of all sizes and ethnicities. Dads and Moms were grilling with great aromas wafting in the air. The beach was full of volleyball teams. Other bicyclists were out. At one end of the beach is a dog park where dogs can run in beautiful blue water and chase each other playfully and the dog masters casually chat.

At the other end of the beach is the dunes restoration area and bird sanctuary. The gulls with a couple of Caspian terns sun at the shoreline and song sparrows sing with all their little hearts. Fishermen and a few women cast their lines out and never seem to catch much. But then we know that at Lake Michigan it is not about the fish but about being near the water under the sky with the skyline of downtown Chicago just a glance away.

There is indeed much beauty. One thing in which I find hard to find some beauty is the Good Humor Ice Cream truck. Oh, the truck is okay and so is the ice cream. But the truck plays over and over and over this obnoxious tune. One truck plays a mechanical sounding “Turkey in the Straw”. I wonder how can the driver stand it for a whole day. I have a hard time with it for just 10 minutes.

The Good Humor Truck does move on and I turn my attention to the firecrackers and bottle rockets being fired off. This smoke hangs in the air with the smoke from the charcoal grills and I wonder if the fireworks are carbon balanced.

Sarah Palin’s announcement about resigning as governor of Alaska upstaged the news about Michael Jackson’s death. Her upstage only lasted a day and then the news went back to Michael, especially since Michael was from Gary Indiana, Chicago’s neighbor to the south. Sarah and Michael are children of God as well and for this we say: Thank God for all your beautiful creation.

So on July 5th, this is all the news from Lake Michigan were all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are beauties to behold.

Spirit of God at work within you

2009-07-09T15:18:00.000-05:00

by Sister Carmen Barsody

Above all things, desire to have the Spirit of God at work within you.

This was the theme of our jubilee celebration on June 21st. Srs. Mary Fabian Schneider and Corrine Millner celebrated their 75th Jubilees, and Sr. Nancy deMattos and I celebrated our 25th Jubilees. A celebration it was! A witness it was to the love and faith that binds us as Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN.

The week leading up to our celebration we as a Franciscan Community met together, some days with just Sisters and a day with Associates. It was a time of remembering and reflecting on our life; of telling stories of bold acts as individuals and a whole community that have brought us to this day and binds our hearts together. We prayed together with song and word as we challenged ourselves to live with openness, compassion and active commitment that incarnates the expansive mind of God inspired with the spirits of Francis and Clare. Creativity, difficult conversations, laughter and love wove its way through every moment. For me it was pure gift to move from this time together into the celebration of our life commitments.

During the homily at our Jubilee Mass Sister Paula Pohlmann asked each of us to articulate what the "Spirit of God at work within us" looks like in our lives. I share with you my response...

Most important, most directing in my life is whether my heart is alive, and whether I feel that aliveness deep in the belly. This is my ultimate authority. Leaving college to go to Venezuela as a Franciscan Lay Volunteer was not about discerning a religious vocation, it was about seeking a heart pulse that was rooted in love and meaning, and for me, Love is God! To extend that love, which was and still is rooted in my family, into the Franciscan Community, has allowed me to root it in the world. It is the foundation of my passion to help others become more fully alive, without discrimination, for the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love does not discriminate. I know it is the Spirit at work because deep down beyond all struggle, endless work and times of anxiety, I can feel a full and flowing river of Joy.

In this Jubilee year, together with my Sister Jubilarians and whole Franciscan Community of Sisters and Associates, I renew my commitment to live desiring one thing alone, the Spirit of God at work within us. So be it!

.

SUMMER PRAYER FROM NICARAGUA

2009-07-01T08:05:00.002-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

Nicaragua is a significant place for all of us Franciscans at Clare’s Well. Sister Carol accompanies a mission group to the far-flung mountainous villages of this country every January. Sister Paula was a member of these January brigades for several years. I was privileged to spend two months living in a barrio on the edge of Managua several years ago. One of our Franciscan Associates and dear friend, Monica Rudawski has ministered in the Leon and Esteli area over the past ten years. Monica visited us this summer and we all relived some of our own privileged experiences in Nicaragua.

It seems Franciscans are attracted to Nicaragua because it is one place where we meet people, who in the dark of their deep poverty, still radiate light and compassion for one another. Monica shared a beautiful prayer that speaks of this. The prayer is from John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us.

Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life. . . . .

There is so much to be said for Summer and the joy of sunshine. We watch our garden thrive under its influence. However, most seeds sown on top of the ground in direct sunlight can’t take root. The dark under the soil is a vital necessity for our vegetables and flowers. The darkness draws warmth and mysteriously nourishes hidden seed.

I think this is what keeps Monica going back to Nicaragua all these years. In the dark of the poverty of the children for whom she helps to provide food, she is better able to “see inside things.” Sister Carol and the January missionaries, too, go to peoples in Nicaragua who lack much of what we consider necessary, such as electric light. They go year after year to walk in the dark, minding the interior.

Monica concluded our summer morning prayer, “Fill our darkness with the nurture of Your Light. Help us to burn with the fire of Your Love.”

Transition – Here We Go Again

2009-06-26T09:50:00.001-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

Has anyone ever looked at you and said, “You are in transition”. Well, in my life I have heard this innumerable times. My first LARGE transition occurred when I registered as a freshmen at St. Francis High School in Little Falls at the age of 13 years. I was 80 miles from home. I lived in Little Falls at St. Francis High School, a boarding school. I left the comforts of my home and returned to Brandon for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and summers. Even though I made friends quite quickly, things weren’t the same. I was lonesome, day in and day out for weeks. I missed my family, our beautiful farm, favorite foods and my home in the country. Even though many things changed, my home in the country remained all these years.

Well, this summer things are going to change. We are selling our family farm. I am in transition again. When I went home for Easter, I found myself cherishing every little bush on the land, the streams, and the places where we raised our gardens, our skiing hills, my favorite tree, our baseball diamonds and skating ponds. It will all be a memory come fall.

Transitions are important to recognize and mark if possible. On August 29, 2009 the children of Al and Grace Korkowski are going to have our final HOE-DOWN when we will all re-gather to say good-bye to the farm. We will climb the big hill, tell stories, cry a little and bid farewell to the land that has nurtured us, provided for us, and been our haven through many decades. We are gathering favorite stories and will spend the weekend walking down memory lane. We will be in transition together as a family, each experiencing our time together in our own way.

Transitions are a normal part of our lives. In the parish, I observe this every week. There are deaths of beloved family and loved ones, the birth of a baby, graduations, job relocations, children leaving home or coming back home, changes in relationships, health or financial status. We could make a list a mile long. With each one, we enter a new realm of life.

As we gathered as a Franciscan Community of Sisters and Associates this June, 2009, I heard about many transitions in the lives of my Franciscan family. I know I will also hear many transition stories at the St. Francis High School Reunion in July, 2009. As we learn how to handle transitions now, I often think our final transition will be our entrance into our Eternal Home.

As God is present in all our transitions, so will God welcome us as we enter into our final, glorious chapter.

Rethink Afghanistan

2009-06-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

In May, my Pax Christi Peace Group chose the movie “Rethink Afghanistan” for our monthly feature. This event was the first time we streamed a movie off the Internet. A friend of one our members brought his laptop computer, hooked it up to the LCD projector and downloaded the movie segments via a wireless connection.

As we all know Afghanistan is the new focus for war. Pax Christi is an International Catholic Peace movement and is firmly against war, the preparations for war, and are for peaceful means to resolve conflicts. While many would say, including President Obama, that this war against terrorism is necessary, this movie invites us to think again.

Here is some of what the movie, “Rethink Afghanistan”, has to teach us:

There is no military solution to this conflict.
The war costs will be $1 trillion. Due to the difficult location, mountainous and land locked, it costs $775,000 to send and maintain one soldier there. It cost $500,00 to send and maintain one soldier in Iraq.
Afghans are the world’s best resisters when it comes to defending their country against foreign occupiers. They beat the British and the Russians.
Pakistan is more unstable than Afghanistan, possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons, and 60% of their children suffer malnutrition—SIXTY PER CENT!
India is a big player in the region, fights with Pakistan over Kashmir.
Every civilian death creates more people who hate the U.S.
These war monies could be better used to fund health care and other quality of life programs in the U.S. and elsewhere.
This war has already cost $189 billion.

You can view the movie on line at www.rethinkafghanistan.com

An I-tude for Clare’s Well

2009-06-01T09:47:00.002-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

What does it take to make us grateful? Carol, Paula, Richard and I worked quite hard to line up tools and tasks prior to our spring clean-up day. As the day approached, we hoped lots of volunteers would show up to bring our retreat out of unkeptitude to pulchritude. Well! A record number, 75 people came! In spite of cold, windy, unpleasant weather, the attitude of the women, men, and children bordered on beatitude. Their solicitude was matched with a wondrous aptitude for hard work. Smiles and enthusiasm reigned. We have photographs to prove it.

We three sisters sat that evening saying, “Can you believe what happened here today?!” Please, excuse the altitude of my silliness - when the latitude of generosity is extravagant, gratitude is spontaneous. Good care of Clare’s Well entails a lot of work, which we three ‘old ladies’ in various stages of decrepitude could never manage all by ourselves. We are in awe at the depth of the support we experience. We asked, “What if only 3 or 4 persons had shown up?”

Our response to the multitude gives us pause to remember that we are gifted as much by the love in one pair of helping hands as we are by the love in the hands of 75. There is no point at which we can say, “Okay, now we should be grateful.” We either are thankful people or we’re not. Gratitude is the way of our life. (And that’s no platitude . . . .)

The early visit of Sister Death to Braelyn

2009-05-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

Last night was a very difficult night for me. It was the wake/funeral service for Braelyn Osborne. Braelyn, 17 years of age and a junior at Hutchinson High School died in her sleep of complications from diabetes on May 9, 2009, a day before Mother’s Day. It was a disease that Braelyn struggled with for 10 years. Brandi called and asked if I would do the service at a Columbia Heights funeral home. I was honored to be asked, but wondered how I could do this, amidst so much family grief along with my own as well.

I first met Braelyn and her mother Brandi about three years ago when our family camped together at Two Inlets north of Park Rapids. My nephew Troy introduced our family to his new bride, Brandi and her two children, Braelyn and Morgan. I remember how delightful and happy they were with energy, lots of pep and personality. They all entered into the relaxation and festivity of the weekend with great enthusiasm. I also was aware that Braelyn could never lose awareness of her disease amidst all the food choices present for the weekend. I knew her story.
To hear the news of her death was shocking. How would I make the mental switch, that we are now entering into her farewelling into eternal life. I started to work on the prayer service and it all came together. I knew I would use Psalm 23, the Gospel of Mark where Jesus embraces the children, some storytelling, special prayers and a blessing for Braelyn. I also prepared a reflection on Braelyn’s life.

