Author: Franciscan

Greetings. I hope you had a restful weekend.
In looking for an appropriate message, I came across one from someone we surly have heard of but may not know a lot about. Her name was Harriet Tubman. A former slave, she, through her determination established the “Underground Railroad” which enables those enslaved to escape and find their way North and to freedom. Harriet lived between 1822 to 1913. She died in a nursing home she established for former slaves.  Ms. Tubman, tells us today

“ Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Her last words were, “I go away to prepare a place for you so that where I am you also shall be”.This woman put herself and her well being aside so to help those who did not have the strength to help them selves. Her “dream” was one of freedom. And she used all the strength and ability that God gave her to enable others to live out the rest of their lives as free human beings.
Today, Ms Tubman stands before us as an example of what God calls each one of us to be. That is to live out our dreams which I believe is God’s way of speaking to us in the silence of our hearts. We may not be called to be another Harriet Tubman. We may not be called to enable others to escape the horrors of slavery, but we are surly called to treat others with the respect and kindness awarded to one made in the image of our God.
May we offer prayers for those who are not “free” of whatever may be holding them bound so they may experience the freedom of being a child of God. Have a blessed and safe day.
Peace and All Good,Frl Vinnie, osf and theBros and Srs of the Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello, I hope your weekend so far has been restful.
How many times have we started a novel and opened to chapter 1, page 1 without seeing if there might be something of interest in the pages we have just turned? Many time we just think it is a note about another book or some bio information on the author the novel we are about to get into. But sometimes the author has something to tell us as Morris West does in his work, “The Clowns OF God.”

We are often are more interested in starting the story rather than getting grounded in what the author may be presenting  to set us in the right frame of mind as we begin their work. Such is the case when I started THE CLOWNS OF GOD. That theme in the Author’s Note seemed to resonate through out the entire book.
Because I don’t want to make this too long, I will just present to you the Author’s Note and you can decide to pick up the novel. I know you will enjoy it as I did so many years ago.                                                                      

THE CLOWNS OF GOD, by Morris West.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Once you accept the existence of God — however you defineHim, however you explain your relationship to Him — then youare caught forever with His presence in the center of all things.Your are also caught with the fact that man is a creature who walks in two worlds and traces upon the walls of hiscave the wonders and the nightmare experiences of his spiritual pilgrimage.”

Peace and All Good,Fr. Vinnie, osf

and theBros and Srs of the Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings. Hope your week has gone well. As I write this I cannot believe that it is already the 23rd of October. Advent will soon be upon us and then Christmas, New Years and another new page to continue to write our story.
The question I ask myself is who do I turn to when I have a real problem? We all have that little circle of friends. It may be three or four in that circle but we know that we are able to call upon them whenever we find ourselves in distress.
I read where someone said if we have two or three close friends, we are truly blessed. But what makes a good friend? Who can we turn to in need?
The spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen tells us, “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate no knowing, not curing, not healing and face with the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
I guess what I read a long time ago is true, if we, in our life, can say we two or three good friends as described above , we are truly blessed.

Peace and All Good,Fr. Vinnie, osf

and the Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello.
So sorry about sending out Monday’s message to you today. Yes, I hit the wrong key and off it goes into the wild blue yonder.
Today we remember someone we all knew about. John Paul II. John Paul took his name after John Paul I who died only some 30 days after being elected to the Papacy.
St. John Paul was a theologian and teacher. He was fond of the arts and participate in the plays put on by at the college where he taught.  He leaves us a great deal of his writings and quotes which have been used in many a sermon and in many writings by other spiritual writers.
Today he leaves us this message which I believe to be pertinent to our time. We know that we are going through a very shaky time. With the mid-terms upon us, the possibility of the “changing of the guard” in Washington, what John Paul tells us might just give all the little extra support we need. He says, “I Plead with you — never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”
It is obvious that he is telling us that the Father is always watching over each one of us.  As we read in the Gospel of Matthew10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will.” And a

s the English mystic Julian of Norwich reminds us, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Peace and All Good, Fr. Vinnie, osf and the Bros and Srs of the Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings to you all.

Yes I know, I sent a email with no mail in it. And yes, I hit something I should not have. What can I tell you, I’m old and sometimes I don’t know what button these fingers of mine are going to land.
Oh well, on with the show!!

In our spiritual readings and the writings of many spiritual writers, we read and hear that Jesus came one of us that He might offer Himself on the cross. Sometimes these writings seem to be so outside the idea of the love of the Father and the Son. Why would a father send his son to suffer and die such a horrible death?

