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Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 5th, 2015  Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
PEACE to each of your hearts!
In the courthouse where I work, as in many office buildings, there is one special room where everyone congregates … the snack bar! This is the place where you can find everything that health care professionals tell you isn’t at all good for you but which, in times of stress, provides the most comfort. That’s not to say that healthy choices aren’t available, but when given the choice between chocolate cupcakes or trail mix, the chocolate cupcakes win 95% of the time! What makes this place so special isn’t all of the snacks that are available, but the tiny woman who serves the owner of the store. Her name is Marie. She’s an Irish South Philly gal from Epiphany Parish. She’s a retired parish secretary and has held countless jobs in her lifetime. She’s raised a family; her children are adults and living their lives, but Mom’s house is still the place to be on any given Sunday.
Each of us has a place in God’s scheme of things, and Marie’s place, at this period of her life, is with us at the courthouse, because she brings Jesus there. Her workspace is small; her duties are many. She knows what each of her customers like and makes sure that those items are always available. Philly soft pretzels and low-fat chocolate milk are staples for many (me included) and Marie insures there’s a steady supply. But of all the things Marie does, the one thing she does best is LOVE. When you walk into her small domain, her love is as palpable as the cool air flowing from the refrigerator when the door is opened or the welcome smell of coffee coming from the ever-filled pots. A cheery hello is always at the ready and a listening … truly listening … ear awaits each person who walks through her door.
Through her door pass angry prospective jurors, frightened defendants and their families, anxious lawyers, and young and not-so-young employees. Marie takes the “red flannel underwear principle” seriously. Each person she meets is treated with respect, cheerfulness and dignity. She has a special place in her heart for the young … who flock to her like birds to a feeder full of seed. Marie’s little room is truly a “no judgment zone.” You may walk in feeling awful, but you leave with a lighter heart because you have been touched in some small way by unconditional love. A smile or a single word of encouragement can go a long way in the middle of a tough day … Marie provides just that each and every day.
I thought of Marie as I as watching Pope Francis and the People aired by the ABC Network. The compassion, love and encouragement shown by our Holy Father throughout that program mirrors for us the love and compassion of our beloved, Jesus, who yearns for us and begs us to allow Him to walk more closely with us each day of our lives. Let us pray, that we, who profess to live the Gospel life, may be true mirrors of the love of Jesus to others and, in a sense, become “no judgment zones” so as to draw others to the heart of Jesus who is love and forgiveness itself.
Blessings, every good, and much love,
mattie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 5th, 2015  Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I have put together a program for the Newly Professed that you may like to use and I hope it will be helpful. I am always available for anyone who may have questions 732 408 6653 or perfectjoy112@gmail.com
A PROGRAM FOR NEWLY PROFESSED
This program for the Newly Professed is advocated by a mystagogia-type in the General Constitutions (Article 44.2) and the Guidelines for Initial Formation in the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States. (Chapter 3 F2.a.page 28) This phase gives the newly professed an opportunity to delve more deeply into the mysteries of Franciscan spirituality and to make the conversion process an integral part of their daily lives. The program begins with a theme, followed by an article of the Rule, a scripture reference, reflective silence, a Presentation, a Francis experience, keeping a journal, sharing and prayer. The text will be “To Live as Francis Lived.”
THEME: HUMILITY THE TWIN OF PROVERTY “TO LIVE as FRANCIS LIVED” CHAPTER 18
ARTICLE 12 Witnessing yet to the good yet to come and obliged to acquire purity of heart because of the vocation they have embraced, they should set themselves free to love God and their brothers and sisters.
Scripture Reference: Matthew 5:3 and John 15:5
Reflective Silence: quiet reflection on the passages selected.
Presentation: A presentation on Franciscan humility the twin of Poverty page 69-70
Francis experience: Read page 71 in text The Humility of Saint Francis
Journaling: Write about what St. Francis’ experience means to you.
Questions for Reflection: What is humility? What words best describe the ingredients of humility?
Discussion: Application in Daily Life, What saying of Saint Francis on humility has the most impact?
PRAYER: “Of myself I can do nothing.” I praise you and thank you, my Creator, for what you choose to do in and through me. Amen
Love and Peace,
Rosie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 5th, 2015  Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord bless you with His peace!
