Author: Franciscan

Hello, hope all goes well. And I hope you all are getting these daily emails. I send them out but only God knows where they go.

I am sure we all have encountered “kind” people. There is just something about these people that you, from the first meeting, feel that you have known them all your life. There is an openness about them that makes you feel so comfortable in their presence. 

The famous author Mark Twain tells us today, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” As I read this quote, the thought came to me that this is true because kindness does not need words to get it’s point across. Rather kindness speaks to the heat of another and does not need words to get it’s point across.

Maybe in the days to come, we might what to speak this language to those we meet in our daily encounters with others.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning.  

We have gone through the major feasts, those being Christmas and Easter. We once again are now in what is called “Ordinary Time.” This time are the days between the above two great feasts. These are the days we remember those “heroes” of our faith and are invited to put into practice what these men and women have left to us.

It is also a time to make real in our lives the true meanings of Christmas and Easter. Living out these feasts in our lives makes them a calendar date and make them a way of life that we as baptized Christians believe.

the Brazilian lyricist tells us, “If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”

It is so hard to say farewell to that which we are so familiar. The seem to be so much a part of who we are. But we know that a child cannot hold onto being a child and move into adulthood. We also cannot hold on to the “child” within us if we hope to become an adult in our faith. 

May we all have the courage to say goodbye to the old that we may make room for the new that the Father holds out for each one of us.

Peace and all Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings. I do hope your week has started out well.

Conversion. This is a word we have heard used in many ways. It is a word that from the Latin means ‘turn around.’, transform.’ We have seen this word use in professional circumstances where a person has to take on a particular professional demeaner, say like a medical doctor and their “bed-side manner” 

But he here this word used more often in relationship to a religious context where a person has been required to take on a different attitude toward society and those they meet. 

David A. Bednar from the Church of Latter-Day Saints tells us, “For many of us, conversion is an ongoing process and not a onetime event that results from a powerful or dramatic experience. Line upon line and precept upon preempt, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God. Conversion unto the Lord requires both persistence and patience.”

The act of conversion, no matter in which context it may be, does not happen overnight. True conversion is a discission one makes upon getting out of bed in the morning and ready to work on as they take their rest at night.

It may be good to keep in mind that when we stand before the Lord, we will not be judged on how far we have gone on the road of perfection, but rather, and most important, on how HARD we have tried. 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings, I hope you had a good weekend.

Today we remember an early Church martyr by the name of Justin, who has come to be known as Justin Martyr. He died around the year 165 AD. He was a Christian apologist and philosopher. 

As we all well know, being a Christian in those days was not an easy way of life. Alot of what you did you did behind closed doors and in secret. It did not matter how well educated you were or what kind of family you came from, being a follower of “The Way” as it was known, was truly putting your life on the line.

Justin Martyr tells us today, “We use to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies.” As Jeff Daniels once said in an interview, “Hate is easy. Love takes work.”

Oh, if we could only take these words to heart today. We have created tribes of those who are like-minded, same color, same background.  We have forgotten what Jesus told us, “Love one another as I have loved you.” As we willing to love another whose skin is a different color? Are we willing to love another whose speaks differently from you? Can you give answer when asked why? Well, if you are a Christian and believe what Jesus taught, you better have a good answer when you have to stand before the Lord when He asks the question WHY?

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Greetings. I hope you week has gone well for you.

Today we celebrate one of the “MYSTERIES” of our faith, that being three Persons in one God.

Life is full of mysteries.  Some we are able to solve. sometimes they cause us to have to sit and ponder on which would be the best way to solve it. Some, as a friend of mind said, “Some mysteries we have to live rather than solve.”

There is a story about St. Augustine. One day he was walking along the beach contemplating the Holy Trinity and trying to figure out how there could be three Persons in God.  As he walked along, he came across a youngster with a pale and a little shovel. He had dug a hole in the sand and was running down to the sea and filling his pale with water. He then ran back and pored the water into the hole he had made. Well as you would imagine the water just went down into sand and the hole was empty. Once again, he ran to the water and again filled his pale. Augustine watched this for a number of times. At long last he asked the child what he was doing? The child looked up at him and said, “I’m going to put the ocean into this hole. Well, Augustin looked at the child with a smile on his face at the innocence of this child and said, “Look at the size of the ocean and the size of the hole. You will never be able to put that big ocean into this little hole.” At that the child looked up at Augustine and said, “Augustine, it would be easier to put this ocean into this hole than for you to figure out the mystery of the Trinity.” At that the child vanished from sight. Needless to say, Augustin got the point. 

