Franciscan Footprints

Today we have the joy and privledge of witnessing the Perpetual Vows of Sister Mary Faustina. In our community, Reception into the Novitiate, First Vows, Renewal of vows, and Perpetual vows are preceeded by a full 7 day retreat.

May God bless all who read this.

A few days before Christmas we went out to the Motherhouse for the blessing and dedication of the remodelled infirmary community room/dining room.(now named the Sacred Heart Room) It was a wonderful day to gather and celebrate the the completed project and to remember Vicki(who was imstrumental in the starting & planning  phase) who dedicated herself to the care of our infirm sisters.

On Christmas Eve we gathered once more at the Motherhouse to sing Christmas carols and help our infirm sisters open gifts. It was a blessing to share this time with our sisters!

At the House of Formation we celebrated on Christmas day starting with Morning Prayer at 8am followed by a special breakfast(thanks Sister Magdalene!) and gift opening. I believe Mass was at 11am that day.

It was such a blessing to celebrate Our Lord’s birth with my sisters in community.  What was your celebration of Christmas like?

Part I of the Novena

 

Tomorrow evening we begin our Christmas Novena. It is prayed following Night Prayer in the chapel at OSF St. Francis. (at 6:30pm) Here is a short video of us taken last Advent.(Taken in short sections) Also you could click here to download a copy of it. May this advent and Christmas be one that is filled with the blessings of our Lord and the fellowship of friends and family. May God bless all who read & watch this! 

Part II of the Novena

Part III of the Novena

Part IV of the Novena

On the last day of the retreat, August 6th we had the joy of witnessing the perpetual profession of Sister M. Magdalene. It was a beautiful and blessed day! We were blessed with twelve priests concelebrating.

 

 

 

 

 

May God abundantly bless you both now and always! With much love, your Sisters.

**Image courtesy of Home Shopping Network**

The country loom here at the convent is about the same length as this model, but looks a lot more streamlined than this one.(The wooden part is not so bulky) The way you use it is to wrap the yarn around the pegs in a figure-8 pattern(twice), then when at the end of a row you use the hook to pull the bottom strand over the top one. There are a few pictures here. Hope this helps.(and inspires someone to try out the country loom )

Sister Veronica

P.S.- This post was inspired by a comment left on a previous post.(here) Thanks Nuria!

**Image from http://www.catholictradition.org/Children/maria.htm

Today is the optional memorial of Saint Maria Goretti. At the age of twelve she was attacked by a neighbor boy and preferred to die rather than to give in to his passions. On her deathbed she forgave him. There is a good biography here.

Also, please pray for our Sister, Sister Maria Goretti whose feast day we celebrate today.  She is our infirmarian at the Motherhouse. May God bless you Sister this day and always.

We send our prayers from the House of Formation

Sister M. Veronica OSF

Sister Rose Therese and I spent several hours today at the Motherhouse as today is First Friday & our monthly Retreat day. What a wonderful way to spend this day– with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!

 

Thursday, April 16th marked 800 years since the approval of the Franciscan Rule by Pope Innocent III. The professed Sisters made a two day retreat prior to renewing their vows during Holy Mass that morning. I regret we don’t have any pictures of it. Needless to say it was a very special and grace-filled day for all of us.

Working hard?

So, for the past several weeks I’ve been helping Sr. Agnes Joseph re-organize the library.  What a job! Good progress has been made so far; we are now comparing the cards from the shelf file to the actual inventory. It’s still a work in progress.

Those are the cards from the card catalog going into the books.

Sr. Veronica working on scrapbook

For the last month or so I’ve been working on getting a scrapbook together for the House of Formation. Sr. Mary John and Sr. Agnes Joseph have entrusted this task to me. Kind of surprising because I’ve never done a scrapbook! You learn lots of new skills when you enter the convent… Since entering I’ve been given the opportunity to speak at high schools about vocations, scrapbook, help Sr. Agnes Joseph to re-organize the library(a work in progress), etc. There is never a dull moment in the convent!

Sr. Veronica working on scrapbook