Divisions within the church. Disagreements about how to worship. Questions about marriage. Sexual temptations and improprieties. Compromise with society’s views. Issues we hear or read about so often, and many others we are aware of, face us every day.
These issues date back years, even to the early Church. Remember the Church in Corinth where St. Paul had spent at least eighteen months after establishing the church there, serving and teaching the people while on his second missionary journey. Corinth was a major cosmopolitan city, an important commercial trade center by the sea. It had a strong reputation, for rampant sexual immorality and loose living. This church of old was having many of the very same troubles we face today. The problems still remain in our world, and always will. People of faith, true believers, just don’t seem to fit well within the opinions of the culture of the “modern world”.
Yet, no matter how convinced we are of what we profess as Christians, we try so hard to “fit in.” We don’t want to look different. We don’t want to be accused of being judgmental or unloving. We want to be “relevant” for today and stay with the times, right? » Click to continue reading “From the Desk of Fr. Francis – September, 2015” »
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 5th, 2015  Let us desire nothing else,
let us wish for nothing else,
let nothing else please us and cause us delight,
except our Creator and redeemer and Savior,
the one true God, Who is fullness of Good,
all Good, every Good, the true and Supreme Good,
Who alone is merciful and gentle, delectable and sweet,
Who alone is holy, just and true, holy and right,
Who alone is kind, innocent, pure,
from Whom and through Whom and in Whom
is all pardon, all grace, all glory …
Therefore, let nothing hinder us,
nothing separate us or come between us.
Let us all, wherever we are …
Glorify and exalt, magnify and give thanks to the Most High
and supreme eternal God … Amen.
(Saint Francis of Assisi)
The month of September celebrates the Impression of the Sacred Stigmata on the Body of our Seraphic father St. Francis of Assisi. Following are excerpts taken from Considerations on the Stigmata, found in many editions of The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi. Daily reflections are taken from Various writings of St. Francis.
1
In the year of 1224, St. Francis went…from the Valley of Spoleto into Romagna, taking with him brother Leo… Francis heard that many gentlemen were gathered together…he said to brother Leo, Come, let us go up into this festival, for, by God’s help, we shall gather there rich spiritual fruit. – We can be sure someone is a true religious and has the spirit of God if his lower nature does not give way to pride when God accomplishes some good through him. (Admonitions, 12)
2
A certain gentlemen of Tuscany…Orlando of Chiusi … had heard concerning the holiness and miracles of St. Francis and bore him great devotion and had a desire to see him and hear him preach…Francis came to the castle…where the gentlemen were gathered…and spoke these words, So great is the joy which I expect. That all pain is joy to me. – Blessed the religious who treasures up for heaven the favors God has given him and does not want to show them off for what he can get out of them. (Admonitions, 28)
3
Orlando was touched in the heart by God…After dinner returning to St. Francis, he spoke with him at length, and in the end said, I have a mountain in Tuscany, a devout and solitary place, called Mount Alvernia, far from all discourse with people, well fitted for one who would do penance for his sins. If it please you, I will freely give it to you and your companions for the welfare of my soul. – Blessed the religious who keeps God’s marvelous doings to himself. (Admonitions, 28) » Click to continue reading “Daily Reflections from Fr Francis – September, 2015” »
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2015  Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last month our fraternity, St. Maximilian Kolbe had a Day of Recollection. Our speaker was Sr. Mary Frances OSC. The theme was “Rebuild My Church”
During this month of August we celebrate a few feast days starting with Our Lady of the Angels August 2nd “The Portincula”, then the feast day of St. Clare on the 11th and “The Assumption” on August 15th . Our Lady has a special place in our Franciscan way of life
It was the first time at least for me to hear someone give a talk about Clare beginning with Clare’s mother Ortulana. We learned about the prophecy of Clare that at one time Clare’s mother was to go on Pilgrimage and it was unheard of for a noblewomen of that time. If a noblewomen would be walking down the street, the other person would have to walk on the opposite side. It so happened that one day when Ortulana was praying before the crucifix, she heard a voice say, You will bear a Light, her name means Clare with shadowed light.
After her family returned from Perugia in 1202 Clare received the education of a gentlewoman and in her later life she described herself as “a worthless handmaid.”
