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Posted By Teresa Redder, on May 2nd, 2015  Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the beautiful prayer Saint Francis wrote in a letter to the Order we can see the three essential steps in our spiritual life which Francis himself embellished. This prayer can be found in our Ritual on page 36 that is our Closing Prayer.
As we grow in relationship with Christ we begin to understand the mysteries of our faith beginning with the purgative way which is a purification, a self emptying. This does not happen through our own efforts but only by the grace that God gives to us.
As we descend, we arise to an awakening to a deeper level of our faith to the illuminative way in which we meet Christ in a more personal way. We address our moral way of life and overcome that barrier and surrender ourselves to our loving Lord. We then ascend and decrease in our driven needs to the unitive way.
Almighty, just and merciful God, addresses God and describes our spiritual life. It teaches us mercy. We will be opening the door of Mercy this year on December 8th.
Grant us in our misery…… We are in a miserable state, darkened emotions. A need for reparation.
And always want what pleases you…..”If you love me keep my commandments.”
So that cleansed and enlightened interiorly….the purgative way
And fired with the flame of the Holy Spirit purgation, conversation of the will.
You who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity…unitive way
Let us pray,
Almighty, and eternal, just and merciful God:
Grant us in our misery that we may do for your sake alone what we know you want us to do, and always want what pleases you; so that cleansed and enlightened interiorly and fired with the flame of the Holy Spirit, we may be able to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so make our way to you, Most High, by your grace alone , you who live and rule in perfect Trinity and simple Unity, and are glorified, God all powerful, forever and ever. Amen.
Peace and every good,
Rosie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on May 2nd, 2015  Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord grant you His Peace, the Life-giving Gift of the Holy Spirit
The world is ever going through its millennial “growing pains”. We have been facing a tragic reality for a number of months. Extremists in the name of God are killing hundreds of our sisters and brothers in Christ, because they are of Christ. Talks, sanctions, military threats, open combat are only a few of the tactics employed to defuse and destroy the “enemy at the gates”. Have we forgotten that God must be a part of our response to evil that attacks us? Have we forgotten that Mary has and is still offering us a Plan from Heaven to win this and other battles that aim at destroying all we hold dear and in Whom and which we believe.
For centuries the great saints have taught us of the almighty intercession of Mary. Accepting us as Her children at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, she intercedes for us and accompanies us. She has promised so many times that her Immaculate Heart will ultimately win out and Jesus will again reign in our troubled world. Why are we so hesitant to publicly acclaim our Mother consecrating ourselves to her and universally implore her Son to come to our aide? The prayer we so often pray calling to mind the Incarnation of Jesus and Mary’s willingness to cooperate with the Will of the Father has been the “spiritual weapon” prayed by saints and sinners, Catholics and even non-Catholics. When prayed in the Rosary remembering Mary’s role in the History of our Salvation we enter a relationship with Jesus through Mary. Great saints have considered this prayer the one that “turned the tide” of events and brought peace to the Church, the known world at the time, a nation, a city, a person, or brought healing to the sick and infirm, stopped the progress of a plague, and so much more.
May is the month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother Mary. It is almost universal in the Church that we Roman Catholics recite the “Hail Mary” everyday. Let us focus on this simple, brief, and beautiful prayer. Let us reflect on the words and ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to open our hearts as hers was that we may accept God’s Will and “give rebirth” to Jesus in this world so much in need of the Savior.
Hail Mary: At the beginning of the prayer, we can put ourselves in the frame of mind to talk to our Blessed Lady and Mother. We can do so because she is the Mother of Jesus and the Queen of Heaven. Our Lord Jesus, her loving Son, wants us to go to her. Remember the words from the Cross that were addressed to the Apostle John: Son, behold your Mother (John 19: 26). In John we accept Mary as our Mother and she accepts us as her children. From the side of Jesus opened for us by the soldier’s lance flowed the Saving Blood of Sacrifice. In that Blood we are redeemed. Mary becomes the Mother of all the redeemed and accompanies us through life. We greet Our Lady personally as one of her loving children. Prayer is not simply the saying of words in a formula, but a personal encounter in which we converse – primarily with God, but also with, Our Lady, St. Joseph, the angels, the Saints, the holy Souls, and so on. Our love and friendship with them in the Communion of Saints grants serenity and confidence in the words that follow.
Let us imagine ourselves bowing with the deepest respect before our Queen and Mother as we try to imitate the reverence shown to her even by such a great being as the Archangel Gabriel who bore the undescribably awesome message of God entering time. With a simple “Hail” to Mary her attention is focused on what is to follow. We know that if we are sincere, we will not be held at fault for our clumsiness or lack of knowing how we should speak properly. Our Lady listens with great kindness and attention to our humble words, as a loving mother.
Full of grace: Our Lady is sinless and perfect. This does not distance her from us. On the contrary, it makes Mary the perfect friend for us. Mary is someone who is always seeking our good. She will speak in the name of a “humanity in waiting”. Though we are not born “full of grace” but the contrary is fact, God loves His creation. Our own faults and sins sometimes make us ashamed or fearful of God. The eternal Father offers us Mary who is so much superior to us in holiness and goodness and that very goodness is itself a guarantee of her graceful understanding…and “almighty intercession” before the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Such holiness in Our Lady does not accept any offense against the Love of God. However, like a good mother, she knows that temptations prevail, and sins exist. Our love for her and her intercession for us, her children born from the side of her Son Jesus on the Cross, encourage us to repentance. She guides us to seek God’s mercy and grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and does not despise us. The very thought of Mary can help us to resist temptation, avoid sin, and what leads us to it.
The Lord is with thee: Our Lady was constantly listening to God and His voice in her heart. He was with her by grace but this was an active presence, an exchange in which she was in continual peace and companionship with God. Even when distracted by worldly chores and business, God’s presence was the backdrop of her life. Our Lady followed her conscience – remember, however, that her conscience, unlike ours, was perfectly formed. Not only was she instructed in the law of God, her judgements on what to do here and now were unsullied by that self-seeking and inclination to our own desires that mark our own struggles to choose what is right and good. The Lord wishes also to be with us, not only at our fixed times of prayer or in the Church itself, but at all times as He is always present whatever we do, wherever we are. The Hail Mary can remind us of this constant truth that God is indeed everywhere, and is always with us.
Blessed art thou among women: St Elizabeth immediately recognized Our Lady’s greatness when she came to visit her after being told of her relative’s unique vocation as mother of the forerunner of the Savior by the angel Gabriel. Her humble response to Mary’s visit is immortalized in this simple prayer we recite everyday: who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1: 43) At the same time, St John the Baptist leapt in her womb – an unborn child making an act of faith in the presence of his cousin as an embryo of only a few days implanted in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. The recognition of these great saints teaches us the fundamental reason why we give so much honour to Our Lady. She carried God the Son in her womb for nine months and was chosen for the supreme privilege of nursing and nurturing Him in His childhood. If we really reflect on this great truth, played out on the world of whose history we are a part with her, we can only bow down in love and awe at the greatness of this woman who acknowledged in humility, All generations shall call me blessed (Luke 1: 48).
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb: Mary leads us always to Christ. It is one of the saddest mistakes of those who oppose our special love and veneration for Mary to think that somehow Our Lady detracts from our devotion to Jesus Christ. On the contrary, she draws us to Him, shows Him to us, and teaches us how to be His disciples. If sometimes we find that we are distracted at Mass, it is a sure way back to true devotion to ask the assistance of Our Lady to help us to make our own offerings at Mass, of adoration, thanksgiving, sorrow, and petition for the grace of God. This is also true for the priest. He can ask for no greater assistance in His attempts to celebrate the Eucharist with due reverence and devotion than to ask the help of that holy Mother who stood at the foot of the Cross and can guide him at the altar. She is Mother of all priests, as She is Mother of the Great High Priest in Whose name each priest ministers as an “alter Christus” (“another Christ”). Let us pray for all priests, particularly those who have grown lukewarm – it happens – that Our Lady will set all of us on fire with the genuine devotion of true disciples who will bring Our Lord, blessed fruit of her womb, to others.
