Author: Franciscan

Good morning. I hope you all are doing well. I.

Today we remember a man we owe a great debt of gratitude as he was the one who translated the Old and New Testament from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.  

It is said that Jerome lived near Bethlehem and spent his time at his work of translation. Jerome, it is said, was very inspired by the farmers that he encountered that they would sing the psalms as they went about their work. 

Jerome gives us this thought today. ” It is our part to seek, His to grant what we ask, ours to make a beginning, His to bring to completion, ours to offer what we can, His to finish what we cannot.”

Jerome is one of the outstanding scholars of our Church. Not only was he a student of the Bible, he also left us a number of testaments on theology and the Christian life.

Again, Jerome reminds us, “When we pray we speak to God’ but when we read, God speaks to us.”

Peace and all Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning.

Question, how many Archangels are there? Most of us would say three. But there are four. We forget the Archangel Uriel.

Each of these angels have a particular task to perform. 

              1. Michael, The Defender

              2. Gabirel, the only Archangel known as female. She is the messenger of God.

              3. Raphael, the name means, “He who heals”. Works to heal mind, body, and soul.  

              4. Uriel, He rules the mental plane. Thoughts, ideas, creativity, insight, judgement and the distribution         of power.

All of these Archangels are mentioned in scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, as I mentioned not too long ago, “The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world.” 

In our modern times, we look at these beings as something in bedtime stories or children’s prayers. But we need only read the scriptures to see that these messengers of God are often mentioned. We see them as the three strangers who visited Abraham, Michael doing battle with the devil. Gabriel, appearing to Mary, and Raphael as a traveling partner to Tobias. We read of the choirs of angels singing “Gloria” at the birth of Jesus. and the list can go on. 

It is said that many times angels make their appearance in the form of humans, those who show up just when we are in need of help. Believe me it has happened to me several times. Sometimes you just cannot explain what happened or why. 

Keep in mind what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (13:2) said. “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.  

Good morning.

Last week we heard the Gospel of Luke tell us of the shrewd manager. Here we see how Luke envisions the Kingdom of God where things are reversed, that which was up is now down and what was down is now up.

The story we hear this weekend is one I am sure we are familiar with it is the story of the rich man who daily passed a poor beggar who lay at his very doorstep. We know him as Lazarus, but we do not have a name of the rich man.  

I have often said, it is not a sin to be rich. This may be the result of hard work or from our family. It is what we do with this money that counts.

Death is, as they say, the eternal equalizer.  the “rich man” in today’s story go to Hades, whereas Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham’s side. We know the rest of the story.

Today, Mother Teresa gives us this thought “Do we look at the poor with compassion? The are hungry not only for food, but they are also hungry to be recognized as human beings.”

It does not matter whether we are rich or poor, but we need to recognize each other as the creation of a loving Father. We are brothers and sisters, no matter of our status in society and we are responsible to help others who are in need, even if that be only a smile, a “hello” or support where needed. As Mother Teresa once said, even a simple smile can make a person’s day. 

A blessed and safe Sunday to you all.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Happy Saturday.

I am sure that you all have heard of St. Vincent de Paul. he lived between 1580-1660. He did not have a very easy life. In fact he was captured by pirates who sold him into slavery. After given his freedom he studied and was ordained a priest and worked among the poorest people and in time established the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians. 

We might be familiar with the thrift stores that bear his name.

St. Vincent gives us this thought today. “If God is the center of your life no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts.”

When we begin to look at the women and men we regard as saints, we need to look into their lives. So many of them did not come from well-established homes, great educations, money and social status. They did not allow their social status, or poverty prevent them from becoming an instrument in the hand of God. As Vincent reminds us, if God is in the center of our lives, not words are necessary to bring about the Kingdom.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Happy Friday to you all.

I thought it might a good practice to write down what we pray for during the week and at the end read through our list. We might find ourselves smiling at what we have written down.

There are many times our prayers are about what it is we are experiencing at this very moment. We ask God to give us this, remove that, help this one or another. The list just can go on and on.

We know that God hears our prayers and in His good time will answer them.  The great Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us, “God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promise leading us along the best and straightest path to Himself.”

Just like any good parent, our child may ask for this or that, and we know that it may not be the best for them at this time. It is not until the child has gotten older that they begin to understand the reason we did not give them what they wanted.

It does not matter how old we are today, we are still children of the Father and He knows what we really need. 

A great weekend to you all.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Good morning. I hope your week is going well.