Today the spiritual writer A. W. Tozer tells us, “ The man with a cross no longer controls his destiny; he lost control when he picked up his cross. That cross immediately became to him an all — absorbing interest, an overwhelming interference. No matter what he desire to do, there is but one thing he can do; that is, move on towards the place of crucifixion.”
When an “outsider” should read or hear such a statement as this, it is no wonder that some people would shy away from following the Lord.
But we have to understand that this statement is the reality of being a follower of the Lord. It is not that the Father takes joy in seeing his children suffer. But we have to realize to truly live out our faith we will encouter a great deal of suffering.  Our world  may not ready to accept the idea of “loving others as we love ourselves“.  Those who hold the idea of “Me and mine first” cannot understand how a person who follows this wondering rabbi from two thousand years ago who said, “Love one another”, “Give and it will be given to you a hundred times over”. And I would have to say that we all sometimes fall into that trap. “Me and mine, and what is left is for the rest.””

The cross we are asked to carry comes in many forms. It may be a sick child, the loss of a loved one, the burden of a life thretering illness we are asked to carry. In our life we all are asked to carry our cross up the hill of crucifixion. Yes, it is hard and painful. But we need to turn our eyes down the hill to the empty tomb. It is there that we find our strength and the ability to carry whatever cross is given us.

We are never alone. We have the Father always there to enable us to take that next step as well as those men and women who have gone before us cheering us on to our finish line.

Peace and All Good,Fr. Vinnie, osf

and the Bros and Srs of the Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greeting and a Blessed Sunday to you all.
Today our Gospel from Matthew, once again has Jesus in confrontation with the religious leader. The Pharisees did not think it right to pay taxes to Caesar. Wanting to once again try to catch Jesus in a duel of words, asks Him if it is right to pay these taxes? Jesus, seeing what they were trying to do, poses a question to them, He asked for a coin. He asks them whose image is on it. They answer, “Caesar’s” and the Lord answers them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
We as a country just celebrated the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country. We as a country are not governed by a king or any other monarch. We are self-governing following what was written 250 years ago, The Constitution of the United States. The pre-amble of this document states “We the People . . .”
So, dear brothers and sisters, we find ourselves with “dual citizenship”. One to an earthly country and one to a heavenly one.
One commentator states, “Made clear from this declaration that every Christian holds a dual citizenship, and both citizenship have their own benefits and duties. Our birth made us citizens of an early nation while our baptism mad us citizens of a heavenly kingdom. Sometimes those citizenships overlap but in the end, our earthly citizenship will finish, while our heavenly on will last for eternity. It is obvious which one is more important.”
We are aware of our responsibilities to our earthly nation . We know that we have rules and regulations that keep us safe and protected. We pay our taxes to keep our earthly home going. Yes it is far from perfect, but maybe that may be where we need to work for change and not just for us, but for those who live around us. The care of our earth, our island home, as it is called, ensures a safe and well established place for our children .
But we also must attend to our other Kingdom. That one that is where we are destined to go once our journey on the earth has come to an end. What is it that we must “repay” God? Well we know that we can never really “repay” God for all His kindness and love. This means we must LIVE out our Christian life every day.
The living of this life of Christ is not easy. We may find ourselves in conflict with others around us who do not hold the same value system as we do. But that is reality. We cannot condemn them because they do not believe as we do. Nor can we use our faith system as a club to beat others to our ways of thinking.
We are called by Christ in our Baptism into His death and resurrection. That means we must try to live as good a Christian life as we are able. Will it be easy? By no means, but we are call to do our best. Christianity is not a race, or a game that we play to win or lose. It is believing in the words of Jesus where in John’s Gospel, He tells us “Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (Jn 13:35)
Peace and All Good,Fr. Vinnie, osf and the Bros and Srs of the Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello, hope your week went well.
Over the last few week I’ve written about what the saints and spiritual writers have said about Christianity. True Christianity is more than just buying a mark by “religious preference” when we go into the hospital.

The historian Tertullian in his “Apologies” (Which means defense of) on Christianity written about the year 197 c.e. tells us “See these Christians, how they love one another.” The lives of these early women and men lived in a community where all was held in common and no one was in want. To the pagan world, the way of life of these people was something unheard of.

These people were following the command of Jesus as is recorded in the Gospel of St. John in the 13th chapter vs35 where Jesus tells his followers “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

   
This command has been the hallmark of the Christian community. St. Ignatius speaks of this in his writings as early as 107 c.e. He tells us, “We recognize a tree by its fruits, and we ought to be able to recognize a Christian by his actions. The fruit of faith should be evident in our lives, for being a Christian is more than making a sound profession of faith. It should reveal itself in practical and visible ways . Indeed it is better to keep quiet about our beliefs, and live then out, than to talk eloquently about what we believe, but fail to live by it.”