When she was about 12 years old, Francis son of that merchant class which once had driven her family out, suffered his bewildering conversion. Clare in her testament wrote that before Francis had as much as one brother, sang out prophetically in French whilst rebuilding San Damiano “Come help me in the work of building the Monastery of San Damiano because ladies are yet to dwell here who will glorify our heavenly Father throughout His holy Universal Church by their holy and celebrated manner of life.
On Palm Sunday in 1212, Clare went to church in her best clothes. When the distribution of palms took place she did not go forward at that moment. Perhaps she was filled with fear understanding the meaning of the palm, a symbol of martyrdom. Clare wandered and passed through a little used door in her palazzo which some thought that only the dead alone were carried out. She ran down the hill to Our Lady Of the Angels where Francis and his brothers waited for her. Clare’s hair was cut and she received the habit of the lesser brothers. Clare was then sent to a near home in Bascia which was the home of Benedictine women. The next morning her relatives came and tried to persuade Clare with threats and every means to get her back going as far as employing violent force with poisonous promises(Legend of Clare 9)
After the death of Pope Gregory lX both Clare and Agnes (who rejected the hand of Emperor Frederick ll in order to follow her vocation) separately entreated the Holy See for a more authentic rule of life but began to write her own rule but was not successful. Around the year 1250 Clare began to write her own rule. Clare was the first women to do so. It was presented to Pope Innocent lV as Clare neared her death. The Holy Father was in Perugia along with Cardinals and came to visit Clare. When she asked for absolution from her sins, he said with tears, “Would that I had as little need of absolution as you” Finally the confirmation of Clare’s rule was signed which was endorsed by the Papal Bull.
May we as Franciscans be the Mirror as Clare was and as Francis to help rebuild the church as a family rooted in the love of Christ and Our Mother Mary Mother of the Church.
What part of Francis and Clare’s life motivates you to move to conversion? How can we be the mirror of Christ so that others will see the Jesus in us?
A quote from Benedict XVl: Do not be afraid to say “yes” to Jesus to find joy in doing His will giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness and using our talents in the service to others.
Peace,
Rosie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2015 August 2015
(St. Francis of Assisi)
O truly the most Christian of men,
who strove by perfect imitation to be conformed
while living to Christ living, dying to Christ dying,
and dead to Christ dead, and deserved to be adorned with an expressed likeness!
(Your) most holy soul was released from the flesh
and absorbed into the abyss of divine light …
You were borne aloft straight to heaven …
(you) merited to enter the place of light and peace
where (you) rest with Christ forever.
(Pray for your family on earth that we may share your life with God one day)
(Major Legend by St. Bonaventure, chapter 14 – adapted)
Following are daily excerpts taken from various Franciscan writings. Daily meditative phrases from the book MODELS OF FAITH.
1
His sermons were not vain and shallow but they were filled with them power of the holy Spirit (Major Legend, chpt.2) – God’s mercy, if we only let him take over, will take us much farther and higher than our own scant justice.
2
He began to preach all over with great commitment and assurance. He did not have recourse to reasoning founded on human wisdom, but based his teachings on the doctrine and virtue of the Holy Spirit, faithfully proclaiming the kingdom of God (Three Companions, chpt.54) – God’s predilection for the humblest and lowest emphasizes the point that he likes to make of upsetting men’s calculations and betraying expectations based on rank, merit, age or tradition.
3
His style was not as one preaching but as one who is conversing…he spoke clearly and respectably (Thomas of Spalato) – Self-reliance will get us nowhere…the whole process is better looked after when placed in he hands of God than when held tight in our grip as though we were bent on seeing it through at all costs by ourselves. » Click to continue reading “Daily Reflections from Fr. Francis – August 2015” »
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 2nd, 2015  August 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis and St. Clare,
The Lord give you his peace!
As Franciscans we are called by God to love. This love is a total surrender to God, manifested in how we serve God in one another, even those who are not one of us (cfr. Mark 9: 38). Our availability to respond “yes” whenever we are called by God’s will depends on how much, little, or not we are attached, subject, and ultimately controlled by persons, places, things in our life. They become the “center” and the “focus” of what we do and at times who we believe we are. Our “Center” must always be God, the Lord, Jesus!
The Franciscan Rule exhorts us to live the Gospel. The Gospel is Jesus. Jesus reminds us I have come that they may have life more abundantly. (John 10: 10) Thus, to have this life we must “Live Jesus”. This cannot be accomplished if we have other “masters” who attract, seduce, direct, control us … and diminish or even destroy our ability to know, love, and serve the Lord. St. Francis’ radical detachment from things, made him a living example of the joy and freedom of one who is no longer “slave” to his/her wants and even to legitimate needs that he/she has allowed themselves to control their lives.