The funeral home was crowded with students, many of whom had brought pictures and messages of farewell and love. They came early to the funeral home to decorate the space and spend time with the family as did parents, grandparents, family members and friends of Braelyn. Throughout the three hours, there was a steady and strong stream of family and friends that filled the space with consolation. We prayed, laughed and cried, visited, spent time being together with family and friends.

The family was deeply appreciative of the service, and I was equally touched by their love and gratitude. As we returned to the home of Brandi’s mother for a large buffet meal, my heart was at peace. Braelyn is now home with God, and all of us learned again the fragility of life, and that Sister Death can appear at any moment and quietly take us home. What was so difficult to do, came together with the support of a multitude of people who were touched by the life of Braelyn Osborne.

Raising our consciousness:

2009-05-19T15:55:00.003-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

In April I completed training for certification in Brain Integration Technique. I asked Susan McCrossin, the developer and trainer for this healing method, how she was led to her teacher, applied physiologist Richard Utt. Susan related that in the mid-1980’s, while working for a computer software company, she took many personal growth courses and workshops. She decided that her life’s goal was to help raise the consciousness of the planet. Furthermore, she would do this by working on herself in order to be a good influence on others and, thirdly and practically, she wanted to work in alternative healing. Within months she was on the path and within a year she was working full time on her dream.

To raise the consciousness of the planet is a lofty goal. We might be more familiar and more comfortable with the phrase “To make the world a better place.” This is indeed what we as Franciscans do in our small ways throughout our ordinary days—step by step, stone by stone, through kind words and kind gestures. Hopefully, we are all working on our dream and on a dream that contributes to making the world a better place.

Bill Plotkin, in his book “Nature And The Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness And Community In A Fragmented World”, writes about his dream of raising the consciousness of the human community. He proposes that our society and culture is egocentric and “adolescent” and that what we need to do is move into an eco-soul-centric culture. By eco-soul-centric, he means living out of our true inner depths and in deep harmony with the Earth. The book is an unfolding of this theme.

While I have only begun to digest his ideas, I am sure that St. Francis and St. Clare lived out their true soul-calling in deep harmony with the Earth. They have inspired us for 8 centuries with their radical adherence to Gospel values and to the profound joy in the love of God for us, God’s human and non-human creatures.

May we each know our soul’s calling. I pray that each of us, step by step, stone by stone, kind deed by kind deed, is unfolding into our soul’s essence. The world community is better for the soul and spirit we bring to it.

"CREATION"

2009-05-12T10:00:00.005-05:00

By Sister Jean Schwieters

Spring is the time of year when all of Creation seems to rise up and shout, "I’m alive!" The barrenness of Winter made us wonder if we would ever again see green. It seemed a stretch of the imagination to believe that anything could survive beneath the cold, cold ground. But then comes the thaw and the whole world around us begins to be charged with a new bolt of life. Out from the hard surface we’ve tromped over all winter little sprouts poke up their noses to remind us that life is stronger than death, that nothing can keep a really good thing down, not even ice and snow.

The cycles of Creation are marvelous. Each year they treat us to an unbelievable drama, an endless story book display that produces a new picture on each page. No matter how often we turn the page the scene is different each time causing us to wonder how the artist could possibly come up with such an awesome array of splendor. Give the truth that Creation’s artist is none other than God, we immediately know of the limitless ability of our Divine Creator.

Francis, the simple little man from Assisi knew all of this implicitly. He sensed the interconnectedness of all creatures without the aid of scientific research. He sensed the interdependence that drew all creatures together as members of an earthly family. He affectionately called each creature by the name of Brother or Sister. He recognized each as siblings of a gracious Mother whose home was the Earth. He spoke with tenderness to insects and plants. He encouraged the birds to sing out their prayers of praise to God and he acted as mediator in times of misunderstanding and stress between humans and animals.

It is no mystery as to why he has been chosen as the Patron of Ecology, why his intuitive grasp of the circle of life is what we need today. It has taken us centuries to uncover the beauty, the wisdom, the thoughtfulness that engineered this massivecathedral of intricate artistry and magnificent craftsmanship. Only a meditative reflection on Francis’ "Canticle of the Creatures" can begin to bring us to see what he saw, to feel what he felt in the presence of such grandeur. Should we ever be able to truly experience what he had come to know then all of creation might rightly be "reborn".

Church-door Dining Room Table

2009-05-04T12:36:00.001-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

I’ve noticed a line in the post-Easter gospels this year that hadn’t struck me before: “. . . the doors being shut . . . , Jesus came to them.” Shut church doors have a particular significance in our house: Clare’s Well dining room table is made out of abandoned church doors rescued from a dumpster. I have attached a photo of this sturdy table crafted by Sister Aggie’s brother-in-law, Floyd Mader. I photographed a seemingly empty table, which is not empty at all but rather immersed in twenty-plus years of stories of guests who dine with us and pour their hearts out to others around this church-remnant table.

“The doors being shut” is still a painful reality for many diners who would like to participate in church services if only they were welcome in today’s churches. “Jesus took bread and gave it to them.” “They knew him in the breaking of the bread.” “Peace.” Our dining room table is an open church door where all are welcome and shared stories restore life. Jesus continues to come in, break bread, and restore peace.

Harnessing the POWER of LOVE

2009-05-01T13:10:00.005-05:00

By Sister Michelle L’Allier

Some day, after we have mastered the winds and the waves, the tides and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love. And then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
--Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Easter Blessings! I give thanks that the Easter Season is 50 days long, coinciding with the emergence of spring. Here in Minnesota it’s been a tumultuous transition from winter to spring with flooding in the Red River Valley and concurrent drought where I live in the Twin Cities.

Reflecting on the beauty and challenge of nature’s rhythms, I recognize the same beauty and challenge present in human relationships as well. Chardin invites us to “harness for God the energies of love;” Jesus witnesses to this path as he lived faithfully unto death, laying down his life in love, followed by rising to new resurrected life. Those of us who follow his way as Christians continue to learn how to live on in God’s love.

Our community of Franciscan Sisters, too, has been moving through the passage of death to new life—we buried four of our Sisters last month. It was a Lenten letting go for us who had come to know, love, and share life with these wisdom women in their 90’s. Each one was ready to enter fullness of life with God, showing us the way with great grace.

Sister Loretto Schneider

, for example, influenced my professing as a Secular Franciscan after college. She served as Spiritual Assistant to our emerging fraternity of idealistic young Franciscan men and women, and encouraged me beyond my comfort zone and into unfamiliar waters. We lived the Gospel life, experimenting with how to translate Gospel values in the marketplace of everyday life. One of the ways I experienced the transformative power of love was in our fraternity’s risk to tend to the beginnings of Listening House of St. Paul, a drop-in center for men and women on the streets.

Years later, Listening House continues to flourish, and I found my way to religious life within the Franciscan family as a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls. For all of this, I give thanks to God, mindful of what Margaret J. Wheatley says about the power of love:

What gives power its charge, positive or negative, is the quality of relationships. Those who relate through coercion, or from disregard for the other person, create negative energy. Those who relate to others and who see others in their fullness create positive energy. Love in organizations, then, is the most potent source of power we have available.
Cited in Bennett Sims, Servanthood: Leadership for the Third Millennium

As you and I learn to harness “the energies of love,” may we share this “potent source of power” bringing it to bear in our interpersonal relationships, in our organizations and in our world.

Springtime is for PLANTING SEEDS

2009-04-29T08:17:00.002-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

Oh, those precious seeds that are entering the cold ground of Minnesota. It takes faith to plant a seed. I did so about three weeks ago, in late March. I had several ‘containers’ placed on the Franciscan Welcoming House porch in St. Cloud and decided this year it would be spinach and green onions that would be early starters.

Each day I take a good look at the pots and water, pray and hope. Then lo, about three days ago, there they were, some little green shoots that looked so timid, weak and wobbly. How will they ever make it to our dining table? I know this is a concern for many anxious gardeners and those who can’t wait for that warmth to accelerate the growth.

I decided that our little neighbor girls would like to plant a few seeds too, and there was still room in the pots. I invited their mother Lynda Brandt to bring the girls over and I would have Grace, age 4 and Olivia, age one, to push a few seeds into the ground. Besides, they are moving away, and I already feel the pain of separation. Maybe, just maybe, when the seeds become plants, I can take another picture and send it to Blaine, Minnesota where they will resettle and we can enjoy our ‘crop’ together.

Jesus knew all about seeds and the conditions that are needed for maturation. Plant the seeds in good soil, water them, and tend them. What a great story this is in the Scriptures. The seeds work their little miracles, break through the soil with determination and bear much fruit.

We are like those seeds. So much is planted by the Spirit of God in our hearts. It takes time for some of the seeds to take root, sprout and come to maturation. Some lay dormant for a long time, and then, with God’s grace and our cooperation, they spring forth.

Springtime is a good time to ask this question - have you planted seeds lately or has someone planted a seed within you?

Liberty, Justice and WATER FOR ALL

2009-04-24T09:35:00.002-05:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Writing monthly for a blog is challenging. At first the ideas come easily. After a few months I start scratching my head! The challenge keeps me on the alert for ideas!

Last week I saved an article from the Chicago Tribune with the headline: “Durbin says world needs clean water.” Senator Durbin (a good Senator from Illinois) had introduced legislation calling for the U.S. to expand access to clean drinking water for an additional 100 million people around the world.

The next day I heard on National Public Radio a report about the World Water Forum taking place in Turkey from March 16-22, 2009 and International Water Day celebrated every March 22. International Water Day was established in 1992 by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

Today (March 24, 2009) on my “to do” list was writing this blog for April--Earth Day month--and I was delighted to read today’s scripture reading about water: “Wherever the river flows, every sort of creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.” Ezekiel 47: 1,8,9.

Aahhhh, Water, Lovely Water, Water our Sister, pure and chaste is She. Lovely is her taste and her touch against my skin.

While the popular media worries about shortages of oil, others know that the shortage of water is a more serious threat to the health, safety and stability of the world and its people, especially people who are poor and marginated. Years ago I read about the issue of water between Israel and the Palestinians where Israel controls access to water and Palestinians live without it. Drought in Sudan fuels the war between ethnic groups in Darfur.

