Archive for August, 2015

A special feast day greeting to Friar Bob Frazzella.  We know him as a frequent visitor to our Blog.  We all appreciate friendly visits.  Right?  Thank you, Bob.

     Please meet some of our new friends.    Gina comes from sisterstory.org out of St. Catherine University in St. Paul.  Some months ago Sr. Kate shared her life in relation to her love for music and sharing this gift with the Sisters at the monastery and the larger community that prays with us.  We will apprise you when the video is ready for your viewing via this Blog.

     Sr. Gabriel and Lowell renewed their friendship from days on the farm in Nebraska where they fished, hunted squirrels and rabbits and played every game that children’s imagination can devise.  It was ten years since their last visit and they and they shared deeply of how their faith had shaped their lives.

     Bishop Patrick Chilekwa Chisanga was born in 1971 in Kamuchanga in the Copperbelt region of Zambia, Africa.  He entered Franciscan Conventual Order in 1990. Patrick was ordained nine years later in 1999 and pursued studies in psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (2002-2006). His pastoral assignments have included parish ministry and formation work at St. Bonaventure College in Lusaka. He served as Provincial of the Franciscan Conventuals  in Zambia for four years. At the time of his nomination, Friar Patrick was serving as a formator at St. Bonaventure College in Lusaka.

     He was named Bishop of the Mansa Diocese by Pope Francis in November of 2013 and ordained bishop in February of 2014.   The Diocese of Mansa is in northern Zambia and currently includes about 1.6 million people, of whom 434,000 are Catholic.  The diocese has 16 parishes. Bishop Patrick has opened 5 new parishes in just over a year.  At 44, he is one of the youngest Catholic bishops in the Church.

     On the Fourth of July we celebrated and prayed for freedom for all God´s people.   Fr. Thomas Joseph was with us as presider at the Eucharist and stayed for fellowship.  Thomas Joseph is from India.  After ordination he worked with Teresa in Calcutta.  Later he spent some time in Mexico where he became fluent in Spanish.  Archbishop Harry Flynn invited Thomas Joseph to serve here in St. Paul/Minneapolis where he ministers with great  joy and love for God’s people.

Religious Sisters and Brothers from our Archdiocese joined our new Administrator,  Archbishop Bernard Hebda, at the Basilica Block Party.   How many Sisters and Brothers do you recognize?

Do you remember the lovely Ella Fitzgerald?  Her song was “Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” 

It looks that way in Sister Caroline’s photo of a corner of our garden.

And it is not just easy, it is fun for the grey, red and white squirrels who play together in the lush foliage of the little pine forest behind the monastery.

I think this photo deserves a poem.

EDGE

I understand an edge: a border, isn’t it, a first wedge into

something else, something new? – somewhere you can only

get past by falling, falling, and giving yourself into the hands

of gravity, flying to the nest you, the one that only appears

beyond the limits of what came before. There are sharp edges

that cut your fingers when you cling to them, and there are

long concavities that curl upwards and lift you till you are

flung into space, a free place wide enough for fear, euphoria

and second thoughts, a space where something is born that

turns you wide-eyed toward the welcoming curve of newness,

and you find yourself at the beginning, the threshold,

the other side.

Kate Martin 8/ 09