No one wants to be controlled. Not even God wants to “control” us. God seeks to condition us with His loving grace so that we freely accept God’s Will. When our freedom is used for license, and we fail to be responsible and accountable, then we have created another “center” that misleads away from God. This is exactly what we do when we create “idols” in our lives. We become slaves to those persons, places, things, attitudes, and the like that keep us from being “free”. The freedom of the children of God can be lived only when we break loose from those areas of our lives that hold us down from soaring to the heights in the Spirit and God’s grace.
Everyone wants a fulfilling and good life, but too many people fail to find it because they’re looking for it in the wrong places. They look around at the world or below in themselves alone, and fail to look up at the only One Who should be our Master and Treasure. Society often promises that we can find a rewarding life by pursuing goals that seem good, such as earning more money, gaining more friends, becoming more physically attractive, and the like. Those are just empty promises that cannot really fulfill anyone, since they all succumb to the effects of the passing of time. What is based on material goods is destined to fall apart and be no more. It may take more time to realize this than we would expect. Even our Seraphic Father, who lived only forty plus years, realized this and made his life decision at the mid-point of his life. However, once he knew God’s Will, nothing was going to stop his response to “let go and let God”.
When we enter and strengthen our relationship with Jesus everyday, we can expect our lives to be fulfilled and become what God has designed for us from the beginning, and wills that we crave. Placing hope in anything less – even if it’s something good that God has created – turns into an “idolatry” that interferes with our relationship with Jesus and actually leads us away from the life that God wants us to enjoy.
Remember the words of St. John: My children, beware of idols. (1 John 5:21) The “idols” of life are the stumbling blocks to a truly good and grace-filled journey through time. There are various types of idols that are all extensions in one way or another of the main idol – the “I – doll”. This “I-doll” eventually begins to believe and create its own illusion of grandeur. The idols that control us – achievement, approval, power, money, even practices of religion, and so on – when used wrongly, can destroy the freedom, fulfillment, and joy of living as a child of God. We live an illusion that only God can release us from. What might we do to avoid this “idolatry” ? The following are reflections on how we might possibly see, acknowledge, and ultimately eliminate these “idols”, and begin to live a Christ-centered and joy-filled life…
Even when you love God, idolatry can creep into your life. Idolatry happens whenever you look to something that is not centered in/on God. Only God has the power to give you what you truly need. Reflect on your life, and honestly consider whether or not you’re hoping to derive fulfillment from things like material possessions, a successful career, an exciting relationship, or close relationships with family and friends. None of those things – or any other good things except for a relationship with God through Jesus – can deliver true and lasting fulfillment. At times, everyone struggles with idolatry in some way or other, when we have substituted things and/or persons for Jesus in your life. A revealing insight for each one of us would be to consider whom/what we spend the most time thinking about, and whom/what we invest the most of ourselves in pursuing. Anyone/thing that we devote ourselves to more than to Jesus can dangerously be an “idol” in our life.
You may struggle with the idol of achievement if you want to achieve regardless of what it does to the people around you, depend on your success getting people to like you, confuse who you are with what you accomplish, feel the need to constantly climb higher on the ladder of success, or compare yourself with others and struggle when they succeed and you don’t. Realize that you are much more than your list of accomplishments. You have great intrinsic value simply because God made you in His image and loves you no matter what. Choose to base your identity not on what you have accomplished, but on what Jesus has accomplished in/with/for you, thus connecting you to God for eternity, to the degree that you cooperate with grace in your daily life.
You may struggle with the idol of approval if you expect someone else to: complete you, take your pain away, understand you completely, heal you, make you feel good about yourself, or always be with you. No human being can truly completely do any of those things for you … but God alone. So stop relying on the approval of others to fulfill you (it will lead you to mediocrity, exhaustion, disappointment, and rejection instead). Decide to look to God alone for approval. God’s opinion of you is the only one that truly matters. Embrace the complete and unconditional love that God offers you. Remember the words of our Seraphic St. Francis: You are what You are before God. That and nothing more. Have an attitude of gratitude for what God sees good in you, and live up to it.
