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Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 9th, 2025 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 29th. 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 1st, the Church commenced the celebration of the ecumenical Season of Creation (SOC), which will conclude on the feast of St. Francis (October 4th). The theme for this year is “Peace with Creation.” It coincides with the Franciscan family’s observance of the 800th 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 10th World Day of Prayer for Creation (September 1st), 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 1500th 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
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 9th, 2025 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 email: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
September, 2025
Brothers and Sisters in St. Francis,
May the Lord grant us all the gift of His peace.
We are quickly approaching the end of the jubilee year of the Canticle of the Creatures. The fifth Franciscan jubilee completes the journey of St. Francis from Discovery to Fulfillment and Glory. We will celebrate the Paschal Mystery of our Seraphic Father. In St. Francis it is the celebration of life’s fulfillment to be nothing else than conformed to Christ in His Passion and Death, crucified in, with, for Love, so to be conformed with Christ in His Resurrection and Glory
St. Francis sang his Love in the Canticle of Brother Sun not as he saw God in all creatures but as he saw all creation in God. His song was a simply expressed but mystically experienced of his proximate return to the source of all being, God! The fulfillment of a life lived in Christ for God totally giving himself for others. The sentiments expressed came from the depth of his heart so enamored of God that he saw God in every aspects of Creation. He had encountered the God of Creation and saw all things, time itself, in the Creator calling him home.
He composed this beautiful hymn of praise, Laudato Si!, as he lay awaiting Sister Bodily Death from whom no one can escape. This testament to the saint’s spiritual clarity and his unwavering commitment to humility, peace, and divine love can be felt so profoundly in the last part of the Canticle. The last stanzas that address forgiveness, Sister Death, and praise, are filled with a depth of faith and feeling. These words, the Canticle itself, speak volumes.
Francis’s invocation of forgiveness is not a casual mention but a deliberate and sacred act of spiritual elevation. In the stanza, “Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation,” Francis links the act of forgiveness directly to divine love. Forgiveness is not framed as a moral obligation or a social necessity but as a sacred participation in God’s own nature. Those who forgive are not merely virtuous—they are blessed. They are the ones who “endure in peace,” and it is by this endurance that they “shall be crowned.” To forgive is to align oneself with the eternal will of God, to participate in the God’s life of grace.
Francis’s emphasis on bearing infirmity and tribulation alongside forgiveness suggests that true pardon is not born of ease but of suffering. It is in the crucible of pain that the soul is refined, and it is through this refinement that one becomes capable of divine love. This stanza is a spiritual mirror of Francis’s own life, marked by illness, rejection, and hardship, yet filled with joy and peace. Forgiveness, in this context, is not weakness but strength. It is the crown of the soul that has chosen love over vengeance, peace over resentment.
The stanza on Sister Death is perhaps the most startling and countercultural element of the canticle. “Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape.” Here, Francis does not fear death, nor does he curse it. He embraces it as a sister, a companion on the journey of life. Francis is not romanticizing mortality, but affirming that death has its place in the divine order. Death is not the enemy; it is the threshold. Francis’s calls death “Sister”. In a world that often views death with terror and denial, Francis offers intimacy and reverence.
He warns, however, that “woe to those who die in mortal sin,” and suggests that death is not neutral. It unveils the soul’s true state and ushers it into the presence of God. But for those “whom death will find in Your most holy will,” there is no harm. The “second death,” a reference to eternal separation from God, shall not touch them. It reflects Francis’s deep trust in divine mercy and his acceptance of life’s final passage. His own death occurred shortly after the canticle’s composition. It was marked by peace and joy, and embodied the words he had written.
By calling the elements “Brother” and “Sister,” Francis dismantles the hierarchy that places humanity above creation. He is centuries ahead of his time. His canticle calls for reverence, humility, and gratitude. In this communion, forgiveness is the glue, death is the gateway, and praise is the song. The canticle is not merely a poem, it is a spiritual map. It guides the soul from the illusion of separation to the truth of unity. It teaches that to live is to praise, to suffer is to forgive, and to die is to be embraced.
The historical context of the canticle adds further depth to its message. Francis wrote it while suffering from a debilitating eye disease, living in a darkened cell, surrounded by physical pain and existential uncertainty. Yet his words are luminous. They do not reflect despair but transcendence. Francis does not deny his suffering; he transforms it. He does not flee from death; he welcomes it. He does not withhold forgiveness; he offers it freely. The canticle is the fruit of a soul that has been purified by fire and has emerged radiant. It is the testament of a man who has seen God not in visions but in the faces of lepers, in the warmth of the sun, in the silence of the moon, and in the final breath of life.
In emphasizing forgiveness, Sister Death, and praise, the canticle brings together the human experience with divine grace. It sanctifies all aspects of life. It invites us to be persons of humility, gratitude, and joy. It challenges the ego and comforts the soul. It is a song of liberation, not from suffering, but through it. It is a hymn of hope, not in avoidance of death, but in its embrace. It is a prayer of love, not in isolation, but in communion.
The “Canticle of the Creatures” speaks across centuries, cultures, and conditions. It is as relevant today as it was in the thirteenth century. In a world marked by division, violence, and ecological crisis, Francis’s vision offers a path of peace, reconciliation, and reverence. It reminds us that forgiveness is divine, that death is sacred, and that praise is our highest calling. It invites us to see the world not as a resource to be exploited but as a family to be cherished. It calls us to live not in fear but in love, not in isolation but in communion, not in silence but in song.
Francis’s canticle is not a relic; it is a revelation. It reveals the heart of a man who saw God in all things and responded with joy. It reveals a theology that is not abstract but embodied, not distant but near. It reveals a spirituality that is not passive but active, not resigned but radiant. It is a canticle not only of creatures but of creation, not only of nature but of grace, not only of life but of love. And in its final lines, it calls us to “praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.” This is the essence of Francis’s vision. This is the invitation of the canticle. This is the song that never ends.
Francis did not cloak his wisdom in theology nor his devotion in flowery language. He spoke in the plain language of the fields and the villages, naming each element as brother or sister and each human act of mercy as supreme worship. In so doing, he modeled a spirituality that is both accessible and profound, rooted in the everyday yet lifting the soul beyond itself. The stanzas on forgiveness, Sister Death, and praise form the canticle’s heart, but they pulse only because the bloodstream of radical poverty, joyful community, and incarnational love courses through them. Each paragraph of his poem invites the reader into a sacramental imagination, to see the sun as a song of God’s light, the water as a vessel of cleansing grace, the wind as a whisper of the Spirit’s breath. And among these chords of nature, forgiveness restores harmony, death becomes transformation, and praise rings out as the soul’s perpetual offering.
To live Francis’s canticle is to recognize that every gust of wind, every sunset, every human encounter bears within it the echo of the Creator’s voice. It is to find in forgiveness not a concession but a crowning virtue, in death not an end but a sacred passage, in praise not an obligation but the soul’s natural song. The Canticle of the Creatures stands as a testimony that the path to God is not necessarily in solitude and theological theorems, but can be found in solidarity with birds and beasts, in the acceptance of our mortality, and in the humble offering of every breath as a blessing. Even now, the melody of the Canticle invites us each to forgive as we are forgiven, to embrace death as a sister who brings us home. We are encouraged to praise with such humility that our gratitude will resound through all creation.
Praise be You, my Lord, for all my sisters and brothers. You have called us to the Gospel Life living in society. Your Spirit empowers us to be Pilgrims of Hope in an often confused world.
God bless all of you. Our Holy Mother and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you. Our Holy parents of Assisi intercede for us all and our loved ones, as we strive to Live Jesus in the spirit of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, OFM Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 9th, 2025 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 email: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
September 2025
I bend my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
so that, through the prayers and merits of the
holy and glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother,
and of our most blessed father Francis and of all the saints,
the Lord Himself, Who has given a good beginning,
may give increase and may also give final perseverance.
Amen.
(The Testament of St. Clare of Assisi)
Daily excerpts from Assisi Compilation #67 – # 71 – Daily quote from various sources
67 – HIS VISITORS TRAMPLE A PRIEST’S VINEYARD IN RIETI AND IT IS MIRACULOUSLY RESTORED
1 – Because of the disease of his eyes, blessed Francis at that time was staying in the church of San Fabiano near the same city, where there was a poor secular priest. At that time the Lord Pope Honorius and other cardinals were in the same city. Many of the cardinals and other great clerics, because of the reverence and devotion they had for the holy father, used to visit him almost every day.
– There’s a hole in every human heart that only God can fill.
2 – That church had a small vineyard next to the house where blessed Francis was staying. There was one door to the house through which nearly all those who visited him passed into the vineyard, especially because the grapes were ripe at that time, and the place was pleasant for resting.
– Fight all error, but do it with good humor, patience, kindness and love.
3 – And it came about that for that reason almost the entire vineyard was ruined. For some picked the grapes and ate them there, while others picked them and carried them off, and still others trampled them underfoot. The priest began to be offended and upset. “I lost my vintage for this year!” he said. “Even though it’s small, I got enough wine from it to take care of my needs!”
– Harshness will damage your own soul and spoil the best cause.
4 – When blessed Francis heard of this, he had him called and said to him: “Do not be disturbed or offended any longer. We can’t do anything about it. But trust in the Lord, because for me, His little servant, He can restore your loss. But, tell me, how many measures of wine did you get when your vineyard was at its best?” – We are like God when we forgive.
