28 FEBRUARY 2012 TIRANA VISITORS AND GOOD SHEPHERD SNIPPETS!!
The first week of Lent has flown by as we eagerly awaited Spring. On Sunday, we had just returned from Mass when the snow reappeared and continued until we were once more snowbound. Mirjam and Amira were amazed when they had to step very cautiously when approaching our house. We were delighted to welcome them. We felt their journey was worthwhile, very glad that they had travelled by furgon.
On Thursday last, my 'student' Aurora, brought an Orthodox catechist to visit and we had a great sharing of her ministry in the villages. This lady was formerly a teacher and so loves her continuing role with groups of women.
During the week I received a powerpoint of a November 21 ceremony at our house in Rome. I was so happy to see the Generalate team. On the same day, in Facebook, a series of photos from Sr. Susan Chia's session in Chile showed the 50 young Sisters in temporary vows. Both of these gave a wonderful picture of our internationality and also gained our prayer support!
Lastly,the request for prayers of thanksgiving for dear Sister Lelia's Birthday of the Century arrived from Belfast. Creativity is its 'hallmark' a lovely photo of the lady plus the following lines from John O'Donohue -
Now is the time to free the heart,
Let all intentions and worries stop
Free the joy inside the self,
Awaken to the wonder of your life.
Open your eyes and see the friends
Whose hearts recognize your face as kin,
Those whose kindness is watchful and near,
Encouraging you to live everything here.
See the gifts the years have given,
Things your effort could never earn,
The health to enjoy who you want to be
And the mind to mirror mystery.
Need I add that I feel privileged to be invited to this celebration and very happy that Sr.Lelia insisted at Christmas - "You would need to bbok your ticket now"!!!
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
URAT ON SKYPE, SHROVE AND SISTER DANIELA!
21 FEBRUARY 2012 SHROVE TUESDAY. URAT ON SKYPE, SHROVE AND SISTER DANIELA!
Our URAT Meeting on Skype went through smoothly enough, with just a few glitches! Mirjam was Chair of the evening, while Imelda kept 'the show on the road'! Our agenda included seeing a draft of a poster designed by Mirjam. This is for use by Renate for Europe and will be made available, in all languages, prior to and during the Olympic Games. We also managed to complete arrangements for our Korce meeting. A change of date for our Tirana Cathedral Pre-Olympic Liturgy was also put in place so it was a worthwhile get-together indeed and finished comfortably in an hour.
Today is Shrove Tuesday and we have just enjoyed our traditional pancakes! Tomorrow, we plan to meet at the Church for the first day of Lent.
Our classes are continuing and, just now, details have come of Sister Daniela's proposed visit here at the end of next month, with Korce programmed in for early in April, please God.
As you read the end of this entry, you will see the mimosa mentioned last time as it was braving the snow! Now, thank God, tempratures have begun to rise, so hopefully, our streets near the house will return to normal soon.
With a little prayer that each one will have a great Lent!
Our URAT Meeting on Skype went through smoothly enough, with just a few glitches! Mirjam was Chair of the evening, while Imelda kept 'the show on the road'! Our agenda included seeing a draft of a poster designed by Mirjam. This is for use by Renate for Europe and will be made available, in all languages, prior to and during the Olympic Games. We also managed to complete arrangements for our Korce meeting. A change of date for our Tirana Cathedral Pre-Olympic Liturgy was also put in place so it was a worthwhile get-together indeed and finished comfortably in an hour.
Today is Shrove Tuesday and we have just enjoyed our traditional pancakes! Tomorrow, we plan to meet at the Church for the first day of Lent.
Our classes are continuing and, just now, details have come of Sister Daniela's proposed visit here at the end of next month, with Korce programmed in for early in April, please God.
As you read the end of this entry, you will see the mimosa mentioned last time as it was braving the snow! Now, thank God, tempratures have begun to rise, so hopefully, our streets near the house will return to normal soon.
With a little prayer that each one will have a great Lent!
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
MIMOSA, AMIRA'S VISA AND ST.GEORGE PREKA!
14 FEBRUARY 2012 MIMOSA, AMIRA'S VISA AND ST.GEORGE PREKA!
Today, Korce is ablaze with mimosa! Seems so strange here, where we have so much snow on the ground. It serves as a beautiful reminder to us that most of Albania is showing some signs of Spring, even though, officially, Spring starts here on March 1.
Amira was here for two days last week. She needed to re-apply for a Visa. I was glad to hear she is involved in cathechesis at the weekends and also works with families in need. I gathered most of these are from the villages near Tirana.