You may struggle with the idol of power if you have a hard time taking correction from your spouse, a friend, a teacher, a boss, anyone, because you want to be in charge. Realize that the control you think you may have in life is actually an illusion. God is in ultimate control of every situation. Since God will take care of everything you need when you trust Him, give up trying to be in charge and surrender to God’s plans for every situation that concerns you. Surrender yourself to God! Say “Yes!” When you do, God’s unlimited power will overflow into your life and transform it for the better.
You may struggle with the idol of money if you look to money to give you security, peace, or happiness; or if you’re often anxious about getting more money or holding onto the money you already have rather than being content and generous as God wants you to be. Jesus said: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24) Attempting to serve both will divide your mind and lead to confusion, anxiety, discouragement, and the like … or even to total indifference to both. While we need this means of exchange in our daily lives, we cannot allow it to control us. Be devoted to God with a single-minded focus. Whatever you may have and gain in life use gratefully as tools to accomplish God’s purposes for your life.
What about the idol of religion? This is rather interesting, but does not mean what it initially seems to indicate. Religion is an essential part of our faith lives. It is the external expression of how we live what we profess with our hearts and minds and souls … the witness of our Faith. It is an essential in life that becomes also an “evangelizing” means of leading people to Christ. Nonetheless, you may struggle with this strange but often real idolatry if you try to earn God’s love by quantity or quality of actions, rather than by intensity of love and trust in God Who knows the heart. God’s love for you is unlimited and unconditional, and the completed sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has made it possible for you to connect with God, so you do not have to “use religion” to try to gain or keep God’s love, but “be religious” so that your life actions are in harmony with the beliefs of your heart and the God Who is its Center. Embrace the love that God freely offers you. Make your top priority spending time with God often, just to communicate in love and build a closer relationship with Him. Let the Drama of Calvary in the Mass and the Eucharist be your “hub” and Our Blessed Mother Mary your “Advocate-Intercessor-Refuge…Mother, Who leads you closer to Her Son and thus to the Father and the Spirit. Remember that what you do with God is more important than what you think you do for Him. Let your religious practices be a sincere manifestation of the inner conviction you have. Let the Mass manifest your belief in the saving grace of the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus and your reception and adoration of the Eucharist manifest your belief in the Real Presence of Jesus, and so on.
You may struggle with the idol of appearance if you rely on being physically attractive to help you get what you want or if you think that how you look is who you are. Realize that even if people consider you to be physically beautiful or handsome now, your appearance will change when you are “chronologically enhanced”. If people do not think you attractive, God does. God made you to be distinctively the way you are, and made you His own. You can be truly beautiful – no matter what you look like externally – when you are a person of integrity of faith and life who lives in God’s grace and strives to fulfill His Will. Father let this chalice pass from me, but not my will but yours be done. (Luke 22: 41)
You may struggle with the idol of “my” dream if you’re constantly frustrated with God because He has not made your dreams come true, or your goals achieved. Pray for the wisdom to discern which of your dreams align with the purposes of God for your life, and which do not. Then let go of whatever dreams do not help you accomplish God’s purposes for you. Trust God to help you see what is right and true, and wait for them to be accomplished in His way and in His time. Do not just sit around and wait. Give God your best, and God will do the rest!
Our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi realized the danger material goods and money were. In themselves they were not evil: goods serve the needs of human beings, and money is a means of exchange and commerce. St. Francis saw how an inordinate desire for these things could so easily control the life of a person. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) He sought to detach himself from them, and with him all who sought to follow his way of life. His example of radical poverty reminds us of the “idols” we easily create in life. Most times we do so without ever realizing how attached we are allowing ourselves to become.
Pope John Paul II tells us that men and women are on a journey of discovery in search for the truth and a person. Words like these sound like some philosophical theme until we examine our hearts and realize how true and meaningful they are for our lives. Our Seraphic Father St. Francis encountered that ‘Person’, Jesus, on the Cross at San Damiano who impressed His words on his heart, then he met that ‘Person’ again at La Verna, Who impressed His ‘Word’ on his body. The living image of the Crucified spoke to the world of an emptying love that accepted life to die that we might enter Life.