Holy Mary, Mother of God: Being the Mother of God is the source of all Our Lady’s other titles. They are not simply nice thoughts but they tell us basic truths of our Faith. Mary also safeguards the truth about Jesus Christ. Because she is the Mother of God, it shows us that he is truly God and truly Man. For this reason, Our Lady has been called the “Destroyer of heresies.” As Mother of the Church, she gives her protection to those who ask for it, and invokes with us the gifts of the Holy Spirit to enable us to believe Christ and preach Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. In our secular culture it is easy to be swayed by popular opinion, to water down the teaching of Christ and His Church to make it more acceptable, to avoid arguments or sneering, or to make things easier in our own lives. Our Lady’s total trust in the Father’s Will at the Annunciation and Incarnation, and her fidelity at the Passion can shame us to stand up and be counted, to defend the faith at the cost of ridicule, to be known as disciples of Christ, to be proud to be such – not of course through any self-congratulation considering our weakness, but that legitimate pride in being under the banner of the Cross, of being His men and women.
Pray for us sinners: Our Lady never sinned but she knew more than anyone the damage caused by sin. We call her Co-redemptrix because of her share in the passion of Christ. Her perfection in grace means that she above all is the terror of demons who flee in terror from her very name as exorcists testify. Yet she is also compassionate towards us, who are affected by the wound of original sin, and weighed down by our own past sins and habits of sin. We beg her prayers for us as sinners because they are most powerful, both in helping us to resist temptation and in putting new heart into us when we have fallen. She also knows well the infinite mercy of her Son with whom there is fullness of redemption (cfr. Ephesians 1: 7) and the folly of ever despairing of this mercy.
Now and at the hour of our death: Every Hail Mary is a way of preparing for the time when we pass over from time to eternity. Death is not the loss of life but the entrance to the fullness of Life. This is something we should remember often. The Church in her wisdom has placed this petition at the end of the prayer. Many people live as if death were not a fact of our lives. But our life here on earth is short, we have one soul to save, and an eternity to enjoy the presence of God or to lose Him for ever. Nothing is more important than our eternal salvation. Therefore we ask Jesus, Mary (and let us not forget the silent one of Scripture, St. Joseph) to help us to prepare for our death by a good life. We also pray for a happy death, which means dying in a state of grace, fortified by the sacraments of the Church.
Amen. This word is our act of commitment to all said and our surrender to God through Mary’s intercession.
The Hail Mary is a simple but very rich prayer. We should take a little time – it is after all only a short prayer – to say it more slowly, to savor the sweetness of the words, to ask Our Blessed Mother to grace us with her prayers, and to form us anew as the disciples of her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Holy Virgin Mary, among the women born into the world,
there is no one like you.
Daughter and servant of the most high and supreme
King and of the Father in heaven,
Mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
pray for us with Saint Michael the Archangel,
all the powers of heaven and all the saints,
at the side of your most beloved Son, our Lord and Teacher.
As Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi let us follow the example of love our Seraphic Father had for Mary. Let our devotional practices honoring Our Heavenly Mother be the sign of an internal conviction and commitment to a person whose love for us leads us ever more closely to Jesus her Son. TOTUS TUUS! (TOTALLY YOURS!) Let us make this motto of St. John Paul II our motto and live it with trust and joy, knowing that we have a most powerful and loving intercessor before the Most Holy Trinity. As Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Mary, while only human and infinitely less than God who created her, Mary is eminently greater than all of us. Invoke her loving protection and almighty intercession that while living with her in this life, she may intercede for us and assist us on our final journey to eternity and God’s loving embrace.
With every best wish for you during this Easter Season of new birth and new life, I pray we all live as ‘Alleluia People’. Be open to the working of the Holy Spirit. May this Holy Spirit inflame our hearts as He filled Our Mother Mary. May we follow the Spirit’s inspiration and confidently respond, as Mary, and all the Saints, with a determined ‘Yes’ to all the Father asks of us, that we may be more like Jesus.
May God bless you; Our Lady guide, guard, and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi watch over 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 May 2nd, 2015 May 2015
Hail, O Lady, holy Queen, you are the virgin made church
and the one chosen by the most holy Father in heaven
whom He consecrated with His most holy beloved Son
and with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete,
in whom there was and is all the fullness of grace and every good.
Hail, His Palace! Hail, His, Tabernacle! Hail, His Home!
Hail, His Robe! Hail, His Servant! Hail, His Mother!
And hail all you holy virtues which through the grace and light of the Holy Spirit
are poured into the hearts of the faithful so that from
their faithless state you may make them faithful to God.
(Salutation of the Blessed Virgin)
Following are excerpts taken from various Franciscan writings. Daily meditative phrases from various Sources.
1
It was not that he was a man who prayed, than he himself was a living prayer. – Abraham hoped everything would stay put, but he left everything and everyone on God’s word and traveled into the unknown.
2
His sure harbor was prayer not for a moment, … but profoundly devout, humble and prolonged as much as possible. If he began at night, with difficulty he ended his prayer in the morning. – Like Abraham, we are sustained by not simply a promise, but by the Promise of God which was fleshed out in Jesus.
3
Often, almost daily, he withdrew secretly to pray. He was inclined to do so by that same tenderness he had tasted earlier, which now visited him ever more frequently, driving him to prayer in the piazza and in other public places. (Three Companions, chpt.3) – Moses longed to see his dreams completed and stopped short of the land he was allowed to see but not enter.
4
Francis … totally unaware of earthly desires through love of Christ, and strove to keep his spirit present to God by praying without ceasing lest he be without them consolation of the Beloved. (Major Legend, chpt.10) – It was enough for Moses to be given evidence of the future to die fulfilled and in peace.
5
The man of God gathered with his companions … they spent their time praying incessantly, directing their efforts mentally rather than vocally to devoted prayers, because they did have liturgical books from which to chant the canonical hours. (Major Legend, chpt.4) – Joseph, in spite of the rough breaks he had experienced since being sold by his brothers, refused to quit.
6
Let all the brothers always strive to exert themselves in doing good works … Servants of God, therefore, must always apply themselves to prayer or some good work. (Earlier Rule, chpt.7) – God intends you to be the person on whom He has conferred a unique ‘personhood’. God has committed Himself to you…agree to do the same to Him.
7
Let us always make a home and a dwelling place for Him Who is the Lord God Almighty, father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who says: Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent … When you stand to pray say: Our Father in heaven. (Earlier Rule, chpt.22) – David wanted to build a monument to God but had to prepare the material for another to build.
8
Those brothers to whom the Lord has given the grace of working may work faithfully and devotedly so that, while avoiding idleness, the enemy of the soul, they do not extinguish the Spirit of holy prayer and devotion to which all temporal things must contribute. (Later Rule, chpt.5) – You who are meant to be part of God’s family, are one of the community of the Crucified One; you too must crucify self and forget ego trips…Trust Him!
9
I admonish and exhort the brothers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to … pay attention to what they must desire above all else: to have the Spirit of the Lord and Its holy activity, to pray always to Him with a pure heart, to have humility and patience in persecution and infirmity. (Later Rule, chpt.10) – Elijah was so demoralized he wanted to give up, but God knew the inner strength of Elijah and gave him a firm ‘no’.
10
I am pleased that you teach sacred theology to the brothers providing that, as is contained in the Rule, you do not extinguish the Spirit of prayer and devotion, during study of this kind. (Letter to St. Anthony) – There is no permanent retirement for a Christian, only temporary respites from time to time to rest and reequip.
11
Francis used to say that, because of the office of prelacy or of zeal for preaching, they should not abandon holy and devout prayer, going for alms. Working at times with their hands, and performing other humble tasks like the other brothers, for good example and for the benefit of their souls, as well as others. (Mirror, chpt.73) – Jonah tried to run away from God’s Will and acceptance of his responsibilities, but he couldn’t run from God.
12
He said that (ministers of the word of God) were heralds chosen by a great king…For he used to say: The preacher must first secretly draw in by prayer what he later pours out in sacred preaching; he must first of all grow warm on the inside, or he will speak frozen words on the outside. (2Celano, chpt.122) – God still replies in the negative to those who claim a special relationship, but try to escape from responsibilities, or fall into a narrow, self-centered outlook.
13
(Description of General Minister) … He must be a committed friend of holy prayer, who can distribute some hours for his soul and others for the flock entrusted to him … (2Celano, chpt.139) – Job questioned God and demanded answers, but God gave him no answers; His questions were more profound and penetrating.
14
They never or hardly ever stopped praying and praising God…They gave thanks to God for the good done…They would have thought themselves abandoned by God if they did not experience in their ordinary prayers that they were constantly visited by the spirit of devotion. (1Celano, chpt.15) – We present-day Jobs also are promised God’s sufficiency. He gives more than answers … He shares His life with us.
15
They were so devoted to prayer that there was no hour of the night that someone could not be found at prayer in the oratory. (Thomas Eccleston, #27) – The God who has committed Himself to us insists on a like-minded commitment.
16
The brothers at that time begged him to teach them how to pray, because, walking in simplicity of spirit, up to that time they did not know … (1Celano, chpt.17) – The ‘covenanting’ God has given His word to us that He will not desert us. That promise has been sealed in blood – literally!
17
He implored divine clemency to show him what he had to do. (Major Legend, chpt.1) – The cross has been so sentimentalized by so many generations of songwriters and preachers that it no longer has any sting.
18
He had recourse to prayer that he might insistently implore what the will of God was regarding some specific matter. (Major Legend,1) – You have been given the gift of living and dying just one death. You may lay down your e energies, your time, and your goods for others, or you may stockpile self until it crushes you.
19
Fasting and weeping, he earnestly prayed for the savior’s mercy, and lacking confidence in his own efforts, he cast his care upon the Lord. (1Celano, chpt.5) – Time does not necessarily heal all wounds; sometimes it merely covers them with scar tissue.
20
Foreseeing the great things that God would do through him and his Order … he was calling and praying to God that, by his mercy and omnipotence, without which human frailty can do nothing, he should supply, help, and fulfill that which he could not do by himself. (Little Flowers, chpt.2) – Jesus has called ‘friend’ the one we would label ‘enemy’; He pronounces them subjects of concern rather than objects of contempt.
21
Francis said: Wait for me a bit, because I first want to pray to God that He make our journey fruitful, that Christ, by virtue of His most holy passion, be pleased to give us poor and weak men this noble prey that we’re planning to take from the world. (Little Flowers, chpt.37) – Peter tried to bury his guilt of denial and grief of lose in work; he couldn’t forget or conceal in activity his ‘failure’.
22
He saw St. Francis devoutly at prayer before Christ, who had appeared to him during that prayer and was in front of him … he saw Francis lifted up bodily from the earth. Because of this he was touched by God and inspired to leave the world … (Little Flowers, chpt.37) – The Resurrection is God’s mighty ‘no’ to depression and death.
23
He never ceased crying out to God with humble prayers and fervent affection, that God would protect the Order and grant salvation to all the friars, present and future. (Angelo Clareno) – A beggar pleaded for a handout and was given a hand up. God gives us His gifts that we may learn to help ourselves.
24
As blessed Francis got up, he joined his hands and, lifting his eyes to heaven, said: Lord, I give back to You the family which until now you have entrusted to me… (2Celano, chpt.104) – We carry the name ‘Christian’ and stand strong in its meaning.
25
Once while his vicar was holding a chapter, he was praying in his cell, as the go-between and mediator between his brothers and God. (Major Legend, chpt.11) – Paul begged for healing and was given a thorn in the flesh, and an reminder that ‘my strength is sufficient’.
26
After I resigned my office among the brothers because of my illnesses … I am not bound at all except to pray for the religion and to show good example… the greatest help I can render to the religion is to spend time everyday in prayer to the Lord for it. (Mirror, #81) – St. Teresa: Lord when you will cease to strew our path with obstacles? And the Lord: Don’t complain, this is how I treat my friends. St. Teresa: Dear Lord, that is why You have so few.
27
The abbot of the monastery of San Giustino…happened to meet Saint Francis…he humbly asked him to pray for him, and Saint Francis replied: My Lord, I will willingly pray… when the abbot had ridden away, he said to the brother with him: Wait for me a little while, brother, for I want to pay the debt I promised. (2Celano, chpt.117) – There is a certain enjoyment of unpleasant places when the challenges they offer help us to grow.
28
A pilgrim while in the body, away from the Lord, Francis, man of God, strove to keep himself present in spirit to heaven…With all his soul he thirsted for his Christ…We will tell…about the wonders of his prayer, things that we have seen with our own eyes. (2Celano, chpt.61) – The all-powerful Lord turns even the causes of our curses into good.
29
He found (Greccio) rich in poverty and there, in a remote little cell on a cliff, he could give himself freely yo heavenly things. (2Celano, chpt.7) – Jesus is not a ‘departed hero’, a ‘deceased leader’, but the living Lord, Who does not leave us to fend for ourselves.
30
Brother Body should be cared for with discernment…so it won’t get weary keeping vigil and staying fervently at prayer. (2Celano,chpt.92) – At the time when the outlook seems most bleak and pessimistic, God frequently opens new doors. Sometimes, God seemingly allows roadblocks because He has bigger plans for us.
31
When he returned from his private prayers, in which he was changed almost into a different man, he tried his best to resemble the others, lest, if he appeared glowing, the breeze of favor might cancel what he had gained. (2Celano, chpt.65) – ‘Help’ signals often are hard to pick up. God, however, patiently waits for us to be sensitive enough to detect those signs and signals from others.
Posted By Teresa Redder, on April 5th, 2015 
PEACE to each of your hearts as we celebrate the SOLEMNITY of our Risen Lord!
In a homily delivered on March 17, 2013, our Holy Father, Pope Francis said,
I think we too are the people who, on the one hand, want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, at times, like to find a stick to beat others with, to condemn others. And Jesus has this message for us: mercy. I think — and I say it with humility — that this is the Lord’s most powerful message: mercy.
In February of this year, Pope Francis declared a Holy Year of Mercy beginning on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 2015, and culminating on the Feast of Christ the King, 2016, by saying,
Dear brothers and sisters, I have often thought about how the Church might make clear its mission of being a witness to mercy. It is journey that begins with a spiritual conversion. For this reason, I have decided to call an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy. We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord’s words: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (cf. Lk 6:36)”
This Holy Year will begin on this coming Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and will end on November 20, 2016, the Sunday dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe – and living face of the Father’s mercy. I entrust the organization of this Jubilee to the Pontifical Council for Promotion of the New Evangelization, that [the dicastery] might animate it as a new stage in the journey of the Church on its mission to bring to every person the Gospel of mercy.
I am convinced that the whole Church will find in this Jubilee the joy needed to rediscover and make fruitful the mercy of God, with which all of us are called to give consolation to every man and woman of our time. From this moment, we entrust this Holy Year to the Mother of Mercy, that she might turn her gaze upon us and watch over our journey.
If, as our dear Bro. Larry often urges, we are meditating on an article of our Rule each day, Article 5 (corresponding with Easter Sunday this year) tells us,
Secular Franciscans, therefore, should seek to encounter the living and active person of Christ in their brothers and sisters …
Sometimes being merciful isn’t easy. It requires a shift within ourselves that can be difficult to make but, if we can allow ourselves to enter into the adventure of grace, we can, as our Holy Father says, become witnesses to mercy and live in the light of the Lord’s words: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Blessings, every good, and much love,
mattie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on April 4th, 2015  Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Peace of the Risen Lord be with you all!
As we celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord, let us joyfully keep on the path of conversion, clearly this is not the end.
Let us touch on the topic about Contemplation and how it is a means of a deeper love and seeing all things in the true relation to God as Francis and Clare.
We should spend more time building our relationship with God. Let us use Francis and Clare as a model to apply to our daily lives. Francis became like Christ but it took prayerful contemplation and action. Francis understood that the Holy Spirit was not just a source of power but also that the Holy Spirit inspires us with a love relationship of the most Holy Trinity.
Clare’s vision of contemplation begins with the mirror of the crucified Christ. She advised Agnes to see herself in the mirror each day. Clare provides a path to contemplation by daily prayer before the crucifix.
As Ilia Delio, OFS, writes in “Franciscan Prayer” The progression of prayer that leads to contemplation begins with the gaze on the crucified Christ and continues to penetrate the depths of reality until the one who gazes comes to see the heart of charity hidden in the heart of Christ. Not all of us follow the same approach to God. Through the eyes of Francis we see how he envisioned God and imitation of Jesus in relationship to God.
Article 8 of our Rule tells us, As Jesus was the true worshipper of the Father, so let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do. How does prayer lead you to the vision of contemplation? What prevents you from this vision?
Let me close with this writing of St. Bonaventure from The Major Legend of St. Francis:
Aroused by everything to divine love,
He rejoiced in all the works of the Lord’s hands
And through their delightful display
He rose into their life-giving and cause.
In beautiful things he contuited Beauty itself.
And through the footprints impressed in things
He followed the Beloved everywhere,
Out of them all making for himself a ladder
Through which he could climb up to lay hold of him.
Who is utterly desirable.
Peace and every good,
Your sister, Rosie
Posted By Teresa Redder, on April 4th, 2015  April 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you his peace! and lead you through the mystery of His Passion and Death to the joy of His Resurrection and our Renewed Life in Jesus!
I raise my eyes to the mountains. From where comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121: 1-2) Who may go up to the mountain of the Lord?…The clean of hand, the pure of heart …they will receive blessings from the Lord. (Psalm 24: 3-05) Mountains and hills play an important role throughout Scripture, from the very beginning of creation in the Book of Genesis to the ‘new beginning’ in the Book of Revelation.
The Old Testament often speaks of mountains and hills. On Mount Ararat – according to the centuries’ old tradition – God initiated His covenant with all humanity through Noah, and promised never again to destroy all humankind. On Mount Moriah, God confirmed His covenant with Abraham, and promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens. On Mount Sinai, God entered a covenant with Israel and clearly stipulated the conditions that would make them a people peculiarly His own, that they might be holy for I your God am holy. On Mount Carmel, God manifested His majesty and glory to Elijah and encouraged and strengthened His prophet. Other mountains, other hills, perhaps less impressive, but nonetheless places and moments when the great God of Israel made His presence, power, and pleasure plainly known to His people. The ‘heights’ offered the spot where our ancestors in faith communed with God. Rising above the daily routine, moving beyond all things that distract and deter, they were able to encounter God more profoundly, and commune with God alone.
The New Testament also speaks of mountains and hills. The heights where Jesus preached powerful sermons, performed wondrous miracles, persuaded and encouraged His chosen followers to accept His call to follow in His footsteps … and redeemed humanity. On the heights Jesus offers His ‘circle of friends’ opportunities to see the wonders of God and His own glory. Among these elevated areas are two memorable and important ‘Mounts’: Tabor and Calvary.
A spiritual writer of the last century says that Mount Tabor (Transfiguration) and Mount Calvary (Redemption) help us to see The Glory in every Cross, and the Cross in every moment of Glory. On Mount Tabor a few chosen friends had a unique glimpse of Jesus that would strengthen them after the Resurrection; they were transformed by His Transfiguration. On Mount Calvary all was fulfilled. The mission was complete. Jesus’ own words, When I am lifted up, I will call all people to Myself (John 12: 32), would powerfully affect humanity after the Resurrection. The covenants of the Old Testament are reiterated and find their climactic fulfillment on Mount Calvary. The ultimate sacrifice, offered to the Father in the Blood of Christ His Incarnate Son, is our holocaust. Jesus the Christ is offered on the altar of the Cross and thus seals the Covenant with the Father forever for the sake of us all. On the Hill of Golgotha God invites His children to come and see how much God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, so that all who believe in Him might have life everlasting. From the Cross Jesus sees the world and all times – past, present, future. He speaks to us. We see the Suffering Servant and recognize the King of Glory, the Christ; we acknowledge that His image through Baptism in His Blood makes us the Christian (the other Christ) each is called to be; and together we become the living Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, not a museum of saints but a home for sinners redeemed in the blood of Christ Jesus.
Hills and heights continue to be places where God makes His presence felt. There is a famous hill (mountain), famous especially for all Franciscans, that speaks volumes of the one who was transfigured in his soul on that height. It is La Verna. On this height St. Francis went to spend time in prayer and solitude. His soul was transported by profound love. His ardent prayer was to feel what Our Lord and Savior felt in His love for all humanity when he accepted to be crucified. A presumptuous prayer? No! It was the prayer of one whose love was so intense that he wished to share in all things, even those most painful and repugnant, as far as possible, what the Beloved experienced. And our Seraphic Father was granted his prayer. A seraph appeared to him in the form of the Crucified, and when the seraph left, St. Francis’ body had been signed with the wounds of the Passion of Our Savior.
People saw the little man marked for Life with the signs of the Lord’s Saving Death. Through the years they had witnessed the power of God speaking through the sincerity of his heart and the simplicity of his life. He was called to be a messenger of God’s all-abiding love and hope for a troubled world grown cold in its love for God and neighbor. Saint Francis of Assisi had become the ‘Father’ of a multitude of ‘Spiritual Children’ called to be ‘instruments of peace and blessings’ to the world. Like the Prophets and Patriarchs of old St. Francis stood before God and the people to intercede for them. Now that he had experienced the depths of God’s love in such an intimate and personal manner, not just seeing in the heart and communing with God in prayer, he became a strength and channel of divine graces for countless thousands of souls over the years.
Signed with the marks of the Passion of Jesus, our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi continues to attract numberless people to God. His life still speaks so eloquently of the Glory of the Cross and the Cross in every moment of Glory. His participation in the Passion of Christ is God’s way of still inviting everyone back to a more grace-filled life. Saint Francis signed with the Sacred Stigmata is an image of the Crucified Christ. And his words continue to indicate the Way that is Christ and leads to the graces that flow from the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.
The Paschal Mystery continues down through the centuries in the Church. The Mystery continues through the Eucharist we celebrate. The Eucharist is a re-presentation of that tragic and triumphant day when we were redeemed by Jesus and in Whose Resurrection we are empowered to be able to look beyond death to Life. At the Eucharist especially, the priest is not his own. The priest mystically becomes Christ. The Mass is not the priest’s. When the priest celebrates Mass, it is Christ Jesus, gloriously present in, with, and through the Father and Holy Spirit, Who renews that grace-filled moment of Eternal Love that transforms those present, according to their own preparation and participation. According to each one’s personal cooperation with God’s grace, we are mystically transformed into a living image of Jesus … who more, who less.
Christ becomes present to the Christian at every Eucharistic celebration. Those present are led to a more profound awareness of the image of Christ they bear through Baptism. Each Eucharist worthily received encourages us to live our spiritual life more intensely. Life in the Spirit can effectively affect life in the world so that lives can truly change and be transformed. Christ lives in and through us all, when we cooperate with grace. We Christians are once again reminded of our dignity. As St. Leo the Great reminded the faithful in one of his sermons: O, Christian, be mindful of your dignity! When we understand and accept the dignity of being redeemed in the blood of Christ, we cannot help but feel powerless to resist His presence. Surrender to God and He will fill you with Himself!
