Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

May our dear Lord keep you in his peace and all times. Today, it is snowing in Joliet, the temperature is around 31 degrees outside, too cold for Halloween! I hope this memo finds each of you in "GOOD SPIRITS," today after the 8:30 a.m. mass we had our children from St. Joseph Academy go trick or treating in the friary. Each of the friars gave the kids candy to celebrate the day! We were told that they will be getting out of school at noon to go throughout the neighborhood trick or treating. St. Joseph Academy is a very small school with an awesome Catholic education. The school is about 30 kids all together. It's basically a home school approach to teaching in a school environment. 

This morning when I got up I realized I was dreaming that I was running down the street, running is just not my thing anymore, but in the dream, it brought me back to my youth and it was fun. It's amazing as we age, we just can't do so many things that we could do when we were younger. Sometimes, I look at it, as a way to give thanks to God for the many blessings I had in my youth and in old age, I can share those memories with others.

Yesterday, we had about 15 friars that gathered at our friary. We talked about lots of stuff and we felt energized by just being with everyone. We realized that we need to continue to work on being in each other's lives and to help walk with each other when times get hard. As we age, we know how important it is to create a circle of friends in our lives and to share our love, our faith and our hope with each other. 

Please be assured of my prayers for each of you during these next special three days of prayer, All Hallow's Eve, All Saints, and All Souls. May our loved ones who have gone before us intercede for us and may we never stop praying for them. I hope you take some time during these three days to "JUST SIT and REMEMBER" all those who are gone, but in many ways are always with you!

Peace and all good, 

Happy Haunts!

Brother Ed Arambasich, OFM