My Dream...

Happy Earth Day! On this day I did not have to go into "work". I woke up early anyway, as I do, and I was extremely excited by the day off, the fact that its earth day and the blue skies where grey were forcasted. I got an earth day "gift" when I went out on the 2nd floor porch to check on some seeds I'd planted. I discovered that some of the seeds have broken through the soil! I always get nervous when I plant seeds that they may not grow but I can rest assured now. So since it was not raining I decided I was going to spend my day off by going to the L'arche home that I share time at (aka work at) and begining some digging work on the garden that we're going to put in there. There is a big empty lot in the back of the house and since I started with L'arche I have had the dream to get a garden on this lot. I figured there was no better day than today to begin. Because we hadn't really made any plans for the garden until a few weeks ago and we're on a budget here I went over to the house to dig grass up and manually till up the soil. I was out there for awhile...except a short period when a few drops of rain fell. There is still a lot of work to do but it was so wonderful to get out there and get my hands in this dirt. I cannot wait to see what this garden looks like in the summer when its in full swing. Here are my "before" pictures of this lot I was digging up. Hopefully there will be some nice "after" pictures to follow this summer!

News from the L'arche side of FC

Hello faithful readers, my name is Mary and I'm volunteering at L'Arche in Syracuse. My time with L'arche so far has been a wonderful learning experience. I began as a part-time assistant in one of their 4 homes here in Syracuse and the other part of my work was planning a new day-habilitation program for the core members of l'arche to take part in during the day. (in L'arche terms, core members are those memebers of the communities with developmental disabilities, they are called core members becuase they are placed at the center of the community.) So, the day-hab program is relying on funding from the state and because of the current economic situation the state has halted funding for the program. Therefore, I have been moved to a full time assistant in the house. I had my first full time week this past week and I have learned so much and would venture to say that it has been my favorite week with L'arche, thus far. My schedule isn't necessarily set in stone but here are some of the things that I do consistantly: Monday mornings I always go with 2 guys to a pet store to clean cat cages of cats up for adoption. Honestly, it can be disgusting but a lot of fun too because the cats will climb all over the guys and they love it. Tuesday nights is L'arche prayer, the 4 homes come together for aobut an hour of prayer, it's always a nice time. Wednesday's I've been going to a local church, St. Lucy's, from about 10-1 with Matt (FC volunteer also w/ L'arche) and 2 core members. We go to the open lunch that they provide and we help to set it up and clean-up. It has been really nice attending this because it allows Matt and I to get out in the community and meet other people in syracuse who have their own battles to face including some of the poor. Thursdays all of the assistants meet all morning and then my house meets as a house until about 3. We have inservice type meetings or spirituality meetings. Its nice to get to spend time with one another and get to know one another. In between all of this stuff there's other things that get done around the house and its not uncommon to take and afternoon to walk to McDonald's and grab some coffee with some of the core members. It's been a good experience so far and I have really enjoyed buliding new relationships with people. That's all for now, until next time...Peace.

de Costa Rica

My name is Ed Smith, and I am currently in Costa Rica with FrancisCorps. The link below is to my personal blog throughout my experience.
http://vidaricadeed.blogspot.com/
If you have any questions, comments or concerns; please email me at edsmith44@gmail.com

Prayer

Today we went to St. Lucy's for mass. It was only the three girls because two of the boys went home for the weekend and Matt decided to go next door for service. Anyways, I am wondering how I can even begin to describe this service to those that have not been there. It is definitely is not for everyone, it is a very progressive parish in which people of all different backgrounds gather to praise the lord. At first it was a little overwhelming. We walk in and are instantly greeted by the priest who tells us there are three seats right up front for us, these seats are literally like two feet from where he presides (which is not on the alter but instead at the same level as the people) He then introduces us to the church and we tell everyone our names and where we are from. As the mass goes on, I notice there is a women who signs the mass for a multiple of deaf parishioners. It was awesome watching them participate in mass and other people trying to follow along with the signs. It made me want to learn. All in all I believe this mass was different, unique and a bit much for even me to handle at points but an experience i think everyone should have.

The best part of the mass was the diversity. We have been church hopping trying to find one that works for us and one thing that has been hard is many of the masses are full of older Caucasian men and women with little to no diversity. In a city like Syracuse that has people of all different colors, size and shapes it is disappointing to see how segregated the populations really are. At mass today there were African Americans, Hispanics, Caucasians, people that were deaf, handicapped, a midget and more. It was very powerful. This is how I imagine God wants it to be. Everyone together praying and singing in his name. Yes, there were certain traditions that this mass did not follow and yes some it may have not been actually by the book but everyone there was respectful and came there for one reason. This community all loved one another and prayed together. I just wish more people could be so open to differences.

My final comment about mass today is that I really enjoyed they had pictures and quotes of leaders and hereos from our times under the Stations of the Cross, they ranged from Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa to Dorothy Day. These people give me hope that we too can make change, even if it is one person at a time.

It is easier to have faith that God will support each House of Hospitality and Farming Commune and supply our needs in the way of food and money to pay bills, than it is to keep a strong, hearty, living faith in each individual around us - to see Christ in him. - Dorothy Day

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone and welcome to the FrancisCorps blog! This is Emily signed in on Brother Jim's account. I just helped him set this up and he is so excited to use this to share our program and our year of service with all of you! He is extremely busy getting ready for the 10 year anniversary Reunion Weekend at the beginning of October, but I'm sure he'll be excited to get on this blog once he has a bit more free time.

For now, FC-ers feel free to start blogging to let people know what FrancisCorps is all about!