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!

Getting Ready for Christmas

After a beautiful Creche Service led by Kathleen, we once again set about one of our fraternity's traditional Advent activities:  filling bird seed  packets.

We worked in one of the classrooms today.

It was a little cozier, but not cramped by any means.

Five big pots of birdseed... 

And 500+ labels.

Horace and Ruth at the end of the "refill aisle.

And of course there are goodies for us, too.

More Animals

Our annual Blessing of he Animals took place on October 6 this year, two days after the Feast of St. Francis.  Several members of the fraternity were in attendance and  helped by providing  cider, munchkins, as well as pet treats.    It was a chilly cloudy day, but all seemed to enjoy joining in singing  of All Creatures of Our God and King and The Prayer of St. Francis.

Thanks to KathyM for contributing all these great pictures.  No captions necessary.

Franciscan Day 2019

It was a beautiful late summer day in Kennebunk, Maine for the annual region Franciscan Day.

The grounds of the Franciscan Guest House are peaceful as always.

Secular Franciscans from Plattsburgh to Cape Cod were in attendance.

After lunch there was time for a walk down to the beach.

Lots of people enjoying the sun and sand, but not too crowded.

Yeah, I like the beach.

St. Bernard Fraternity was well represented this year.
Arthur, Paul, Steve, Ruth, Joyce, and Barbara.