Author: Franciscan

Good day to all.

When I lived in NJ, I would like to read the morning paper, especially the writings of the American humorist, Erma Bombeck.

She once wrote, “Worring is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere”

I came across the following by St. John Vianney, maybe he also was a reader of Erma, or she of him. (??) “God commands you to pray but forbids you to worry.”

I would say that if we were to reflect on the amount of time we spend on worrying about this or that, what we need to do or what we have done, yes, Erma’s prediction would surlily come to pass. 

As the song say, “Don’t worry, be happy!” . . . “God is near to all who call.”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Good morning. Hope all goes well with you and yours.

In the last few months, we have seen two young men canonized. These were Pire Giorgio Frassati, a university student who died in 1925 from polio and Carlos Acutis, who died in 2006 from leukemia at the age of 15. 

Both of these young men were involved in their Church. Both live the Christian life befitting their state in life. That is to say that neither were priests or religious. But both had a deep abiding love of God and lived out that love in their dealings with others.

Robert Louis Stevenson says to us today, “Saints are the sinners who keep on trying.” I am sure that these two young men did not hold themselves above others or consider themselves “holier than thou.”

Sainthood is not an exclusive club for the favored few. We are all called to sainthood. We are all called to live out the love the Father has for each one of us. 

As Stevenson says, we just have to “keep on trying.”  

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

 Greetings. Hope your weekend went well.

We all know that no matter how hard we try, life sometimes throws us a curve ball. Just when we think that things are going well, we find that there is just another wrinkle in the garment, or a bump in our road. We find ourselves going straight and all of a sudden, life takes a left turn. That’s the way my life seems have been anyway. 

The Lebanese American writer Kahlel Gibran, (1883-1931), once wrote, “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens”

It does not matter how well we plan our lives, what schools we attend, what degrees we attain, what work we find ourselves in, we must be ready for that unexpected turn in our path of life.

Our friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells is, “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”

Once again, we must rely on our faith. Trusting that God knows better than we on how our life must be played out, it is in doing so we participate in the building up of the Father’s Kingdom here on earth. 

May your week be blessed.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Hello, I hope your weekend is going well.

Our Gospel once again comes from the Gospel of Luke. Today we hear the story of the “unjust judge” and a poor widow. This woman, we are told, will not take NO for an answer. So tenacious was this woman that even the judge worried that if he did not give her a just hearing, he would come to some harm at her hand. 

As we look at our world today, we see that there are injustices that takes place in many countries. Justice is something that we all expect in our lives, to be treated fairly, and not only ourselves, but all others as well.  

The author James Baldwin gives us this thought. “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

How many times have we been witness to injustice and not said anything about it? What can we do about it? These are questions that we should all ask ourselves. 

As we listen to the Gospel today, let us pray that injustice may become a thing of the past and that we might be the means of change, even if it is only in our little part of the world.

I pray that you have a blessed and safe Sunday.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.  

Greeting to you all.

Today we remember St. Luke, who wrote one of the four Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. 

Luke was not a Jew. He was raised in the Hellenistic Greek world. Tradition tells us that he was also a physician, and is the patron of physicians.  Luke gives us a beautiful picture of the birth of Jesus and His mother and father.

Today he gives us this thought “Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.” How true.

How often have we found ourselves worrying about what we did or did not do yesterday, or worrying about how we are going to get through tomorrow? In the process, today slips by and gives us something to worry about tomorrow. And so it go, on and on.

Let enjoy today, whatever today may bring. Remember we are not alone. We have the Father watching over us and our Blessed Mother holding our hand.

Peace and All Good, 

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer

Greetings. Well, we made it to another weekend. 

Today, once again we remember one of those early day saints that helped lay the foundation for of our Church. Ignatius was from Antioch, which is located in modern-day Turkey was martyred around the year 110.

