Peace

Ave Maria! Peace has been a theme for me today. I went to sleep thinking about an entrepreneurial venture which may help to fund the Our Lady and St. Nicholas Project. When I awoke this morning, I felt assured that the products I had designed to promote peace would, in fact, do so and could help bring the Our Lady and St. Nicholas Project to fruition. Before I started my morning chores, I scribbled notes in my notebook, so I wouldn't forget the clear-headed encouragement I was feeling. I guess you could call it peace.

After cleaning and tidying all morning, I set about bringing several trash bags of returnable bottles and cans to the redemption center. The company that controls most of the bottle return kiosks in Portland requires the purchase of their special bags and an account with them in order to redeem returnable bottles and cans. Phooey on that. I spent some time plotting the best route to bring my trash bags of bottles and cans to a regular redemption center in my shopping cart. The closest regular redemption center is rather far. Will try again tomorrow to solve.

Went to Mass and received more encouragement from the readings and homily for the Fourth Sunday in Advent. The Gospel was Joseph's dream in which an angel counseled him not to be afraid to take Mary into his house as his wife. Fr. Kevin talked about finding peace by accepting God's plan for us as Joseph did. Fr. Kevin said that then "fear becomes hope, thoughts become reality and plans become actions." May it be so! On my walk home I mused about those words that spoke to my fear, thoughts and plans. Peace!

At home, I opened a box that had arrived from a Catholic Worker, in support of the Our Lady and St. Nicholas Project. Nine books by or about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement and a copy of Fr. John Hugo's Applied Christianity, which pertains to the famous retreat that Dorothy Day attended over twenty times and which she claimed was essential for every Catholic Worker. I had just borrowed through interlibrary loan two books by Pyotr Kropotkin, whose work greatly influenced CWM co-founder Peter Maurin. So I will try to read them first, but I look forward to delving into the treasure trove of CWM books very soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you, my collaborator in Minnesota. Peace!

News: after being retired from dance for over a decade, I have decided to restart SonLight Dance Company. My son David has been urging me to do so for years. My granddaughters all dance, and a friend and dance company alumnus that I meet on the streets of Portland just about every day also supports the idea. The dance company has always been multi-generational, and participants have represented all ages and abilities. Many of the dances have social justice themes. And others are purely entertaining.

David wants to recreate my entire catalogue of choreography so that we can film it. What made me decide to pursue this was when I sat writing in my notebook last night and a performance of a dance played in my mind's eye. That needs to be seen now, I thought.

Which brings me to the phases of the Our Lady and St. Nicholas Project. Phase I is the purchase of the property. As soon as I have raised enough pennies to show that SonLight can pull this off, I will make an offer and, God willing, get the property under contract. We need to raise the full purchase price of 35,000,000 pennies.

Phase II is to raise the pennies for renovation of the larger structure. There is only a small amount of renovation required to make the smaller structure livable and workable. When it is, some MW and CWM activities can begin. Once all renovations are complete, both structures can be fully operational.

Phase III involves replacing the 3,000 square feet of structure that were removed. The new construction will house a large chapel and a large studio for dance/film/and filming dance.

Phase IV involves acquiring two more contiguous acres or three acres nearby so that farming can be part of the agriculture of the property.

Our Lady of Good Remedy, Queen of Peace, and St. Nicholas, pray for us! Jesus, Prince of Peace, come!