The web site on the 5th World Water Forum reflects that by 2025 two out of three people worldwide will live in water stressed areas. In the U.S. 36 of 50 states may face water shortages in the next 5 years. The U.S. person uses 262 liters of water daily while a Dane uses 150 liters.

The World Water forum, this year attending by 28,000 people, including delegations from the U.S., seeks to influence water policy at a global level and to promote:

Efficient water use
Rigorous and harmonious water sharing
Efficient water management
Protection of the poorest people
Promotion of water security

Our President Barak Hussein Obama in his inaugural address stated:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow, to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor
can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

SO BE IT! Happy Earth Day Month!

Sister Carmen's Jubilee Autobiography

2009-04-20T17:29:00.001-05:00

(Part 3)

My candidacy in Little Falls was only 4 months long as they considered my living with our Sisters in Venezuela was like a candidacy. During my candidacy I was privileged to work with our elder Sisters in the infirmary and to help out in what was the Christian Development Center. Sr. Aggie Soenneker was my candidate director, and that was wonderful in that she too had ministered in Maracay, Venezuela. One of the churches I had worked in with Fr. Tony Kroll and the Sisters was the parish of Santa Inez (Saint Agnes) named after Aggie. She could understand when I shared of my experiences in Venezuela and my yearnings to work with the impoverished people in our world. It was Sr. Aggie who invited me to participate in my first act of Civil Disobedience as we protested Honeywell's making of cluster bombs that were killing and maiming our brothers and sisters in war-torn countries.

In August 1984 I entered the Novitiate and was part of the first group of novices to live in the Novitiate house in St. Paul and participate in the inter-novitiate program. Sr. Pat Forster together with the other Novice Directors from the various Religious Communities developed a very rich formation program. We studied theology, the vows and our Community Constitutions and Directives. We had desert prayer days every Friday, and volunteered in St. Stephen's Shelter in Minneapolis. Sr. Jean Schwieters and Sr. Caroline Torborg were the professed Sisters living with us and were anchors of wisdom for us "young sisters." We were members of Sacred Heart Parish and had a great relationship with the Franciscan Friars who lived and ministered in the parish. My most favorite memory of being in the Novitiate was spending time in a dark and damp little space with crumbling walls in the basement of the house. It was like a cave and we made it our chapel. It was a womb for me, a sacred place where I would sit in quiet. Sometimes I'd go there to wrestle with myself, wrestle with God, plunge into loneliness or celebrate being alive. I would sing often the prayer of Francis, "Most High and Glorious God, bring light to the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, certain hope and perfect charity. God give me insight and wisdom so I might always discern your holy and true will."

I made final vows on August 9th, 1989, together with Sr. Nancy deMattos. I feel that my life as a Franciscan Sister is pure gift. I remember saying to Sr. Pat in the novitiate that at times I wanted to stand on the roof of the house and tell the world how wonderful it was to be a part of our community.

As a Temporary Professed I lived in Chicago for three years and shared community life with Srs. Bea Eichten, Mary Pat Burger, Mary Schmidt, Janice Weichman and Sharon Fitzpatrick. I ministered at Providence of God Church as a Pastoral Associate within a predominantly Hispanic Community. In 1990 I left Chicago and joined Srs. Carolyn Law and Joanne Klinnert in founding our mission in Nicaragua, a place that has become my second home. After seven years in Nicaragua where Srs. Ruth Lentner and Michelle L'Allier also came to minister, I found myself on the streets of the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, CA, where I met Rev. Kay Jorgensen and together we founded Faithful Fools Street Ministry. Every place and every person has a story all its own, and each experience has been the preparation for the next. I never really have known where I am going but I always have known I am in the right place when I get there.

At this time my worlds are wonderfully woven together. From San Francisco the streets lead back and forth to Nicaragua, as well as to MN. I have the privilege to be "Mom" to Alejandra Brown from Nicaragua as she studies in the U.S. and grows beautifully into adulthood. I am grateful to share my experiences and gifts with the larger Franciscan community as I serve on the Formation Advisory Council, One World Mission Grant Fund Committee, and help facilitate the Associate relationship within Latin America.

I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my family that, as Alejandra says, "is really a family." I am grateful for all who have been my teachers. I am grateful for every experience, tough and beautiful, that has formed me. I am grateful to be a Franciscan Sister of Little Falls and for each Sister and Associate who is my Sister and Brother. I may have come into this world with barreling energy, but my prayer has always been to channel that energy creatively and with love and generosity into the world. May it always be so!

"PENANCE" / "CONVERSION"

2009-04-15T13:37:00.001-05:00

by Sister Jean Schwieters

We Franciscans say we belong to an Order of Penance. Doesn’t that make you want to back away? Simply put, that means we strive for continuous conversion in our lives. Now if the word penance didn’t scare you, what about conversion? Not just conversion, but continuous conversion. That can make just about anyone shutter. Conversion, however, isn’t all that unfamiliar. We hear about it almost everyday. In fact, during the last presidential campaign, conversion was the topic…only we called it CHANGE.

Conversion is about change. But why continuous change? It’s because we are humans on a journey. We know from experience that no two days are exactly alike. What went smoothly one day creates a real problem the next day. We are creatures of habit and we too easily get into ruts. We don’t stop long enough to fix the problem when it first begins to surface and over time it becomes intolerable. We tend to avoid what we don’t like to admit is a flaw in our own character. Our reaction is to blame others for whatever doesn’t go well in a relationship. Or we grin and bear it because we don’t want to face what is our responsibility in the bigger picture.

The question is, “Will we ever get it just right?” And the answer is “NO!” So why try? Why keep attempting to become what we know we will never achieve? If you are like me, my idea of what is just right keeps changing, so how can I ever get to that point. And that’s the point. As long as we keep listening, keep responding, keep opening ourselves to making things better for myself and others, we stay with what’s important. And that’s persevering LOVE.

MORNING PRAYER: Fidelity to Practice

2009-04-08T09:26:00.002-05:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

We have an additional pre-morning-prayer ritual since Sister Paula moved in with Carol and me at Clare’s Well. Our Staff always did have a spiritual practice of private prayer time before gathering for shared morning prayer. Paula has added a physical practice of daily morning stretches for our bodies in the living room before we move into chapel to stretch our spirits in shared prayer. This physical workout helps me to see even better what good there is in daily morning prayer: Fidelity to practice is key to growth.

Practice. What is its value? We practice music so we can sing or play with ease. In Lent we have spiritual practices, such as fasting, to grow in freedom from needing to satisfy wants and to open ourselves to God. What happens when we maintain a practice of praying together every day? Would it make a difference if we didn’t do it? Unequivocally, yes!

Just the thought of dropping communal morning prayer from our schedule makes my stomach queasy. I feel off balance and out of touch with something very essential in relating to the world. As the morning light replaces darkness, we sisters (and sometimes guests) join together with scripture, inspirational reading, psalms, song, shared silence, and reflections to open the gift of this new day. Our morning hour is rich with insights from saints of every stripe as we share the story of old or contemporary saints of the day. We experience the wide range of Grace as we share our deepest prayers.

I see practice as hungrily repeating routine, sometimes with difficulty, waiting for Light to break through. And when a breakthrough comes, I see us enjoying the paradox of a daily practice so fed with abundant Light that it hardly seems routine at all.

Morning prayer: to see my God-experience in another is to see God Incarnate. I can sit in my room and pray, “Your love is everlasting.” To hear others pray those same words from their hearts, opens doors: “Oh, you know that, too?!” This is the bonding that shared prayer produces. Pulsating from soul to soul, Light is refracted; the Word is amplified; Stillness is very dynamic. We say “Amen”, ready to minister from the Gift of this practice.

Prayer of the HEART

2009-03-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

by S. Carolyn Law

Ezekiel 11:19, 20b: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your bodies and replace it with a natural heart. Thus you shall be my people and I will be your God.

Last summer I picked up a book from our library entitled “The Heart’s Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy” by Paul Pearsall. The author writes about persons who have received a heart transplant. He found that 10% of heart transplant recipients experience a change in personality, vocabulary or tastes in food. He surmises that the heart has an intelligence and memory of its own.

Pearsall gives various examples. One is of a man who never liked spicy Mexican food, but now craves it. His donor was a young Mexican American. Another was a teenager who started to use the word copasetic, meaning all is well. His donor was a man who frequently used that word. Sometimes a recipient becomes more peaceful or more melancholy.

In the introduction to his book, Pearsall shares that he is from Hawaii and in his culture, at least in his home, his mother would invite the family to let their hearts pray. The prayer would be a simple sinking into silence, a silence of the heart to allow the heart to speak its prayer.

We have a lot to pray for. Our hearts long for greater peace in our strife torn world. Our hearts long for justice for those pushed to the edges of society. Our hearts long for healing for our brokenness. Our hearts long for equality in a racist, sexist, class-ist society. Our hearts long for reconciliation where there is estrangement. Our hearts long for understanding where there is rejection. Our heart long for….Please add your own longings.

Take a moment of silence and allow your heart to pray.

Sister Carmen's Jubilee Autobiography

2009-03-23T09:11:00.002-05:00

(Part 2)

I am a post Vatican II child. I have never seen a Baltimore Catechism book. I was nurtured in a relational theology that invited participation in the liturgy and parish life. Girls and boys, women and men were encouraged to be active participants. We learned of a God who lived among us and was present in the Assembly as well as in the bread and wine. We were taught that Jesus was our brother and he wanted us to live as he lived. God was Love. As I went on to study at the College of St. Catherine, the same spirit and theology continued to be nurtured. We were encouraged to trust our own "authority" and bring it into active dialogue with the external authorities. It was taking into account the fact that "conversation" and "conversion" come from the same root word. To converse together means we all have an opportunity to be changed.