Come to the Lord with heart filled gratitude and love rather than one that is always seeking gifts and miracles. Let the Christ present in each Christian be the Christ you now seek out in your sister or brother. Seeking out the other leads to a bonding in faith and love that builds up the Church of which we are a particular and defined expression. Secular Franciscans are sisters and brothers who individually have encountered Christ through our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi and who now seek to keep alive the graces and strengthen the ‘covenant’ that has been formed in and among them, through the example of our Father, with, and in Jesus.
As Spiritual Children of the Poverello of Assisi we follow the Lord Jesus on the Way of the Cross, but we must never forget that the Cross and the Resurrection are one. Easter joy is one with Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday of New Life in the Risen Lord. Each of those days celebrates the joy of the Resurrection: Glory in the Cross and the Cross in every moment of Glory! We must never separate the Cross from that wonderful moment of which St. Paul says: If Christ has not been raised from the dead our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15: 14). Let us never forget that St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan is God’s troubadour. We are messenger and message of God’s Love and Life to the world. The wounds of the Passion that St. Francis bore are intended to help us reflect on the eternal love of God for us in Jesus through the Spirit. The Sacred Stigmata of the man of La Verna are a visible reminder of that One Great Sacrifice, never repeated, but always re-presented on the altar by Christ through the priest, for the Christian, who in Him is the Church – a Resurrection People. All are invited to ascend the ‘heights’ of the altar in the spirit and be washed in the Blood of Christ. The example and words of our Father Francis inspire us. In him we see the Christ; through him we recognize and acknowledge we are Christian – faulty but image nonetheless of Christ; and with him we accept our role in this world to be the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, a Sign of Contradiction, that prods us in this world to look beyond ourselves and the world that has hold of us. As sisters and brothers in St. Francis we are, as St. Augustine calls Christians, an ‘Alleluia People’. We do not stop at the Cross, we go beyond. Alleluia!
On Resurrection Sunday we must roll back the stone of those many things that we have allowed to close us in on ourselves and shut us out from the light and life God has entrusted to us. God and we roll that boulder away together. We peer into the empty tomb. We recognize Who Jesus is; Jesus is the Christ. We recognize who we are; we are the Christian. We recognize what we have become in Christ; we are the Church. We are the living Body of Christ, alive in a world desperately in need of God’s messengers and message of Easter Peace and Joy. As I wrote in a previous letter: When we accept our moment in life and believe in the Lord’s Resurrection, ignorance gives way to knowledge, fear to courage and strength, prejudice to impartiality and acceptance, pride to humility, indifference to concern, over-indulgence to self-control, hypocrisy to sincerity, discouragement to hope, doubt to faith, and hatred to love, because…You can’t hold back the dawn! And the Resurrection of Jesus is the New Dawn bringing the Light of Christ to all willing to accept Him.
May the light of Christ’s Resurrection shine in your life that we might have life, and have it in abundance. Our God lives and journeys with each one of us that we might reach life’s goal: Eternal Life. May the Risen Lord Jesus shower you and your loved ones with peace, joy and abundant blessings for a Happy Easter; may Mary, Mother of the Redeemer and our Mother, help you to live with Jesus in the light of the New Life His Resurrection offers each one of us; and may our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi watch over each one of you, his Spiritual Children, with loving care. With a promise to keep all of you affectionately in my Easter Masses and Liturgies, I wish you and your dear ones a very Happy and Joyous Easter.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on April 4th, 2015
 April 2015
Let every creature in heaven,
on earth, in the sea and in the depths,
give praise, glory, honor and blessing
to Him Who suffered so much,
Who has given and will give in the future every good,
for He is our power and strength,
Who alone is good,
Who alone is almighty,
Who alone is omnipotent, wonderful, glorious
and Who alone is holy,
worthy of praise and blessing
through endless ages. Amen.
(Later Admonition and Exhortation to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, 49-50)
Following are daily excerpts taken from the writings of St. Bonaventure. Daily meditative phrases from various sources.
1
One reason that should inspire us to preach is love of Christ, and another is love of our neighbor. – If you have encountered Christ, live with Christ! Announce him in the first person, as authentic witnesses.
2
The words of Holy Scripture provide spiritual nourishment for our neighbor, just as material food sustains the body. – It is impossible to love Christ without the Church that Christ loves.
3
In the same way that a person listens to news of a friend, and a sick person pays close heed to the advice of the doctor, so those who love God listen attentively to his word. – We know we can count on Christ here and, above all, now and always.
4
By the mouth of the contemplative soul dwelling in the garden of Holy Scripture, because of the consolations to be found there, the Lord, the Holy Spirit says: I will come to listen. – Do not extinguish the joy that is born of faith in Christ crucified and risen. (It is a joy of light, presence, forgiveness and anticipation of eternal happiness).
5
A third reason that ought to inspire us to preach is that the Lord desires to be honored. He wishes to be praised in our prayers, homilies, and sermons, and he wishes our neighbor to be edified by all these. – The Eucharist makes us Christians … The Church is realized when we celebrate the sacrifice of the cross of Christ …
6
Friend go up higher, are words of Christ inviting to the wedding feast those guests found to be humble whom the Lord exalts and desires to exalt. – Love can in fact bring about the prodigy of making the fragrant rose of joy bloom on the thorny stem of suffering.
7
St. Francis, having been invited to Christ’s wedding feast, sat in the lowest place. That is to say, he clothed himself in a shabby habit and he founded the Order of Lesser Brothers. – The Eucharist brings us near to God … God in the Eucharist is precisely that God who has willed to enter into man’s history … to become a man.
8
(St. Francis) did not qualify the word ‘Lesser’ in any way, but simply and unconditionally called his Order the Order of Lesser Brothers. The Lord said to the humble guest, the one who had taken the lower place, Friend, go up higher. – The times call for a radical examination of our relationship with Christ … very profound examination … very radical.
9
The wisdom of God … indicates (in the text Friend, go up higher) the presence of grace by the idea of friendship, and so the text says Friend. – Christ is on the side of man; and he is such on both sides: those who expect love and those who give them love.
10
The wisdom of God … indicates (in the text Friend, go up higher) ‘glory’ by the spatial adverb higher. – A pause for true adoration has greater value and spiritual fruit than the most intense activity, even apostolic activity itself.
11
The wisdom of God … symbolizes (in the text Friend, go up higher) ‘pass over from grace to glory’ by the verb go up. – In order to be able truly to enlist our time and our capabilities for the salvation and sanctification of souls … we must above all possess certitude and clarity about the truths that must be believed and practiced. If we are unsure, uncertain, confused, or contradictory, we cannot build.
12
Friend … refers to the power of grace and eternal wisdom in devout souls … bestowed on many saints for generation after generation. In these last times grace was given to this holy man, making him a model of repentance for all – We must at times knowingly detach ourselves from our sensuality to enhance our personality.
13
Jesus calls St. Francis his friend … due to his truly humble spirit in all that was committed to him, he was a faithful friend of the Lord. – Man must above all be beautiful internally. Without this beauty, all efforts directed to the body alone will not forge a truly beautiful person.
14
(Jesus calls St. Francis his friend) because of his utter purity of heart in everything he pledged himself to do, he was a congenial friend of the Lord. – We encounter God when we open ourselves to him.
15
(Jesus calls St. Francis his friend) on account of the serenity of his contemplative soul, he was an intimate friend of the Lord. – Our life is a journey toward heaven … The thought of heaven should strengthen us … We play the card of our life pointing toward heaven!
