Author: Franciscan

Hello, hope all goes well.

Today we remember a very simple and holy man by the name of John Baptiste-Marie Vianney. John was a country priest in a small little out of the way parish. John almost did not make the grade to be ordained, but his simplicity and holiness moved his superiors to pass him. Because of his simplicity, he was sent to this little country parish. But to the surpise of all this little parish became a “hot spot” of the local church.

It was not long after he went to this little parish and became the Cure’ of Ars, that people from all over saught him out for confession and spiritual guiedence. 

St. Paul in his letter Second Letter to the Corinthians he says, “For when I am weak then I am strong.” 

So often we see our weaknesses as something that holds us back from a particular task that the Lord gives us to do. 

One commentator once wrote, “Indifference toward religion, coupled with the love for material comfort, seem to be common signs of our times. A person from another planet observing us would not likely judge us to be pilgrim people, on our way to somewhere else. John Vianney, on the other hand. was a man on a journey with his goal before him at all times.” (Fr. Pat McCloskey, ofm.)

When we are weak, we are strong. Doesn’t make much sense to us, but then we are not God. Have a blessed and safe day.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings, hope all is well.

I cannot believe it but here we are in starting the second month of our summer. 

Someone said on the TV the other day “as we enter the middle of summer. . . ” I thought, “wait, the middle of summer????” I guess it is true that “time waits for no one.”

I found this quote by an author I have read many years ago. Kahilil Gibran is a Lebanese American spiritual writher, He tells us today ” Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.

There is a saying that I have heard many times in the past months, “Well that (amount of time) that I will never get back” But this is not just a quirky saying, there is much truth there.

The time we waste is time we can never get back. This is not to say that we don’t need our “me time”. God knows many of us could use more of it. But we all know that there are days we put off to tomorrow what we should be doing today. “Oh,” we say, “I have a lot of time to get that done.” Ah, but, do we?

Time is that gift given by God to do what it is we need to do. Let us not put off until tomorrow what we should do today. Even if it is to say to someone, “I love you.”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.  

Hello. Yes, I am still having trouble with my computer, but fear not, another is on its way like a knight in shining armor!! 

Anyway, happy Sunday. 

Today our Gospel comes from Matthew 14:13-21. It is a story we, I am sure, are familiar with. It is the story about Jesus feeding the multitudes in the desert. 

There is much that scholars have to say about this event. There are many theological interpretation that can be gleaned from this story. But that would take a very long time and I am sure you have other things to do besides reading theological points of view from scripture scholars. 

I did come across four points that I think would be good for your own personal meditation. 1) Divine Provision and Abundance. 2) Jesus, the Bread of Life. 3) Faith and Dependance on God. and 4) Kingdom of God.

I could write a good deal about each one, but I present these points for your own reflection after hearing the story yet once again. Feeding five thousand men, not to mention the women and children. True? Not important. Trust in God’s goodness and abondance is what we need to believe in. As someone once wrote, “Do you trust God to do big things with your little offering? Jesus did! And we can too!’’

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Greetings to you all.

Today we remember Alphonsus Ligori who developed the foundation of moral theology in the Church. In his day he fought for the liberation of moral theology form the rigidity of Jansenism. Alphonsus went on to establish a religious community known as the Redemptorist who would continue his work in moral theology. 

Pope Pius XII proclaimed him the patron of moral theology in 1950. Alphonsus believed that moral theology should be “nourished by Scripture and show the nobility of the Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligations to bring forth fruit of charity for the life of the world.” (Pat McCloskey, ofm, SAINT OF THE DAY).

Moral theology is not just something one studies in seminary or university. It should be a way of life which guides the Christian in their everyday life.

Someone once said after hearing a sermon by St. Alphonsus told him, “It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.”

May our “sermons”, that is our lives, reflect the life of Christ which is in each one of us.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.  

Hello, happy Friday!

Are we pack rats? Do we keep things that we will never use just in case we may need them. Those pants that don’t fit but we will keep them and when we go on that diet, we will be able to put them on again. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can give you for a good price.

I sit in my office and look at all the boxes that I have that I haven’t opened since I move in. Only God knows what in them, an as my mother would say, “and He isn’t telling.”

We have come to believe that all these things are important. They may be old and worn but they remind us of years past. They somehow ground us as to who we are.

St. Ignatius tells us today, “All things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.” 