It was while I was in college that I felt a kind of restlessness. I had gone to college thinking I would be a physical education teacher. I then thought I might try being an elementary school teacher, but that too didn't seem quite right either. I spent a lot of time participating in TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) as well as taking philosophy and theology courses, hoping my heart would find its way into the world. It was during my third year of college that I was talking with a friend and mentor, Mary Margaret Yaeger, who was a Franciscan Sister at the time. She knew I was studying Spanish and so she suggested I look at their Franciscan Lay Volunteer Program in Venezuela. That was the key that unlocked the door! I called Sr. Rita Barthel who was coordinating the program and she agreed to meet me at a restaurant in St. Paul for an interview. On the way to meeting Sr. Rita the song playing in my car was, "Take Lord, receive all I have and possess. Do with me according to your will..." I went into the interview open to whatever might happen. After our visit Sr. Rita enthusiastically welcomed me as a Lay Volunteer. Talk about being excited and scared! I think I was trembling a bit when I got back into the car. My life was on the move and all I had to do was keep up. When I started to drive home to campus, the song that played was, "Here I am Lord. It is I Lord. I have heard you calling in the night..." I sang in loud voice. It all felt so right, but now I had before me to tell my parents I was quitting college. Though they questioned me and wondered why I couldn't wait until I graduated, they never stood in the way. The next thing I knew they were helping me buy a ticket to go to Venezuela.

On June 23rd, 1983 I flew to Venezuela with Fr. Tony Kroll. It was my first time on a plane. I cried all the way from MN to Miami. When we landed in Miami Tony turned to me and asked if he could talk to me yet. No other leaving has been as dramatic as that moment in my life. It was a new beginning, a birthing of sorts. I was welcomed to Maracay, Venezuela by Sisters Maurita Bernet, Audrey Lohrer and Cheryl Beaver, the three Sisters with whom I lived and ministered. I soon felt very at home and set forth to learn more Spanish and work with youth and music in the parishes with the Sisters.

One weekend Sr. Cheryl invited me to go to a vocation retreat with some of the youth. My Spanish was still quite limited but I decided to go with her. I listened to some of the talks being given on the retreat and could pick up a little of what was being said, but eventually I went to my room to be by myself. I lay in my bed with the bedbugs biting me and wrote in my journal. As I reflected and wrote I realized then and there that I wanted to join the Franciscan Community. Whether in Spanish or English, my heart was being stirred once again. I knew I wanted to work with the poor and marginalized people of our world and I wanted to do it with a group of women who shared the same commitment. I didn't say anything to anyone that day, but on the ride home Sr. Cheryl was asking everyone in the car to share her experience of the retreat. When it was my turn I told Cheryl in English that I had decided I wanted to be a Franciscan Sister. She got so excited and asked if she could share it with the others, which she did.

The news brought an excitement and lots of conversation with the other Sisters. I decided to remain in Venezuela until my visa expired and also my parents were planning to come and visit me. My visa expired after 6 months so I returned to the U.S. and began the process of joining the Franciscan Sisters. Mary Margaret Yaeger was the vocation director at the time, and that had special meaning because she was the one who had originally suggested I look into going to Venezuela. Sr. Paula Pohlmann was the Community Minister. I remember meeting with Paula for coffee on one of my visits to Little Falls as a formality of joining the community. When we finished she said, "I think you would fit with this motley group." During that visit I was also put in the kitchen to peel potatoes with Sr. Barbara Heiling. After a bit she got up and headed out the kitchen door. I learned later that she went to Sr. Mary Margaret and said, "Dat one in der. She lookin' at us? She's a good one. Keep her." And they did. I was welcomed into the community on April Fool's Day, 1984, and my heart was happy.

Tune in next month for Part 3

(See February postings for Part 1 of S. Carmen's Autobiography.)

“Rebuilding the Church” Gathering

2009-03-20T14:04:00.003-05:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

The first Monday of each month ushers into our Franciscan Welcoming House a group of Sisters and Associates who gather with a focus on our Franciscan Community commitment statement,
“Rebuilding the Church”. We are excited to come to this gathering each month because it includes prayer, sharing, catching up with each other, a guided presentation or discussion. It is planned to bring reflection on some dimension of our Franciscan heritage, life and spirit. There is always excitement in the air as each one arrives. Joanne Fleck said it well on Monday, March 2, “I do look forward to this gathering – like getting a candy bar for a child”.

On March 2, S. Jan Kilian led a discussion around the first three chapters of our Franciscan Rule. We discussed the deep meanings of Gospel living, simplicity, living in trust, helping each other, Franciscan identity, prayer and being reflections of God for one another. Each draws from the experience of their particular life in our discussions. Sometimes there are tears, as life experiences, health issues, family experiences bring pain, but the sharing does divide the sorrow. Encouragement and consolation are always ingredients of our time together. When we leave each other, we depart with new understandings, deepened convictions and renewed joy in being a part of the Franciscan family.

The picture includes the present group, with three members missing: Claire Stock, Yvonne Warzecha and Geri Dietz.

Front row: Bonnie Przybilla, Sister Jan Kilian, Sister Carol Virnig, Dee Hanisch,
Back row: Bea Monn,Kathie Pflueger, Sister Cordy Korkowski, Joanne Fleck, Rita Hacker, Sister Loretta Denfeld, Alda Thiessen

Penance / Conversion

2009-03-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

by Sister Jean Schwieters

We Franciscans say we belong to an Order of Penance. Doesn’t that make you want to back away? Simply put, that means we strive for continuous conversion in our lives. Now if the word penance didn’t scare you, what about conversion? Not just conversion, but continuous conversion. That can make just about anyone shutter. Conversion, however, isn’t all that unfamiliar. We hear about it almost everyday. In fact, during the last presidential campaign conversion was the topic…only we called it CHANGE.

Conversion is about change. But why continuous change? Its because we are humans on a journey. We know from experience that no two days are exactly alike. What went smoothly one day creates a real problem the next day. We are creatures of habit and we too easily get into ruts. We don’t stop long enough to fix the problem when it first begins to surface and over time it becomes intolerable. We tend to avoid what we don’t like to admit is a flaw in our own character. Our reaction is to blame others for whatever doesn’t go well in a relationship. Or we grin and bear it because we don’t want to face what is our responsibility in the bigger picture.

The question is, “Will we ever get it just right?” And the answer is “NO!” So why try? Why keep attempting to become what we know we will never achieve? If you are like me, my idea of what is just right keeps changing, so how can I ever get to that point. And that’s the point. As long as we keep listening, keep responding, keep opening ourselves to making things better for myself and others we stay with what’s important. And that’s persevering LOVE.

God’s Vineyard

2009-03-09T16:47:00.001-05:00

Sister Jan Kilian

Last month I wondered if the wine of religious life was running out; was God finished with this vineyard?
If not, why aren’t more women interested in joining us in religious life today?

Sitting with Sisters Carol and Paula here in Clare’s Well living room the other night, I shared a piece from Cardinal Roger Mahony, a name familiar to Paula who knew him in California. Cardinal Mahony said,

“What some refer to as a ‘vocation crisis’ is, rather, one of the many
fruits of the Second Vatican Council. It is a sign of God’s deep love for
the Church, and an invitation to a more creative and effective ordering of gifts
and energy in the Body of Christ. This is a time of great challenge and
opportunity in the Church, not least of all because the gifts of the lay
faithful have been flourishing in unprecedented numbers and in unforeseen ways.”

There was less incentive for lay ministers when priests and sisters were readily available. Now there seems to be less incentive for religious life.

Service is not the distinguishing call to religious life. Baptism, in which we all share, is the foundational sacrament of ministry. The foundation of a vocation to religious life is something else; it is not simply an invitation to perform works in God’s vineyard. I am brought back to square one to consider again, what is a vocation to religious life? If the ‘vocation crisis’ comes from God’s love and is an invitation to a more creative and effective ordering of gifts and energy in the Body of Christ, what are our distinguishing gifts? How do we cooperate with God to creatively and effectively order them? God seems to be successful with the laity. Refurbishing religious must take more work.

At the heart of the call to religious life is a desire to give oneself in love to God totally. Today’s Gospel (Lk 9 for Feb. 26th) contains this passage which motivated Francis of Assisi, “For what does it profit anyone to gain the whole world and then lose or forfeit the very self that one was created to be.” The essential call to religious life has to do with witness to the fullness of a life given freely back to God. This witness is through the vows lived in community.

Fidelis Tracy says it quite clearly for me: The vow of chastity, consecrated celibacy, witnesses to the possibility of loving without measure in response to a Beloved whose love is infinite. Living the vow of poverty witnesses to all people that we do not have an absolute right to accumulate things or to treat them as though they were not for the good of all. It expresses dependence on and trust in God. The vow of obedience acknowledges that all of us are called to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through the circumstances of our lives. The vowed religious commits herself to listen to God speaking through community in a life of interdependence (as opposed to dependence or absolute independence.) We witness to the possibility of joy living a life of dependence on God’s Word. Each of the vows is rooted in a desire to give self totally to God and to witness to all people of the primacy of God. (Vocations: How Is God Calling Me? Fidelis Tracy, C.D.P. Catholic Update from St. Anthony Messenger Press 2001 )

What do you See?

2009-03-02T17:29:00.000-06:00

By Sister Michelle L’Allier

Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not;
See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.
Isaiah 43:18-19

Lent begins February 25th this year, opening a 40 day sacred journey which calls us to renewal and change of heart. My memories of this season as a child often centered on giving up sweets or a commitment to treat my brothers and sisters better. As an adult, I’ve come to appreciate the Lenten exhortation to re-form my live anew according to the Gospel, doing so as Christians across the world enter in the same process. I have found there is power in shared purpose, in doing something personally while held in the support and accountability of a collective commitment; this is one of the gifts of religious life or a faith community.

Turning anew to God embraces turning from what distracts and blocks being in right relationship with God, neighbor, or God’s gift of creation. This Lent I’m especially mindful of bringing closure to what is ‘unfinished’ in my life. I find it is hard to see or perceive what is new when my life is cluttered within or too busy without.

Scripture is filled with encouragement for this journey. For example, the psalmist in psalm 51:12 prays: A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit. I join in the psalmist’s intention of opening to God’s work of clearing or cleaning the heart, of strengthening in spirit. Perhaps Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of “The Little Prince”, knew of the importance of a clean heart when he wrote:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Helped by the Spirit of God alive within and among us, let us turn from seeing and acting as usual, and turn toward seeing with a clear heart and perceiving with new eyes. Let us as individuals and collectively pay attention to the “something new” that God is doing in our midst. Let us take time this Lent in prayer opening ourselves to being changed in heart, to seeing more clearly, perceiving new life and tending to it in action. So may it be!

Sister Carmen's Jubilee Autobiography

2009-02-25T09:26:00.004-06:00

-- Part 1

This year is my Silver Jubilee year so I share with you my autobiography written for the occasion. Enjoy reading it.

Sr. Joanne Klinnert gave me a birthday card a number of years back that said, "If you ask me what I came to do, I came to live out loud." If you talk to any of my five siblings, you will know that I was not a quiet, reserved child. I came bursting into the world with barrels of energy.

