The St. Katharine Drexel Region of the Secular Franciscan Order

Joyful Gospel Living

 “Come to Him, a living stone…chosen and precious in the sight of God.”

Background:

Like many other fraternities, our local fraternity (Holy Assumption-Roebling, NJ) prayed that we might find a common apostolate.  At the suggestion of one of our members, we decided that this should be a pro-life apostolate.  After exploring several options in our local area, we made arrangements to meet Clare Kirk, OFS (belonged to St. Peter Fraternity in Riverside, NJ) , who worked at Good Counsel Home in Riverside with expectant and new mothers.  She gave us a tour of the facility and what the needs were.  Later, she visited our fraternity and spoke to our membership about this life-giving ministry.  In a follow-up phone call, Clare mentioned to me that there was an even greater need to assist the mothers after their two years of association with the home, when their life skills were put to the test and they sometimes struggled to adjust.  At that time, Clare maintained contact with seven alumnae (new mothers) who were trying to make a life for themselves and their new babies.  Our fraternity made a commitment to help one of those mothers (Emma) and her 18-month old baby Essence.  It has been a wonderful journey of accompaniment for all of us.  This June, Essence will be 14 years old and graduating from 8th grade!

One of our fraternity members has been at the Masonic Village in Burlington, NJ, for many years now.  Every year, we take fraternity to Carla to celebrate her birthday (June 29th).  Emma and Essence celebrate birthdays in May and June respectively, so Carla gets to enjoy a triple celebration.  How special will the visit be this year!  Little sister Symone’s birthday is in September, but she gets to party, too.  Carla looks forward to these visits and lavishes affection on Emma and the girls.

Reflection:

A few years ago, my husband Jeff and I made a trip to the White Mountains of Maine to visit one of my brothers and his wife.  They live on Mt. Abram, but their home provides easy access to the Presidential range in New Hampshire and the Appalachian Trail (AT) as it crosses into Maine.  One day, we decided to take a hike on the AT and found a trailhead to Table Rock, famous locally for the spectacular views when reaching the summit.  As we hiked the rugged trail, we encountered the characteristic terrain details of Maine: stones, rocks, and boulders!  When we were about 2/3 of the way up, we were both envious of bighorn sheep and their abilities to traverse such terrain!

What does a living stone look like?  In St. Peter’s epistle, he encourages the local Church to “Come to Him, a living stone, rejected by human beings, chosen and precious in the sight of God.”   This was an appeal to people of faith to turn to the Light of Christ and have a desire to be a living stone to build up the Church as a visible sign of Christ’s presence in our world.

On April 14^th, the Franciscan Action Network (FAN) hosted a one-hour webinar to encourage people of faith to advocate for a just Farm Bill.  This important legislation not only protects the needs of farmers who raise the food that will nourish our country and people in faraway lands, but it also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).  Both of these programs are critical to the life and dignity of people affected by poverty.

From dialogue with the coordinators at FAN, I knew that their promotion of advocacy was to get constituents to write to the members of Congress to make it a priority to preserve funding for those who are in need.  When the One Big Beautiful Bill was passed last fall, there was intention to cut $30B of SNAP funding over the next decade.  The proposed budget for FY2027 includes a $4.9B reduction to SNAP.  What must a living stone do to build the spiritual house whose cornerstone is Jesus Christ?  These reductions have a direct impact on struggling families like Emma’s.

I visited the Catholic Charities USA website to see what the impact has been.   In recent news, I found a link to a letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations by Kerry Alys Robinson, the President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, in which she wrote on behalf of the 169 diocesan Catholic Charities agencies in the US to make an urgent appeal for the vulnerable in our society:

https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/letter-appropriations-labor-hhs-fy2027.pdf

In the introduction to her letter, Robinson wrote:

“As you consider the Fiscal Year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) urges you to invest in programs that protect and support poor and vulnerable children, seniors, families, people facing behavioral and mental health crises, workforce development and training.”