Today we remember a very little know person known as Blessed Herman the Cripple. Born with a multitude of birth defects, it is amazing that he ever survived. At the age of 7 his parents gave him over to the care of the Benedictine Monks as they were no longe able to care for him. Even with his multiple physical deformities, Herman mastered the languages of Arabic, Greek and Latin. He wrote on the history, mathematics, and Christianity. 

We are not finished. He also was a musician and wrote the Salve Regina, Veni Sante Spiritus and Alma Redemptoris Mater.  Here is a man who suffered more deformities and defects than we can imagen. Yet he was able to use the gifts that God gave him and was able to overcome these crosses he was given to bear. 

The motivating speaker Remez Sasson reminds us, “Embrace obstacles as they are the Universe’s gift to help you overcome whatever holds you back and hinders your success.”

As one who has had walking difficulties because of surgeries on my knee, I always remember to ask Bl. Herman to pray for me and all who suffer any physical difficulties. I guess we have to be like the “Little Engin who Could”. Just remember what he said, “I think I can, I think I can.”

Peace and All Good

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Hello. I hope all is going well. I don’t know about you, but for me time is flying by so quickly. I cannot believe that we are almost through the month of September. 

Today we remember a saint that most of us would remember. Padre Pio also remembered as Pio of Pietrelcina. 

Pio or as in English, Pius, was a Capuchin Franciscan friar who lived in “our time”. So often we remember saints who lived hundred years ago. 

It is said that Pio was an extremely humble and simple man. But people sought him out for confessions and spiritual guidance. He is truly an example of what we all are called to be. 

Pio gives us this thought today. “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heat. In fact, on certain occasions, you should only speak to Him with your heart.” 

But isn’t that the way lovers speak to one another, more with their hearts instead of their lips?

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello. I hope all is going well. I don’t know about you, but for me time is flying by so quickly. I cannot believe that we are almost through the month of September. 

Today we remember a saint that most of us would remember. Padre Pio also remembered as Pio of Pietrelcina. 

Pio or as in English, Pius, was a Capuchin Franciscan friar who lived in “our time”. So often we remember saints who lived hundred years ago. 

It is said that Pio was an extremely humble and simple man. But people sought him out for confessions and spiritual guidance. He is truly an example of what we all are called to be. 

Pio gives us this thought today. “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heat. In fact, on certain occasions, you should only speak to Him with your heart.” 

But isn’t that the way lovers speak to one another, more with their hearts instead of their lips?

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning. I hope your week will go well.

I remember growing up as a Catholic, Hell was the place where “bad” people went and used a as means religious leaders used to you to keep others good, or at least, not caught. 

Down through the centuries, the Church, which was as much an earthly ruler as any king, preached about red demons with pointed tails and horns on their heads. It was the job of these creatures to rip people apart, only to have them come back together again to undergo the same torture. This was not for a day, week or year, but for all eternity. Now if that was not enough to make someone stay out of trouble . . . !

The Jesuit, John Gavin, SJ tells it this way. “C.S. Lewis wrote that Hell is ‘every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind’. that is, the rejection of others in favor of self-illusion. ‘I was hungry and you gave me no food . . . ‘ When we refuse to see our neighbor, we close our eyes to the presence of Christ and remain in the darkness of one shuttered hearts. Hell emerges when only the ‘I’ exits, when I am an ego incarcerated in a dying soul.”

And we thought it could not get any worse. 

A very Happy and blessed Rosh Hashanah to all our Jewish sisters and brothers.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning.

Today’s Mass Gospel tells the story of a “crafty” manager who’s master leaves in charge as he goes on a trip. 

In Luke, this story is found between the story of the prodigal son and the story of poor man Lazarus who lay at the door of a rich man who passed by every day on his was to fabulous dinner parties. While this rich man ate and drank more than possible, Lazarus starved at his very doorstep.

The purpose of these stories is to instruct the disciples in the way of God in the Kingdom that Jesus was laying the foundations for. In each of these stories, the one who seems to be the lowest becomes the one on top and the one on time, well you know where they find themselves.

Lola Malcolm explains it this way. “In Luke, the reversals of status are at the heart of what happens when Jesus and the kingdom of God appear. The proud are ‘scattered.’ The powerful are brought down and the lowly lifted; the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty. “(Lk 1:51-53)

But God’s Kingdom turns things up-side-down. The low are brought high, the high are brought low. Maybe we are the ones who God is asking to put things in their heads. And maybe, God is asking us to listen more closer to the cry of the poor.

A blessed Sunday to you all.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.