I was born the third child and third daughter of my parents, Geraldine (Geri) Kolles Barsody and Joseph (Joe) Barsody. We lived in Elk River where we were part of the Church of St. Andrew as well as both the German (Kolles), and the Hungarian (Barsody) communities. Polka dancing, pig roasts, hayrides and playing baseball in the hollow at Grandma B's with a bunch of cousins made for a kind of wholesome, familial upbringing.

One of the greatest gifts my siblings and I received from our parents was their ability to support and nurture us an individuals. When they didn't understand something we were doing or thinking, or it clashed with what they were taught was right or wrong, or the way to do things, they didn't become obstacles to our movement. They'd give room for us to learn and they'd open themselves to learning and seeing differently. They were my first teachers of how to allow one's mind and heart to be opened continuously, and love through it all. In Franciscan language we call this living a life of "Constant Conversion".

I attended St. Andrew's School through 6th grade and then went to public school for Jr. and Sr. High. The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls ran the school. I felt a special connection with the Little Falls Franciscans because my aunt, Sr. DeLourdes Kolles, was a member of the same Community. I was one of those kids who always looked for ways to help the teachers. I'd stay after school to correct papers or wash the blackboards. I took guitar lessons from one of the Sisters in 4th grade and began playing at Mass as soon as I could change chords well enough to play simple songs. That began my "career" of being a leader of the folk choir until I graduated from high school. I was a Sunday School teacher and helped coordinate the program when I was in Junior High. I also was an active member of St. Andrew's Youth group and served as the youth representative on the Parish Council. Between school, sports and church activities I had plenty to keep me busy.

The Franciscan Sisters nurtured my heart and mind. They were common people who enjoyed being a part of the parish and school community. I can still see some of them sitting on our couch in the living room when they came to visit our home before the new school year began. They'd go to the home of the school families and bring the list of what it was we'd need for school supplies. It was also a way for them to get to know the families and the home-life of the children. I remember dancing with them at parish dances and having an overnight at the convent when we were in 6th grade. I'm grateful for the values that they instilled in us, most keenly to be of service.

(Tune in next month for part 2!)

Celebrate Black History Month

2009-02-18T10:05:00.001-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

Black History Month is celebrated every February in several countries and in the United Kingdom in October. It began as a way to honor Africans and African culture in the diaspora. Black history was, and perhaps still is, sorely missing in traditional academic curriculum.

In my little peace group, Pax Christi St. Gertrude, we have been showing a movie on a peace or justice theme once a month for over a year. We call it “Conscientious Projector”, a name we borrowed from another church. It is a challenge to keep it up. Fortunately modern hand-held cameras and technology makes it easier for freelancers to produce excellent documentaries.

For this Black History month we are choosing to show “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till”. Emmett was a fourteen-year-old African American boy from Chicago, Illinois, who was brutally murdered in Mississippi. He was murdered for whistling at a white woman. Let me share what I learned.

The murder of Emmett Till was one of the leading events that motivated the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement. The year before Emmett’s murder, 1954, was the year that the historic Brown vs. The Board of Education ruling by the Supreme Courst struck down the practice of separate but equal practice in education. This ruling opened a door to civil rights and a hope for equality. Emmett’s death was a stark reminder of how far we would have to travel to overcome racism.

A main reason that this murder was so pivotal is that his mother, Mamie Till Bradley, insisted first that her son not be buried quickly in Mississippi. Secondly, after winning the right to bring his body to Chicago, she insisted that his casket be opened for all to see the brutality of the murder. The photo and story were published throughout the nation. Both Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King where inspired by Emmett to undertake the Montgomery bus boycott.

“The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” documentary was released in 2005. The director’s research led to the reopening of the investigation by the Department of Justice in 2004. This new investigation has not yet concluded. A “Till” bill was passed which established a unit in the Department of Justice for the investigation of old Civil Rights cases.

In June of 2005, the U.S. Senate also passed a resolution apologizing for not passing an anti-lynching law 105 years earlier. It was only passed in 1968. Eighty of the 100 senators co-sponsored this resolution. (Why not 100 co-sponsors?) I googled on the topic of lynching and what I read makes my soul tremble.

Today we have an African American president and once again our hearts are hopeful, not only for all that President Obama promises for our nation, our world and our planet, but for the possibility that our nation will be able to heal some of the scars and wounds of racism that mar our schools, our churches and our society

I have been a little long winded here. I hope you found my musings interesting.

LOVE

2009-02-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

by Sister Jean Schwieters

For some time, now, I have stared at the word, LOVE wondering what I could say about it. It is a difficult word to tackle because it has come to mean so many different things to so many different persons – pleasure, passion, affection, devotion, gratification, delight, admiration, inspiration, romance, attachment, fondness, desire, tenderness, infatuation, yearning, idolatry and even abuse. In theology we speak of it as a virtue. In relationships we honor it as a source of power. Most often we refer to it as a feeling, a feeling, I believe, that is buried deep inside us and makes itself felt in a variety of experiences. Little by little it rises to the surface and we are made to deal with it. We can deny it; we can squelch it; we can enter into its lure and allow it to grow and expand within us until it spills over and reaches into the lives of others.

As always I go to my mentor, Francis of Assisi, to see what his life tells me about it. For Francis LOVE was God. And within us, who have been created in God’s image and likeness, a spark of the Divine resides. If we allow that spark to ignite we find that it sheds light on moments of darkness; it opens doors when we feel lost and abandoned; it keeps us restless when we search for answers to perplexing questions; it pushes us into pathways of mystery where we struggle to know what appears unanswerable. But, most of all LOVE enters into every relationship we form with humans and creatures alike. It motivates us to get involved when danger threatens our lives and the life of our planet. It reshapes our lives when we have grown indifferent and comfortable with the status quo. It places unwanted questions in our psyche that won’t go away until we deal with them. It energizes us when we discover a new way of seeing the persons we are in relationship with. It gives us the courage to address issues we would rather walk away from.

Because LOVE is God, it never ends. Love is a bottomless reservoir, a never completed journey, a space within us with no dimensions. Like all of us, Francis stumbled over the obstacles he himself placed in the way. He struggled to show God’s face to those who resisted or demanded or refused to mirror back the Divine Image. However, he always insisted on love between his followers, no matter what the treatment they received. Throughout his life he surrendered to the call of LOVE. And in the end his whole person reflected the image of Love crucified. He truly became a mirror of God who is LOVE.

Embody the GOSPEL

2009-02-09T08:59:00.002-06:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

How does one embody the Gospel in today’s immersion of worry, anxiety and fear? There have been so many occasions to extend the heart of God recently, especially among families in distress. One mother recently conveyed to me that she had not enough money to buy milk for her children. How can this be right here in progressive St. Cloud? The food shelf stretches only so far. I loved her children. I put the message out to the people. They responded with gift cards for groceries.

What about the families that have illness and hospitalization right now, with limited insurance and no employment. We followers of Jesus today see the suffering Christ and we witness suffering in the world, in our families, in our parishes! What can we do? We extend a listening ear, support by presence and care. Jesus teaches us how to respond. St. Francis lived his response to others in need. We know that the wounds created by today’s problems are softened by our compassion.

Recently a young mother entered eternity after years of cancer treatments and suffering. How tenderly the children spoke of their mother. Many people listened to their stories about her. It brought comfort to this grieving family. We honored their mother by honoring the words of her children. I saw the pain lift somewhat as we cared about their story.

How often the prayer of St. Francis teaches us how to respond to others in the here and now.

“Oh, Divine Master, grant that I may seek,
Not so much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

Weathered Wine Skins

2009-02-04T15:57:00.002-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

“New wine is for fresh skins,” says Jesus in Matthew 2:22. The gospel of the day on January 19th caused my heart to skip a beat.

What do his words mean for an aging Franciscan community?

Can’t our weathered skins still receive
and hold
fermenting juice,
stretching,
waiting?

If our skins are aged, is our wine near readiness to be poured out?

My own life is limited. The time for lifting a glass to me is coming, I know.
Fidelity,
keeping watch,
transformation (in darkness as well as in light)
made good wine of my life.

Who else is in the vineyard for our congregation?
My gut cries for
new skins,
with visible,
tangible hope
for the future
of this winery
before all of the old is served.

P.S. I know Someone who can make wine out of water. . . .

Reflections on CHANGE: An invitation

2009-01-29T08:41:00.004-06:00

By Sister Michelle L'Allier

These days around inauguration I’ve been reflecting on change in our nation, in community, in organizations. I felt inspired to write on the change.gov website to the Obama-Biden transition team earlier this month, moved by a book I’ve been deeply touched by. It was energizing and hopeful to write what’s been stirring in my heart. Here it is, slightly edited for posting here.

As a Franciscan Sister, I am inspired by St. Francis of Assisi who lived in a tumultuous time of history (in some ways not so different from our own!) some 800 years ago. His life witnessed to being an instrument of peace, to living in communion with all of creation, to befriending the poor, to seeing all as sister and brother. These values of living in right relationship are a significant contribution to a culture here in the States and in many parts of the world that is often violent, lacking in dignity and respect for persons and for the gift of creation.

My prayers are with you and with all of us who will work together for creative and positive change at a complex time of history. I have felt moved to write as I have been reading a book that offers significant wisdom to us in these times. It is called: “Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People. Organizations, and Society” by Peter M. Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Here is an excerpt regarding the book from the homepage of their website (http://www.presence.net/) :

“In wide-ranging conversations held over a year and a half, organizational learning pioneers Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers explored the nature of transformational change—how it arises, and the fresh possibilities it offers a world dangerously out of balance. The book
introduces the idea of “presence”—a concept borrowed from the natural world that the whole is entirely present in any of its parts—to the worlds of business, education, government, and leadership. Too often, the authors found, we remain stuck in old patterns of seeing and acting. By encouraging deeper levels of learning, we create an awareness of the larger whole, leading to actions that can help to shape its evolution and our future.”

Another great author and facilitator of change we can learn from is: Margaret J. Wheatley. One of her more recent books is: “Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time.” A excerpt from her homepage (http://www.margaretwheatley.com) states:

“I’ve learned, just as Joel Barker predicted when he introduced us to paradigms years ago, that “problems that are impossible to solve with one paradigm may be easily solved with a different one.” I’ve been applying the lens of living systems theory to organizations and communities. With wonderful colleagues, I’ve been exploring the question: “How might we organize differently if we understood how Life organizes?” It’s been an exploration that has helped me look into old patterns and problems and develop new and hopeful insights and practices. It has also increased my sense of wonder for life, and for the great capacity of the human spirit.”

