The contents of Monika's purse one morning--you know...just things she needs in her normal day-to-day life: wallet, hammer business cards, liturgy of the hours book, aspirin, ten cent piece, canon print cartridge, calculator, handy, hammer, pieces of art.
This may only be really amusing for those in the McGraw family.....
Our parish had its bi-annual flohmart (flea market) this past weekend. its kind of a big deal. and it was a great deal for us because as the <gemeinschaft von oben> (the community upstairs) as we were referred to, we got a 25% discount....that means new langenscheidt worterbuchs for a euro a piece (danke Raphy) and some kids books for the children we are going to visit in the Missionaries of Charity house tomorrow (we are starting tomorrow to go there once a week, on Tuesdays, to play with the refugee kids and help them with learning German among other things).
And just in case I was feeling homesick...Billy the Bass was there to be bought. For a lovely 5 euro. Thank God I wasn't homesick.
This past weekend Alina and I went to a conference in Sonntagberg, Niederösterreich for all the new communities, movements, projects, and orders who are involved in reaching out to the youth specifically in the archdiocese but reaching throughout Austria. It was a wonderful day and a half to get to know all the other groups and activities going on, other movements and what they are focusing on and what their missions are, what different communities are geared towards and interested in doing to get the youth more involved in the Church. The whole idea was to gather us together, to create dialogue, and promote our working together or at least complementing each other better in our work through this unique opportunity to network and connect. For instance, there is a young man from Germany, living and studying in Vienna, who wants to bring LifeTeen to Austria. He encountered it in the States and then again in Germany, and wants to bring it here to give more life to the youth in the parish. Not to go into all the details here--but it is really a groundbreaking idea for the archdiocese of Vienna where a great majority of the parishes seem to be sustained only on the beautiful and faithful, yet dwindling participation of the elderly. The youth are either not being attracted or taking interest in the Church, or they are being attracted to the life they are finding in the communities in Vienna (like the Loreto Gemeinschaft, or Regnum Christi, or Emmanuel Gemeinschaft) and while developing deeper into their faith through these amazing communities, they are not bringing life back into their parish, or sustaining and renewing the life of the parish. As far as my limited point of view as a single person, from America, only having lived here 9 months (can't believe I'm writing that number!!), it is easy to see that the life of the youth in parishes need a renewal and hopefully this young man will help make that happen. It was great to meet him there and to hear his ideas, because coming from America I have a better idea of what exactly he is envisioning, rather than those from Austria who have never experienced such a thing. Hopefully I (and the community) will be able to help support him as much as possible. (sharing is caring) It was in fact wonderful for us not only as a mean to open our eyes to all that the archdiocese has to offer for its youth and for the growth and blossoming of the Church with the youth, but it was also a great opportunity to present Heart's Home and get more people to know about us and our new presence in Vienna.
These pictures are the viewpoint from the windows and terraces from the retreat house where the conference was held. It was breathtaking.
Hello Mr. and Mrs. Hahn....glad to see you made it all the way to the Haus Sonntagberg Retreat Center Bookstore.
When Fr. Jacques returned back in July it wasn't too long before he whipped up his first <Mushroom Water> concoction. Its good for the stomach and the digestion, and the eyes, and everything. Its just good for you---thats what he said when he offered it to us to try. I politely declined after taking a sip. As healthy as it may be, I just wasn't interested in torturing myself in this way. There is a specific type of mushroom which he buys and lets rest in water for several days (its an old, natural technique for purifying water actually) and then adds some lemon and chili pepper to it to try to mask the taste. Thus the "<Bio> jokes started and Fr. Jacques as the brunt of them.
But then I started to grind some flaxseed, periodically make some veggie and fruit smoothies, and having already been a vegetarian, I have usurped the <bio> label in our house.
Fr. Jacques, being the dear he is, brought me a present back today from a free-handout at the Schwedenplatz station-- <Bio-Milch>. He smirked as he handed it to me, then we had a good laugh.
It was a delightful little moment--we all got to share a little laugh and I got to see a little glimpse of how we--this little community of three foreigners--have become family, freely enjoying inside jokes and lovingly making fun of one another. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment