Christmas Garden

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…

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.


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All good gifts around us, are sent from heaven above

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!

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What Do You Know?

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.

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Spinach and such things.

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!


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Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise

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.

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