As we walk through this “ordinary time” we might want to take some time and begin to examen where I am in living out MY Christian faith. Is it just something that I do on a Saturday eve or on a Sunday? Would others with whom I live and work ever say of me, “Behold this Christian how he or she loves others?”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf

and theBros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello. Well here we are at the end of another week. “Time flies when you are having fun.” Oh are we having fun????

We all have grown up on stories. As I have said before, stories were the way people learned from the earliest of times. Stories are so much easier to remember than pure facts. Most of the early stories we have heard do have a moral to it to teach the hearer.

We have a great number of stories by the German Brothers Grimm. Somewhere in this mess of books I have a copy of their stories. They are much different from the ones we read to our children.
Take for example the story of Cinderella. Her real name was Ella, but because she was made to sleep by the fireplace, she was called “Cinder” Ella because of the cinders that found themselves on her hands, face and clothes.

Her stepmother and her stepsisters always seemed to take place before her. But as we read the story we encounter her Godmother, and the magic that was worked. In the end Ella did win the prince’s heart. The story does not end there. The prince had iron shoes made and returned to the Stepmother’s house, and made the stepmother and her and daughters ware them after they were heated red hot and were made to dance until they dropped dead. Not exactly a story we would want to read to our children at bedtime.

But as I said, many stories were told to teach, not to fall asleep to.
C. S. Lewis tells us today about our stories. He says, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”  

So, dear sisters and brothers, what will our ending be? Are we able to learn from the our story which had been “written “ up until now? And are we willing to change something in our lives that will affect the end of our story?

Hopefully it will have a better outcome than the stepmother and her daughters in the story of Cinderella.
And so “May we lived happily ever after.”

Peace and All Good,Fr. Vinnie, osf

and theBros and Srs of theFranciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings, hope all goes well.

In every age there always seems to be one person who stands out and brings  great changes on an aspect of our society or even our religious practice.

Such a person is one we remember today. Tressa of Jesus, or maybe better known as St. Teresa of Avila. She along with her companion St. John of the Cross, also a Carmelite, was instrumental in bringing about a great reform to the Carmelite Order.

St. Teresa once said, “Often the Lord allows a fall so that the soul will be be made humble, and when it returns to the right way of acting and grows in self-knowledge, it advances further in the service of our Lord, as we see among the many saints.”

In the church of Santa Maria della Victoria, in Rome, there is a most beautiful statue by Lorenzo Bernini called the “Ecstasy of St. Teresa.” It is a statue of Teresa as she experienced an image of an angel that pierced her heart with a long golden spear. She writes that the pain was both excruciating as well as divine.

With St. John they both brought about the reform of the Carmelite order and today are known as the Order of Carmel, Discalced (meaning “without shoes”.)

Though St. Teresa was a very holy person, she saw that the Church was in need of reform and that she felt that God was calling her to partake in that reform.

Reform does not mean that one has to tare down that which is and build anew. It means taking that which already exists but brings it back to that which God may have intended it to be in the first place. That is why it is so important to understand the history of the Church which throughout the two thousand years, it has undergone many reforms. It is most important for us to remember that our Church is a living organism and must continue to grow. If it does not it will surly die. And we are all part of those reforms be they small or great. Peace.

Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, osf and the
Bros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings, hope all goes well.

In every age there always seems to be one person who stands out and brings  great changes on an aspect of our society or even our religious practice.

Such a person is one we remember today. Tressa of Jesus, or maybe better known as St. Teresa of Avila. She along with her companion St. John of the Cross, also a Carmelite, was instrumental in bringing about a great reform to the Carmelite Order.

St. Teresa once said, “Often the Lord allows a fall so that the soul will be be made humble, and when it returns to the right way of acting and grows in self-knowledge, it advances further in the service of our Lord, as we see among the many saints.”

In the church of Santa Maria della Victoria, in Rome, there is a most beautiful statue by Lorenzo Bernini called the “Ecstasy of St. Teresa.” It is a statue of Teresa as she experienced an image of an angel that pierced her heart with a long golden spear. She writes that the pain was both excruciating as well as divine.

With St. John they both brought about the reform of the Carmelite order and today are known as the Order of Carmel, Discalced (meaning “without shoes”.)

Though St. Teresa was a very holy person, she saw that the Church was in need of reform and that she felt that God was calling her to partake in that reform.

Reform does not mean that one has to tare down that which is and build anew. It means taking that which already exists but brings it back to that which God may have intended it to be in the first place. That is why it is so important to understand the history of the Church which throughout the two thousand years, it has undergone many reforms. It is most important for us to remember that our Church is a living organism and must continue to grow. If it does not it will surly die. And we are all part of those reforms be they small or great. Peace.

Peace and All Good,
Fr. Vinnie, osf and the
Bros and Srs of the
Franciscan House of Prayer.