Franciscan Footprints

It’s that time of year again! Our annual week-long retreat starts this afternoon at the Motherhouse. A time of silence, of prayer, of conferences by our Benedictine retreat master. I can’t wait. And at the end of retreat, Sister M. Magdalene will be professing her Final Vows. Please join us in praying for and with her in preparation for her final vows. God IS good! Will return to the House of Formation on August 6th sometime. Farewell until then!

Sister M. Veronica OSF

**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!

Saint Martha is the sister of Mary of Bethany and of Lazarus.  We read about her and her sister in the Gospel of Luke. Here is the Gospel Reading of today: (courtesy of the USCCB website)

Luke 10:38-42 (New American Bible Translation)

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. 
 She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to
him speak.  Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord,
do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell
her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are
anxious and worried about many things.There is need of only one thing.  Mary
has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
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During meditation and as we remembered St. Martha in the Liturgy this morning I was reflecting on what it means to be a “Martha” and a “Mary” in the context of my vocation to an active religious community within the Church.  While it is true that the active aspect of our apostolate is important, and one in which we devote a great deal of time to, it is not the only aspect of our religious life. We are called first to be another ”Mary”. This time spent in meditation and spiritual reading is so important to our lives as active religious that for most Sisters, the early morning is the time they set aside to be with Jesus.  As religious, we are called to bring others to Christ, and to bring Christ to others.  In Pope John Paul II’s “Vita Consecrata” he states, “In every age consecrated men and women must continue to be images of Christ the Lord, fostering through prayer a profound communion of mind with him (cf. Phil. 2:5-11), so that their whole lives may be penetrated by an apostolic spirit and their apostolic work with contemplation.[18]“  In short, we must ask ourselves, if we do not know Christ, how can we bring Him to others? We must first get to know Him through study of the Sacred Scriptures, spiritual reading, and meditation so that we can share His love with the world. Religious life is first and foremost a being, then in our active apostolate we minister to His children by doing those corporeal works of mercy.

Here is an excerpt from our Constitutions:
Our apostolic life flows from our life of prayer.  It is one that changes work into prayer, and prayer becomes the very heartbeat of our life.  Conscious that our apostolate bears fruit only to the degree that we are united to Christ, we permeate our entire apostolic activity with a religious spirit and fill our religious life with apostolic love.  Only when our life is rooted in faith, hope, and charity, can we bring Christ to others. (Paragraph 110)

Sister M. Veronica, OSF

Yes, as a matter of fact it is… Sister Rose Therese has been teaching me how to use the “country loom”, and the other part at the end is crochet. Who knew? I enjoy both the country loom & crocheting, but it seems that the country loom is a bit easier.  Eventually it’ll have the crochet part at both ends, so as to make it longer.(and into a functional length) Normally the only time I have to work on it is in the evenings when we watch the news and on weekends. It’s being made for our annual Bazaar. I’ll let you all know of the dates as I know them, although typically it is right before Thanksgiving.

**Image courtesy of Wikipedia**

Saint Sharbel was born in Biqa-Kafra, Lebanon to poor Maronite parents.  He entered the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya at the age of 23 and was ordained to the priesthood six years later. Later in his monastic life he lived a solitary life as a hermit.  Wikipedia has a nice biographical article, check it out.

Saint Sharbel Makhlouf, pray for us!

Saint Bridget was born to a noble family in the year 1303 in the province of Uppland in the country of Sweden.  She was married at the age of 13 to Ulf Gudmarsson.  The marriage was blessed with 8 children. When St. Bridget became a widow she devoted her life to God by becoming a Third Order Franciscan, then sometime later founded her own order, The Order of St. Savior, or the Brigittines. She was canonized by Pope Boniface IX on Octiber 7, 1391. To read more about her, click here.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us!

Yesterday, July 16th was our Founders’ Day. Our community was founded in 1877 by Mother M. Frances Krasse and Bishop John Lancastor Spalding, the first bishop of Peoria. We made a visit to St. Joseph’s Cemetary where our early Sisters are laid to rest. We sang Marian hymns and prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in thanksgiving for the sacrifices of our pioneer Sisters and for their fidelity to our Lord. May God in His tender mercy grant eternal rest to our beloved Sisters who have gone before us. 

Mother M. Frances Krasse, pray for us!

Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, pray for us!

All our Sisters who have gone home to the Lord, pray for us!

 **Image courtesy of The CrossRoads Initiative.**

Today is the optional memorial of Saint Bonaventure: Franciscan, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church. He is one of our community’s Patron Saints. He and Saint Thomas Aquinas taught at the same university. How neat is that! To read up on him, take a look at this page from New Advent.

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Here is a prayer written by Saint Bonaventure:

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee. Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste. May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God; may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever

fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

Saint Bonaventure, pray for us!

**Image courtesy of Wikipedia.**

Blessed Kateri Tekawitha was born to a Catholic Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in 1656 in Ossernenon, NY(present day Auriesville, NY).  She contracted smallpox as a child as did her immediate family- leaving her an orphan. Her uncle- the tribe’s leader adopted her at that time. When she was 10 she began to be courted by warriors of her tribe & her hand was asked in marriage.  At the age of twenty she fled to an established community of Native American Christians in Kahnawake, Quebec where she lived a life of prayer, penance, and care for the aged.  It was said that when she died (at age 24) her face became beautiful - with no traces of the scars left behind from smallpox. She was venerated by Pope Pius XII in 1943 and beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II.

Chinese Martyrs

**Image of Chinese Martyrs courtesy of Wikipedia.**

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, a Chinese soldier, was martyred in 1815 when he accompanied Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse(Parish Foreign MIssion Society) to Beijing. Before his martyrdom he was baptized and then ordained a diocesan priest. He is among 87 Chinese-born martyrs, including the foreign-born martyrs there were 120. The Chinese Martyrs were canonized on October 1, 2000.

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and companions, pray for us!
All you holy martyrs, pray for us!