St. Seraphin of Sarov says regarding the Holy Trinity. “In spite of our sinfulness, in spite of the darkness surrounding our souls, the Grace of the Holy Spirit conferred in Baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, still shines in our hearts with the inextinguishable light of Christ . . .  and when the sinner turns to the way of repentance the light smooths away every trace of the sins committed, clothing the former sinner in the garment of incorruption, spun of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. It is this acquisition of the Holy Spirit about which I have been speaking.”

And God may be saying, “Check and Check Mate.”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greeting, hope your week is going well.

We need not to look far to see the injustice that exists in our world. We are witnessing the outright hatred for others. This is not hidden, this is not done under of darkness, this hatred is manifested right out there in the open. And what makes this even worse is that there are those who say that it is the Christian thing to do.

The theologian and preacher N.T. Wright tells us something that we should keep in mind not only today as you read it but something that we should keep in our mind all the time, He tells us, “You are called to be truly human, but it is something short of the life of God within you, that enables you to be so, to be remade in God’s image. As C. S. Lewis said in a famous lecture, ‘next to the sacrament itself your Christian neighbor is the holiest object every present in your sight, because in him or her the living Christ is truly present.’ “

If we proclaim that we are Christian, then how can we hate our brother or sister who is the very image of God standing before us? 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer 

Hello, hope all is well. 

For us who are old enough to remember, today we honor St. Pope Paul VI, who was elected pope after John XXIII. It was to Paul to close the Second Vatican Councle which John had opened.

Paul was faced with a great deal of work in pulling together all that had taken place during the years of this Councle which changed the face of the Church in so many ways. This is seen in the following passage by St. Paul VI. “The world calls for and expects from us simplicity of life, the spirit of prayer, charity towards all, especially towards the lowly and the poor, obedience and humility. Without this mark of holiness, our world will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man. It risks being vain and sterile.”

Remember, the Second Vatican Councle took the work of the Church out of the hands of the priests and religious and placed it in the hands of all who call themselves members of the Church. We are the ones who are called to live out what the Church preaches, teaches and stands for. We are the ones who now are called to bring Christ to a bruised and wounded world.

As we have just celebrated Pentecost, it is the Holy Spirit that calls us forth to proclaim the Good News. We are called to unlock the doors we hide behind, go into the streets and like those disciples on the first Pentecost, and proudly proclaim, “Jesus has risen. Let us rejoice and be glade.” Remember, it is the Holy Spirit who inspirers us, motivates us, and speaks through us.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.   

Greetings,

With all the trouble I have had with my computer it is nice to be able to send out these thoughts to you once again. But as I have said before, PATIENCE is a virtue and I have been scripting the bottom of the patience barrel.

Henri Nouwan tells us today, “Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.” 

Well, there were times in the last few weeks that the “here and now” “got up and went.” Well, just another wrinkle in the garment. But that is what irons were invented for. Let us keep in mind what the Lord told us, “By your patience, you will win your souls.”  (Lk 21:19)

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Henri Nouwan tells us today, “Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are.” 

Well, there were times in the last few weeks that the “here and now” “got up and went.” Well, just another wrinkle in the garment. But that is what irons were invented for. Let us keep in mind what the Lord told us, “By your patience, you will win your souls.”  (Lk 21:19)

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Good morning.

Well, we have completed our Easter season. We will soon again be in our Ordinary Time. This time is between the great feasts of Christmas and Easter. But this time is far from “ordinary”. This is the time we spend to reflect on the celebration of the feasts of Christmas or of Easter. It is a time to put into practice the true meaning of these hallmark celebrations of our Church. Each give us the outline of who we should be and how we should interact with others.

Today re remember a man who used his talents to bring others to the Lord. St. Philip Neri (1515-1595). Philip was known as a great confessor as he had he ability to “read” the consciences of those who came to him. 

Philip would pray, “Let me get through today, and I shall not fear tomorrow.” Truly words to live by. We spend so much time worrying about what we did not do yesterday and about what tomorrow will bring. In the process we fail to see God working in the here and now of our life.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and he 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings.

Today we once again remember another aspect of the role of Mary in our Church. Today we remember her under the title of Mother of the Church.

This title was bestowed upon her by St. Pope Paul VI on Nov. 24, 1964, during the Second Vatican Council. In 2018, Pope Francis established this feast to be celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost. 

There have been some who say that Catholics worship Mary as a goddess. This could not be further from the truth. Mary is the one to whom we pray, and she is the one who points us to Jesus.

Many years ago, St. Theresa of Lisieux said of Mary, “What a joy to remember that she is our Mother. Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?” And in this statement, Theresa gives us Mary’s true role, she is OUR MOTHER!!

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.