1st letter of December 2005

1) 2nd Sunday of Advent, December 04, 2005

Monday, November 28, 2005.
In the morning I attended Amos class and read some articles in the library. At 1 p.m. in my presiding class, we had the rite of marriage between a Lutheran and a Catholic outside of the Mass by another group. At 5 p.m. in our community I led the lectio divina in reflecting Saint Francis Xavier’s favorite verse in the Gospel of Mark: 8:34 - 9:1. This afternoon I got birthday card from Father Luigi Menegazzo, s.x.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005.
In the morning I did type presentation of Inculturation and Dialogue class for this coming Thursday. In the evening I had class of EMP/one of the Integrating Core courses at CTU.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005.
I attended Amos class in the morning. In the afternoon I did type my final paper of EMP class, about 30 pages.

Thursday, December 01, 2005.
Today is snowing and I took some pictures of this beautiful season. I attended class of Chia and presented our dialogue with Theravadan Buddhism in the group. In the beginning of the presentation, I was chanting of the Pali language of Buddhism. I went to CVS store to print my pictures and sent them with my Christmas cards to some of my friends and families in Indonesia. In the afternoon I was cooking chicken and rice. In the evening we had a community meeting talking about our planning of St. Francis Xavier celebration. At night I prepared my reflection for tomorrow morning Mass.

Friday, December 02, 2005.
In the morning Mass I shared my reflection about 4 candles which I called candles of Peace, Faith, Love and Hope. The last is the one should be shined all the time in our life as God’s children. In the morning I went to St. Therese Church to accompany the third graders of St. Therese primary school. There were 15 kids (8 girls and 7 boys). I accompanied them to watch a Cartoon video and played some games with them. They are typical of their age whose characteristics of noisy, telling plainly and honestly what they feel and know. They are similar with the children I met in Indonesia in term of their behavior. I was happy to be with them until 1 p.m. For the lunch Father Michael, s.x. provided Pizza for all of us. I went home after buying some food at Chinese store and in the afternoon I cooked again for my community in Hyde Park. In the supper, we celebrated the birthday of Dharmawan (29). In the evening I was writing my 32 Christmas cards to be sent to Indonesia. I gave them to my guest, Shirly, who comes on Saturday.

Saturday, December 03, 2005.
In the morning I was cleaning the first floor and prepared the table for our feast of St. Francis Xavier today. In the afternoon at a quarter to four, Shirly, a friend of mine from Jakarta came to our house in Hyde Park. She stayed overnight and joined our celebration of St. Francis Xavier. At 4 p.m. together with 5 OMI’s (one priest and 4 students), we were celebrating the Mass and followed by supper. We are altogether 19 (including Father Michael who came afterward during the supper) people, singing, eating, talking, etc. At 8.30 p.m. we, the Indonesian students at the Xaverians (Ignas, Dharmawan, Harno and I) took our guest, Shirly to downtown Chicago by night. It was snowing and foggy. We took some pictures there till midnight we returned home.

Sunday, December 04, 2005.
At 8 a.m. I attended the Mass at St. Thomas Church here at Hyde Park. At 11 a.m. I accompanied Shirly to go to Saint Therese Church Chinatown, just to see Chinatown Chicago, Sears Tower, downtown Chicago, Water Tower Mall, etc. We returned home at 5 p.m. that was already dark. At 6 p.m. Ignas gave Shirly a ride to go to her training center at Saint Charles, Illinois, about 40 miles from our house. We helped her to reach her room and we said Good Bye afterward. She is going to leave for Indonesia on Saturday. She only has chance to see downtown Chicago before she starts her training on Monday to Friday, so it’s a privilege for me to welcome her in Chicago. I am glad that what we have planned before through Internet correspondence finally has been real coming true as it is. She is a roommate of Angelina, my friend in Jakarta. Through real and true friendship we witness the goodness of the Lord.