St. Anthony of Padua Fraternity Bulletin
Vol. 13 No. 8   August 2008

Franciscan column
by Maria

Dear fellow Franciscans,

I'm writing to you about a vacation that I take every year during the first week of August. You may or may not know of this. It has taken place for about 23 years and five of our Franciscans are a part of it (which includes my Mom, sisters, Tammy, and the girl children). It is referred to as "girls' week at Sugar Lake." It is now and always has been a great gift from God to all who participate. It takes place on the most beautiful lake in northern Minnesota. The water is actually soft and wonderfully clean.

The best and most important part of this week is the fellowship that we share. We start our time together as we climb into our cars and continues until we get home. We share our concerns on family, work, relationships, government, education and social issues, etc. We encourage, we welcome and sometimes we question and challenge each other, but we always do this with love. We serve each other joyfully by sharing (one bathroom), the necessary work to feed and entertain up to 12 people at any given time (if you are lucky you get a massage, foot massage or a manicure). We respect each other even when we don't agree. We pray together, discuss scripture, saints, church teachings and attend Mass. We welcome our children to share their faith and their concerns in life. Through the years God has used this week to draw us closer to Him and has strengthened our bonds which has allowed us through Him to deal with our trials and tribulations and share the joy of our triumphs.

After seven days together, we are rested, relaxed, filled with peace and joy and confident in the love and support that we have. What a gift this is. We leave there with the strong desire to continue this support and sharing similar to a retreat. As fraternity, we do this at our gatherings and other Franciscan events. I see these things in our fraternity when we welcome, support and encourage each other. May we too continue to grow in a similar way.