Wednesday, June 19, 2013
June 19, 2013 by Sarah
God is even kinder than you think.
- St. Theresa
July’s fund-raising feast features star-spangled menu
June 18, 2013 by Sarah
Manna House kicks off Independence Day with a star-spangled bang on the first Monday of the month.
July’s “First Monday at Manna” fund-raising dinner will feature all red, white and blue salads and desserts.
The dinner at Manna House of Prayer, 323 E. Fifth St., is set for July 1, and reservations are required by June 27, by calling 243-4428 or emailing retreatcenter@mannahouse.org.
There will be two seatings for the dinner — at 5:30 and 6:45 p.m. — and guests are invited to arrive 15 minutes early for “Patriotic Punch,” wine and appetizers.
The dinner menu includes berry and apple salad, hot chicken salad, Fourth of July potato salad, “Red, White and Bleu (cheese) Slaw,” spiral pasta salad and blueberry muffins, topped off with red velvet cake and angel food cake with berry toppings for dessert.
Donations are welcome, with all proceeds going to the numerous Manna House ministries, including Helping Hands, a program that provides emergency assistance for people throughout Cloud County and operates a small food pantry.
The “First Mondays at Manna” dinners are part of the center’s 35th anniversary celebration, and will continue throughout 2013.
The Aug. 5 dinner will be a simple but delicious “retreat meal” similar to what would typically be served during a stay at Manna House.
The red brick building that is today Manna House was built in 1884 as the first Motherhouse of the newly arrived Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. The building at Fifth and Olive streets served as the convent and a boarding school, but it soon became apparent that a bigger building was needed to house Nazareth Convent and Academy.
So in 1903, the Nazareth Motherhouse opened at the corner of 13th and Washington streets, and the sisters converted their old home into St. Joseph Hospital.
An addition to the hospital was built in 1915, and the significantly bigger facility remained a hospital until 1951, when the sisters built what is now Cloud County Health Center.
The sisters converted the building into a nursing home and it served as St. Anne’s Home for the Aged until 1977, when the new Mount Joseph Village was built on the west edge of Concordia.
Meanwhile, three Sisters of St. Joseph had opened Manna House of Prayer in Clyde and were reaching out to the community there.
By April 1978 the sisters in Clyde moved their program to the newly renovated brick building in Concordia, and it was dedicated as Manna House of Prayer.
Its mission, then and today, is to be a place were people of all faiths come for personal and communal prayer, on-going education, quiet time and counseling. Sisters who live there also provide youth ministry, facilitation services, spiritual direction and counseling.
In 2013 Manna House is home to seven Sisters of St. Joseph and has a staff of four laypeople. Throughout the year there are workshops on everything from “seasonal spirituality” and the ancient art of bobbin lacemaking to “meditation and movement” and the meaning and mystery of the rosary.
To learn more about Manna House, its ministries and upcoming events, go to mannahouse.org.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
June 18, 2013 by Sarah
The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind.
- Wayne Dyer
Question of the Day
June 17, 2013 by Sarah
Monday, June 17, 2013
June 17, 2013 by Sarah
It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes
And pleasant scents the noses.
— Nathaniel Parker Willis
Question of the Day
June 15, 2013 by Sarah
Saturday & Sunday, June 15 & 16, 2013
June 15, 2013 by Sarah
I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?
— Mother Teresa
Friday, June 14, 2013
June 14, 2013 by Sarah
What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.
— Gertrude Jekyll
Question of the Day
June 13, 2013 by Sarah
‘A God thing’ brings Ohio women to organic garden
June 13, 2013 by Sarah
Kelly Greenvalis and Rachel Neff call it “a God thing.”
As the two young women in Columbus, Ohio, prepared their final itinerary for a cross-country road trip, they went to the website for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, USA — and the first place that popped up was Manna House of Prayer in Concordia. The organic gardeners at Manna House had just listed their need for volunteers a day earlier.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES ON ORGANIC FARMS, CLICK HERE.
Phone calls and arrangements quickly followed and the two began the 880-mile trip Sunday, arriving at Manna House Tuesday afternoon.
By Wednesday 21-year-old Greenvalis and 20-year-old Neff were getting introduced to the Concordia Community Garden of Hope and the Nazareth Motherhouse gardens, all grown organically under the watchful eye of gardener Steven Mitchell. Today (Thursday, June 13) their morning chore was picking strawberries with Manna House volunteer Cindy Ponce at the Motherhouse.
From here the pair will travel to Denver to visit friends and then it will be on to California, where they will volunteer at Marie’s Farm in Pescadero, in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
They will spend time at least one and possibly two more organic farms before they return to Columbus in mid July.
Greenvalis and Neff met when they were juniors in high school and have talked about a road trip west off and on since then. And when they were seniors, they both took an environmental science, which introduced them to organic farming and “practical ways to care for the earth,” Neff said.
Both have attended college, and then decided to take some time off to explore what they want to do with their lives.
“I was stuck, just trying to figure out my life,” Greenvalis said. “I started praying, and I thought God wanted me to help with the earth.”
Neff was still talking about the road trip, “and then it all came together and Rachel could go with me.”
Neff had registered with the wwoof.org website, and when she made a final check, Manna House as a new member popped up on the home page.
“This is about discovery for us,” she said.
Or, as Greenvalis explained it, “This is a time to go with God and learn.”
