“Grace and Peace to you from the One who is, who was and is to come.”  (The Book of Revelation. 4)

The golden cross on our Easter card reaches out to each and all of you, to the north and south, east and west.  The Alpha and Omega, first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, indicate the all inclusive message of hope and good will to all God’s people throughout the world.  This message is not sterile but bears leaves and flowers with the promise of fruit already forming beneath the buds.

Our new Franciscan/Jesuit pope urges us not to give in to the daily temptation to bitterness and pessimism but to find new ways of being grace to others and sharing peace with those near and far.

In Community here in Bloomington we know God’s blessingas we celebrate the Solemn Profession of Sister Lucie Lafleur on April 27.  Sister Lucie is originally from Quebec where she ministered as a pastoral associate and a member the San Egidio movement with particular outreach to immigrants.  Fidelity and fruitfulness come together as we celebrate100 years of life of our Sister Anne Condon, born and raised in Minneapolis, and one of the founders of this Community.

In the celebrations of Holy Week, continuing throughout the Great Fifty Days we remember you all with love and grateful appreciation.

 

 

 

 

 

Our lives are made of days and nights, seasons and years, for we are part of a universe of suns and moons and planets.  We mark ends and we make beginnings and, in all, we praise God for the grace and mercy that fill our days.

Let us pray for God’s blessing in this new year.

Remember us, O God;

From age to age be our comforter.  You have given us the wonder of time, blessings in days and nights, seasons and years.  Bless your children at the turning of the year and fill our months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ.

You are our God, abiding with us for ever and ever.  Amen.

May you have a beautiful and blessed New Year!

Meet Liliana Inez, newest member of our worshiping community, with her parents Rogelio, Jessica and proud grammpa, Doug Westendorp!

Please join us for Christmas Eucharist at 10:00 PM Christmas Eve and continue the celebration in our hospitality area following the Eucharist.

“Up from the stump of Jesse.”

 

The prototype of our Christmas greeting is a two dimensional art piece in the Hanji tradition of ancient Korea.  Korea is famous for paper making, utilizing the inner bark of the native Mulberry tree. From this craft of paper making flows the art of pressing and pulling and tearing bits of paper into two and three dimensional forms of exquisite beauty.

 The Scriptural inspiration for the card is from the prophet Isaiah: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots.”  Isaiah: 11: 1.

 Jesus is the “shoot” of God’s tree. The tree is the family of God. The root on the card is made of tightly rolled paper in shades of green and brown formed to make the “stump.” The Child, lying in the “nest” of the root, is from the family of Jesse.  His destiny is to be born in poverty and suffering. The red color signifies suffering. Gold is the color of glory, and reminds us that Jesus is born to die and to rise from death that we might follow in his footprints. Blue is for purity of vision and of life. Jesus is wrapped in the blue blanket of his person, our true leader and guide.  The leaves and berries show life in the fertile root. 

 The background of the card signifies the Universe, indicated by a variety of paper forms. The stump of Jesse comes out of the seeming chaos of the Universe, God working so carefully over eons of time. The star is leading us where we have to go, and to the One to whom we are called to follow.

Blessed Christmas to all!

“It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas”

 

 

THE ADVENT SEASON

First Sunday of Advent,  Year C in the Common Cycle

of Christian Readings:

Jeremiah 33: 14-16

Psalm 25

I Thessalonians 3:12-4-2

Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36

 

Advent is the Season to watch and wait.

“Sun, moon and stars wonder at God’s love

For God gives all,

All for our love.” *

 

The sky is dark blue as dawn wakes the world

with touches of pink.

Can we not watch and wait…and “wonder at

God’s love”?

 

WINTER

The moon sheds silver shadows on the sky,
blue shadows on the snow;
the house-beams crack all night
startling us with the news
that it is colder than we thought.

“Winter is closing in,” we say,
but winter moves us outward in imagination
to learn how cold it is to be exiled from the sun,
how lonely the darkness,
how welcome the light of any approaching star.
                                                                Sr. Kate

 

 Sister Frances is shining up our entrance to the Chapel.  Sisters Lucie, Caroline and Jo prepare the party food for the gathering after Midnight Mass.

 

Thanksgiving is a theme for every day but how wonderful for our whole country to take one special day for all of us to celebrate together!  Paulina and Monica are talented cooks.  They also contribute their artistic talents in the Chapel.

Kate and Chet were awarded First Place in the 3rd Annual Poetry Contest, sponsored by the City of Bloomington’s Human Services Senior Program and Home Care Assistance.

Chet Corey is an affiliate with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.  He prays with us regularly and often serves as lector at our Sunday Eucharist.

Here is Sister Kate’s first place poem.

COMMON GRIEF by Sr. Kate Martin

Have you known the way grief thins out the heart’s defenses?

Clumsy with my private sorrow, I find myself adding to the load.

Did I choose to feel the pain of the young father who could not save

his little son from the storm  that overturned their boat?

Did I ask to be told of the old woman who has been living alone

for years without visitors, without  the sound of a loved voice?

Soldiers broken by war, children abandoned, people homeless, hopeless –

did I set out to give them permanent residence in my heart?

It is my own grief that betrays me, that says to others’ pain:

“Over here!  Sit next to me and let your anguish carve its horrors on my heart !”

We recognize each other.  We nod with understanding before the tale is told.

We listen in the silence of our deepest heart and say, “Brother.” “Sister.”

Chet Corey’s first place poem.

FIRST MONDAY MORNING by Chet Corey

When I took the dog for a walk this morning,

I came upon the neighbor’s Blue Spruce

used up, propped where snowplows piled up

December, burning green against snirt white

until the end of the week, then off to a landfill.

We turned a corner to another Blue Spruce

and Balsam fir and went about our doggy

business, when she encircled in a snare of nylon

leash Katrina, wrapping joyfully around legs–.

Katrina, bundled-up like all Christmas gift wrap,

a haphazard mismatch of woolens, her mother

walking her to the bus stop, both giggling

as China Rose unwound and rewound herself,

Katrina’s backpack as if off to Mt. Everest.

A first grader, turning seven or turned, christened

years before Hurricane Katrina usurped her name.

I started up a rise of hill, turned to look back as

she ran toward a clutch of kids against grey cold,

manic their first Monday back-to-school morning,

“Have a good day at school, Katrina,” I called.

Without turning, up shot her arm, as if she had an

answer her teacher asked.  Katrina’s was no hand

going down beneath wave; she was off adventuring.

The yellow bus kinged the hilltop, sunlight slicing

across its windshield, bladed clean as the chalkboard

awaiting Katrina.  China Rose squatted, yellowed

the new fall snow with her scent.  Hope had returned.