As living stones, we can choose to place ourselves where we intentionally build a strong structure.  The Gospel teaches us how we are to live by loving one another and following the example of Jesus in seeing Him in one another.  In this weekend’s Gospel from St. John, Jesus tells His followers: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”

What is ours to do?  In our parish life, we know that there is a ministry to those in need through the efforts of our St. Vincent de Paul Society.  Many people come to our food pantry for temporary and sustaining assistance.  In many cases, many of those families also receive SNAP benefits, but they do not cover the growing expenses of our world today.  As draconian cuts are made to these critical benefits, how will families cope?  What must living stones do for one another?  How does our faith in God inspire us to do the work as Christ, our foundation, would?

For 13 years, our Secular Franciscan fraternity has accompanied a young single mother and her two daughters as a pro-life ministry.  Through this accompaniment, we have learned a great deal about the difficulties that poor people face with the very basics of society: food nourishment; affordable housing; sources of basic material needs such as clothing, furniture, public transportation, legal protection; and serious safety concerns when living and working in dangerous areas.  These experiences are part of an ongoing conversion for those who sincerely want to be living stones for Christ.

                   

When Pope Francis released his encyclical Fratelli Tutti in 2020, I explored the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) using the search engine for “common good” and found 73 results.  In Part Three (Life in Christ), there was a resonating teaching for living stones:

“Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings.  Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being.  All owe to each other this duty of respect, the right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person.  This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order.” (CCC, 1738)

The Beatitudes are our blueprint for building the Kingdom of God here and now.  Jesus teaches us that God’s reign is visible where people respond to the needs for righteousness and justice with mercy and compassion.  There are so many needs in our world today.  Sometimes, there can be a global impact by a singular event (e.g., the Chernobyl nuclear disaster).  Every person of faith is called to be a living stone, and then it is good to:

“…let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.”

Teresa S. Redder, OFS

Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister

JOYFUL GOSPEL LIVING

April 5, 2026 – The Resurrection of the Lord

“This is the day the Lord has made…”

At the Easter Vigil, my parish welcomed four catechumens into the Church through baptism.  During this long liturgy, all of the faithful experienced the awe and wonder of Christ’s Resurrection through powerful symbols (fire, light, water, and oil), the chanting of the glorious Exsultet, special Scripture readings, and the rite of Christian initiation with water, candles, and chrism, followed by the reception of the Eucharist.  This ritual is observed all over the world with the same reverence and glory that our faith has preserved by tradition for centuries.

For the catechumens and all of us, the celebration of Easter helps us to appreciate what Christ has promised to all of us who believe in Him and to share with Him the eternal life that He offers.  Over three weekends in March, the catechumens participated in the weekend scrutinies of their faith.  The symbols of Easter are profoundly present in our communal celebration:

• First Scrutiny: “I am the Living Water.”
• Second Scrutiny: “I am the Light of the World.”
• Third Scrutiny: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

Once a year, we renew our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday and then we are sprinkled with holy water to symbolize the new life that we share in Christ.  As we are welcomed into God’s family as His sons and daughters at baptism, we also begin our journey of discipleship.  For those of us who were baptized as infants, we relied on the examples of our parents, godparents, and other faith-filled people to shape our lives.  When we are sprinkled with holy water, we should experience the incredible joy that Psalm 118 describes:

“This is the day the Lord has made.”

On the feast of Saint Joseph (March 19th), my husband Jeff and I were at Sacred Heart Church (Mount Holly, NJ) for the Confirmation service for our twin grandchildren (Zofia and Nathan), who were among the 50 students to receive the sacrament this year.  For their 8th grade year, Jeff (a.k.a. Grandpa) was their catechist!  On their own, they chose Clare and Francis as their Confirmation names.  As their sponsors, we received a special gift from the parish catechetical team—a beautiful commemorative card with the title “The Role of the Sponsor.”

Before the service, I opened and read my card, which included an inscription of our granddaughter’s name and the date that she was sealed with the Holy Spirit—on the feast of Saint Joseph– the patron saint of my paternal grandfather, home parish, grammar and high schools, and university!  It was a day that the Lord had made for us.  Although the words inside the card highlighted the role of the sponsor, I thought that everyone who lives the faith with joy and conviction shares in this kind of witness for Christ:

“You have the honor of being chosen as witness to the confirmand’s initiation into full Christian life.  Through this sacrament, the confirmand is strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, made a true witness of Christ in word and deed, and invited more deeply into the life of the Church.  Your most significant role in relation to him/her is to be a role model of such witness and unifying love.