5 – “Thirteen measures, father,” the priest responded. “Don’t be sad over this anymore,” blessed Francis told him, “and don’t say anything offensive to anyone because of it, or argue with anyone about it. Trust the Lord and my words, and if you get less than twenty measures of wine, I will make it up to you.”
– It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.
6 – The priest calmed down and kept quiet. And it happened by divine dispensation that he obtained twenty measures and no less, just as blessed Francis had told him.
– How wonderful it would be if we spent as much energy living our religion as we do arguing about it.
7 – Those who heard about it, as well as the priest himself, were amazed. They considered it a great miracle due to the merits of blessed Francis, especially because not only was it devastated, but even if it had been full of grapes and no one had taken any, it still seemed impossible to the priest and the others to get twenty measures of wine from it.
– No gift is ours till we have thanked the giver.
8 – We who were with him bear witness that whenever he used to say: “This is the way it is . . . or this is the way it will be …”, it always happened as he said. We have seen many of these fulfilled not only while he was alive but also after his death.
– People may doubt what you say but they will believe what you do.
68 – AT FONTECOLOMBO THE DOCTOR HAS DINNER WITH THE BROTHERS AND THE LORD PROVIDES THE FOOD
9 – At that same time, blessed Francis stayed in the hermitage of the brothers at Fonte Colombo near Rieti because of the disease of his eyes. One day the eye doctor of that city a visited him and stayed with him for some hours, as he often used to do.
– Carry the cross patiently, and in the end it will carry you.
10 – When he was ready to leave, blessed Francis said to one of his companions: “Go and give the doctor a good meal.” “Father,” his companion answered, “we’re ashamed to say that, because we’re so poor now we’d be ashamed to invite him and give him anything to eat.”
– Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.
11 – Blessed Francis told his companions: “O you of little faith! Don’t make me tell you again!” The doctor said to blessed Francis and his companions: “Brother, it is because the brothers are so poor that I am happy to eat with them.”
– Life can be understood backward, but it must be understood forward.
12 – The doctor was very rich and, although blessed Francis and his companions had often invited him, he had refused to eat there. The brothers went and set the table. With embarrassment, they placed the little bread and wine they had as well as the few greens they had prepared for themselves.
– Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.
13 – When they had sat down at the table and eaten a bit, there was a knock on the door of the hermitage. One of the brothers rose, went and opened the door. And there was a woman with a large basket filled with beautiful bread, fish, crab cakes, honey, and freshly-picked grapes, which had been sent to brother Francis by a lady of a town about seven miles away from the hermitage.
– In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
14 – After they saw this and considered the holiness of blessed Francis, the brothers and the doctor were greatly amazed. “My brothers,” the doctor told them, “neither you nor we sufficiently recognize the holiness of this saint.”
– There I no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.
69 – HE TELLS A LADY OF LIMISIANO THAT HER HUSBAND WILL BE CONVERTED
15 – One time blessed Francis was going to “Le Celle” of Cortona and was following the road that passes at the foot of a fortified town called Limisiano, near the place of the brothers at Pregio. A noble woman of the town happened to come with great haste to speak to blessed Francis.
– The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.
16 – When one of his companions saw this woman, extremely tired, hurrying after them, he ran to tell blessed Francis. “Father, for the love of God, let us wait for the lady who is following us, since she is quite exhausted from her desire to speak with us.” Blessed Francis, as a man full of charity and piety, waited for her. When he saw her exhausted and coming to him with great fervor and devotion, he said to her: “What is it, please, my lady?”
– To give witness of your faith is like perfume. If it’s really good, you won’t have to advertise it.
17 – The lady answered: “Father, please, bless me.” Blessed Francis asked her: “Are you bound to a man or single?”
“Father,” she said, “for a long time the Lord has given me the will to serve him. I had and still have a strong desire to have my soul. But I have a husband so cruel that he is an antagonist to me and to himself in the service of Christ. Because of this, my soul is tormented to death with great sorrow and anguish.”
– Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.
18 – Blessed Francis was moved by piety for her, considering the burning spirit she had, and especially because she was a young girl and was delicate according to the flesh. He blessed her and said to her, “Go, and you will find your husband at home. Tell him for me that for the love of the Lord who endured the passion of the cross to save us, I beg both you and him to save your souls in your own home.”
– Jesus impacted the lives of his followers more powerfully after his death than before it.
19 – When she returned and entered the house, she found her husband at home, just as blessed Francis had told her. Her husband said to her: “Where are you coming from?” “I’m coming from seeing blessed Francis who blessed me,” she answered, “and his words have consoled and gladdened my soul in the Lord. Moreover, he told me to tell you on his behalf and to beg you that we should both save our souls in our own home.”
– People don’t really pay much attention to what we say about our religion, because they’d rather see what we do about it.
20 – After she said this, the grace of God immediately came down on him, through the merits of blessed Francis. Suddenly changed anew by the Lord, he answered her with great kindness and meekness: “My lady, from now on, as it will please you, let us serve Christ and save our souls, as blessed Francis said.”
– Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself.
21 – His wife told him: “My lord, it seems to me that it would be good for us to live in chastity, because it is very pleasing to the Lord and is a virtue with great reward.”
– A leader is someone who knows, goes, and shows the way.
22 – “Lady,” her husband answered, “what pleases you, pleases me. For in this, as in other good deeds, I want to unite my will to yours.” And from then on, for many years, they lived in chastity, giving many alms to the brothers and to other poor people.
– True spiritual vision is the ability to seed the invisible.
23 – Not only seculars, but also religious marveled at their holiness, especially since this man, who once was very worldly, so quickly became spiritual.
– Criticism is like dynamite. It has its place, but it should be handled only by experts.
24 – Persevering till the end in all these things and other deeds, both of them died within a few days of each other. Because of the fragrance of their good life, there was great mourning over these two who had given all the time of their lives to praising and blessing the Lord who had given them graces, sincerity, and harmony during life in His service. Even in death they were not separated, because one died right after the other. Their memory, like that of the saints, is recalled to this day by those who knew them.
– If you cannot find happiness along the way, don’t assume you will find it at the end of the road.
70 – HE REFUSES ENTRANCE TO THE ORDER TO A YOUNG NOBLEMAN FROM LUCCA
25 – At a time when no one was received into the life of the brothers without the permission of blessed Francis, the son of a nobleman of this world from Lucca, together with others who wished to enter the religion, came to see blessed Francis. At the time he was sick and was staying at the palace of the bishop of Assisi. When the brothers presented them to blessed Francis, the son of the nobleman bowed before blessed Francis and began to cry aloud, begging to be received.
– Who has health has hope; who has hope has everything.
26 – Looking at him, Blessed Francis said: “O wretched and fleshly man! Why are you lying to the Holy Spirit and to me? You are crying in the flesh and not in the spirit!” After he said these things, his relatives suddenly arrived outside the palace on horseback, wanting to seize him and take him back home.
– They stand best who kneel most.
27 – When he heard the clatter of horses, he looked out a window of the palace, and saw his relatives. He immediately got up, and went outside to them. He returned to the world with them, just as blessed Francis had known through the Holy Spirit. The brothers, and others who were there, marveled, magnified, and praised God in his saint.
– Who loses wealth loses much, but who loses the spirit loses everything.
71 – HE WANTS TO EAT SOME FISH AND IT IS PROVIDED IN A WONDERFUL WAY
28 – Once when he was very sick and staying in the same palace, the brothers begged and encouraged him to eat. But he answered them: “My brothers, I don’t have the wish to eat; but if I had a bit of that fish called squalo, perhaps I would eat some.”
– When we do what we can, God will do what we can’t.
29 – Once he said this, someone came carrying a basket in which there were three large and well-prepared squali and crabcakes. The holy father gladly ate these. These were sent to him by Brother Gerardo, the minister at Rieti. As they considered his holiness, the brothers were amazed and praised the Lord who had provided for his servant, especially because it was winter and such things were not available in that area.
– Those who stand for nothing fall for everything.
72 – HE KNOWS THE THOUGHTS OF A CRITICAL BROTHER
30 – Once blessed Francis was travelling with a spiritual brother from Assisi who came from a great and powerful family. Because he was weak and ill, blessed Francis rode on a donkey. Feeling tired from walking, that brother began to think to himself: “His parents were never at the same level as mine, and here he is riding, while I’m worn out, walking behind him, prodding the beast.” While he was thinking this, blessed Francis got off the donkey and said to him: “No, brother, it’s not right or proper for me to ride while you go on foot, for in the world you were nobler and more influential than I.” The brother, stunned and ashamed, fell down at his feet and, in tears, confessed his thought and then said his penance. He was greatly amazed at his holiness, for he immediately knew his thought. In fact, when the brothers petitioned the Lord Pope Gregory and the cardinals in Assisi to canonize blessed Francis, he testified to this before the Lord Pope and the cardinals.
– Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, OFM Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 17th, 2025 “I have come to set the earth on fire…”
Ten days ago, I went on a reconnecting journey with my dear friend and fellow music minister Mary Verme to St. Francis Inn in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Departing early so that we could attend the daily 8:30 AM Mass, we parked our car on a side street. Immediately, we noticed how many homeless people were now sleeping on the sidewalks close to the Inn, where they felt safer and welcomed.
After entering the chapel, we gave silent greetings to familiar staff members and then watched about a dozen high school girls coming in for worship. Many of them wore T-shirts that said “Visi” on them. This was their last day of volunteering at the Inn.