On Sunday, it was the Birthday of St.George Preka, Malta's first Saint. He was canonized just four years ago and he is Founder of the Society to which our friends belong. We went out for lunch to celebrate! Also, we were very happy to have Mass later in the day.
Just this afternoon, a friend, Violet, called and she shared with us about the hardship of the people living in the little mountain villages near us. Some of them have been cut off, because of snowbound roads. We have now had the ground covered for 54 days!! Apparently, the shops in these isolated villages did not anticipate the length of the freeze-up and many have been without stocks of food. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved soon.
Good health to each one of you at this time. I have already mentioned that tomorrow evening, we, URAT group, have our first SKYPE meeting. Hopefully it will go smoothly as it is saving us quite a journey! Enjoy the remainder of the week!
Today, Korce is ablaze with mimosa! Seems so strange here, where we have so much snow on the ground. It serves as a beautiful reminder to us that most of Albania is showing some signs of Spring, even though, officially, Spring starts here on March 1.
Amira was here for two days last week. She needed to re-apply for a Visa. I was glad to hear she is involved in cathechesis at the weekends and also works with families in need. I gathered most of these are from the villages near Tirana.
On Sunday, it was the Birthday of St.George Preka, Malta's first Saint. He was canonized just four years ago and he is Founder of the Society to which our friends belong. We went out for lunch to celebrate! Also, we were very happy to have Mass later in the day.
Just this afternoon, a friend, Violet, called and she shared with us about the hardship of the people living in the little mountain villages near us. Some of them have been cut off, because of snowbound roads. We have now had the ground covered for 54 days!! Apparently, the shops in these isolated villages did not anticipate the length of the freeze-up and many have been without stocks of food. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved soon.
Good health to each one of you at this time. I have already mentioned that tomorrow evening, we, URAT group, have our first SKYPE meeting. Hopefully it will go smoothly as it is saving us quite a journey! Enjoy the remainder of the week!
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
INTERFAITH CONFERENCE AND SHKODRA !
7 FEBRUARY 2012 INTERFAITH CONFERENCE AND SHKODRA!
Our cold weather continues, with snow showers or constant snow most days.....and the tempratures are dropping, so Spring is still quite theoretical!
Yesterday, a caller to our house brought an invitation to an Interfaith Conference being held today. This was part of an Interfaith Week organised by the Universal Peace Federation. I looked up the internet and saw there were services held in a long list of cities. In fact, we shared today with the United Nations, New York, where a similar service was held. A number of speakers took part in our Conference, which was held at Fan Noli University. I was sorry there was no formal representative from the Catholic community. We had an Orthodox priest and the majority who attended were Bektashi Muslims.
A Peace Corps. Volunteer came here to visit in the afternoon. Laurie has been to a Peace Corps. Meeting in Durres, which is near Tirana, and afterwards, she visited Shkodra. The very strong Catholic atmosphere plus the crowded church attendance at Sunday Mass really amazed her. I told her of our Church getting flooded and that we have moved underground, while awaiting repairs. The priest two weeks ago hinted we had a touch of the Catacombs about our present setup!
For Good Shepherd blog readers, tomorrow is a lovely feast, so, enjoy a special day!
Our cold weather continues, with snow showers or constant snow most days.....and the tempratures are dropping, so Spring is still quite theoretical!
Yesterday, a caller to our house brought an invitation to an Interfaith Conference being held today. This was part of an Interfaith Week organised by the Universal Peace Federation. I looked up the internet and saw there were services held in a long list of cities. In fact, we shared today with the United Nations, New York, where a similar service was held. A number of speakers took part in our Conference, which was held at Fan Noli University. I was sorry there was no formal representative from the Catholic community. We had an Orthodox priest and the majority who attended were Bektashi Muslims.
A Peace Corps. Volunteer came here to visit in the afternoon. Laurie has been to a Peace Corps. Meeting in Durres, which is near Tirana, and afterwards, she visited Shkodra. The very strong Catholic atmosphere plus the crowded church attendance at Sunday Mass really amazed her. I told her of our Church getting flooded and that we have moved underground, while awaiting repairs. The priest two weeks ago hinted we had a touch of the Catacombs about our present setup!
For Good Shepherd blog readers, tomorrow is a lovely feast, so, enjoy a special day!
Thursday, 2 February 2012
TECHNICAL HITCH AND DAY FOR RELIGIOUS .