Practically, I would suggest that in the teams, councils, committees and think tanks that are being created to support change at this time, persons such as these authors and consultants be included. They bring strong global experience in facilitating change for the common good, in listening to the future as it wishes to emerge. In Christian terms we might say they have strong experience in collective discernment and in integrating various disciplines and perspectives—important qualities at this critical juncture.

From another vantage point, another prayer-full resource are the many Catholic religious communities (Franciscans, Benedictines, etc.) who have hundreds of years of collective experience in living for the common good, in celebrating unity in diversity, and in discerning collectively our way through change. Joined with other faith communities and traditions, we are a powerful resource for positive change. May God bless you with wisdom, courage and creativity today and every day. Thank you for listening!

May each of us listen deeply for the change that is moving in our hearts. May we be graced with the courage to share it with others; together, then, let us act in service to make this a better world.

Peace and all Good!

FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO

2009-01-26T07:48:00.000-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law, OSF

Recently I viewed the full-length documentary movie “For The Bible Tells Me So”. I had seen it once before, but the second time it was even more powerful and moving. I’d highly recommend it.

Here is a synopsis taken from the movie’s web site:

“Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding
to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.”

This movie is very well done, is educational, and at times funny.

Another resource on this subject is the book “Faith Beyond Resentment” by James Allison, an openly gay theologian. In his book he lays out a basis of overcoming resentment toward authority figures and institutions that seem to be in the way of progress. In doing so, he seems very Franciscan. For example, he challenges us to see everyone as our brother and sister. He cites the Gospel verse “Call no one father” to mean that even our biological fathers and mothers are brothers and sisters. In being equal to them, and to other authority figures, we need not be afraid or threatened. We are all children of God.

While the institutional Catholic Church hasn’t done so well responding to issues of orientation and incorporating new understandings about sexuality, I am mindful that Gospel calls us to be loving, open and ever more inclusive of all peoples. We are all God’s children. Francis who embraced the lepers as brothers and sister, who loved the tiniest and oddest of creatures (worms), and who traveled to lovingly preach to the Sultan, prime leader of the Moslem people, is a great example for us to follow.

Sexual orientation can be a controversial subject. What are your thoughts?

Feeding the Human Spirit

2009-01-15T15:11:00.002-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

I enjoy food most when I am hungry. (That’s why I sometimes sneak my dessert before the rest of my meal – dessert just isn’t quite so marvelous on a full stomach - wouldn’t you agree?)

This past month has been full of lessons for me and my community here at Clare’s Well. For a few days it seemed if anything could go wrong, it would: the pipe between the septic tank and our house broke due to roots in it from the large shade tree over our deck , causing a flood in our laundry room; a deputy stopped Carol for driving our truck with outdated tags; the electric connection to the House of Clare gave up; a guest inadvertently flattened our flag pole with her vehicle just after we featured our Earth Flag on the front page of our current newsletter; and three days ago, our car died while I was driving it. I, for one, hunger most for help when the daily machinery of life goes kaput. This month, my soul’s appetite for human as well as Divine compassion was overwhelmingly stretched and satisfied.

The care with which our septic was repaired brought me to tears. Our friends Luke Mader, Joe Gosiak and crew removed our large, precious shade tree and did so as a gift to us. Then, I wish everyone could have seen how carefully Ron Mares excavated under the deck without damaging the deck or the small trees where he had to park his huge equipment. All of our little catastrophes were remedied with exquisite timing, quality service and utmost support for us. Pete Braun ran a new wire to the House of Clare in time for the incoming guest to enjoy light and heat in that space. Jeanne from our Motherhouse got the right color tags to us before we got fined. (I don’t know how we were so color blind for nearly a year with those blue tags when everyone else’s car has red tags!) The flag pole has to wait til spring. The car? Would you believe? It died one-half block from the repair shop, and the problem was under warranty.

A book I’m reading this month is Island of the World by Michael D. O’Brien, a story of a man whose world is destroyed in the war in Yugoslavia. This book is more than historical fiction. It is a vehicle for my soul’s appreciation of holiness, compassion and goodness born of adversity. I told Sisters Carol and Paula my blog this month will be on the value of suffering. Trite as that sounds, it is uppermost in my mind. Island of the World’s main character, Josip, grows in his humanity as he experiences God in the sacraments of unlikely human instruments. As fellow prisoners feed him portions of their meager bread to sustain Josip’s life, he begins to heal of terror and bitterness. I saw a purity of character forged only in agony borne with integrity. Mind you, our trials this month were infinitesimal bumps in the road compared to any brutality known to victims of war. Nevertheless, I believe I and my community of sisters here at Clare’s Well were fed some of the same food Josip tasted. Our troubles were such that we required God’s angels to come a.s.a.p. or we would be overwhelmed. Human instruments of God’s goodness came “right now.” Sure, such people come around here every day, but . . . . I never appreciated them so much as I did looking up from a little pit of troubles and woe. My gratitude grew by leaps and bounds. Light really shines brightest in the dark.

Christmas Celebrations

2009-01-14T14:53:00.001-06:00

by Sister Cordy Korkowski

Christmas Day meant it was the birthday of Jesus but also my Dad’s birthday. We celebrated the dual birthdays every year, until my father died in 1996. After our farm house became too small for the Christmas celebrations, the families of my eight brothers and four sisters graduated to the Brandon City Hall, where little feet could run and play and those more advanced in years could find comfortable spaces to spread out and visit. We have nearly 70-100 Korkowski’s and friends gather now, depending on the weather, most originating from the lineage of my parents, Grace Lambertz Korkowski and Al Korkowski.

My dad related to me that on Christmas day he would feed the animals the best of corn and ground grain. After all, it was Christmas. Now, it’s my turn to know how to celebrate with all of creation, an activity St. Francis would certainly endorse. I go out in the morning of December 24 and make sure all the bird feeders are filled to the brim. Even the humble little sparrows are grateful to be remembered.

This year, we Franciscan Sisters decided to get into the swing of things around the Franciscan Welcoming House too. Sister Clara Stang obtained a darling little tree that we have placed in our front porch. It is just enough to let all know who drive past, that we are celebrating a great feast. Inside our house is the traditional tree, gathered ornaments of each Sister, plus poinsettias that look glorious in their deep red outfits, lights and artifacts of a variety of countries and traditions.

We have done the inner preparation too. Each in our house, Sisters Loretta Denfeld, Clara Stang and myself, have treasured the time of Advent, 2008. We would share on the special Advent Scripture readings at prayer. Our own spiritual preparation for Christmas, plus many social gatherings of Sisters, friends and family, combined to make the days before and after Christmas rich and meaningful.

St. Francis of Assisi initiated the crèche in Assisi, being deeply in love with the Incarnation, Jesus becoming one of us. When we gaze and admire the crib scene, it is more than beautiful artistry. It is a sign of God’s immense love for us. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for such mystery.

"NEW"

2009-01-07T08:06:00.001-06:00

by Sister Jean Schwieters

NEW! Just the sight and sound of that word tugs at several different feeling chords inside me. Excitement at the thought of something other than the “same old, same old” and a sense that the monotony will at last be broken. Perhaps, we tell ourselves, we will be treated to something we’ve never experienced before.

The word, NEW. can also conjure up Hope when we’ve grown weary of never seeing things change; when we have fallen victim to a boring routine or meaningless repetition. Change, we’re convinced, will revive a sense of confidence and belief in possibilities never yet explored.

But the most stimulating reaction to this word is one that stokes the imagination and pushes it wide open to an entrance into unlimited reality - mixed up, rearranged and unfamiliar.

Francis of Assisi was the kind of person who didn’t let the burdens of tradition stop him from pushing the limits. He was willing to be a “new kind of fool”, someone who responded to the inner promptings of the Spirit with little comprehension of where it would bring him. He was the one who literally lived the adage, “You make the path by walking.” He felt an urgency to respond to God’s call NOW. He trusted God would fill in the details only when it was time for them. It was as if God drew the plan and Francis with eyes closed dared to follow that plan, creating something new and different, not deliberately but obediently. Living in a world where religious enclosure was the rule of the day, he claimed the world as his cloister. Clinging to the Gospel as his Rule of Life he dared church leaders to grant permission for a way of life based on a total and radical adherence to Gospel challenges. Being part of a society where the possibilities for wealth were emerging for folks other than those born into wealth, Francis chose to live as a poor person where dependence on God gave him a new found freedom. When life seemed to grow stale and the fire inside him seemed to be dying out he used to exclaim, “Let us begin to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing.” The story of his life tells us that he was tireless in his pursuit of holy newness for he constantly hoped to begin again. For Francis each day offered its own gift; each moment, an opportunity. No two days were the same. Each moment was NEW, blessed with the breath of God.

TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY in a time of great sorrow

2008-12-29T08:19:00.003-06:00

By Sister Michelle L'Allier

My heart is both happy and heavy. That both are true at once is a mystery to me, one I’m invited to embrace often. At Christmas we celebrate with joy, God born as a child into our world. Known as Emmanuel, God-with-us, Jesus lives still and is present in all of life through the power of the Holy Spirit—another mystery! Thankfully this is true in the midst of a global recession where suffering reaches into our hearts and homes with social, economic, and political consequences. Perhaps these paradoxes create an opening for us to re-evaluate our priorities as individuals and as communities.

Saint Francis, writing 800 years ago, wrote compellingly about the Incarnation, about God becoming human in and through us:

They are the spouses, brothers and sisters, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are his spouses when the faithful soul is united by the Holy Spirit with our Lord Jesus Christ. We are his brothers and sisters when we do the “will of the Father who is in heaven”. We are mothers when we bear him in our hearts and bodies with divine love and with pure and sincere consciences, and when we give birth to him through a holy life which should enlighten others because of our example. 1LtF:7-10

Amazing! Francis understood that many levels of relationship are true at the same time. This insight of Francis is one that rings true with my own experience of living the Gospel. Returning to our San Rafael, Mexico mission for the blessing of our new casa there, I witnessed such diversity of relationship. On December 13th the local Bishop, priests and families from the surrounding area joined the Sisters for a celebration of Mass, a house blessing, recognition of the builders and donors, song and dance, meal and conversation. Beautiful in its simplicity, the casa is practically laid out in hacienda style for Sisters, secondary students, volunteers and young women interested in our Franciscan way of life to live, pray, learn and serve together. The example of their shared life witnesses to our gracious and provident God.