During the homily, Fr. Michael Duffy, OFM, expressed gratitude to the teens for their week of service at the Inn, noting the many daily challenges that they had experienced in the various ministries of this vibrant community. We learned that these students came from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory Academy in Washington, DC, founded in 1799 by three “pious ladies” from Philadelphia. In 1815, this school received permission from the Vatican to affiliate with and become the first US Visitation community (an order founded by St. Jane Frances de Chantal in 1610 in France). Through the vision of their high school experience, these students were learning how to set the earth on fire for Christ.
One of my favorite Gospel quotes is found in this weekend’s reading, as Jesus says to His disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” What a great visual that gives to us of God’s love that Jesus desires to be revealed in our world today and every day! However, Jesus warns the disciples that if we follow Him without reservation, then we can expect division among us. This is because worldly values are always in such diametric conflict with God’s desires. When called by God to bring messages to the people, every prophet learned the dangerous challenges and even persecutions that accompanied those missions. The prophet Jeremiah understood this all too well.
After the morning Mass, Mary and I sat with Katie Sullivan, the Executive Director of Franciscan Volunteer Ministry (FVM), who coordinates the visits of high school and college students on mission to the Inn, as well as overseeing the intentional community of FVM volunteers who spend 1-2 years in volunteer ministry in Philadelphia or Durham, NC (Note: Mary served as a FVM in Philadelphia).
Katie is an alumna of Georgetown Visitation, so there is a special bond with these students during their annual visits. On mission trips like these, the students’ daily encounters with those who are on the margins of society due to poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and many other societal hardships can be both inspiring and also overwhelming. How can the faithful help Jesus to realize the fire that He so desires in our world? As community, we need daily reminders that every encounter is an opportunity to bring God’s love to others. Christ calls us into communal action.
After our visit, I did some internet research about Georgetown Visitation, so committed to the Salesian spirituality of Saints Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal. These high school students share a very simple imperative that they must learn by doing: Live Jesus. In blog testimonies on their website, students shared the difficulties in learning to trust God and to practice the “Little Virtues” that shape the Salesian witness to Christ:
- Kindness
- Gentleness
- Thoughtful Concern for Others
- Humility
- Simplicity
- Hospitality
- Gratitude
- Patience
- Generosity
- Honesty
- Cheerful Optimism
Looking at these highly desirable virtues to make Christ’s Kingdom visible here and now, we might wonder why there would be division in the world or within families when someone intentionally chooses to live in God’s love—to live Jesus. It makes no sense whatsoever that there are people who make choices that are the opposite of those little virtues. Perhaps daily prayer to the Holy Spirit would help to remind us of their necessity. Daily decisions sometimes create a moral dilemma for us:
- Whose example will we follow?
- Are we prepared for opposition when we choose to follow Christ?
- Will we trust in God for courage and fortitude?
- How can we welcome the difficulties that we will encounter as pilgrims of hope?
- Will we recognize Christ at the door?
 
The “Visi” community is bound by an inspiring prayer:
Direction of Intention (St. Francis de Sales)
Oh my God, I give You this day. I offer You now all of the good which I shall do. I promise to accept for love of You all of the difficulty which I shall meet. Help me to conduct myself during this day in a manner most pleasing to You.
Church history clearly tells us that there have been generations of people who listened to the Word of God and committed their lives to tending to the fire of God. If we get discouraged, St. Paul reminds us that their lives paved the way for us to serve Christ today, even amid divisions:
“We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (Heb 12:1)
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
St. Katharine Drexel Regional Minister
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2025 August 3, 2025
JOYFUL GOSPEL LIVING
“One’s life does not consist of possessions.”
From a variety of news sources that we choose to get our updates, there is always a vast amount of information that is shared: world and national events; health and science updates; sports statistics; weather forecasts and warnings; arts and entertainment happenings; and business trends that affect investors and employees. The world’s population lives as a consumer society that drives the global economy. Much of that demand is reflected in our possessions: clothing, cars, homes, hobbies, jewelry, collectibles, and lots of stuff that we have accumulated in our lifetime. In the first reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, there is a wise understanding that it is vanity to imagine that any of these possessions has any importance after death. So, do they even matter in life?
In this weekend’s Gospel, a man approaches Jesus to get an opinion on a family inheritance. Jesus speaks to the crowd around Him when He replies: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Jesus then tells the parable about a rich man who had such a bounteous harvest that he needed to build larger barns to store it. Little did he realize that God was watching him critically. We can only imagine what the crowd heard in that parable: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” What did Jesus mean when He spoke about storing up treasures that are ‘rich in what matters to God’?
Why are people so fascinated by the lifestyles of the rich and famous? There have been many news stories this year of the lavish lifestyles of rich people that are beyond our imagination. When someone has worked with Catholic charities in ministry to the poor, they see firsthand the struggles that people encounter in daily living to obtain the basic necessities of life: food, clothing and shelter. As a contrast, though, it is well known that there is a Pyramid of Global Wealth that is updated periodically and shows the sobering statistics of wealth distribution:
| >$100 Million |
1.1% |
| $100K-$1M |
12% |
| $10K-$100K |
34.4% |
| <$10K |
52.5% |
This is also where we learn that 1% of the world’s population controls 40% of its wealth; the top 10% controls 80% of wealth worldwide. More than half of the world lives in poor circumstances. How do their lives compare in their meager possessions and their struggles to survive? How does that matter to God?
In our Catholic tradition, we have centuries of stories from the lives of the saints to teach us about what matters to God. From the very beginning of the Church, the believers valued a common life and looked out for one another. The earliest stories are in the Acts of the Apostles. They were such vibrant testaments to lives of love that inspired many people to join the Church to bring about God’s Kingdom.
One of the Church’s main charitable agencies to assist the poor is Caritas International. For the Jubilee Year 2025, Caritas invited Catholics of good will to enter into the spirit of jubilee by looking at the issue of world debt with a special campaign:
“The Turn Debt into Hope campaign carries forward Pope Francis’s call for us to mark the Jubilee year in the Catholic Church by addressing the debts of countries ‘that are in no condition to repay the amount they owe.’ Inspired by the Holy Father’s message of solidarity, this global call advocates for debt justice and transformative financial reforms to bring renewed hope to communities burdened by unsustainable debt. Today, more than 50 countries are facing a debt crisis, with many governments forced to spend more on debt repayments to private creditors than on schools, hospitals or protecting their communities from the worsening impacts of the climate emergency. In the face of aid cuts and rising tariffs, which are deepening poverty and inequality in countries already burdened by unsustainable debt, the need for debt relief has never been more critical.”
In the epistle to the Colossians, Saint Paul cautions the community to remain close to the risen Christ by always seeking what is above. He wants them to put to death the earthly things that separate us from God. He refers to greed as idolatry. During this Jubilee Year of Hope, we have many opportunities to reexamine our lives and see where our desires align with those of God for us. If we are ambitious, is it for goodness and justice? Are we generous toward others as God has been generous to us? Where do we find the daily opportunities to ponder what matters to God? As Secular Franciscans, we find wise counsel in our Rule:
Reflection (OFS Rule #11)
Trusting in the Father, Christ chose for Himself and His mother a poor and humble life[1], even though He valued created things attentively and lovingly. Let the Secular Franciscans seek a proper spirit of detachment from temporal goods by simplifying their own material needs. Let them be mindful that according to the Gospel, they are stewards of the goods received for the benefit of God’s children. Thus, in the spirit of “the Beatitudes,” and as pilgrims and strangers on their way to the home of the Father, they should strive to purify their hearts from every tendency and yearning for possession and power[2].
[1] First Letter of St. Francis, 5
[2] Rom. 8,17; Vatican II, Const. on the Church, 7
In the Scripture readings, God is always speaking to us so that we might listen and do what is ours to do. For effective listening, the words need to penetrate our hearts so that we can be the love in the world that God desires so much:
“If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
Saint Katharine Drexel Regional Minister
The new statue by Timothy P. Schmalz titled “Be Welcoming” is displayed in St. Peter’s Square (Tuesday, April 15, 2025).
Credit: Victoria Isabel Cardiel/EWTN News
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2025 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
August 2025
I behold the Lord.
I see His outstretched hands.
I see the blood from His wounds.
I see the love in the eyes of Jesus.
I see His gracious acceptance of me.
Jesus has come out of the tomb –
He still has the scars, but now they are glorious, with the glory of heaven.
Still looking at the Lord, I reach out and touch Him.
I hold the Lord – and I am held in His love.
Love enfolds.
It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
I am secure in the Lord.
I can look out, now, through the Lord’s eyes.
I can see the world as He created it, in His mercy,
I can see my sisters and brothers with His love,
and I can worship the Father through the eyes of the Son
in the Love of the Holy Spirit.
(Prayers of St Clare of Assisi)
Excerpts from Franciscan Sources taken from ASSISI COMPILATION, #62-#66
62 – HE REJECTS A MAN WHO GAVE AWAY HIS POSSESSIONS TO HIS RELATIVES
1 – Once blessed Francis went preaching throughout the province of the Marches. While he was preaching one day to the people of one village, a man happened to come to him. “Brother,” he said to him, “I want to leave the world and enter your religion.” Blessed Francis told him: “Brother, if you wish to enter the religion of the brothers, you must first distribute all your goods to the poor, according to the counsel of the holy Gospel, and then renounce your will in all things.”