Some ways in which you can nurture this spiritual relationship all through life are:

• Celebrate the anniversary of this holy day of Confirmation with a visit, call, or card.
• Listen to and share in the confirmand’s maturing struggles and triumphs in living a Christian life and keep yourself informed on Christian doctrine and values to be able to answer questions when they arise.
• Encourage a maturing life of faith through special cards, letters, or gifts which celebrate holy events…Christmas, Easter…and personal growth events…graduations, first job, engagement. (Gift suggestions: a Bible, rosary, spiritual book, religious jewelry, retreat opportunity).
• Most importantly, become a model of Christian living for the person you have sponsored, through daily prayer, virtue, and active participation in parish life and liturgy.”

During the Confirmation service, I felt especially close to my own late sponsor (my Dad’s youngest sister), Cioci (Aunt) Irene, who passed away at age 95.  Not only was she a great influence on my spiritual life, but she also played a large role in the lives of my four children even into their adult lives and with my twin grandchildren, who accompanied me on many visit to her assisted living facility.

When Cioci Irene passed away in July 2022, her son asked me to offer the words of remembrance at her Mass of Christian Burial.  I had to smile inwardly when I spoke with the parish staff on the phone about the instructions: make sure that the words have spiritual content to them.  Besides my grandparents and parents, my aunt was the greatest spiritual companion in my life for another 10 years after all of them had passed away.

I reread what I had written about Cioci Irene after I received that card at the Confirmation service.  In my special memories of the “saint” that God had chosen to be my sponsor, I treasured how she: took away my fear of the bishop when I was confirmed; was the first to send me Polish wafer bread (opⱡatek) when I went away on active duty in the USAF; used her butter mold to make lambs for our family for the blessing of Easter food on Holy Saturday (and gave me her mold to continue the tradition); brought holy water to the parish cemetery for all of us to sprinkle as we bid farewell to her husband (my uncle); gave her treasured sodality rosary to my granddaughter with the instruction to pray it often; and always gave us a blessing on our foreheads when we left our visits with her, even if we were in the dining room and everyone could see it.

As we remember our Baptism during the Easter season, let us delight in the awe and wonder of God’s glory in new life that we experience in Christ.  Let us remember those who have been witnesses of faith for us:

“…let us rejoice and be glad.”

Teresa S. Redder, OFS

Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister

St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity

Regional Spiritual Assistant

St. Francis of Assisi Friary

1901 Prior Road

Wilmington, Delaware 19809

tel: (302) 798-1454      fax: (302) 798-3360      website: skdsfo     email: pppgusa@gmail.com

 

December 2025

 

O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity!

That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God,

so humbles Himself that for our salvation

He hides Himself under the little form of bread!

Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him!

Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him.

Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves

so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally.

 

Daily reminders from the sources are from the Assisi Compilation #82-#84

Quotes for each day from the works of C.S.Lewis

83 – BROTHER ELIAS AND CARDINAL HUGOLINO ASK HIM TO ACCEPT MEDICAL HELP HE COMPOSES THE CANTICLE OF BROTHER SUN AT SAN DAMIANO

1 – The Bishop of Ostia, who later became the apostolic bishop, seeing how blessed Francis was always severe with his body, and especially because he was rapidly losing his eyesight because he refused to have himself treated, admonished him with great kindness and compassion.

– You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

2 – He told him: “Brother, you do not do well in not allowing yourself to be helped with your eye disease, for your health and your life are of great value not only to yourself but also to others.

– When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.

3 – If you have compassion for your sick brothers, and have always been and still are merciful to them, you must not be cruel to yourself in such a serious and manifest need and illness. I therefore order you to allow yourself to be helped and treated.”

– Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.

4 – Likewise, two years before his death, while he was already very sick, especially from the eye disease, he was staying at San Damiano in a little cell made of mats. The general minister, seeing and considering how tormented he was with the eye disease, ordered him to let himself be treated and helped.

– Don’t shine so that others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see HIM.