We know a good deal about this early Bishop. As he was condemned to die because of his refusal to worship the Roman gods. Being that he was a Roman citizen, he had the right to present himself to the emperor and as he was being brought to Rome, he encountered a number of Christian communities and wrote letters to others. These letters, in part, have come down to us today. He is in fact the one that gave the Christian communities the name CATHOLIC. This is because as he made his way to Rome, he encountered such a number of Christian communities, he said that the were Catholic, meaning UNIVERSAL.   

It was Ignatius’ great desire to be martyred for his faith. He leaves us this thought today. “I am God’s wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”

One must wonder how strong the faith of these men and women much have been. Yet they knew that this life is only the waking hours of a new day that has no sunset. These are the ones who stand before us calling us to follow. They truly are the Heros of our faith.

Being a martyr does not mean that we have to be fed to wild beasts. Sometimes living a true Christian life in our world today is enough of a martyrdom. Being thrown to wild beasts is a death that can be swift, and it is over. Living a full life of as Christian takes a lifetime.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.   

Good day to you all.

I know I have mentioned this before, about that scene from The Nun’s Story, where they pan the nuns at prayer. Talk about a more unhappy group of women. Not exactly the Vocation Poster to get younger members into the community.

The Jesuit Fr. James Martin gives this thought today. “So be joyful. Use your sense of humor. And laugh with the God who smiles when seeing you, rejoice over our very existence, and takes delight in you, all the days of your life.” 

Remember what St. Teresa of Avila tells us, “God save us from gloomy saints.” 

We are in a love relationship with God. Not one of many, but me alone, you alone as a true relationship is, a one on one. So rejoice, God loves us far beyond our understanding.

Have a JOYFUL day!!

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning to you all. I hope all is well with you.

How many times have you stopped and thought about the fact that we are created by a loving God? If you are like me, life does get in the way of living.

I guess, it is only when we have time put aside, like a Sunday morning when we go to church, or when we get in bed after a long day that we turn our thoughts to the one who made us out His love for us. If we read the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis, we will read just how God called us into being.

But after being created, God breathed His Spirit into us and place us over everything else He created. We of out of all other things that He made, we are the only ones that His Spirit resides within us. We now call it a soul.

St. Teresa of Avila give us this thought today. “Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don’t remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don’t understand the great secrets hidden inside of us.” Reading this, one does not have to wonder why she is a Doctor of the Church. 

I know that I will keep this thought with me today. I hope you will do the same. It is well for us to remember that we ALL are created by the same loving God and therefore, are brothers and sisters. Yep, even the ones we find hard to love. 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Brothers and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Greetings. Sorry, this is a little late. My computer has the habit of “eating up” what I wrote earlier this week for today. Where is my pad of paper and my #2 pencil?

To keep this short, I came across this thought from the author and “stay at home mom.” Jenneth Graser. “God is the safe presence behind you as your guide. God is also ahead of you in your future, outside of time and all-knowing, leading you as the shepherd of your heart.”

Many times, we go through our day attending to the tasks and feel we are so alone in our responsibility. The words of Jenneth should give us the security that we are NOT alone. God, our loving Father is ever present in all we encounter throughout the day.  Once again, we have to have FAITH believing that the Father present to give us the strength to do what is ours to do.

Have a blessed and safe day. Remember, you are not alone. We are praying for you, and God is ever present as your support and guide.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greeting. I don’t know if we still have a three day weekend on Columbus Day or not. Well, if so, enjoy your three day weekend.

This is a day I remember as a kid going to watch a parade and having a cookout if the weather was OK.  As I got older and began to do much more reading, I found myself wondering about the indigenous people that Columbus and his ship mates encountered. I often think of those movies that I watched on Saturday afternoon about, “Cowboys and Indians.” Naturally, the Indians were always the enemies and the Cowboys the heroes. Boy, what we believed just because it was on TV in black and white.

A leader of a small group of Poncha people, named Standing Bear (1829-1908) said. “That hand is not the color of yours, but if you prick it, the blood will flow, and I shall feel the pain. The blood is of the same color as yours. God made me, and I am a man.”

This should give us all something to ponder today as we celebrate this day, regardless of what we wish to call it. God made me, He made you and all who came before and will come after. Remember, “God don’t make junk!!” 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.