– Endurance is the ability to bear a hard thing and to turn it into glory.
2 – When he heard these things, the man left hurriedly, and, led by the love of the flesh, he distributed all his goods to his relatives. He returned to blessed Francis, and told him: “Brother, I have expropriated myself of all my goods.” Blessed Francis asked him: ”How did you do it?” The man told him: “Brother, I gave all my goods to some of my relatives who needed them.”
– Little love, little trust.
3 – Through the Holy Spirit, blessed Francis immediately knew that the man was of the flesh, and told him: “Go on your way, Brother Fly, because you have distributed your goods to your relatives, and you want to live on alms among the brothers.” Refusing to distribute his goods to other poor people, he immediately went on his way.
– Jesus said, ‘I am the way’.
63 – HE IS FREED FROM A LONG-LASTING TEMPTATION
4 – At that time, while blessed Francis was staying in that same place of Saint Mary, it happened that a very serious temptation of the spirit was inflicted on him for the benefit of his soul. He was tormented inside and out, in body and spirit, so much that he sometimes withdrew from the close company of the brothers, especially since he could not be his usual cheerful self because of that temptation.
– Two men looked out through prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars.
5 – He inflicted upon himself not only abstinence from food, but also from talking. He would often go to pray in the woods near the church, so that he could better express his pain and could more abundantly pour out his tears before the Lord, so that the Lord who is able to do all things, would be kind enough to send him a remedy from heaven for this great trial.
– I just want to do God’s will.
6 – He was troubled by this temptation day and night for more than two years. One day while he was praying in the church of Saint Mary, he happened to hear in spirit that saying of the holy Gospel: “If you have faith like a mustard seed, and you tell that mountain to move from its place and move to another place, it will happen.”
– Great and mighty is our Lord, His wisdom cannot be measured.
7 – Saint Francis replied: “What is that mountain?” He was told: “That mountain is your temptation.” “In that case, Lord,” said blessed Francis, “be it done to me as you have said.” Immediately he was freed in such a way that it seemed to him that he never had that temptation.
– God calls where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.
64 – HE CRITICIZES BROTHER JAMES THE SIMPLE AND AS A PENANCE EATS WITH A LEPER
8 – Once when blessed Francis had returned to Saint Mary of the Portiuncula, he found there Brother James the Simple with a leper covered with sores who had come there that day. The holy father had entrusted this leper to him, and especially all the other lepers who had severe sores. For in those days, the brothers stayed in the leper hospitals. That Brother James was like the doctor for those with severe sores, and he gladly touched, changed, and treated their wounds.
– Repentance is sorrow converted into action toward a new and better life.
9 – As if reproving Brother James, blessed Francis told him: “You should not take our Christian brothers about in this way since it is not right for you or for them.” Blessed Francis used to call lepers“ Christian brothers.”
– A mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.
10 – Although he was pleased that Brother James helped and served them, the holy father said this because he did not want him to take those with severe sores outside the hospital. This was especially because Brother James was very simple, and he often went with a leper to the church of Saint Mary, and especially because people usually abhorred lepers who had severe sores.
– Reverence for life leads us into a spiritual relationship with the world.
11 – After he said these things, blessed Francis immediately reproached himself, and he told his fault to Brother Peter of Catanio, who was then general minister, especially because blessed Francis believed that in reproving Brother James he had shamed the leper.
– People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.
12 – And because of this he told his fault, to make amends to God and to the leper. Blessed Francis said to Brother Peter: “I tell you to confirm for me the penance I have chosen to do for this and do not oppose me in any way.” Brother Peter told him: “Brother, do as you please.”
– Faith knows the way. Hope points the way. Love is the way.
13 – Brother Peter so venerated and feared blessed Francis and was so obedient to him, that he would not presume to change his obedience, although then, and many other times, it hurt him inside and out. Blessed Francis said: “Let this be my penance: I will eat together with my Christian brother from the same dish.”
– What is upsetting with one who lies is that that person can longer be believed.
14 – While blessed Francis was sitting at the table with the leper and other brothers, a bowl was placed between the two of them. The leper was completely covered with sores and ulcerated, and especially the fingers with which he was eating were deformed and bloody, so that whenever he put them in the bowl, blood dripped into it. Brother Peter and the other brothers saw this, grew very sad, but did not dare say anything out of fear of the holy father. The one who wrote this, saw it and bore witness to it.
– Confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.
65 – THE VISION OF BROTHER PACIFICO IN A CHURCH AT BOVARA
15 – At one time blessed Francis was going through the valley of Spoleto together with Brother Pacifico, from the Marches of Ancona, who in the world had been known as “King of Verses,” a nobleman and courtly master of singers. They stayed in the lepers’ hospital at Trevi.
– The greatest truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest people.
16 – Blessed Francis said to Brother Pacifico: “Let’s go to the church of Saint Peter in Bovara, because I wish to stay there tonight.” That church was not too far from the hospital, and no one was staying there, because at that time the town of Trevi had been destroyed, so that no one lived in the town or the village.
– If you judge people you have no time to love them.
17 – On the way there, blessed Francis said to Brother Pacifico: “Go back to the hospital because I would like to remain here alone tonight. Come back to me at dawn tomorrow.” So blessed Francis remained there by himself. After he said compline and other prayers, he wanted to rest and sleep, but could not do so, and his soul grew afraid and he began to feel diabolical suggestions.
– Every child comes with the message that God is not discouraged with us.
18 – He immediately got up, went outside the house, signed himself, and said: “On behalf of Almighty God, I tell you, demons, do whatever the Lord Jesus Christ has permitted you, to harm my body. I am prepared to endure anything. Therefore, you will be avenging me on my opponent and enemy.”Those suggestions stopped immediately and, when he returned to the place where he had been lying, he rested and slept peacefully.
– Kindness is the music of life.
19 – When morning came Brother Pacifico returned to him. Blessed Francis was standing in prayer in front of the altar inside the choir. Brother Pacifico stood and waited for him outside the choir, in front of the crucifix, praying to the Lord at the same time. As he began to pray, Brother Pacifico was taken up into an ecstasy, whether in the body or out of the body, God knows, and he saw many thrones in heaven, one of them higher than the others, glorious, resplendent adorned with every precious stone.
– Even in the most difficult people there is a child asleep in their hearts waiting to be awakened.
20 – As he admired its beauty, he began to wonder what kind of throne it was and whose it might be. All at once he heard a voice telling him: “This was Lucifer’s throne and blessed Francis will sit on it in his place.”
– When the soul has laid down its faults at the feet of God, it feels as though it had wings.
21 – As he came back to himself, blessed Francis came out to him. He immediately prostrated himself in the form of a cross at the feet of blessed Francis. Because of the vision he saw about him, he considered blessed Francis as if he were already in heaven, and said to him: “Father, forgive me my sins, and ask the Lord to forgive me and have mercy on me.”
– To have an increase of Jesus you must have a decrease in self.
22 – Extending his hand, blessed Francis lifted him up, and he realized that he had seen something in prayer. He appeared almost totally changed and spoke to blessed Francis not as if he were living in the flesh, but as if he were already reigning in heaven. Afterwards, as if on another point, because he was unwilling to speak about the vision to blessed Francis, Brother Pacifico asked him: “What do you think of yourself, brother?”
– You are not responsible for your heritage but you are responsible for your future.
23 – Blessed Francis responded: “It seems to be that I am a greater sinner than anyone in this world.”
– The world is round and the place that seems like the end may be the beginning.
24 – And immediately Brother Pacifico was told this in his heart: “In this you can know that the vision you saw is true. For as Lucifer was cast down from that throne because of his pride, so blessed Francis will merit to be exalted and to sit on it because of his humility.”
– Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
66 – HE HEARS THE MUSIC OF A LUTE IN THE HOUSE OF TEOBALDO SARACENO IN RIETI
25 – Once, when blessed Francis was in Rieti because of the disease of his eyes, he was staying for a few days in a room of Teobaldo Saraceno. One day he said to one of his companions, who while in the world knew how to play a lute: “Brother, the children of this world do not understand divine things. Contrary to the will of God, they use instruments such as lutes, the ten-stringed harps, and other instruments, for the sake of vanity and sin, which in times past were used by holy people to praise God and offer consolation to souls.
– Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need.
26 – Therefore, I would like you to obtain secretly from some upright person a lute on which you could play for me a decent song and, with it, we will say the words and praises of the Lord, especially because my body is tormented with disease and pain. So I wish by this means to change that pain of my body to joy and consolation of spirit.”
– God in heaven let me feel my nothingness in order to feel the more powerfully the greatness of your goodness.
27 – For, during his illness, blessed Francis composed some Praises of the Lord which he had his companions recite sometimes for the praise of God, the consolation of his spirit, and also for the edification of his neighbor. “Father,” the brother answered him, “I would be embarrassed to get one, especially because the people of this city know that I played the lute when I was out in the world. I fear they will suspect me of being tempted to play the lute again.”
– What I have will belong to another one day, but what I am will be mine for all eternity.
28 – Blessed Francis told him: “Then, brother, let’s let it go.” The following night, around midnight, blessed Francis was keeping vigil. And behold, around the house where he was staying he heard the sound of a lute playing a melody more beautiful and delightful than he had ever heard in his life. The one playing it would go some distance away so that he could barely be heard, and then returned, but was always playing. And he did this for over an hour.