Every life has its disconcerting events and fears. Even the greatest of saints had their difficulties. Many went through moments of spiritual darkness and dryness. Their focus and strength was God. They continued to believe and hope in God, encouraging and empowering others to be joy-filled in the midst of their challenges as well as their successes, while they themselves cried out to their ‘absent’ and Loving God who asked that they pass through the desolation of the Cross. Our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II, and many others whose lives we have come to know more intimately now that they have entered eternity, went through these moments. Faith and life walk hand-in-hand. It is our Faith that strengthens our spirit and nourishes our life. Jesus reminds us: It is the spirit that gives life … The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63) When we allow the Spirit of Faith to fill our minds and hearts, when we accept the words of Jesus in truth, when we live today where God and we encounter one another … we live in hope, free from fear, trusting in divine providence that clears all intimidating imaginings from our minds and hearts. The “idols” are destroyed. We are set free to be and become! Peace, joy, and serenity become a reality. And, they become ‘contagious’ for those whom we encounter.
Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi live every moment of life fully! The spirit of prayer that enveloped our Seraphic Father who ‘became prayer’ encourages us to pass through whatever crucible of life we encounter. Thus we become one with the Suffering Servant Who became One with us. Let us be grateful to God for the life He has called us to live, and make our prayer You are my God…I trust in You…be my refuge…I fear nothing…(for I seek to be in You as You are within me).
May God bless you; my Our Lady guide, guard, and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi, look upon each one of you, his Spiritual Children, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M.Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 4th, 2015 July 2015
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.
(Second Book of the Life of St. Francis by Bl. Thomas of Celano)
Following are excerpts taken from The Assisi Compilation. Daily meditative phrases based on: Words of Blessed John Paul II
1
Blessed Francis felt more pity for the man’s soul, rooted in mortal hatred, than for his body. He said to him: Brother, forgive your lord for the love of God, so that you may set your soul free, and it may be that he will return to you what he has taken. Otherwise you will lose not only your property but also your soul. – When man becomes ‘bereft of God’, he loses the meaning of his own life and in some way becomes ‘bereft’ of himself.
2
So blessed Francis said (to the Dominican who asked his explanation of a passage from Ezekiel): … a servant of God should be burning with life and holiness so brightly, that by the light of example and the tongue of his conduct, he will rebuke all the wicked. – The family is the great workshop of love … where people are taught to love … with the incisive power of experience.
3
In order to preserve the virtue of holy humility, a few years after his conversion, at a chapter, he resigned the office of prelate before all the brothers of his religion, saying: From now on, I am dead to you. But here you have Brother Peter of Catanio; let us all, you and I, obey him. – Do not separate your faith from your daily life and your daily life from your faith, as so many people do today. » Click to continue reading “Fr. Francis’ Reflection – July, 2015” »
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 4th, 2015 
July 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord grant you his peace!
Our relationship with Jesus and living in, with, and for Him each day is a wonderful experience for those who accept it. Why? Because, among other things, the “ordinariness” of our daily routine takes on an “extraordinariness” that fulfills our lives and can become “contagious”. It is up to us to keep the pace of the tempo of life and the flow of God’s gifts moving forward to envelop everyone in our path. We do not have to do hand-stands for God. When the good Lord wants something extraordinary done it is the Lord Himself Who will not only inspire it through the Holy Spirit, but will have us undoubtedly know it is from Him. Let us not forget the words of an insightful elderly friar: The saint shows his face and not his gifts. In other words: Be “ordinary” and leave the “extraordinary” secret and up to God to be manifest. » Click to continue reading “Fr. Francis’ Greetings – July, 2015” »
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 4th, 2015 Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I hope you are enjoying the summer. Hope you get to read Pope Francis’s New Encyclical
“Praised Be You.” In the spirit of Pope Francis’s Encyclical, let us take a look at one of St. Francis’s prayers The Canticle of the Creatures and our Rule.
In the Canticle of the Creatures Francis praises God for all God’s creation, the sun, moon, stars etc. and addresses them all as brother and sister brought into being by the same Father. For Francis each creature, animate or inanimate, was a sign and reminder of God’s presence to us.
Article 18 of our Rule 18 states, “Moreover they should respect all creatures animate and inanimate which bear the imprint of the Most High, and they should strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kingship.” This concept of universal kinship is a unique attribute and makes the Franciscan charism different from other Orders within the Church that have a Rule of Life addressing Integrity of Creation. » Click to continue reading “Thoughts From Your Regional Formation Director – July, 2015” »
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
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