16
(Jesus calls St. Francis his friend) because the marks of Christ’s cross were imprinted on his body, he became, as Christ’s friend, conformed to his likeness. – We have need of Christ whom, if we want him to, can free us from the bonds of sin.
17
The word Friend, therefore, is addressed to Saint Francis because he was a faithful, congenial, and intimate friend of the Lord, conformed to him by the marks of the stigmata on his body. – Leading a life based on the sacraments, animated by the common priesthood, signifies … A desire that God will act in one and enable one to reach the full maturity of Christ.
18
(St. Francis) was a faithful friend on account of his true humility. We read in Sirach: There is nothing more precious as a faithful friend. The Lord greatly loves his faithful friends, and that is because he has so few faithful ones … – Eucharistic worship is the center of the whole sacramental life.
19
Excessive love of self leads to deceit; minimal love of our neighbor leads to negligence, and reduces the love of God to less than it ought to be. A faithful friend possesses a truly humble heart. – The cross of Christ is the substance of the divine mystery which animates the Church and humanity.
20
(A faithful friend of God) observes all God’s commandments and attributes nothing to his own glory that is accomplished by God. Saint Bernard writes: You are indeed a faithful servant of the Lord when nothing of the Lord’s abundant glory, which does not come from you but is channeled through you, remains clinging to your hands. – The whole Gospel is a dialogue with man … always and uninterruptedly a dialogue with man, with every man – one, unique, and absolutely singular.
21
Many achieve nothing for God, because when they see that something of his glory is being channeled through them, they desire to be praised and honored themselves. – Every threat to human rights … is perilous to peace.
22
Saint Francis made himself subject to everyone and was obedient even to the tiniest commandment of God. If anyone ordered him to do anything he was ready to carry it out and be obedient to all. – Freedom and truth determine the spiritual imprint that makes the diverse manifestations of life and human activity.
23
(St. Francis) always acknowledged himself the greatest and vilest sinner … He used to ask the Lord in prayer: Why, O Lord, have you put me, wretched and stupid as I am, in charge of this Order? And the Lord answered: Have you not considered that I am above you in governing and caring for the Order? – Love has need of freedom.
24
(The Lord said to St. Francis) Since I am above you, you can put me in your place in governing and directing the Order. For the Lord’s sake he attributed everything to the glory of God. We should learn to be faithful like this ourselves. – Overcome evil with good.
25
(St. Francis) was a congenial friend in everything he pledged himself to do, due to his utter purity of heart. He who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend, and not merely an earthly king, but the everlasting King of glory whose friendship ensures we will arrive at the eternal kingdom. – Learn to know Christ. Grasp Christ.
26
Saint Francis cherished innocence and purity and so he won the friendship of the everlasting King. Anyone who desires to preserve innocence and purity of heart has to … do penance by willingly undertaking afflictions … and have patience in tribulations inflicted by others. – Prayer, trust, and fidelity must be the climate of authentic ecumenism (or unity).
27
The soul cannot be purified without passing through the refining fire of penance and patience … St. Francis was purified through penance in fasting, abstinence and afflictions. – Dialogue between brothers (and sisters) does not efface but presupposes our own identity.
28
Saint Francis desired to undergo tribulations for Christ’s sake and to suffer in order to do something for him. Indeed, so much did he want to bear trials on behalf of his neighbor that he offered himself to the pagan Sultan, that he might be put to death on the account of Christ. – With the power of the Gospel, the Church helps us to see and respect everyone as brother (sister) … and invites to dialogue so that justice may be safeguarded and unity maintained.
29
Saint Francis was an intimate friend of the Lord because of the serenity of his contemplative soul … Saint Francis was saved from the dangerous currents of a worldly life. God gave him the staff of the cross to lead the people out of the Egypt of vice into the desert of the Order of Lesser Brothers. – Enjoy the fruits of your work and a legitimate industriousness … But … do not shut yourselves within yourselves: think of the most poor.
30
The Lord calls his chosen ones to the cross to lead others into the desert of repentance and at the end of this life into the Promised Land, that is, to the glory of the heavenly kingdom. – Do not let material abundance separate you from the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount.
Posted By Teresa Redder, on March 1st, 2015  March 2015
Dear Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi,
The Lord give you His peace!
For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored?… All his days are sorrow and grief are his occupation. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23) Even the plebeian suffered the same as the king. (Wisdom18:11) Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering. (Lamentations 1:12) Why does Sacred Scripture deal with suffering and sorrow so much? The easiest response is the obvious fact: Suffering is at the center of every human experience.
In his Encyclical Salvifici Doloris, Pope St. John Paul II writes: Suffering, in fact, is always a trial – at times a very hard one – to which humanity is subjected. The Gospel paradox of weakness and strength often speaks to us from the pages of the letters of St. Paul, a paradox particularly experienced by the Apostle himself and together with him experienced by all who share Christ’s sufferings. Paul writes in the second letter to the Corinthians: “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9) In the second letter to Timothy we read: And therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. (2 Timothy 1: 12) And in the letter to the Philippians he will even say: I can do all things in him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4: 13). The distinction St. Paul conveys, that Pope St. John Paul II repeats, is: I believe the person and thus live his words (for I know whom I have believed); I believe in him and thus trust his power to save (I can do all things in him).
Suffering has touched all of us in some way or another. We suffer at the news of a loved one who has an incurable disease. We are saddened when a family happily awaiting the birth of a child is told that this new life will be burdened with physical or psychological challenges for all his/her life. We feel inadequate and helpless when we see suffering in our loved ones and have no power to help them. We suffer with our own spiritual and physical vulnerabilities. What about the terrible social, economic, meteorologic calamities that affect whole families, cities, nations?! Suffering is around us and in each one of our lives. How do we respond to this universal ‘companion’?
Some years ago a physician stated: We respond to suffering with a fatalistic and passive attitude that blindly accepts what cannot be changed permitting this cruel destiny (to overwhelm us). This pagan perspective seems to pervade in every age. Other attitudes are: resigning one’s self to fate and giving up the fight; overcoming suffering by trying to eliminate all desire and passion in life; trying to play ‘mind over matter’ games like some ‘superperson’; despairing and just giving up; attempting to overcome suffering by ‘buying our way out of it’; forgetting troubles by going ‘head over heels’ into the pleasures of life; rationalizing suffering away by denying it. So many other ‘methods’ have been tried, but to no real success… It matters not how we try to eliminate suffering from our lives; suffering will always be there at one time or another, in one form or another.
How did our Seraphic Father St. Francis respond to suffering? How did our Mother Clare respond to the reality of suffering? They found an unusual happiness in their afflictions. They suffered and were willing to accept even more if that was the will of God. They did not fear suffering, because they did not fear death. Death for them and all souls surrendered to the will of God was the moment they would be united by indissoluble bonds to the heavenly Bridegroom of their souls. They were fully aware and convinced that in embracing their crosses, they were fulfilling their earthly mission to embrace the cross and follow Jesus to Calvary.
Suffering for the sake of suffering is foolish and certainly not centered in God. When we are enveloped with suffering or just have to bear some serious inconvenience for a time, we are being entrusted with a “mission”. The “mission of participating in the Redemptive Passion of Christ, the ultimate gift that every true Christian is asked to perfect in his/her life. When we enter the celebration of the Eucharist with heart, mind, and soul totally focused and intent on the Sacred Action of re-presenting the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Passion-Death-Resurrection, we too, through our baptismal consecration as re-born in Christ through the Holy Spirit, become spiritually victims with the Victim and victors with the Victorious Redeemer.
The Lenten journey we have begun introduces us each year into the Mystery of the Suffering Servant of God. We are asked to listen to His words and follow in His footsteps. This ‘following’ can be frightening when we understand what the call entails and when we recognize our weaknesses. But, it can be uplifting when we acknowledge the One Who has preceded us and invites us to follow me. Lent encourages us to participate in the ministry of the Person of The Suffering Servant – Jesus. We are asked to be not only spectators but protagonists of the Mystery of Calvary. We are offered the opportunity to ‘be one with Christ’ in the whole work of our salvation. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2: 20).