– Why is it that so many church goers say “Our Father” on Sunday, and go around the rest of the week like orphans?
29 – Blessed Francis, considering that it was the work of God and no to any human being, was overjoyed, and with an exultant heart with deep feeling he praised the Lord who was so kind as to console him with such a great consolation.
– Look for the best in others and you will find the best in yourself.
30 – When he arose in the morning he said to his companion: “My brother, I asked you for something and you did not grant it. But the Lord, who consoles His friends in their sufferings, was kind enough to console me last night.” He then told him everything that had happened.
– The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little!
31 – The brothers were amazed and considered this a great miracle. And they knew that it was truly a work of God for the consolation of blessed Francis, especially since, by a decree of the podestà, no one dared go about the city, either at midnight or even after the third ringing of the bells. And because, as blessed Francis said, it came and went in silence, without a word or a noise from its mouth, for more than an hour to console his spirit.
– Those who would transform the world, must first transform themselves.
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2025 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
[This monthly letter has turned into a personal reflection I’d like to share. The terrible conflicts affecting the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and a number of other areas, have made people question their faith convictions concerning the issue of “just war”, “necessary violence”, “pacifism”. Those who believe arming and defending oneself are considered “anti-Christian”, those who believe we must not arm are often considered “cowards” or un-caring people who seek only their own comfort and security. The reflection below began as the usual monthly circular letter that turned into a personal thought. I am not offering any answers. I am just sharing a challenging question that may not have a “right” or “wrong” solution. There are also conflicts that are local, personal, not global that affect many people whose decisions often follow the reasoning process found throughout this letter. Please pardon me before you read this, but I felt compelled to write this convoluted and rambling thought. ]
August 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters in St. Francis.
May the Lord grant us all the precious gift of His peace.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14: 27).
Peace is a very elusive gift that everyone desires and never seems to achieve completely. Perhaps the way we attempt to achieve this peace may often contradict the gift itself. Does the end justify the means, or not? Jesus said: Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:1-42). This saying is confusing for many. It appears in the context of Jesus sending out His disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God. A similar remark states: Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but division (Luke 12:51). These two Gospel quotes make it clear that Jesus predicted conflict as a result of His message. What ‘peace’ is Jesus offering us?
Peace is not always and necessarily the absence of armed combat or the right to possess and use weapons. Not all devastating “wars” can be blamed on weapons of mass destruction. What about economic “wars” that impoverish people, class “wars” that keep people subjugated to others out of fear, or because of poverty, social exclusion, and so on.
The peace Jesus speaks of is more fundamental. The peace of Jesus concerns the soul of a person, both in the spiritual and the psychological sense. “Shalom”, the scriptural word for “peace” indicates, fundamentally, being at harmony with God, one self, and others. This “peace” can even be present in the midst of armed combat. Contradiction? No, not at all! Although “peace” would indicate the ultimate hope that inner peace with one self and God, should-could-would (?) lead to an external universal peace with all.
Franciscans have always been noted as bearers of Peace and Blessings. In good times and bad the children of St. Francis of Assisi have been there in the midst of it all. When you “smell like the sheep” you have to be with the sheep, even when the sheep are contending with wolves, and/or perhaps when the sheep might be the wolves. It is all in the perspective of the one critiquing the situation. Can there be a general norm that responds categorically to the question of peace and war?
Yes! The Gospel and the Person of Jesus Christ! But even here the response is conditioned by many factors that each one reading this can discover within their own hearts and personal experiences. Yet, there can be apparent or definite substantial practical differences on how to implement what they have “discovered”.
Franciscans, of whatever branch and affiliation, profess to be brother and sister to all people at all stages of life’s journey. Franciscans encourage, support, and care for any who defend their God-given right to life (I have come that they have life and have it abundantly – John 10:10), liberty (The truth will set you free – John 8:32) and the pursuit of happiness (I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete – John 15:11) while at the same time respecting the dignity, talents, and rights of “the other”, who in turn seeks to respect the dignity and rights of the “others”.
It might be good to remember that President Abraham Lincoln was criticized by his staff for putting some of his political enemies in prominent positions in his government. He was reminded that he was supposed to eliminate his enemies completely. His response was: I thought I did that when I made them my friends. Yes, it is usually a little more complicated than that, but it does mean, as Pope St. John XXIII stated: We must seek what binds us together and not what keeps us apart. ‘Nice’ stories and words, but how does it work ‘practically’ on a political or ‘religious’ and fraternal level. Is it possible? Yes! However, we must honestly desire what we say we seek. Only then we will be able to find the means to achieve the goal. This is true of anything we say we desire.
There is so much happening in our world today. People are tense when they read, see, and hear about conflicts around the world. Humanity’s inhumanity to its own kind is devastating, obscene and foolishness! ‘We pray for peace and prepare for war’. This is the modern fulfillment of a 4th/5th century AD Roman author, Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, ‘Concerning Military Matters’: Therefore, if you desire peace, prepare for war (?!)
Every year at this time, the nation remembers dropping the Atomic Bomb (the “new great deterrent to war” of the time!) on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945). The bomb destroyed thousands of lives, two magnificent cities, and horribly mutilated many people, rendering them disfigured and/or terminally ill. This act ended a war. But, it also encouraged “developed” nations to produce greater weapons of mass destruction “for protection” and/or as a “deterrent” to future global conflicts (?!). Who would be the arbitrator of peace, the one with the weapons?! All people of good faith are involved in the perennial pursuit to seek what is necessary to end war, useless killing, and the destruction of the dignity of anyone forever
How can there be peace through violence? How does one stop another determined on destroying someone so that they no longer exist? These questions and many more are not easy questions to answer with absolute certitude. We know what “the gut” says, but what does the heart say? What does our Faith say? The question however is definitely raised: Is war or physical combat that might destroy life ever justified? Is war, physical and/or technological combat justified? Traditions of differing groups respond in varied ways. Theory is easy for those who are not affected by the devastation. But you are in the middle of the battle, what do you do and why? The answers usually given are for survival and not as text book responses to “moral issues”. Most confessors have to deal with this type of an issue, albeit not on a global level, but still requiring a response that is Christ-centered.
The Franciscans consider themselves true children of the Seraphic Father of Assisi, ambassadors of peace. St. Francis himself greeted the people with Peace and Blessings (All Good). Is this ‘peace’ sought through mere presence, or conscientious objection, or active confrontation or solely political lobbying, or active military participation against the enemy, or whatever means is deemed just or “justified” and thus correct?
So visible in today’s world are the issues of war, violence, disregard for human life from conception to natural death, euthanasia of the elderly and chronically infirm, exploitation of minorities for the sake of material gain and/or social, political, economic prominence and power. Humanity’s inhumanity to its own kind has escalated and been “perfected” down through the millennia. It seems the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have really had no true peace, only truce(s). The war-less periods extended long enough for warring parties to rebuild weapons with more resistant materials, regroup their military forces, and continue the “onslaught” at a later date. It is a reality of which we are all aware since the second world conflict and all the other ‘military actions’ up to the present in the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, and other ‘minor’ but no less world-involving military actions.
As Franciscans, we are considered people of peace. We are pacifists, or are we? “Pacifist” can be an enigmatic word that has various meanings for those who use it to explain, excuse, justify, criticize, condone, condemn, and so on, belligerent and hostile activity among contending parties, regardless of any “collateral damage”. Who is the true pacifist and what does that mean? Theoretically we know the answer. We also know that we have a responsibility to defend and protect the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that all people, according to the type of governing process they choose, have a right to enjoy. No one must impose themselves on peoples or even individuals, in a manner that would deprive them the freedom to choose their own destiny. As they accept the effects of their honest choice in self-determination, they must in turn respect the dignity of others and their freedom of self-determination.
At a gathering of Italian Bishops over twenty years ago St. Francis of Assisi was named the “Man with a Disarmed Heart”. Still he went into the thick of battle: in the West before his conversion he fought for Assisi, loyal to the Emperor and seeking the glory of knighthood; after his conversion, he went East, through the lines of the Crusaders who were fighting the Moslems “for the sake of the Holy Land and the Sacred Places”; and he also breached “no man’s land” to meet the Sultan, and he did. Neither converted the other, but their encounter made history. They agreed to disagree and became friends who respected the other. Their common bond was in the One Great God of Abraham. It was a starting point. It lasted eight centuries. Difficulties? Yes! Nonetheless, the desire to achieve the “goal” is an eight centuries old dream, still dreamed by those who dare to hope in the Gospel.
The pacifists went to battle either raising their arms with sword in hand to strike, or with arms outstretched to embrace an ‘enemy’ that he might become a “friend”. In both cases it took extreme courage. The reasons for armed conflict were preached in God’s Name and justified for God’s Glory. But was it just? The glory of God is the human person fully alive (St. Irenaeus). It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). How does one “conformed to Christ” respond?
Sometimes conflict, even armed conflict, might be inevitable and even necessary to save the integrity of a people who seek assistance or whose conflict may affect the integrity of a free nation. Even when objecting to bearing arms, friars could be seen as chaplains, and other bearers of the Franciscan charism, in the thick of battle. They were there to be “Christ present” fulfilling one need or another for the sake of those fulfilling their call to armed service protecting the values of a nation and/or people. These religious men often were seen ministering when possible even to the wounded and dying of the ‘enemy Samaritan’ left to die by the “militant Christian fulfilling his duty for God and Christendom”.