May each of us give birth to Jesus through holy lives, giving example as Saint Francis exhorted to living as spouse, brother or sister, and mothers of Jesus. May God’s peace and joy be with each of us and with our world.

Water in the Faucet 24/7

2008-12-23T12:39:00.003-06:00

by S. Carolyn Law

Every morning when I get up in Chicago there is water in my faucet, both hot and cold. I usually take a shower as part of my waking up ritual. I appreciate this gift of Sister Water. About 2 years ago there was a challenge to try to live on 5 gallons of water a day, the amount that many of the world’s people have to exist on. I knew right off that I could do it. For me, it would only mean postponing my shower, laundry, and dishes for the next day when I could lavishly use Sister Water again.

I didn’t try the experiment. Instead, I try to save 5 gallons a day. I added a pint jar filled with water to the tank of my toilet, an old model water guzzler, to reduce the amount in each flush. Over time the pint saved adds up. I also replaced the water generous showerhead with a reduced flow showerhead. I also almost always wash my car by hand using two buckets, one for soaping and one for rinsing.

Last month, November of 2008, I traveled to Nicaragua for a reunion with the people I worked with 16+ years ago. First I stayed three nights with my friend, Mariana, and her family in the city of Granada. Early on, one of their reports was that the previous weekend the water “left” for two days. They had completely run out of water and had to go looking for some.

Mariana was our neighbor in the barrio in Managua where I had lived for 2 years with Sisters Carmen Barsody and Joanne Klinnert. While she lived in the tiniest tin shack, she always managed to keep her kids healthy and well nourished. We have kept up our relationship over the years. It was good to see her in person and become reacquainted with her growing family. Now, the oldest, Yolainis, is 20 and graduating from high school and the youngest, Carolina J, is 16 and in her second year of high school. In all, there are 8 persons living in her household albeit a cement-block house with three bedrooms.

The water came back before my arrival, that is, until my last morning there, when the water left again. Fortunately, there was enough in the barrel for a splash bath before I left to join others in the barrio where the rest of the reunion was. Sisters Carmen Barsody and Michelle Lallier, Geri Dietz, minister of Associates, were there from the States along with Veronica Rivadeneira and Vilma Zambrano, associates from Ecuador. The occasion for this international meeting was the commitment ceremony of 6 new associates.

I was looking forward to being back in our house that we built there. Needless to say, the barrio had changed so much it was hardly recognizable, only the inside of the house looked familiar. I thought it might be a little cooler in Managua, but the water shortage was much worse. The immediate area where the “Sisters’” house stands, has had no water during the day for 3 years. Most nights the water “arrives” about 1 a.m. and dribbles in until 3 or 4 a.m. Someone has to be up to collect it and dump the small buckets from the spigot low to the ground into larger receptacles. The sound of Sister Water splashing at 2 a.m. was lovely.

But the second night before our departure the water never came. Sunday was a long hot day and we almost ran out of water. Of our group there were four of us joining the three regular inhabitants of the house, so our presence was a strain on the water reserve. Water is so important everywhere, especially in climates which are oppressively hot. Two or three showers a day are the norm. With the strain on the water supply, I gladly accepted, in the morning and the evening, the offer for a shower from one of our new associates who lives down the hill and has a better water supply. The feel of cool water was refreshing.

I give thanks to Sister Water, who as St. Francis prayed is “very useful and humble and precious and chaste.” Let us remember the many, many people - men, women and children -who live on 5 gallons a day. May our nations work toward water justice for everyone.

LITTLENESS

2008-12-16T08:52:00.002-06:00

by Sister Jean Schwieters

How many times have you heard the expression, “Good things come in little packages.” Do you believe that? In a society that keeps pushing for “bigger and bigger”, “more and more”when measuring the worth of something or someone it takes a stretch to believe that little packages have anything to do with something good. But “littleness” marked the teachings of Francis of Assisi who got the idea from Jesus. When Jesus, who was God (about as big as you can get) came to earth he came as a little child, a weak and poor child who needed others. He grew up in obscurity and hiddeness. When he did go public belittling remarks where made about him, such as, “What good can come from Nazareth?”,his home town. He preached a message that encouraged littleness. It was called humility, which really means living in truth. Truth has to do with living the facts. For Francis that meant recognizing the fact that who he was, what he had become, everything he had was given to him by God. He didn’t earn it. He didn’t acquire it on his own. He wasn’t entitled to it. Everything was given as a gift from an all loving God. Nothing was his own, except, as he often said, his sin. That alone he could claim because no one was responsible for that except himself.

What is there about littleness that makes it so important? For one, it takes us out of the realm of false power. Power, today, is often defined in terms of wealth, control, possessions, authority, force and these are examples of false power. While littleness is often defined in opposite terms, such as poverty, weakness, simplicity, service and witness it frequently holds the same amount of power, if not more. Francis of Assisi is one “powerful” example of this. After eight centuries he continues to hold an influential place in the lives of many. He lived in simplicity and humility. He chose poverty over riches. He lived out of his core, where truth resides. He identified with the minority, those despised by society. He lived the mandate of Jesus who stated that “Unless you become as little children, you cannot enter the kin-dom of God” –the home where God’s children reside for all eternity.

At Christmas time this year, let’s truly celebrate the birth of the Child-God, the “little package” sent to us from an All-Good God.

COLLAGE: An assembly of diverse fragments

2008-12-09T13:23:00.001-06:00

Sister Jan Kilian

I made myself a cup of tea, leaned back in the chair Sister Mary Pat trucked from the Motherhouse for me and tried to answer for myself what this Franciscan Living Blog is all about. After three months of writing, I took time to ponder what each one of us has written so far. “Living Franciscan” paints quite a stirring portrait of Little Falls, MN Franciscans. Knowing the other five women contributing to this Blog, I found myself saying, “Yeah, I see you (Michelle, Carmen, Carolyn, Cordy, Jean) in this piece! It is so you. What you say is you, but it is also me and, mysteriously, each one of us. There is nothing here I can’t identify with: Carolyn, no ordinary healer but one who delves into something magical like ‘holographic memory resolution’; Michelle, living your call to communion with heart; Carmen, living your primary values in active, expanding, compassionate heart; Cordy, praying with, listening to broken people, and being there so beautifully with your dying brother; Jean, peeling back the meaning of words we eat and breathe in Franciscan living, words and works of peace and thankfulness. Why do I know from deep within myself what each of you is talking about?

Sipping your words along with my tea, I am reminded of our annual Community Days, when all of us Sisters and Associates gather in Little Falls for some “us” time. Nearly every year, some one of us asks, “Who the dickens are we anyway?” We ask other unanswerable questions, have a good week together, and then go back to our world-wide ministries re-energized and reassured that answers aren’t the most important commodity where we are concerned. We are a rather indefinable collection of people in love with God, God’s creation, and each other: a collage of Divine composition.

Anyone reading this Blog* could be curious about what holds us together. Such curiosity has led some to come and see for themselves. We now have more Franciscan lay Associates than we ever dreamed possible, and two beautiful Mexican women have asked to join our vowed community. Aurora is a novice living with our sisters in Waite Park, MN and Isabel is a postulant, living with our sisters in San Rafael, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

So, this Blog, this collage is us, a work of art made of diverse fragments - visions, questions and experiences - held together with a common Franciscan attraction. Trying to make articulate statements of who we are as Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls is harder than clarifying who my Kilian family is: Kilians come to be Kilian by gift through birth or adoption , or choice, as in marriage. Franciscans come to be Franciscan through gift of an inner calling and through the choice to respond to that invitation. If my Kilian family ever sits together to try to define who we are as Kilians, the conversation gets pretty funny. We name ancestors and uncles and cousins and tell stories and say “Remember when”, and the inlaws say, “That’s a Kilian for you!” I think we Franciscans do our best defining work when we, too, use stories and memories which strengthen our relationships. It can be enlightening to notice when a friend or observer says, “That’s a Franciscan for you!” For reasons I don’t intellectually comprehend, I sit in this chair reading Jean, Cordy, Carolyn, Carmen, and Michelle and I can wholeheartedly say, “That’s a Franciscan for you!”

*I know at least one person, named Mike, is reading it- thank you for your comment, Mike.

the BREAKING of the BREAD

2008-12-02T09:33:00.000-06:00

S. Cordy Korkowski

Bread baking has always been one of my favorite hobbies. It all started way back in elementary school when I belonged to our local 4H club in Brandon. At about ten years of age, I was scheduled to give a demonstration on bread baking in Alexandria as part of my 4H program. One day when my parents were scheduled to be gone for a few hours, I thought that this was my chance to do some practicing and independent bread baking. As soon as the dust settled on the road and my parent’s car was out of sight, I gathered my ingredients, my bowls and spoons and went to work. Strangely, my bread was not turning out like my mothers. I was very upset and disappointed. I decided I had best find a place to get rid of the mountain of stubborn dough before they returned home. I went out to the pasture with my huge bowl and a wooden spoon. I carefully scraped all the dough into a small dip in the pasture, hoping I would never see it again. I covered it with a bit of grass to camouflage it. Later that night I was feeling so guilty I needed to go out into the pasture. To my surprise three chickens were stuck in my dough.

Since those early years, I have learned a lot about bread baking. I have had many successes, a few failures and a lot of satisfied guests. Bread baking has great advantages. When one bakes, one stays at home for at least a four to five hour stretch. Of course, I like this. The Franciscan Welcoming House has a big kitchen and lots of elbow room to bake. I get a lot of thinking and praying time when I bake bread. And yes, sometimes reconciliation work takes place when I am kneading the dough and getting out some life frustrations. The temperature of the room, the age of the yeast and flour all make a difference to a baker. And when it comes to the actual end product, there is no fragrance like freshly baked bread. It can fill the house. During this holiday season, bread takes on every kind of twist, look and texture. It is used in gift giving, fine dining and in casual settings.

During this beautiful season of Advent, we remember the coming and birth of Jesus in history. This feast was very dear to Francis of Assisi so much so that he re-created the crib scene in Grecchio. During this Advent time, we remember also how Jesus said he would stay with us always in the breaking of the bread. May the gift of earthly and Heavenly Bread fill our hearts and souls this Advent.

In SICKNESS and in HEALTH

2008-11-25T08:35:00.004-06:00

by Sister Michelle L’Allier

As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m especially mindful of the precious gift of life. Earlier this month I was in Ecuador and Nicaragua as the liaison to our South and Central American region. We had our fall regional meeting in Duran, Ecuador, and received new Associates there as well as in Managua, Nicaragua.

