Criss-Crossing Through God's Country

I am aware that I am long overdue for a new post... Where do the days - hmmm, the weeks, go!?! Many beginnings have been written in my head over the past two weeks, so today I must get to it! It is a good day to write as it is the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross ~ one of my favorite feast days! The picture of the cross I am including here was taken on my recent vacation (more about that later) to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, to be with two of our Sisters that minister at St. Stephens Indian Mission. The cross is painted on the ceiling of the main mission church. So, today being this feast, I share with you a Franciscan prayer that is almost always said at the beginning of Lauds and Vespers in my local community. I am sure other Franciscans pray it often as well.

We adore You, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all churches throughout the whole world and we bless You because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world. (from the Testament [5] of St. Francis)

So, as I mentioned, I was on vacation ... from August 27th - Sept. 3. Plans for this trip happened kind of fast. On August 31st there was a special ceremony at the Indian Mission that I was asked to come for. For 118 years our Sisters have ministered at St. Stephens Indian Mission along side the Jesuit priests. After 126 years of ministry on the Reservation the Jesuits had to make the decision to leave because of other community demands, and to turn the Mission over to the Diocese of Cheyenne.

Although it wasn't the vacation I had planned on, I am certainly glad I was able to go ... to be present to/with our Sisters who live there ... and to the Jesuits, to meet the new priests of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, and to share in this ceremony and transition time with the Shoshone and Arapaho people. The OSFs had a nice showing of Sisters with 4 of us able to travel in for the event, so there was some enjoyable community time too! St. Stephens was my first "mission experience" when I went there as a Candidate my first year in Community. It is a wonderful place with beautiful people! You can read more about the event as the Bishop of Wyoming, Bishop Etienne, writes in his blog about St. Stephen Indian Mission The Bishop has also included quite a number of great pictures, so just click on the link above :) I was glad to meet the Bishop and enjoyed reading his account of Aug.31st ...
It was a fun trip, although a LOT of driving was involved, traveling from Oregon to Washington State, into Idaho and Montana and finally into Wyoming. We did travel though some beautiful country as well as some wide open spaces! God truly speaks to my heart in all the diverse beauty of the landscape! Also, I had a fun traveling companion who joined me - Sr. Dolores Herbeck, a Sister living in Tacoma who is from Wyoming and lived many years on the Mission as she worked in Riverton as the Catholic grade school Principal. We definitely had some adventures and lots of good talks about life, community, the countryside and the spiritual-side.... However, even though we spent a day in Yellowstone National Park with several other Sisters, I still did not see a moose! Oh, that elusive moose ...
Thought you might enjoy a few more pictures ...


Including a pose of the Franciscans after a few busy days!