Few matters are really cut-and-dry. The issue of peace rather than war and violence, has always been a matter for our Franciscan international fraternity to consider and ‘preach’ with our lives. Even within the Family of St. Francis opinions are varied. At times discussions can become rather heated. Fraternity prevails, but opinions remain. One of the Capuchin Lay Brothers of years ago had been in General George Patton’s D-Day Landing on Normandy Beach, 6 June 1944. Thousands of allied soldiers lost their lives that day, and other combatants as well. Years later some of the younger brothers would ask our brother about his military days. He would speak rather cautiously about some things. However, when asked if he ever killed a person in battle, his look became very solemn and sad. His response was: “Brother, you never ask a soldier that question”. He would walk away quietly, and would return later as his old self again. The question made him “relive” what most soldiers would rather forget but cannot. It is believed that even our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi suffered from PTSD his entire life because of his war experiences and the treatment he received from his father and later his captors when in prison. (Remember our poor soldiers returning from Vietnam.)
As you take the time to read this, please keep in mind that this is not intended to sway anyone’s opinion or sincere belief on the matter. We Franciscans are Heralds of the Great King, Pilgrims of Hope, Apostles of the Gospel of God’s love in Jesus for all people. Nonetheless, in an imperfect world of imperfect people, peace is often sought through the most imperfect and confusing and contradictory ways. There are many Saints who bore arms in the thick of armed conflicts. They were pacifists who placed their lives in danger for the sake of peace at the call of their nation, or recognizing their own personal responsibility concerning the matter at hand.
Nor has this mailing any intention of being a treatise on the questions of “just war”, “pacifism”, “bearing weapons”, “killing an aggressor in war, or “protecting one’s family and property in self-defense”, and so on. Opinions vary and no general consensus is ever really totally correct. Is it just? Is it power seeking for international prominence? Is it politically expedient? War for the sake of war is stupid and sinful, when negotiations are possible. Nevertheless protecting one’s just rights and dignity is a right, duty, and responsibility of everyone, while respecting the dignity and rights of those whom we oppose.
World War I was called the “War-to-end-all-wars”. Instead of this, the 1900’s seems to have been a practice-run for all the conflicts the world has seen since then. The “moral issues” of war and peace are not always as clear in practice as they seem in theory, religious or otherwise. A famous phrase from many years ago: Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition is not as amusing as it sounds. There can be no double standard. Keep the question in perspective. It’s not a question of “hawk” or “dove”. It is an ongoing question to ponder in the light of the Gospel while remaining open to the Holy Spirit, whatever the response in good conscience might be.
We are all are waging our own spiritual battles as men and women called to stand before the powers of evil so rampant in our world. We fight with the weapons that are the most effective: prayer, hope, courage and total trust in God’s protection and power. Whatever our response to the question posed in this letter, may we never forget:
Our help is in the Name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth (Psalm 124: 8).
Because: Greater is the One within than the one who is in the world (1 John 4: 4).
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, OFM Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 9th, 2025 FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (JULY 6, 2025)
“Ask the Master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest.”
Two weeks ago, my husband Jeff and I attended a Franciscan visitation in Center City Philadelphia. The minister of this fraternity excitedly told us that their host parish was moving out purposely to support Archbishop Nelson Pérez’s new evangelization. Handing me a copy of their parish bulletin, she pointed out the upcoming pastor’s meeting to energize the faithful to reach out to those who were on the peripheries. Evangelization is a most Franciscan endeavor of living the Good News!
In his pastoral letter to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia ((https://trustandhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Pastoral-Letter-FINAL_ENGLISH.pdf), the archbishop described how the Church needed to be:
“We must be a community of Missionary Disciples focused on renewal, rebuilding trust, and inviting people to a relationship with Jesus Christ!”
When he assumed his episcopacy five years ago, Archbishop Pérez faced the daunting challenges of moving from crisis to hope. Many parishioners were fearful of the closures of their beloved parishes. He received great inspiration from the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium (EG)-The Joy of the Gospel (2013):
“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting Him encounter them…No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord’…Whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that He is already there, waiting for us with open arms.” (EG 3) The archbishop reached out to everyone in the archdiocese with this appeal: “We need everyone in our lives and across our local Church to know this. Where do we start?”
In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus prepares to send out seventy-two disciples in pairs, commenting to them that the harvest is great, but the laborers are few. He then tells them to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest.” The proclamation of the Kingdom of God was still so new at this time of Jesus’ ministry, yet He entrusted this task to His disciples to go before Him and prepare the way. Now, we are in the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, and Christ still calls us to this kind of discipleship—through the Magisterium, as Archbishop Pérez has done.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has noted the sobering reality that 83% of baptized Catholics don’t come to church. This statistic should concern us, too, and foster a desire in us to be missionary disciples. What does it mean in our world to live without Christ in our lives? Do we understand why Catholics have given up the practice of their faith? In a fast-paced society that uses impersonal technology to stay connected, we frequently encounter young people (and elderly) who are lonely, anxious, and without hope. Despite this reality, our hope endures through the Risen Christ, who reaches out to encounter each of us and invites us to share our experiences with others:
“The Church which ‘goes forth’ is a community of missionary disciples who take the first step, who are involved and supportive, who bear fruit and rejoice. An evangelizing community knows that the Lord has taken the initiative, he has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), and therefore we can move forward, boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast.” (EG 24)
When Archbishop Pérez was the Chairperson of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, he approved a pastoral document for evangelization called Creating a Culture of Encounter: A Guide for Joyful Missionary Disciples (May 2019) whose vision was to reach out to those on the margins in a spirit of encounter based on these four objectives, relevant to all disciples of Christ:
- Promote a vision of the Church in mission that invites, engages, and forms youth, young adults, families, and lay ecclesial movements to live out their baptismal vocation.
- Provide a process of faith sharing and missionary activity that prepares Catholics to share and celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ and to become leaven for the reign of God in society.
- Call all Catholics in the United States to become authentic and joyful missionary disciples by giving witness to God’s love with a prophetic voice by encountering their brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Invite all Catholic leaders to engage and accompany the most vulnerable and those who find themselves on the peripheries of the Church and society.
In our daily lives, each of us is a missionary disciple, laboring within the harvest that Christ desires: in our workplaces, our families, and our communities where we bring the Good News to those who need to experience its joy the most. The culture of encounter has a powerful prayer of trust and hope to inspire us to labor for Christ:
“God of infinite Mercy, You sent Your Risen Son to encounter the disciples on the way to Emmaus. Grant us today a missionary spirit and send us forth to encounter our sisters and brothers: to walk with them in friendship, to listen to their hopes and dreams with compassion, and to proclaim your Word with courage, so that they might come to know You once again in the breaking of the Bread. Make us all missionary disciples, and stay with us always, as we seek to share the joy of the Gospel with people of all generations, from every race, language, culture, and nation. We ask You this with burning hearts, filled with the Holy Spirit, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the loving intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization in the Americas. Amen.”
In this weekend’s Gospel acclamation, St. Paul, the consummate missionary disciple, prepares the way for us:
“Let the peace of Christ control your hearts; let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
Teresa S. Redder, OFS
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 6th, 2025 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
July 2025
O loving one, bear in mind your poor children for whom, without You,
their one and only consolation, there is little comfort. They still tearfully cry out to You:
O Father, place before Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High Father, His sacred stigmata;
and show Him the signs of the cross on Your hands, feet, and side,
that He may mercifully bare His own wounds to the Father,
and because of this the Father will ever show us in our anguish His tenderness.
Amen.
(Prayer to St. Francis from the End of the Second Book of the Life of St. Francis by Bl. Thomas of Celano)
Excerpts from Franciscan Sources – Assisi Compilation #58 – #61
58 – HIS WISHES ABOUT HOW THE BROTHERS’ PLACES SHOULD BE BUILT
1 – Once when he was in Siena for treatment of the disease of his eyes, he was staying in a cell, where after his death a chapel was built out of reverence for him. Lord Bonaventure, who had donated to the brothers the land where the brothers’ place had been built, said to him: “What do you think of this place?”
– We discover the treasure of Gospel poverty among the poor.
2 – Blessed Francis answered him: “Do you want me to tell you how the places of the brothers should be built?” “I wish you would, Father,” he answered.
– The beggars and the poor confront us with the Gospel.
3 – And he told him: “When the brothers go to any city where they do not have a place, and they find someone who wants to give them enough land to build a place, have a garden, and whatever is necessary for them, they must first consider how much land is enough for them, always considering the holy poverty we have promised, and the good example we are bound to offer to others.”
– There is no substitute for contact with the “leper”.
4 – The holy father said this because he did not want the brothers for any reason to go beyond the norm of poverty either in houses or churches, in gardens or in other things they used.
– We find freedom in accepting that You are who you are before God and nothing more. The truth will set you free.
5 – And he did not want them to possess the right of ownership to these places, but always to stay in them as pilgrims and strangers.
– There is a sacredness in every person.
6 – For this reason, he did not want the brothers to have to be assigned to places in large groups, because it seemed to him that it was difficult to observe poverty fully.
– What do I cling to and what is God asking me to let go of?
7 – From the beginning of his conversion until the end, at his death, this was his will: that holy poverty be observed to its fullest. Afterwards they should go to the bishop of that city and say to him: “Lord, for the love of the Lord God and the salvation of his soul, such and such a person wants to give us enough land so that we can build a place there.
– Praise the goodness of God in the goodness of His people.
