Almost October

My own birthday kept me busy in September, but on top of that I had to prepare for a Franciscan Retreat.
My husband, Frank, and I are both third order Franciscans, and as such we are obliged to follow our Rule of Life. Chapter (i.e,. the governing body of the Order) have been working on a fresh way of looking at our Rule. So, Frank and I decided that we should put on a Franciscan Retreat with the focus on reviewing and refreshing our Rule. I called it "Living a Rule of Life" and invited our congregation of St. Saviour's Anglican Church and the Fellowship that we used to belong to in Vancouver, as well as our Brothers and Sisters in neighbouring fellowships in the state of Washington. I guess, not counting the local congregation, I invited by name about thirty people. Guess what? No one showed up. :(
Nevertheless, Frank and I feel that we had a successful retreat.
First of all, we began on Wednesday, October 3rd at 5pm with a beautiful eucharist in Ellis Chapel, adjacent to the church. Father Nick Pang, our new priest, set it up. Candlelight. A little Lady Chapel in the corner. Full vestments. All in white. We sang and prayed. It was lovely. The congregation had been invited, but no one was there except the priest and my husband and me. We were so grateful to Nick for this. His selections of readings and the service itself was 99% from our own Franciscan Devotional Companion. The little bit that was not, came from For All the Saints, a companion book to usual prayer book used in Anglican churches in Canada, known as the BAS.
Thursday morning, Frank and I were admitted into the church for our Quiet Day, to which I'd invited everyone plus the thirty Franciscans. No one came. We weren't surprised. Several had responded saying that if we do the same thing next year, they'll try to come. So of course, I hope we can do that. But, on our own, and because Frank can't see to read and make notes, the two of us worked on revising our Rules. His and mine are based on the same template, of course, but in the past we had not known exactly what the other's Rule required. This time, we have our individuality but I typed his up in large print so he can use his magnifier to amplify it enough to be able to read it for himself. Even though he participated in discussing each aspect of the 9 parts of the Rule, he needs to discuss it with his own spiritual director before we approach our regional chaplain to have it sanctified.
Friday morning, Nick came again for the Eucharist that we'd asked for to conclude our Retreat. This time, we were joined by another couple, so it was not just us. We ended with Centering Prayer in the church with others who usually attend on Friday mornings.
We were not disappointed with the no-shows, in fact we really would have been surprised if anyone had come. After all, Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, the days just before Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, were not the best time for the Retreat. However, we didn't choose the date of St. Francis' Transitus and St. Francis Day. October 3rd is Transitus, and October 4th is St. Francis Day.

writing course

In September, I enrolled in Creative Writing 203, writing for children.  Assignment #1 was to write a couple of scenes and link them with appropriate transitions.  Assignment #2 was to use these scenes (or one of them, or an adaptation thereof) in a short story.  We had to post it online.
This happened to coincide with an obligation I had in my Franciscan life--I had to attend Chapter meetings in Boston. Difficulties with airlines, and so on, resulted in a nightmare of a journey.  Originally, I was to fly from Vancouver to San Francisco and from there to Boston. I'd fly red-eye, and arrive in Boston about 7:30 a.m.
When I got there, I'd take a bus to a certain location where I'd be met and taken to the site of the meetings.  Of course, Murphy's Law took over.  My San Francisco flight was delayed, so I emailed my Boston contact and announced I'd be arriving at noon instead of 7:30. This was because I had to go by way of Chicago!  He emailed back that another Franciscan would be arriving from California at that time and would be renting a car--he'd take me to the site. Long story short: The Californian didn't get the memo, and I had to wait until 4pm for the next pick-up!
So what does this have to do with writing?
The assignment was due to be online by Friday night, and I'd still be in Boston then.  So--I wrote the short story while "passing the time" in Vancouver airport, San Francisco airport, Chicago airport (midnight), and then noon to 4pm in the Boston airport.
Once in Boston, I tried to sleep before supper, but couldn't. Finally, I got to bed about 9pm, I think, and woke up suddenly at midnight.  That was when I finished off the short story and posted it online.  From then on I did not have to think about the course while dealing with the Franciscan Chapter business.
BUT--when I got back to class the following week (still jet-lagged) I learned that I had posted the story in the WRONG PLACE!  (I wasn't the only student to have made the mistake.)  A teaching assistant sorted it out, and all was well that ended well.
Oh yes, the course also had a major QUIZ in the only class I missed while away.  Good news: I was allowed to write the quiz before the next class.
RESOLUTION: I'm NEVER going to take a red-eye flight again.  That week I had two of them.  The flight home was Boston to Toronto, then to Vancouver.  Jet-lag lasted at least 2 weeks.

October 22, 2013

I have a list of items I want to post about, and it gets overwhelming when I look at it.  I have so many things I want to say here, but..., well, if you visit from time to time you'll have noticed that I'm not a regular blogger. 
The most important item to write about this month is my 5 days at the Franciscan friary in Port Jefferson, New York.  My husband has an appointed position on Chapter, as vocations coordinator (I think that's the correct title).  And I was elected this year as a Chapter member.  So the five days were filled with meetings with other Chapter members and visitors, and with prayers with the friars.
I've taken on a couple of jobs: I'm on an ad hoc committee on Ministry to Young Adults, with looking at the Franciscan Earth Corp group.  I'm thinking about how to create retreats and pilgrimages that would appeal to people between the ages of 18--35.  My other job is to minister to the isolated tertiaries in the Province of the Americas, while I pay special attention to Canadian tertiaries (many of whom are among the isolated).