Those things that God give us are to be put to the use of others. They may be gifts we have, talents or abilities. They may be material objects. Whatever they may be, we are to use them that we may come to know God better and to be of service to our brothers and sisters.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good day to all.

Today we remember three good friends of Jesus. We hare of their encounters several times in the Gospels.

It is said that they lived in a village “a sabboth’s walk” wich would be about 2/3 of a mile, (1 kilometer). I remember walking to the sight of the village when I was in Jerusalem.

In the Gospel of John we read about the death of Jesus’ dear friend Lazarius. For what ever reason, Jesus did not head over to see and possibly cure his friend. This was the statement that Lazarius’ sister Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would have never died.” At this point, Jesus tells Martha, “Your brother will rise again.”  It was at this point which John has Jesus speaking of a reality that I am sure when over the head of this grieving woman.  “Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life.”

There are very few places in the Gospels that tell us that Jesus wept. It was at the tomb of his friend that brought Jesus to tears.

But as we know the story does not end there. The Lord asks that the tomb be opened and it is here that he calls “Lazarius, come out!” and the once dead man walks out of his tomb.

It must be remembered that Lazariou rises out of his tomb, not like Jesus will, nor how we all will then the Lord calls us all home. 

Fr. Pat McMloskey, ofm offers this thought to us today. “The teacher is here and is calling you. Jesus is calling every one of us to resurrection – now in baptismal faith, forever in sharing his victory over death. And all of us, as well as these three friends, are in our own unique way called to special friendship with him.”

This story gives us just a fore taste of what we are all called, to live eternally with the Lord, and all those whom we have loved.

In his tenth sonnet, the poet John Dunn says, “One short sleep past we wake eternal, and death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.”

Keep in mind what a friend of mine use to say, “God don’t make junk.”

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the 
Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Payer.

Good morning!! I hope you get this in the morning. I wake up and the first thing I think about is getting this meditation off to you. Then I try to wake up a little more by turning on the news, well, that works but I then forget to send off the meditation. Getting old is not for the faint of heart. 

I remember reading this statement by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It reminded me of a book I read years ago about her life and the work she and her sisters do in the slums of Calcutta. The poor and dying lying on the ground with nothing but a piece of cloth to lie on. Truly, it could break your heart to read how some people have to live and die. I remember one statement the Mother Teresa said, “We wash the feet of those who will not walk tomorrow.” I cannot imagine what comfort must have come to those who these sisters ministered to

Mother Teresa talks about another poverty that has nothing to do with money in the bank or the big house on the hill. She said, “Being unwanted, unloved, not care for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

The next time we are in a store, at work or at school, we may want to look around at the faces of those we are with. I think we just may see a person who may feel unwanted, uncared for, by the look in their eyes. And we think we have problems.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.

 Good day to you all. I hope all is well.

It’s morning, we open our eyes and our ears to the sound of the alarm clock, or we just wake up because we always wake up at the same time. We have a routine that we automatically follow. God forbid should that routine be altered in anyway, if it does it means that the day will be shot.

But we also know that we can follow the same routine without missing a beat and the day which we have planned just falls apart.

Someone once wrote, “Not every day is a good day, live anyway. Not all you love will love you back, love anyway. Not everyone will tell you the truth, be honest anyway. Not all deals are fair, play fair anyway.” (Unknown)

Live life the way you would want others to live life with you. Happiness, love, truth, and all the rest will make that “bad” day a good day for yourself and someone else.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.,

Today we remember the Apostle James, the brother of John.  James was one of the chosen three with Peter and John. When the Lord would go off he would ask these three to go with Him. He was present for the transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and accompanied the Lord as He underwent His agony in the garden of Gethsemane. 

As with many of the apostles, we do not have much written by them, with the exception of Peter, James, and John and later Paul, who wrote letters to the various churches. We may have fragments of writings, but most comes to us down through history word of mouth, from church to church. 

We do know that James tells us today an important part of being a follower of the Lord, that is, “Faith without works is dead.” A dead faith is no go to anyone, especially the one who says they believe but does not live out what they say they believe. 

St. Anthony also picks up this message when he says “Practice what you preach.” 

Much to ponder as we may have time to sit and pray that we have the grace and strength to live out our faith as did our forefathers and mothers. 

Have a blessed weekend. 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, osf and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.