8 – Therefore, we have recourse to you first, because you are the father and lord of the souls of the entire flock entrusted to you, as well as our souls and those of the other brothers who will stay in this place. Therefore, with the blessing of the Lord God and yours, we would like to build there.”
– With living stones, we build the Mystical Body of Christ.
9 – The saint would say this because the good of souls the brothers want to produce among the people was better achieved by peace with prelates and clerics, winning them and the people, rather than by scandalizing prelates and clerics, even though they might win the people.
– Do we dream a future we believe in enough to strive for it a lifetime?
10 – “The Lord,” he used to say, “has called us to help His faith and the prelates and clerics of holy Mother Church. This is why we are always bound to love, honor, and revere them as much as we can. For this reason let them be called Lesser Brothers because, in name as well as example and deed, they should be humbler than all other people of this world.
– The Gospel (Jesus) is the vision of life of the Franciscan.
11 – From the beginning of my conversion, when I separated myself from the world and father in the flesh, the Lord put His word in the mouth of the bishop of Assisi so he could counsel me well in the service of Christ and comfort me.
– Our call to repentance is never ending.
12 – On account of this, as well as many other excellent qualities that I consider in prelates, not only in bishops, but in poor priests as well, I want to love them, revere them and regard them as my lords.
– When you believe you have achieved your spiritual goal, re-evaluate! Eternity determines, not time!
13 – “After receiving the bishop’s blessing, let them go and have a big ditch dug around the land which they received for building the place, and as a sign of holy poverty and humility, let them place a hedge there, instead of a wall.
– The Cross is central in any conversion journey.
14 – Afterwards they may have poor little houses built, of mud and wood, and some little cells where the brothers can sometimes pray and where, for their own greater decency and also to avoid idle words, they can work.
– The life and the whole being of each Christian must be identified around one central axis: fidelity to Jesus Christ.
15 – “They may also have churches made; however, the brothers must not have large churches made, in order to preach to the people there or for any other reason, for it is greater humility and better example when the brothers go to other churches to preach, so that they may observe holy poverty and their humility and decency.”
– We begin to pray, believing it is our own initiative that compels us to do so. Instead , we learn that it is always God’s initiative within us.
16 – “And if prelates and clerics, religious or secular, should sometimes visit their places, their poor house, little cells, and churches in that place will preach to them and edify them.”
– Love and prayer are the only sure spiritual levers with which it is possible to lift up the world. And this applies to all areas of life.
17 – “The brothers often have large buildings made, breaking with our holy poverty, resulting in complaints and bad example to their neighbor. Afterwards, they abandon those places and buildings for the sake of better or healthier places, prompting those who gave alms there, as well as others who see or hear about this to be scandalized and greatly upset.
– In a world thirsting for peace, it is indeed urgent that Christian communities proclaim the gospel unanimously.
18 – It is, therefore, better that the brothers have small and poor places built, observing their profession, and giving their neighbor good example, rather than making things contrary to their profession and offering bad example to others.
– It is indispensable that (Christian communities) witness to divine love, which unites them, and make themselves messengers of joy, hope, and peace.
19 – For, if it should ever happen that the brothers leave their little places and poor buildings for the sake of a more decent place, that would be very bad example and scandal.”
– Whoever calls with faith on the name of Jesus can have the experience similar to the one mentioned by Luke: for power came forth from him and healed all
59 – HE DICTATES HIS FIRST TESTAMENT AT SIENA
20 – During those days and in the same cell where blessed Francis spoke about these things to Lord Bonaventure, one evening he wanted to vomit because of the disease of his stomach. Because of the strain he put on himself in vomiting, he vomited up blood all night until morning. When his companions saw him already almost dying from weakness and the pain of his illness, they said to him with great sorrow and flowing tears:
– Only a higher moral vision can motivate the choice for life.
21 – “Father, what shall we do? Bless us and the rest of your brothers. In addition. leave your brothers some remembrance of your will, so that, if the Lord wants to call you away from this world, your brothers may always keep it in their memory and say: ‘Our father left these words to his sons and brothers at his death.’”
–Provided that we approach the word of God and listen to it as it really is, it brings us into contact with God Himself, God speaking to us.
22 – He then told them: “Call me Brother Benedict of Piratro.” He was a brother priest, discerning and holy, an elder in religion. He sometimes celebrated for blessed Francis in that cell, since, although he was sick, he always wanted, gladly and devoutly, to hear Mass whenever he was able. And when he had come, blessed Francis told him:
– May Mary help us love nothing more than Christ, who reveals to the world the mystery of divine love and true human dignity.
23 – “Write that I bless all my brothers, those who are and who will be in the religion until the end of the world.”
– (The word of God) brings us into contact with Christ, the Word of God, the Truth, who is at the same time both the Way and the Life.
24 – For when the brothers gathered in chapter, it was always blessed Francis’s custom in the brothers’ chapters, when the brothers were called together at the end of the chapter, to bless and absolve all the brothers present and the others who were in the religion. And he would also bless all those who were to come to this religion.
– It is decisive for each one of us to meet Christ personally.
25 – He would bless all the brothers in the religion and those to come, not only in chapters, but also many other times. And blessed Francis told him: “Since I cannot speak much because of weakness and the pain of my illness, I am showing my will to my brothers briefly in these three words: as a sign of remembrance of my blessing and my testament, may they always love each other; may they always love and observe our Lady Holy Poverty; and may they always remain faithful and subject to the prelates and all the clerics of holy Mother Church.”
– (Do) not be afraid of openly and courageously expressing (y)our faith in Christ in (y)our daily lives, especially in works of charity and solidarity with those who are in need.
26 – He used to warn the brothers to fear and beware of bad example. Furthermore, he cursed all those who by their wrong and bad example caused people to blaspheme the religion and life of the brothers and the holy and good brothers, who, because of this, were ashamed and distressed.
– The world should be enriched by … (our) goodness.
60 – HE CARRIES A BROOM TO CLEAN CHURCHES
27 – At one time while blessed Francis was staying at Saint Mary of the Portiuncula, and there sometimes used to go through the villages and churches in the area around the city of Assisi, proclaiming and preaching to the people that they should do penance. And he would carry a broom to sweep the churches.
– The first step of evangelization is to accept the grace of conversion into our own minds and hearts, to let ourselves be reconciled to God’
28 – For blessed Francis was very sad when he entered some church and saw that it was not clean. Therefore, after preaching to the people, at the end of the sermon he would always have all the priests who were present assembled in some remote place so he could not be overheard by secular people.
– We must first experience God=s gracious mercy, the love of Christ which has reconciled us to himself and given us the work of handing on this reconciliation.
29 – He would preach to them about the salvation of souls and, in particular, that they should exercise care and concern in keeping churches clean, as well as altars and everything that pertained to the celebration of the divine mysteries.
– Man’s relationship with God demands times of explicit prayer, in which the relationship becomes an intense dialogue, involving every dimension of the person.
61 – BROTHER JOHN THE SIMPLE JOINS THE BROTHERS; AND HOW HE IMITATES FRANCIS
30 – One day, blessed Francis went to a church in a village of the city of Assisi and began to sweep it. Immediately talk about this spread through that village, especially because those people enjoyed seeing and hearing him. A man named John heard it, a man of amazing simplicity, who was ploughing in a field of his near the church, and he immediately went to him.
– O Lord of life, when the moment of our definitive “passage” comes, grant that we may face it with serenity, without regret for what we shall leave behind.
31 – Finding him sweeping the church, he said to him: “Brother, give me the broom because I want to help you.” Taking the broom from him, he swept the rest. When they sat down, he said to blessed Francis: “Brother, it’s a long time now that I’ve wanted to serve God, especially after I heard talk about you and your brothers, but I did not know how to come to you. Now that it pleased God that I see you, I want to do whatever pleases you.”
– Jesus asks us to follow him and to imitate him along the path of love, a love which gives itself completely to the brethren out of love for God.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 6th, 2025 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
July 2025
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord bless you with His peace!
Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often, we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope. Taking it as our guide, let us return to the message that the Apostle Paul wished to communicate to the Christians of Rome. (Spes non confundit – Indiction of the Jubilee Year 2025, 1)
Looking at the first quarter of the twenty-first century, loaded with wars and the fear of getting involved in them, it is obvious how the Holy Father Pope Francis, of happy memory, was “on target” and fully in accord with the Gospel. In a very clear ecumenical spirit, every Jubilee Year aims at rekindling faith in Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Savior. He is the only “Holy Door”- Jesus said again, Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep (John 10: 7-11) – that leads to salvation. It is He Who helps us to rediscover the immense value of Sacred Scripture that remains eternally true – but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you. (1 Peter 1: 25).
The Pontiffs of the last half of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries have the theme of hope in their teachings: Popes St. John XXIII, St.Paul VI, even briefly Bl. John Paul I in his catecheses, St. John Paul II who encouraged the faithful to ‘rediscover this theological virtue’ by not losing sight of the ultimate goal. However, it is Pope Benedict XVI who dedicates an encyclical – Spe salvi (Saved in Hope) 2007 – to this biblical as well as theological virtue.
Faith is intimately connected with Hope. Faith is the certitude (substance) of the things we hope for. We are encouraged to keep our perspective clear and not lose sight of the goal. We are reminded to see the present in light of the future. Confusing? Not at all! Faith in what we do not see allows us to see what we believe. The words of the Vatican Council II concerning the Kingdom of God say that the kingdom of God is already here but not yet (iam sed nondum).
