The Power of Prayer - One Minute for America

From Catherine Koscinski, OFS  - Regional Infirmarian

      Someone has said that if Christians really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless.  

     During WWII there was an adviser to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace. 

     There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America.  If you would like to participate, every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States and for a return to a Godly nation.  If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along.  Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.  God Bless America.

Pax et bonum

A Holy Week Reflection from Fr. Robert Barron

"St. Mark tells us that Jesus approached the Holy City of Jerusalem from the east: "When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives..." The Mount of Olives was just to the east of Jerusalem, and Bethphage and Bethany were on the eastern slope of the Mount.

 

"Why in the world would the direction of his approach be important? Well, in the prophet Ezekiel, we hear that, because of the corruption of the Temple, the glory of the Lord had departed. This was one of the most devastating events in all of the Old Testament, for the Temple of the Lord was, in practically a literal sense, the dwelling place of Yahweh. To imagine that the glory of the Lord had quit the Temple was shocking in the extreme.

 

"However, Ezekiel prophesied that one day the Lord would return to the Temple, and from the same direction by which he departed. Upon the return of the glory of Yahweh, Ezekiel predicted, the Temple would be rebuilt, reconstituted.

 

"Pious Jews in Jesus' time certainly knew these texts. As they watched Jesus, they couldn't help but think of them, because Jesus proclaimed himself the true Temple: "You have a greater than the Temple here." And then see what Mark saw: Jesus approaching the old Temple from the east, just as Ezekiel said the glory of Yahweh would approach the Temple. Jesus, speaking and acting in the very person of God, is the glory of Yahweh taking possession of his house."

(A tip of the hat to Marty Lynch)

Pax et bonum

Betty Hoffend, OFS - Rest in peace

May God be with Betty Hoffend, OFS (1941-2015), who went home March 4. She is seen above at the top right corner of the table, sitting next to her husband Tom.

Pax et bonum

Lent Transfigures Us

By: Tom and April Hoopes, Register Correspondents

     Just as Lent is getting off the ground, last Sunday’s Gospel gives us the story of the Transfiguration. While we commemorate the 40 days of Jesus fasting in the desert with nothing but wild beasts as his companions, we are presented with an image of Jesus transformed in a glorious way on the mountaintop with the great prophets Elijah and Moses as his companions.

     It is a timely reminder of what the sacrifice of Lent is leading toward: a total transformation in Christ.

     This gospel reminds the two of us of a monastery we frequently visited in college. It was a Ukrainian Catholic monastery devoted to the Transfiguration. When we made the trip, it was typically Lent. The monks would share their simple, sparse meal with us, and we would pray with them and attend Divine Liturgy.  The monks’ whole life was a kind of Lent, and they had clearly been transformed by it. They had the gentle attractiveness and power of presence about them that only comes from God — a mini-transfiguration.

     In Lent, we are all supposed to be like that.

In the first reading, Abraham is clearly a man transfigured by God. Each time he hears the call of God, he says, “Here I am!” … a man of prayer, with a heart open to God.   God…asks him to sacrifice his son, and Abraham’s generosity doesn’t hold back.

     The practice of Lent can make us just like that: Praying more makes our hearts more open to God. Fasting in Lent makes our wills more docile to God. And sacrificing during Lent helps put the created order in perspective, allowing us to be more generous to God.

     As St. Paul puts it in the second reading: “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?”

     When Abraham takes his beloved son up the mountain, the son who represented his future and his self-worth, he is putting everything on the line. And he is willing to give all of that to God. The only place to gain the strength to do it is from God h himself — who spared Abraham’s son and promised to bless him.

     This Lent is the time to do just that.

Tom and April Hoopes write for the Catholic Register from Atchison, Kansas, where Tom is writer in residence at Benedictine College.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/lent-transfigures-us/#ixzz3TGnpDSG4

Pax et bonum

Is God Calling You to the Secular Franciscan Order?

From the National Fraternity ...

The process of becoming a professed Secular Franciscan is a journey that involves three separate stages and culminates in a lifelong commitment to live the gospel following the example of St. Francis of Assisi. This formation process unfolds in regularly scheduled formation sessions during which the home study material is thoroughly discussed.

The first stage, Orientation, provides time for dialogue and developing relationships in fraternity.

During Orientation you will be introduced to the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare and share in Franciscan prayer life. You will be given general information about the Secular Franciscan Order. Orientation is a time to discern if the Spirit is calling you to a Secular Franciscan vocation. The period of Orientation is a minimum of three months.

The second stage, Inquiry, is the first formal period of initiation. It is a time of in-depth study of the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare. During Inquiry you will learn about the Franciscan charism and Franciscan history. You will deepen your understanding of what it means to be secular and Franciscan, and you will continue to discern if the Spirit is calling you to the Secular Franciscan way of life. The period of Inquiry is a minimum of six months. If a vocation is discerned, the Inquirer is received into the Order.

The third stage, Candidacy, is the final formal period of initiation. It is a time of preparing for permanent commitment by immersion into fraternity life. Central to this stage of formation is Article 4 of The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order which states, "The rule and life of the Secular Franciscan is this: to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people." The period of Candidacy is a minimum of eighteen months and culminates in permanent commitment to the gospel life.

After profession of the Rule and permanent commitment to the gospel way of life, the newly professed member joins the rest of the fraternity in ongoing formation.

Pax et bonum

Singing is praying twice

 

Pax et bonum

Prayer to Our Lady, Help of Christians (St. John Bosco)

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christian, how sweet it is to come to your feet imploring your perpetual help.

If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children,  how can you, the most loving of all mothers forget me?     

Grant then to me, I implore you,  your perpetual help in all my necessities,  in every sorrow, and especially in all my temptations. 
    
I ask for your unceasing help for all who are now suffering.      
Help the weak, cure the sick, convert sinners. Grant through your intercessions many vocations to the religious life.      

Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians, that having invoked you on earth we may love and eternally thank you in heaven.

- St. John (Don)  Bosco, OFS

Pax et bonum