Vienna - Croatia - Rome

October 3, 2011

Peace and Good,

This past week has been a week of meetings and celebrations in Slovenia and Croatia. On last Sunday we drove down from Vienna and stopped for lunch in Ptuj, Slovenia. We had asked the friars there if we might stop for some lunch on our way down to Croatia. We were very surprised when almost all of the friars in the province showed up to greet us. It was a wonderful sign of our fraternity.

That evening we arrived at our friary on the island of Cherso. This is not all that large an island. It is rocky and dry, but there is a natural beauty to it. We have a large friary there where there is a formation house for the candidates to the order are trained. Even though this is a small island, four of our ministers general over history were born there.

We had a week of meetings. This was our first definitory (counsel) meeting since the summer began (even if we had a few hours of meetings here and there). We had a lot of material to cover. We did have an afternoon off to enjoy the sea (the Adriatic). Then, Friday afternoon, we had a celebration for the feast of St. Jerome, the patron saint of the province of Croatia.

Then, on Saturday, we drove back to Rome.

I have finished a few books.

The first was a short book called Stickteen by John Muir. This is a beautiful story of the explorer of glaciers and mountains out west and a dog who travelled with him one winter.

The second was a book by Agatha Christie called The Murder at the Vicarage. I had never read any of her books, and now I see why so many people enjoy her murder mysteries. The hero of the story is a Miss Marple, a nosey but wise older lady who is able to put the pieces of the story together and find a solution that others can't see.

The third book was Through Russian Snow by G.K. Henty. This is another of Henty's books about Englishmen and their adventures. In this one, two brothers at the time of Napoleon miraculously become heroes and meet in Russia during Napoleon's invasion and defeat (although they are fighting on opposite sides).

Have a good week. Tomorrow is the feast of St. Francis, so please say a prayer for us friars, sisters and lay Franciscans.

Shalom
fr. Jude