He Who created us without our will, will not save us without our consent (St. Augustine). God can save anyone He so wills to save. However, although Jesus died once for all on the Cross, we must continue to make up in our bodies what is still wanting in the passion of Christ, as St. Paul tells us (Colossians 1:24). The continuation of the Mystery of Calvary in our lives is an ongoing process of healing with, through, in Jesus. We continue a spiritual process to eradicate whatever in our life may be harmful to our growth in God’s grace. We strive to control whatever could lead us astray from our relationship with God.
Lent is a time for us to seek spiritual healing that ultimately affects our very lives. We may try to accomplish this by very practical ‘sacrifices’: foods, TV programs, entertainment, and the like. We may increase the prayers we recite, or the time we spend reading Scripture or some other spiritual writing. We may offer our time, talents and ‘treasures’ to assist the needy with Corporal or Spiritual Works of Mercy. These practices and many others are commendable. We participate in the sufferings of Christ by accepting to bear these small crosses each day as we prepare for the celebration of New Life in Jesus at Easter. Nevertheless, there is something we still must do if all these practices are to be effective, if they are to achieve the purpose for which they are intended. We must start from where we want to arrive if we ever expect to eventually get there! We must Come to the Center!
Come To The Center! We must get to the ‘core’ of things. We must get to the ‘heart’, the Heart of God, that Heart opened for us on the Cross that we might enter the Father’s loving embrace – the Heart of Jesus, the Heart of the Eternal High Priest Who is both the Lamb of Sacrifice and the Priest Who offers the Sacrifice. It is in this Sacrifice that we enter the ‘heart’ of the matter and the Heart of the Lord, Whose footsteps we seek to follow and Whose Cross we are asked to bear according to the strengths allotted us by Divine Providence. It is the Eucharist and all that the Eucharist means that is the point of departure as well as the point of arrival of any worthwhile ‘sacrifice’ and ‘penance’. To make our lives sacred (sacrifice=make sacred) we must do ‘penance’ (penance= metanoia = change of mind/heart). Thus, Lent is a time to be holy by changing our hearts. To do this we must…
Come to the Center! Jesus is the ‘Center’. The Tabernacle, the Eucharist, that is where our focus should be, not just during Lent, but always. It is there that we re-present the great Mystery of our Redemption in the Paschal Mystery, the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus. It is the Eucharist, celebrated, received worthily, and adored with love, that gives meaning to what we do, and fills our hearts with the divine graces necessary to grow in our faith and relationship with God.
Our Seraphic Father St. Francis was enamored with the Eucharist. Jesus was the very center of his life. He became so much one with Jesus that he was gifted to bear the wounds of the Passion of the Savior. The prayer of St. Francis repeated by most Catholics, especially during Lent when they pray the Stations of the Cross, tells us of St. Francis’ love for Christ and the Cross, and the Eucharist: We adore You most holy Lord Jesus Christ, (here and in all Your churches throughout the world,) and we bless you, because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world. Always centered on the Eucharist, St. Francis even prayed this prayer kneeling outside a locked church door when access to the interior was impossible.
Come to the Center! The Eucharist is not a devotion; the Eucharist is not ‘another sacrificial practice’; the Eucharist is not an ‘option’ among many others. The Eucharist is Jesus! What greater experience could we allow ourselves to deepen, that in turn would transform us, than to focus on the Eucharist and make our Sacramental Jesus, Eternal High Priest and Lamb of Sacrifice, the Center of all we seek to do and become during the Lenten Season.
As Brothers and Sisters in St. Francis of Assisi, his Spiritual Children, remember that the Eucharist was central to our Father’s life. His strength came from his love and total surrender to his Lord, the Center of his life. What about us!? If we do only a few ‘things’ for Lent, let us make an effort to deepen, sincerely and with commitment, our participation in and love for the Eucharist. This may take herculean efforts for many because this requires daily and/or concentrated and regular preparation before, focused participation during, and calm centered praise and thanksgiving after the celebration of the Eucharist, each day if possible. From this will flow abundant graces and unimaginable strength to meet the demands of life and to live in a peace and serenity that only God can give. I hope that all of us, Spiritual Children of the Poverello, will make the Eucharist the first and foremost goal of our Lenten journey. Let our cry and goal be: Jesus, and Jesus alone!
Come to the Center! Let Jesus be the focus of your Lenten journey, because Jesus is the real goal of this season. In the Eucharist, we re-live the awesome experience of our Redemption in His Passion-Death-Resurrection. Only in Jesus, does anything we ‘do’ make sense, and any sacrifice we ‘make’ have a lasting and meaningful effect.
May this holy season fill you with the graces necessary to strengthen your resolve to become holy through ‘sacrifice’, in a profound change of mind and heart through ‘penance’, by a daily resolute decision to Come to the Center – Jesus! Come to the One from Whom all graces flow and to Whom all life must go if we are to grow in the New Life we celebrate at the end of this holy season. What a wonderful opportunity we are offered. Let us make the effort Lent asks of us.
God bless you; Our Lady guide, guard, and protect you; and St. Francis of Assisi our Seraphic Father watch over each one of us, 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 March 1st, 2015 March 2015
Embrace the poor Christ.
Look upon Him Who became contemptible for you,
and follow Him, making yourself contemptible in this world for Him.
… gaze, consider, contemplate desiring to imitate …
‘Who though more beautiful than the children of men became,
for your salvation, the lowest of men’,
was despised, struck, scourged untold times throughout His entire body,
and then died amid the suffering of the Cross,
(St. Clare of Assisi, The second Letter to St. Agnes of Prague)
Following are excerpts taken from poverty and Joy The Franciscan Tradition by William J. Short, OFM. Daily reflections are taken from the words of Pope St. John XXIII.
1
What the Poverello wished to do was to bring again to our notice the science of holy love … And in fact, from the ‘bubbling-up well’ of his heart there has come a whole school of spirituality. – Peaceable folks do not stand idly by, they are the active builders of peace.
2
The Franciscan Family has included from its very beginning a rich diversity, and seems to resist even the most earnest attempts to turn it into a ‘system’. – Man must first pray for peace, and then learn to live in peace.
3
Francis himself seemed to many in his day a new kind of Christian, one who did not fit easily within the categories of his day. – Christian peace is rooted in faith, hope and charity, and is strengthened by prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
4
Instead of accepting one of the well-established forms of Christian life … he chose the more difficult way, creating a new ‘form of life’, as he called it, different from the prevailing … forms then in favor. – True peace can come from God alone.
5
What drove that desire to create something new was his deep conviction that it was ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ himself who was guiding him. – Good will is the sincere intention to … be faithful to the truth.
6
Followers soon arrived … They formed a fraternity, followed a form of life based on the gospel. In part contemplatives, in part popular preachers, they lived and worked with their hands, frequently with the sick, and begged when they needed to. – Peace is first found and enjoyed in the family … (through) understanding and generosity.
B
Clare of Assisi … developed the new ‘form of life’ in a women’s community marked by sisterly communion, prayer and manual labor, with no stable sources of revenue. – What counts is the love with which we do the will of God.
8
Combining elements of monastic life with the life of lay women penitents she created her own unique expression of ‘life according to the Holy Gospel’. – He is truly great who has great love.
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Its innovative character, especially Clare’s insistence on work and begging to support her sisters, alarmed church authorities, who time and again attempted to convince her to accept a more secure, more traditional lifestyle. – He is truly great who is humble of heart and sets no store by greatness or honors.
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Forty years after beginning her ‘evangelical experiment’, Clare’s own Rule was approved, the first of its kind, written for women by a woman. – He is truly prudent who rejects as dross all earthly things, in order to win Christ.