5 – He also told him that he wanted to be present when the doctor began the treatment, especially so that he could more effectively arrange for him to be cared for and comforted, since he was suffering a great deal from it. At that time it was very cold, and the weather was not conducive to treatment.

– Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.

6 – Blessed Francis lay there for more than fifty days, and was unable to bear the light of the sun during the day or the light of a fire at night. He stayed in the dark in the house, inside that little cell. In addition, day and night he had great pains in his eyes so that at night he could scarcely rest or sleep. This was very harmful and was a serious aggravation for his eye disease and his other illnesses.

– Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.

7 – Sometimes he did want to rest and sleep, but there were many mice in the house and in the little cell made of mats where he was lying, in one part of the house. They were running around him, and even over him, and would not let him sleep.

– Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.

8 – They even disturbed him greatly at the time of prayer. They bothered him not only at night, but also during the day, even climbing up on his table when he was eating, so much so that his companions, and he himself, considered it a temptation of the devil, which it was.

– Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

9 – One night as blessed Francis was reflecting on all the troubles he was enduring, he was moved by piety for himself. Lord,” he said to himself, “make haste to help me in my illnesses, so that I may be able to bear them patiently.” And suddenly he was told in spirit: “Tell me, brother, what if, in exchange for your illnesses and troubles, someone were to give you a treasure?

– If you never take risks, you’ll never accomplish great things. Everybody dies, but not everyone has lived.

10 – And it would be so great and precious that, even if the whole earth were changed to pure gold, all stones to precious stones, and all water to balsam, you would still judge and hold all these things as nothing, as if they were earth, stones and water, in comparison to the great and precious treasure which was given you. Wouldn’t you greatly rejoice?”

– There is someone that I love even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is……me.

11 – “Lord,” blessed Francis answered, “this treasure would indeed be great, worth seeking, very precious, greatly lovable, and desirable.” “Then, brother,” he was told, “be glad and rejoice in your illnesses and troubles, because as of now, you are as secure as if you were already in my kingdom.”

– I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

12 – The next morning on rising, he said to his companions: “If the emperor were to give a whole kingdom to one of his servants, shouldn’t he greatly rejoice? But, what if it were the whole empire, wouldn’t he rejoice even more?” And he said to them: “I must rejoice greatly in my illnesses and troubles and be consoled in the Lord, giving thanks always to God the Father, to His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit for such a great grace and blessing.

– The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks

13 – In His mercy He has given me, His unworthy little servant still living in the flesh, the promise of His kingdom. “Therefore for His praise, for our consolation and for the edification of our neighbor, I want to write a new Praise of the Lord for his creatures, which we use every day, and without which we cannot live.

– The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.

14 – Through them the human race greatly offends the Creator, and every day we are ungrateful for such great graces, because we do not praise, as we should, our Creator and the Giver of all good.” Sitting down, he began to meditate and then said: “Most High, all-powerful, good Lord.”

– One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.

15 – He composed a melody for these words and taught it to his companions so they could repeat it. For his spirit was then in such sweetness and consolation, that he wanted to send for Brother Pacifico, who in the world was called “The King of Verses,” and was a very courtly master of singers.

– Evil comes from the ABUSE of free will.

16 – He wanted to give him a few good and spiritual brothers to go through the world preaching and praising God. He said that he wanted one of them who knew how to preach, first to preach to the people. After the sermon, they were to sing the Praises of the Lord as minstrels of the Lord.

– Don’t judge a man by where he is, because you don’t know how far he has come.

17 – After the praises, he wanted the preacher to tell the people: “We are minstrels of the Lord, and this is what we want as payment: that you live in true penance.” He used to say: “What are the servants of God if not His minstrels, who must move people’s hearts and lift them up to spiritual joy?”

– If nothing in this world satisfies me, perhaps it is because I was made for another world.

18 – And he said this especially to the Lesser Brothers, who had been given to the people for their salvation. The Praises of the Lord that he composed, that is, “Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,” he called “The Canticle of Brother Sun,” who is more beautiful than all other creatures and can be most closely compared to God.

– The most dangerous ideas in a society are not the ones being argued, but the ones that are assumed.