In addition to enjoying the beauty of Sisters and Associates gathered together, we shared our individual and collective journeys of faith. I was inspired by the diverse expressions of a common heart that I saw reflected through the witness of each person’s life. Though it was eleven years ago that Sister Carmen Barsody and I returned to the U.S. from our community’s mission in Nicaragua, it felt like I had never left. In our visits to Ecuador and Nicaragua we could see the fruit of many seeds sown over the years as we celebrated and cried with the joys and sorrows of dear friends and companions drawn to live in the spirit of Saints Francis and Clare.

Among those we visited were Juan and his wife Norma who have worked with us over the years in receiving delegations from the States, serving with hospitality, translation and transportation. Juan was very ill with cancer when we arrived, and we spent time with him and Norma often during our week there. On our last evening in Managua we went with a group of neighbors and Associates to visit Juan and his family in their home. We blessed him with a Tau cross,

with song and with our goodbyes. By the time we arrived home in the United States, Juan had died. Upon hearing the news, I wept with gratitude and grief.

Life is indeed precious, and I am grateful that our long-planned visit back to Nicaragua gave us an opportunity to be with Juan and his family during this difficult time. As I re-enter life in Minnesota, I have a renewed awareness of the blessing of relationships with community, family, friends, and coworkers. As Saints Francis and Clare did in their time, so today I celebrate connections that span time and space, giving thanks for the gift of kinship in our broader human and creation family.

Let us give thanks!

I am CHALLENGED and ENCOURAGED

2008-11-21T07:45:00.004-06:00

by Sister Carmen Barsody

At Faithful Fools we make an annual 7-day retreat on the streets of the Tenderloin. From October 18th to 25th, we retreated in the streets with 9 other people, while others kept vigil through meditation at Faithful Fools in San Francisco. As part of our preparation we write a letter to family and friends, a circle of people whose encouragement, solidarity, prayers and generosity walk with us through the week.

This past July I was given the unimaginable gift of participating in a study pilgrimage in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of Saints Francis and Clare. As I walked through the streets, churches and shrines, as lectures were given and time for prayer and reflection were integrated into each place, I would pay attention to what most resonated with my own heart. Where did I feel the life within me leap at the meeting of the spirits of Francis and Clare and their intentional ways of being in the world? Their commitments and lives were in response to what they were witnessing around them. It too is my commitment.

I am challenged and encouraged by the lives of Francis and Clare, and many others through the ages who knew as Ghandi did that, “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Each of them paid attention to what was going on in their city or town, and in the world, seeing wars based in religious beliefs; growing economic disparity for the majority of citizens; abuse of power by government, civic and religious leaders; lepers of the community considered dead and sent outside the city to live; etc.

It appears that times aren’t so different. The retreat in the streets is a time to look into the mirror of the world where I live and polish the mirror of my own heart, as well as strengthen and clarify our work as Faithful Fools and Franciscan Sisters. It is a focused time of allowing knowledge and sight to enter us from the ground (literally), up through our heart and into our conscious mind so as to be transformed into action. It is a form of fasting, fasting from that which fills us, confuses and distracts us other days of the year. I used the journal I used while on pilgrimage in Assisi, as it is one continuous pilgrimage of the heart.

I set out on the 7-day street retreat with my heart filled with the prayer intentions people had given me to walk with through the week. I prayed for… sisters who were not speaking to each other; for a man in serious condition after an accident; for someone’s sister with a serious heart condition; for vocations to our community; for a cousin who is battling cancer; for a husband, friend and cousin; for well being through eye surgery; for the unemployed who are feeling discouraged and desperate; for a young woman and her son who are in a difficult living situation; for a sale of a house; for good health; for a sister in-law who was dying of cancer; for people who suffer from mental illness; for a young man who had a court date for parole; for a whole family whose picture I carried with me. One friend sent a song she had written, “Be thou my feet and guide my walking. Be thou my eyes that I might see. Open my heart. Give me compassion. Hear my cry and answer me.” This song became the song we sang daily as we gathered for reflection.
It is a retreat. As the week goes the subtle inner shifting of our bodies and minds feels glacier-like. The heart enlarges with gratitude for all the generosity we experience. A Cambodian woman offered us each a sandwich and wanted us to know that Jesus loves us. On Tuesday nights a restaurant owner serves “Curry Without Worry” for “all hungry souls” in the plaza. He fasts through the day and cooks the meal. As volunteers serve the food, he moves through the plaza with an instrument, lifting hearts with music. After all are served he then serves the volunteers. After everyone has been fed, he eats. Housed and un-housed form the line, for in reality we are all hungry souls.

We were grateful once again for the institutions whose mission is to feed hot meals to thousands of people each day in their dining rooms and soup kitchens. The heart gets an extra jab when we see children eating their breakfast in a soup kitchen before school, or people in wheelchairs moving through the line, as well as youth and elders and all of us in-between. At the same time we experience once again what it is to be at the bottom where what reaches us are the old and dry pastries, bruised and spoiling fruit, processed foods and innumerable carbohydrates and sugar that fill up but don’t actually nourish.

As we sought a place to sleep we’d join the many others who would sign up for a shelter and then be told to sit in a chair and wait, forced to sit in front of a 6 foot blaring television. After four or five hours of sitting hopeful that a bed would be available someplace, we’d be told at 11:30 p.m. that there were no beds to be had and thus sent out into the street to begin looking for cardboard and search for a place to sleep on a concrete sidewalk or in a doorway. What surprised me the most was that no one seemed to make a special effort to find shelter for 75 or 80 year old women or people in wheelchairs who were missing limbs. One woman with a walker did get a bed in a shelter 2 miles away, but the van that takes people to shelters was not going to come that night. If she wanted it she had to get there on her own. She didn’t. She fell asleep in the chair and stayed there til they closed.

As the week went on our daily reflections deepened. The song, “Be Thou My Feet”, as well as our Mantra, “What holds me separate? What keeps me separated? As I walk the streets, what still connects me?” grew stronger. We all grew stronger in our commitment to bear witness to the joys and suffering in the universe and to bear what we witness, even though we might feel tired at times. The elders, children, physically challenged and just plain human beings living inhumane realities increased our longing to be the change we wish to see in the world.

We closed the retreat with the commitment to keep walking in ways that will keep us awake to human suffering and social injustice. It is an every day commitment. Some of us closed the retreat knowing that we will set out once again during Holy Week. I close this reflection with an invitation…Come walk the streets with us, or walk the streets wherever you are. Let your heart be opened to all there is for us to notice, within ourselves and around us. Together we will “discover on the street our common humanity.”

HEALING Mother Earth's wounds

2008-11-18T09:04:00.001-06:00

by Sister Carolyn Law

One of our concerns as Franciscan Sisters is the state of the earth. Our commitment statement says that we work toward healing Mother Earth’s wounds. Practically ever day carries some news about global warming and efforts to reverse green house gasses.

Lately, I have begun taking a plastic bag with me on my almost daily walks. I then pick up what recyclable cans and bottles are on my path. Plastic bottles seem most abundant, beer cans are second and pop and juice cans come in third. I wonder about those who so carelessly discard so much garbage. We all need to live more consciously in relationship to dear Mother Earth.

Did you know that you can reduce your carbon footprint by recycling? Recycling one soda or beer can saves enough electricity to power your computer for four hours. I wonder how many bags I would need to collect to balance my carbon output to zero? I am sure I have a long ways to go. I try to keep extra lights off and power down my computer when I am not using them. Fortunately, since I live in a big city I can often use public transportation or walk for many errands. I live 3 blocks from the grocery store and 10 blocks from the parish.

Still, I know that I burn plenty of fossil fuels when I do drive, albeit in a hybrid car, and when I travel by air. Living near Lake Michigan I can get by without an air conditioner but my comfortably sized apartment also puts me in the hole for the heat it takes.

After reducing, reusing, and recycling the best that I can, I purchase carbon offsets to keep my part of carbon output neutral. Will you consider doing the same?

ETERNITY in an hour

2008-11-11T10:05:00.001-06:00

by Sister Jan Kilian

I experienced William Blake’s poem as my life flashed before my eyes when I received a ‘death sentence’ on October 1st.

"To see the world in a grain of sand
and to see heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hands,
and eternity in an hour."

The nuclear scan of my painful rib shows an area of possible bone metastases from previous breast cancer. Like Emily Dickinson:

"I felt a cleavage in my mind
As if my brain had split;
I tried to match it, seam by seam,
But could not make them fit.
The thought behind I strove to join
Unto the thought before,
But sequence raveled out of reach
Like balls upon a floor."

A door is closing in my face. My years are shortly numbered. The thought of dying from cancer is ominous; how will I handle the pain? I remember others who have gone through that agony: my aunt Marie, some Franciscan sisters – Cyrene, Ann, Rita and Johnelle. They made the journey gracefully, so, so can I, I say to myself. One step at a time. I know I’m in good hands, etc. etc. Although I mean these words, they don’t keep the lid on my anxiety.

My largest grief is for Clare’s Well, and for my family and friends! I can hardly bear to see the pain and concern in Carol and Paula’s faces. We haven’t fully healed from Aggie’s death less than a year ago. How can they bear this? And who will share their work load? I am more concerned about this than I am about my own future, because I can count on community to care for me. My personal care is more obvious than is staffing at Clare’s Well.

Each morning, Carol, Paula and I share prayer and whatever else is on our minds. I have an x-ray report, not a final diagnosis, they remind me. An upcoming biopsy could be benign. These compassionate women help me to think positively. They pray for me.

Ten days later, on October 10th, Carol accompanied me to receive my biopsy report: no evidence of malignancy, only rib damage from some forgotten fall! I am shedding tears of gratitude both for the good news and for Carol’s companionship: someone to experience this huge relief with me.

That night I awoke too excited to sleep. I have my life back with a healthy body, a future, Clare’s Well community, and a greatly enhanced enthusiasm for all of the above. An inner door has broken open with blinders of over-familiarity and taking-life-for-granted stripped away. I see what I value, and I don’t have to leave just yet.

This was not a totally terrible experience, not that I’d ask to go through it again. Pain and facing death do teach lessons not available in any other school.

If I am allowed to know I am dying when my days end, I now believe I will be able to go forward with greater grace, trusting death as a normal part of life. These ten days were a rehearsal. I passed the preliminary exam without crashing. I feel encouraged that I will be able to pass the final test.