11
As Francis reflected upon his life as he was approaching death, he left us in his Testament a remarkable and simple account of how the Franciscan tradition began: ‘The Lord inspired me to begin to do penance in this way …’ – There are so many people who have sight and yet do not see!
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The great discovery for Francis … was as old as the Gospels themselves. The Lord had inspired in him the desire to live the kind of life that Jesus lived with his disciples. This may seem commonplace to us today … Not so in Francis’ day … – There are so many who get lost chasing after…trifles…of no account, and forget God, their own souls and righteousness.
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In Francis’ day religious communities sought to imitate the early Christian community at Jerusalem … With its orderly rhythm … Francis was inspired to follow a life that was less settled … – Have courage!
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Francis was inspired to follow a way of life … that would resemble more closely the life of Jesus himself, shared with Mary and the disciples during the brief years of their mission in Galilee and the surrounding territory. – Be generous in the tasks which await you.
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The reference to Jesus, Mary and the disciples is intentional: Francis saw in them the pattern of his own life, and that of his followers. ‘The Lord Jesus Christ was a poor man and a transient and lived on alms, He and the Blessed Virgin and His disciples. – Work in charity and peace.
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This life of transients, dependent on the generosity of others while they travel, struck a chord within Francis. In their poverty, Jesus and the members of His community were the best examples of what it means to proclaim the reign of God and live in its presence. – Purity of heart carefully and constantly guarded becomes the rule and radiance of our whole life and of every word and deed.
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Jesus instructs his disciples to preach the reign of God, instructing them to travel without silver or gold, extra tunics, without sandals or walking-sticks … Francis cries out ‘This is what I want, this is what I desire, this is what I long for with all my heart’. – Purity of heart is the serene atmosphere which surrounds every earnest vocation.
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(Clare) considered her life with her sisters a ‘mirror’ of the gospel, reflecting the face of Christy to the world, particularly to the violent and troubled world of Assisi itself. Clare and her community preached the gospel by their living example of poverty and peaceful unity. – Purity of heart must be the breath of the love of God.
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(Francis) combined austerity of life with an infectious joy, service of the poor with lyrical delight in creatures, popular preaching with silent contemplation, and missionary journeys with long periods in mountain hermitages. – Purity of heart enables us to enjoy the incomparable happiness of long conversations with God in his holy tabernacle.
20
(Francis stigmata set him apart) from earlier saints, making him seem in flesh and blood, a living image of Christ, one perfectly conformed to the Lord he strove to follow. – The world cannot do without Christ.
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The life of the Poverello may seem more cheerful and more peaceful than that of some of the other saints. But the truth is that he was the saint of excesses: excess in sacrifice, excess in love: and it was by reason of his excesses that he held to the happy medium, because his disregard for moderation worked both ways … – The Church treasures the words of Jesus.
22
Others received something from Francis … It was the experience of knowing Francis himself: he was the message … He taught ‘by word and example’ … He was a living example of what he taught. He edified his listeners by his example as well as his words; ‘he made his whole body a tongue’ … – Love governs the mutual relations of Christians and inspires our openness to all.
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More than someone who prayed, he had become a prayer … That is, his whole person had become the message he was trying to communicate. – The Lord continues to love all his redeemed, in spite of the insults and ingratitude with which they reward his kindness.
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And what was this message? In a word, it was Jesus … For Francis, the discovery of Jesus, ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ’, was the ongoing revelation of his whole life in the twenty years after his conversion. – Let us not talk about the duties of others, but try to think more seriously about our own.
25
In his early years he discovered Jesus as the one who led him among the lepers, and made their presence ‘sweet to him’, rather than ‘bitter’. He then discovered Jesus the preacher of conversion, announcing the reign of God. – The divine rule about not serving two masters means not being of two minds.
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Over the years he began to see more clearly Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God .. As the Lord of all things, raised up in glory after his death. And in this Lord, the glorified Son, he also understood the Trinitarian God. – Be aware of what’s going on around you.
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It is through ’the Lord Jesus Christ’ that Francis understands Mary, the Church, the Scriptures, priesthood, the poor, his brothers and sisters, and all creatures. – God has engraved his law on men’s hearts.
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If there is one word which does complete justice to Franciscan theology and spirituality, it is ‘Christocentric’, and they have this as their distinguishing feature, because the faith and holiness of St. Francis were totally centered on Christ. In Jesus Christ the revelation is made to us of what the world as a whole and in all its parts, means to God. – Everything is in the Lord’s hands
29
What unites Clare and Francis is not an identical experience of Christ, but different experiences of the same Christ. – Human life must be founded on virtue and not on the hope of some gain or advantage.
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More than a disciple, Clare is also a creative architect of the tradition she lived. – We are not put into this world to dissipate our energies or amuse ourselves, but to do the will of God.
31
Poverty, or ‘living without grasping’, marks the writings and lives of both Francis and Clare. A key to their understanding of Christ, poverty also became a source of division among their followers. – Body and soul must go forward together; whoever does so will be worthy, good and honest.
Posted By Teresa Redder, on March 1st, 2015 Dear Sisters and Brothers,![assisi09%20021[1]](http://www.skdregion.org/wp-content/uploads/assisi09-0211-225x300.jpg)
Peace and all good to you!
It is said that father Francis who, when in prison, started his conversion, took the words of the Gospel of Mark 6:7-13 literally. Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money for their belts.
St. Francis took the Lenten season very seriously, as we read in Chapter 7 The Little Flowers of Francis of Assisi, a new translation by Robert H. Hopcke and Paul A. Schwartz:
Saint Francis, true servant of Christ, was in many ways like Christ himself, given to the world for the salvation of all people. Thus, God willed that Saint Francis conform to the example of his only son Jesus Christ in his choice of twelve companions, as we have seen, in the wondrous mystery of the Sacred Stigmata, and in his Lenten fasting, which he observed in the following manner.
Having been lodged at the house of a faithful follower near the Lake of Perugia during the time of Carnival, Saint Francis was inspired by God to observe Lent that year on one of the islands in the lake. So Saint Francis asked his devoted son, for the love of God, to take him on Ash Wednesday in his boat to the uninhabited island by night, so that no one might see them, which the man did readily out of the great love and devotion he held toward Saint Francis. Bringing with him only two small loaves of bread, Saint Francis enjoined his friend to tell no one that he was there and to come back for him no sooner than Holy Thursday, at which his friend took leave of the island, leaving Saint Francis there by himself.
As there were no houses on the island to be used as shelter, Saint Francis was content to use a large, thick bush overgrown with vines and plants as a kind of den or hut for himself. There he prayed and contemplated heavenly matters, staying there throughout all of Lent without food or drink, eating no more than half of one of the small loaves he had brought with him, and his faithful friend found him on Holy Thursday upon his return to the island. Upon seeing a loaf and a half of bread still untouched, he believed that the saint ate the half loaf he did eat out of sheer reverence for the fasting of the blessed Christ, who ate nothing for forty days and forty nights, wishing to follow the example of Christ’s fast but setting aside any temptation to vainglory by eating this half loaf of bread as an act of intentional humility.
Afterward, God began to perform miracles in this place where Saint Francis had observed his Lenten abstinence in such a wondrous fashion. People came to this island, building houses and living there, until finally a town grew up, along with a community house for the friars, and all in this place where Saint Francis observed Lent felt great devotion for him and reverence.
Praise be to Jesus Christ and to his poor servant Francis. Amen.
For the remainder of Lent let us pray with joyful hearts, giving to those in need and denying ourselves so that we as Franciscans, who share in the cross, can share in the glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday. Glory be to God.
For further reflection, be sure to read Pope Francis’ Lenten Message, Make Your Hearts Firm. The message was signed on Oct. 4th, 2014, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis makes reference to three Biblical texts which applies to the above and ourselves as the Church and Franciscans.
Love, Rosie
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
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