2 FEBRUARY 2012 TECHNICAL HITCH AND DAY FOR RELIGIOUS.
This week has brought along a technical hitch that slowed down computer work and also added to it! Our cold snap continues, so, each step is taken with care, the snow gets renewed and we are resigned to beginning a seventh week, with snow underfoot, plus low tempratures. The only difference now is that the rest of Europe has joined the snowscene!
Today, we attended a meeting of Rligiious in Elbason. It was organised by our Bishop, Hil Kabashi. Lalini and I were most anxious to go, as we had not managed to attend meetings for some months, due to distant venues being used. We travelled with our Maltese friends and our journey took longer than usual, due to a blizzard and icy road cnditions. We arrived in Elbason in very good time for concelebrated Mass. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch with five of Mother Teresa's Sisters who work in the area. Our homeward journey was one of truly magnificent scenery! At one point, road police advised us to have chains put on our minibus wheels and this was done speedily. They were needed too, especially on high ground.
Again,the weekend is almost here. I wish each one a happy and blessed few days.
This week has brought along a technical hitch that slowed down computer work and also added to it! Our cold snap continues, so, each step is taken with care, the snow gets renewed and we are resigned to beginning a seventh week, with snow underfoot, plus low tempratures. The only difference now is that the rest of Europe has joined the snowscene!
Today, we attended a meeting of Rligiious in Elbason. It was organised by our Bishop, Hil Kabashi. Lalini and I were most anxious to go, as we had not managed to attend meetings for some months, due to distant venues being used. We travelled with our Maltese friends and our journey took longer than usual, due to a blizzard and icy road cnditions. We arrived in Elbason in very good time for concelebrated Mass. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch with five of Mother Teresa's Sisters who work in the area. Our homeward journey was one of truly magnificent scenery! At one point, road police advised us to have chains put on our minibus wheels and this was done speedily. They were needed too, especially on high ground.
Again,the weekend is almost here. I wish each one a happy and blessed few days.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
CHURCH FLOODING,WATER, SNOW AND PAUL!
28 JANUARY 2012 CHURCH FLOODING, WATER,SNOW AND PAUL !
On Sunday last, we arrived to find our little Church flooded. A radiator had burst, with drastic results! Literally, we got "all hands on deck" and we were able to have Mass, even in the still-damp Church.
A number of neighbours, friends, have been left for several days without water. We became a sort of informal "water station" for those days. We were glad to help and very happy that our own supply was intact throughout! All seems settled now, even though the snow refuses to melt. In fact, we got re-inforcements of fresh snow during the week!
On Tuesday, I was invited out for an evening "Farewell" meal for our friend, Maltese Laurence. My hostess telephoned, however, to say that she was en route to hospital in Tirana, with her mother who had suffered a broken hip. We decided that I would go ahead, with her daughter and her friend, so as not to spoil the evening. In fact we had a very enjoyable time - a fitting "Thank you" from two students. They were representatives of the many that Laurence had taught during his 13 years at Preca College. Father of one of the girls joined us towards the end of the meal. His conversation was most enlightening. When Laurence spoke of St. Paul's time in Malta, this man reflected on the fact that Paul also travelled the roads of Albania. In fact, he went north, almost as far as Dubrovnik. So, indeed, we are privileged to live in 'sacred space' here.
Have a good weekend. Maybe we will see some signs of Spring, with the coming of February!
On Sunday last, we arrived to find our little Church flooded. A radiator had burst, with drastic results! Literally, we got "all hands on deck" and we were able to have Mass, even in the still-damp Church.
A number of neighbours, friends, have been left for several days without water. We became a sort of informal "water station" for those days. We were glad to help and very happy that our own supply was intact throughout! All seems settled now, even though the snow refuses to melt. In fact, we got re-inforcements of fresh snow during the week!
On Tuesday, I was invited out for an evening "Farewell" meal for our friend, Maltese Laurence. My hostess telephoned, however, to say that she was en route to hospital in Tirana, with her mother who had suffered a broken hip. We decided that I would go ahead, with her daughter and her friend, so as not to spoil the evening. In fact we had a very enjoyable time - a fitting "Thank you" from two students. They were representatives of the many that Laurence had taught during his 13 years at Preca College. Father of one of the girls joined us towards the end of the meal. His conversation was most enlightening. When Laurence spoke of St. Paul's time in Malta, this man reflected on the fact that Paul also travelled the roads of Albania. In fact, he went north, almost as far as Dubrovnik. So, indeed, we are privileged to live in 'sacred space' here.
Have a good weekend. Maybe we will see some signs of Spring, with the coming of February!
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