19 – He used to say: “At dawn, when the sun rises, everyone should praise God, who created it, because through it the eyes are lighted by day. And in the evening, when it becomes night, everyone should praise God for another creature, Brother Fire, because through it the eyes are lighted at night.“

– If you live for the next world, you get this one in the deal; but if you live only for this world, you lose them both.

20 – He said: “For we are all like blind people, and the Lord lights up our eyes through these two creatures. Because of this, we must always praise the glorious Creator for these and for His other creatures which we use every day.” He did this and continued to do this gladly, whether he was healthy or sick.

–  God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.

21 – And he encouraged others to praise the Lord. Indeed, when his illness grew more serious, he himself began to say the Praises of the Lord, and afterwards had his companions sing it, so that reflecting on the praise of the Lord, he could forget the sharpness of his pains and illnesses. He did this until the day of his death.

– Love is never wasted, for its value does not rest upon reciprocity.

84 – HE MAKES PEACE BETWEEN THE BISHOP AND MAYOR OF ASSISI, ADDING A VERSE TO THE CANTICLE

22 – At that same time when he lay sick, the bishop of the city of Assisi at the time excommunicated the podestà. In return, the man who was then podestà was enraged, and had this proclamation announced, loud and clear, throughout the city of Assisi: no one was to sell or buy anything from the bishop, or to draw up any legal document with him. And so they thoroughly hated each another.

– Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.

23 – Although very ill, blessed Francis was moved by piety for them, especially since there was no one, religious or secular, who was intervening for peace and harmony between them. He said to his companions: “It is a great shame for you, servants of God, that the bishop and the podestà hate one another in this way, and that there is no one intervening for peace and harmony between them.”

– We must stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life.

24 – And so, for that reason, he composed one verse for the Praises: Praised be by You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

– You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

25 – Afterwards he called one of his companions and told him: “Go to the podestà and, on my behalf, tell him to go to the bishop’s residence together with the city’s magistrates and bring with him as many others as he can.”

– Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

26 – And when the brother had gone, he said to two of his other companions: “Go and sing the Canticle of Brother Sun before the bishop, the podestà, and the others who are with them. I trust in the Lord that He will humble their hearts and they will make peace with each other and return to their earlier friendship and love.”

– There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.

27 – When they had all gathered in the piazza inside the cloister of the bishop’s residence, the two brothers rose and one of them said: “In his illness, blessed Francis wrote the Praises of the Lord for His creatures, for His praise and the edification of his neighbor. He asks you, then, to listen to them with great devotion.” And so, they began to sing and recite to them.

– To love at all is to be vulnerable

28 – And immediately the podestà stood up and, folding his arms and hands with great devotion, he listened intently, even with tears, as if to the Gospel of the Lord. For he had a great faith and devotion toward blessed Francis. When the Praises of the Lord were ended, the podestà said to everyone: “I tell you the truth, not only do I forgive the lord bishop, whom I must have as my lord, but I would even forgive one who killed my brother or my son.”

– Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist.

29 – And so he cast himself at the lord bishop’s feet, telling him: “Look, I am ready to make amends to you for everything, as it pleases you, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his servant, blessed Francis.” Taking him by the hands, the bishop stood up and said to him: “Because of my office humility is expected of me, but because I am naturally prone to anger, you must forgive me.” And so, with great kindness and love they embraced and kissed each other.

– Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

30 – And the brothers marveled greatly, considering the holiness of blessed Francis, that what he had foretold about peace and harmony between them had been fulfilled, to the letter. All the others who were present and heard it took it for a great miracle, crediting it to the merits of blessed Francis, that the Lord had so quickly visited them, and that without recalling anything that had been said, they returned to such harmony from such scandal.

– I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.

31 – Therefore we who were with blessed Francis bear witness that always whenever he would predict “such-and-such a thing is or will be this way,” it happened almost to the letter. We have seen with our own eyes what would be too long to write down or recount. – God doesn’t want something from us. He simply wants us.

– I gave in, and admitted that God was God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOYFUL GOSPEL LIVING

“We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You…”

Typically, the Gospel acclamation is a verse from Scripture, proclaimed in song by the cantor.  This weekend, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.  Although the feast’s Gospel acclamation is not a verse from Scripture, it is very familiar to Catholics in our Stations of the Cross.