This rather strange statement is easier to understand than it seems. We believe the kingdom of God is coming in its fullness. We also believe that it will come gradually for us in the here-and-now present. Thus, we acknowledge that we are attracted and pulled into the future. This then is anticipated by growing and living in the values that reach perfection when the kingdom is fully among and within us. Jesus says: The kingdom of God does not come with observation; or will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20–21).
One of the aspects of hope is precisely to look with anticipation for the arrival of what we await. It is a certainty rooted in faith. It is a joy that flows from that certainty.
As Franciscans, we are celebrating the Hope born of the faith we have in God’s call to be children of the Poverello of Assisi. This celebration of “Hope fulfilled and fulfilling” is being celebrated over a period of several years. We began the five Franciscan eight hundredth anniversaries in 2023 with the approval of the Rule of the Friars Minor and we will conclude in 2026 with the celebration of the Transitus (Death) of St. Francis at the Portiuncula. Each anniversary leads to the next and reminds us of the desire of St. Francis and the goal of all Franciscans to be conformed to Jesus Christ. It is a “hope”, a deep-rooted desire, attainable but not yet attained. The joy of the quest animates the soul and the person to move forward. Through obstacles, spiritual and otherwise, we see the strength of grace in faith that leads us to the fulfillment of our hope. It is not that we see God in all things each in its own manner. We see ourselves in God’s will and love and thus live in mystery the joy we hope to share fully in eternity – Hope fulfilled! Perfect Joy regardless of the challenges!
The Hope these celebrations instill in those who remember, believe and celebrate remind all of the joy born of hope that St. Francis and his Franciscan Brotherhood gave to their world and all who even today encounter him in his brothers and sisters. Faith drives out fear. Fear drives out faith. Knowing what drives us is the first real step in living in a faith-founded hope that lives now, but not yet, the joy of what our journey and its challenges is all about. Franciscans love the mystery and dance through the obstacles, until they see the object of their quest, God!
-The approval of the Rule of the Friars Minor by Pope Honorius III, celebrated 29 November 1223, instilled an effective hope that the Gospel Life Jesus lived with His disciples, could be lived and is definitely a means of daily growth in conformity to Christ. We are reminded by G. K. Chesterton that: It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting. It is that it has not been tried. The Gospel is Christ. Christ is the Hope of the world. Thus the Gospel life begins a process of hope for an anxious world.
-One month or so after the approval of the Rule, the reenactment at Greccio of the Birth of Jesus at Bethlehem was set up by Francis for the people at Christmas of 1223. It visibly and emotionally enkindled a joyful hope of a God Who loves His creatures – children. He is an “Infant God” Who conforms Himself with us that we may become one with Him. We are a people of God living in the hope of Him Who created us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in You (Confessions of St. Augustine), but, we could say, His heart was restless until He became one with us.
-Not even one year later, in the solitude of prayer, St. Francis received the Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ on La Verna Mountain – September 1224. It was the “Seal of Approval” God imprinted on the body of St. Francis. His hopes of conformity to Christ were permanently made tangible for all to see. Encouraged by the holiness of the Poverello, the Stigmata he bore enkindled in those who saw him a renewed confidence in the providential presence of God in their lives. St. Francis’ experience of his hopes fulfilled beyond imagining served and serves also as a “pledge of future glory” that awaits all who hope in the Lord (Isaiah 40: 31; Psalm 31: 24).
-Broken with ill health and suffering now from the Wounds of the Passion, Francis is taken, gradually, back to where the Crucifix spoke to him. The Canticle of the Creatures was composed by St. Francis during his convalescence at San Damiano as he knowingly prepared for Sister Death. Blind and in pain, the joy of the poet troubadour of Peace and Blessings (Pax et Bonum) composes the praises of the God of Creation seen in the beauty, power, variety, utility, strength, stability of creation that tells us that we are never alone. God is always with us in Himself or in all that shares his attributes. Even the gift of forgiveness becomes a sign of the divine for all who go beyond their egos and are forgiven in mercy as they show mercy. Thus, even “Sister Death” is not an “exterminator” but a gentle “sibling”, always with us, who eventually takes us to live eternally the fulfillment of all our hopes…
-The last Franciscan Jubilee Year, 2025 to 2026, celebrates St. Francis’ Transitus (Paschal Mystery/Death). It is the feast of “Hope Fulfilled”. The process of preparation has finally led him home. The Portiuncula where it all took form as a Gospel brotherhood opens his heart in hope to see the unseen God of his faith and desired destination of his life and dreams.
Our Seraphic Father is a voice of Christian hope that sounds ever more distinctly through a world of fear and seeming hopelessness. More than enough has been written in our time by poets, philosophers, and theologians on the situation of modern man who experiences the disappointment of all his hopes, the frustration of his labors, the despair of the future. Often there is a sense of anxiety. With all that happens daily in the world and the immediacy of information – true or fake news – we may feel deprived of the comfort that people of former generations found in their religion or in their intellectual pursuits.
No century before the last had achieved such triumphs in science and technology. Yet, we seem incapable of making any other use of these advances other than to destroy rather than build up. Never before have such serious attempts been made to prevent wars and to establish lasting peace and justice in the world, but the result has been that the wars became worse and the original rules and principles of international law are forgotten. These contradictions drive humankind, individuals, and nations, into discouragement and perhaps even despair. When you feel there is no way out of the “pit” because they keep looking down and around at what surrounds them, then it is we all must look up at the One Who is Above us. Hope in Him. Our help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth (Psalm 46: 1). Our “help” is our “hope” because our help and hope is the Lord Himself!
The first followers of St. Francis were a rather “diverse” group of men. They came from all walks of life: wealthy, poor, learned, illiterate, and so forth. Just remember St. Francis’ example(s) of the “perfect friar”. There way of Gospel living challenged the understanding of the local people, and even the Church. The Gospel was their way of life and poverty the means to achieve living the Gospel more effectively. This was extremely radical for the time. However, theirs was not a polemic statement against the Church. It was, and still is, a prophetic statement that condemns no one. People began to understand the joy of God and God alone. Whether one followed as a member of the Franciscan family or was present to the development of the growth, joy, effectiveness of the friars, the joy was contagious. The radicalism of the Franciscans taught by His Presence that God is enough. The joy with which they lived this expression, given the diversity of personalities and social strata from which they came, encouraged the people they ministered. Are we different? The example is clear.
In such times, the Church preaches the eternal Gospel of hope. Are we able to proclaim this glorious message, the source of peace and joy in human hearts? It is the great antidote the world needs. Have we already been affected by the poison of discouragement to such a degree that we no longer understand the God-given message of hope we can see throughout all of Sacred Scripture?
We must not identify the secular hopes of our modern civilization with the hope of the New Testament. That is a very real and dangerous stance of many who teach or even preach the “Good News” of Jesus. It shows itself more often than not as an extreme form of a theology under the influence of modern secular philosophy, and thus loses the biblical message of hope. It robs the preaching of the Church of the joy that belongs to the “glad news” of the Gospel. The whole New Testament is pervaded by great joy, from the joy proclaimed in the Gospel of Christmas to the joy of which Jesus spoke in his last discourses before the Passion (John 15:11; 16:20–24; 17:13), the joy of Easter, and the joy that for all apostles is one of the fruit of the Spirit (e.g., Gal. 5:22; 1 Peter 1:8; 1 John 1:4).
Every Christian within the depth of his heart is a believer, who earnestly desires to live in the Spirit, and share with all others the hope that belongs to the nature of all human beings. All saints of God, all believers, share the same hope that belongs to the very nature of humanity. We live by hope (For whoever is chosen among all the living has hope: A live dog is better off than a dead lion. – Ecclesiastes 9:4) and cannot live without hope. The hope of the sick for the restoration to health, the hope of the prisoner for freedom, the hope for social justice in a nation and for peace between the nations of the world—all these human hopes are common to Christians and non-Christians. No Christian should ever dissociate himself from the hopes of his fellow men, as long as these hopes are justified.
Depriving someone of hope would be a grave violation of the great commandment to love our neighbor. Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee Year of the Church as well, are active participants in the lawful attempts to open the hearts of all to realize that hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts (Romans 5: 5). To live is to hope. To hope is to be at peace. To be at peace is to live in harmony with one self and God.
Hope is the great motor that moves the history of Israel. Hope in the Messiah to come, the Redeemer of God’s People, is expressed throughout the Old Testament. Their history is unparalleled in the entire history of the world. And, in the New Testament hope gets a new significance. So Christian hope means always hope in God and hope in the Christ simultaneously without distinction. In 1 Tim. 1:1, Paul calls himself an apostle by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. In Rom. 15:13, the apostle expresses the wish, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Hope belongs together with faith and love. It constitutes with them the triad St. Paul mentions repeatedly, not only in 1 Corinthians 13 where St. Paul sings the hymn of the praises of Charity(Love), but also 1Thessalonians 1:3 – We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, and Ephesians 4:1–6 – There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. May we live our earthly life with hope in the One Who calls us to Follow Me (Matthew 4: 19; Luke 9: 57-62; John 12: 26).
God bless all of you. Our Heavenly Mother and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you and your loved ones. St. Francis and St. Clare intercede for you as you continue joyfully on your Franciscan Pilgrimage of Hope. May we all be bearers of Peace and All Good to those we encounter on our way.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
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