October 3 - Animal Blessings

This year, October 4, the feast of St. Francis, fell on a Sunday.  For us, that meant that Fr. Jose scheduled the annual Blessing of the Animals for the day before.  The "pandemic times" as they are, we weren't able to have our usual treats of apple cider and munchkins, but it seemed as the the animals (and their owners) enjoyed the blessing as much as they always do.

Fr. Jose began with a simple reading at the entrance to the church

A smaller crowd than usual, but still nice to see people getting out.

Our banner is hanging on a music stand in front of the table so it wouldn't blow away in the wind.
Ruth & Kathy brought dog and cat treats while Steve provided pre-packaged animal crackers.

No song sheets this year, so Steve just sang a few verses of All Creatures of Our God and King.

There was an official photographer from the Catholic Free Press, so hopefully some of the ceremony will be in the next issue.  Steve also stayed for an additional blessing for the Capilla Santisima Trinidad (Leominster Hispanic Apostolate) which followed shortly after the first one.

Your Choice - Live or Zoom

Our September meeting was once again held "under the big top" in the lower parking lot at Holy Family.  We began with some singing to celebrate feast days close to our meeting date:  The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and The Exultation of the Cross.  

We had 11 people in attendance, but spread out of course.

Our numbers included two of our deacons.

SteveS set up a tablet and we were able to include 3 other attendees via Zoom.

As we were wrapping up, Fr. Jose paid us a visit, too.

It's no picnic...

 ... but at least we're having a meeting.  So great to see all those smiling faces.

Usually August is the time for our indoor picnic, but that will have to wait a while longer.

We continue to pray for our members who are unable to be with us at this time.  We hope to see you soon.

Boy! Is it hot out!

As soldiers of Christ, we "soldier on", despite extreme summer weather.  Sitting at safe physical distances, we swapped stories about where the weather was the hottest.  But we tried to stay a little cooler under the Holy Family tent.

Easing Back to Normal

Today is Flag Day.  And more so, the feast of Corpus Christi.  It is also the second Sunday of the month, which means it's time for our monthly gathering of the St. Bernard Fraternity. However, it's been a very rough couple month with fears of corona virus and civil unrest throughout the country.  With the severe restrictions on people's movements and gatherings, it has not been possible for us to meet as a fraternity since March.  But today is a beautiful sunny day, not too hot (unless you're sitting directly in the sunlight), and it's a perfect opportunity for members of the fraternity to get together.  We did so on the lawn adjoining the lower parking lot at Holy Family of Nazareth Parish.  We only had 8 people attend, but it was still wonderful to see each other.  As you can see in the photo below we were outside and physically distanced as comply with the directives of the bishop.

We celebrated the day with a recitation of the Crown Rosary followed by some discussion about the commentary that we will be using in the coming months.  We also shared memories of recently deceased member Ron Cormier, OFS as a sort of a "good bye" from the fraternity.  At the same time we welcomed a newcomer, Patrizia, who is interested in learning more about the Secular Franciscans.  Keep well and here's hoping we get to see everyone soon.

Helping out those in need

Our fraternity is making a donation to St. Teresita Parish in Ponce, Puerto Rico to assist in recovery of the recent earthquakes.  The Diocese of Ponce is where Fr. Jose grew up.  He is heading down there in the first week of February to personally deliver our donation as well as those from the Holy Family Parish community.  St. Teresita is actually administered by the Capuchins, so we have a really neat Franciscan Family connection.

Anniversary Celebration

For our January meeting, we held a 50th Anniversary Celebration of our Fraternity.  Actually, it was 51 years,but who's counting.  We sent out invitations to the families of our founders and some of our active/excused members were able to attend.  We even had a great cake!