This little prayer is an enduring legacy of St. Francis of Assisi, whose three loves of Christ were the Crib in Bethlehem; the Cross; and Communion.  As penitents, St. Francis taught his followers to say this prayer whenever they entered any church:

“We adore You, O Lord Jesus Christ,

here and in all the churches of the world,

and we bless You,

because by Your holy Cross,

You have redeemed the world.”

For many people, the Hallow application for portable electronic devices has become a powerful daily prayer tool, with so many ways to connect with God in podcasts, Scripture reflections, study guides, trivia games, meditative music, and many other spiritual delights.  This year, Hallow offered the 40-day St. Michael’s Lent, a period of prayer and fasting that began on the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and will conclude on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel on September 29^th.  It was during a retreat like this on Mount La Verna in Tuscany in 1224 that St. Francis received the stigmata on this weekend’s feast day.

Because of his great love of prayer in solitude, St. Francis patterned his life by the example of the self-emptying (kenosis) Christ on the Cross.  Besides his active evangelical ministry, he deliberately withdrew throughout the year to pray and fast with Christ.

During our Franciscan study pilgrimage in 2019, my husband Jeff and I visited Lago (Lake) Trasimeno, the largest lake in Italy, where St. Francis spent the Lent of 1211 in solitude on Isola Maggiore, praying and fasting from Ash Wednesday until Holy Thursday.  The Little Flowers of Saint Francis (7) records that the man who rowed him to the island and back was amazed that St. Francis took with him only two loaves of bread; he returned with one and a half loaves!

In our Pilgrim’s Companion to Franciscan Places, there was a challenging spiritual reflection:

“Lago Trasimeno reminds us of one of the main tenets of Francis’ spirituality: the call to a life of penance.  Penance for Francis meant total conversion to God.  His experience on the island concretizes this focus for us.  Here we can also challenge ourselves to the mystery of fasting:

• What fills us up?
• What fills our hearts?
• What kind of fasting is necessary in our lives so that God becomes greater and idols become less?
• How is our spiritual life bound up with the liturgical year?”

On September 1^st, the Church commenced the celebration of the ecumenical Season of Creation (SOC), which will conclude on the feast of St. Francis (October 4^th). The theme for this year is “Peace with Creation.”  It coincides with the Franciscan family’s observance of the 800^th anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures, a hymn of praise written in the Umbrian dialect by St. Francis just before his death.  What are we doing to give praise to our Creator?  How does our lifestyle bring about a more just society that respects all of God’s Creation?

In his message for the 10^th World Day of Prayer for Creation (September 1^st), Pope Leo XIV wrote:

“Now is the time to follow words with deeds. ‘Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience’ (Laudato Si’, 217). By working with love and perseverance, we can sow many seeds of justice and thus contribute to the growth of peace and the renewal of hope. It may well take years for this plant to bear its first fruits, years that, for their part, involve an entire ecosystem made up of continuity, fidelity, cooperation and love, especially if that love mirrors the Lord’s own self-sacrificing Love.”

Next Sunday (9/21), the United Nations observes the International Day of Peace: Act Now for a Peaceful World.  How appropriate that this celebration occurs during the SOC! As Christians celebrate the 1500^th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, the SOC Celebration Guide 2025 noted:

“In our troubled, unequal, and divided world, we are strengthened by the confession of faith and by the ecumenical communion established in Nicaea to follow Isaiah’s call and stand firm in our witness for God’s promise of peace for all Creation. Therefore, in the face of conflicts and strife, let us proclaim God’s promise: ‘The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.’ (Isaiah 32:17)”

Christ invited all of us to take up our crosses and follow Him.  That invitation does not have an assurance that it will be easy.  Rather, Jesus told His followers in the Beatitudes that they would be blessed when they were persecuted or insulted by wicked people.

The Gospel reminds us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” This treasured Scripture quote inspires gratitude for a love revealed on the Cross by our Savior.  Our adoration for Christ then has certitude as we knowingly and deliberately follow Him:

“…because by Your Cross, You have redeemed the world.”

Teresa S. Redder, OFS

Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister