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Good day to all.

I am sure we have read novels or watched a move that were about what a person would do for love.

Sometimes in real live, we witness such actions that are motivated by that very powerful emotion we call love.

It is then we realize that love is not just a hart shaped candy box or a card we give on the 14th of February. 

 Mark Link, SJ, in his book, STILL POINT tells us today, “Christianity holds that the infinite God in the person of Jesus, at a point in time, crossed an in imaginable borderline and personally entered history.”

    “Before such an un-dreamable dream the intellect falters. It was at this point that a friend gave me a clue that helped my understanding more than any measure of bare reason. He said: ‘But love does such things.’ “

“But love does such things.” A very interesting sentence. I guess we need to read such a sentence every now and then to remind ourselves that love is much more than a box of candy or a heart shaped card.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning, hope your week goes well.

I have spoken before about how our churches, religions, neighborhoods countries can become closed to others who may look, speak, and think different from us. We can become like tribes of old. Once we do that we then have to defend that tribe against those other tribes around us. This has been seen to be true even in the Christian communities. 

In 1962, the United Presbyterian Church included the following petition in its Litany For Holy Communion, “Forgive us for turning our churches into private clubs; for loving familial hymns and religious feelings more that we love You; for putting stained glass on our eyes and our ears to shout out the cry of the hungry and hurt of the world.”

It is important to remember that God created ALL things, and breathed His breath into all people, yes, even the ones we don’ like. We may be very surprised to see who is sitting next to us at the banquet in heaven. 

I pray that you all will have a present day and a great weekend.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Hello, hope all is well.

Frances Xavier Cabrini is one of the first American saints. She was a person who wanted to be a missionary. Unable to join such a religious order, she, with the permission of the Bishop, established the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Her hope was to go to China and open an orphanage. But at the urging of Pope Leo XIII that she and her sisters went to New York to work where thousands of Italian immigrants needed spiritual and physical help. 

Someone once said, “When Jesus comes again in His glory, may He find the naked clothed; the poor housed; the suffering comforted; the persecuted vindicated and all of His people joyful.” Frances spent her life and the lives of her sisters that this saying may be fulfilled. 

The mission of the Church is still on going. There are still brothers and sisters out there that are in need. Will Christ arrive to find there needs meet? True, we cannot answer all those in need, but we surly can answer the need of one or two. That will make all the difference in theirs lives. 

Peace and All Good, 

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good day to you all. 

If you ever studied poetry, you would know that the words the author writes on the page are not the depth of what the poet writes. As I remember in college, and had to take classes in poetry, I spent some time in reading what the poet meant by the poem.

This may not always be the fact. Sometimes poets write what is on their minds, but more than that, what is in their hearts. 

As I looked through some of my first notebooks of quotes and sayings I came across this by Fr. Paul Murray, OP, an Irish Dominican poet who tells us today, the love of God is such that, “if we were to cease to exist, God would die of grief.”

As I write these words, the same feeling comes to me as they did the first time I read them. I think we may forget that God longs to have us see Him as a loving Father, than an almighty, powerful God. He would rather have us respond to Him in love, as best we can, rather than trembling in fear of what the Almighty could do.

Maybe today, we can keep these words in our minds and ponder them as we go through our day. I truly believe that Love has a voice much louder that any word we can utter. 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning.

Don’t you just love those people who, when you tell them about a plan you have, always, always, have a better plan, “No, no, you know what you should do . . .!!!”

Depending on what relationship we have with them, will many time depend on how we take their council. If we go along with what they suggest to us we might just be loosing our own plan and dream.

Someone once said, “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.”

God, from all eternity, has put into place, a plan for each one of us. That plan is worked out in our dreams and plans we have had in mind. 

Our plans may be just a bit larger that we are able to attain but if we set the bar too low, we may never come to know our full potential.

Peace and All Good, 

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Prayer.

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

You know, though we are very different people, we all have some of the same kind of days when we feel that things are not going along as we had planned.

Sometimes this may take place at work or when we are relaxing at home. All of a sudden we find thing seemly to start to fall apart. You can’t remember where you put something important, or there is a problem at home. And all we would like is a nice quiet afternoon without any upset.

Someone once wrote, “Even when it seems like all hell has broken loose in your life, God is not moved by it. – He saw it long before it happened and already prepared a path for you through it.”

   “Don’t start looking to the right or the left! You stay focused on God and remember His great power. You will not fail! You will not lose it! You will make it through! So be still and know that God is God.” (Unknown)

Know that God is God, and all will be well!

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.

Good morning, I hope your weekend is going well.

It is not often that we celebrate a church building. But the Church of St. John Lateran is the Pope’s Church. As bishop of Rome, St. John’s is the cathedral of the Roman Archdiocese, and the seat of bishop of diocese, who  who also happens to be the Pope. 

This church has a very long and distinguished history. The land was given to the Church by the Empower Constantine.  Through the years the church building has suffered from fire, earthquakes, and ravages of war. But even with all this, St. John’s has always been the Pope’s Church. It was in the fourteenth century when Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome from Avignon, that he found the Church and it’s buildings in ruins. It was Pope Innocent X who commissioned the present church in 1646.

We can go on and on about church buildings. How big, how beautiful, how prayerful, etc., etc. But we know that it is not the building that makes up the church, WE are the church, the community who comes together to give thanks to God, who goes forth and spreads the Good News, who attends to the needs of our brothers and sisters. That is what makes us CHURCH.

The American TV Personality, Jase Robertson tells us today, “Going into a bar or a pool room doesn’t make you a drunk, just like sitting in a henhouse does not make you chicken. It’s the same in the opposite setting. Sitting in a church building doesn’t make you a follower of Christ.”    

So as we attend our church services this weekend, let us keep in mind that while we are there we are given Good News. This a gift that keeps on giving . . . only if it is shared with the ones who may have not been in church to receive this gift. 

May you all have a blessed and safe Sunday.

Peace and All Good, 

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.  

Good morning and happy Saturday.

It has been a long-standing tradition in the Church that Saturdays are dedicated to the Blessed Mother. I need not tell you that Mary has always been a very important part of our faith experience. Mary is not one to be worshiped. She is one that points to her Son. She is the one who guides us to Jesus, and she is indeed a mother to all of us.

As she stood at the foot of the cross stood Mary and the disciple John with Mary Magdalene and another woman. Jesus said, as recorded in the Gospel of John, 19:26-27, “Woman behold your son,” Then to the disciple Jesus said “son, behold your mother.”

It is held that at that time, Jesus gave Mary to be the mother of all of us. She is always there to assist us in our needs.

St. Augustine tells us, “The world being unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hand of the Father, He gave his Son to Mary for the world to receive him from her.”

May you all have a peaceful weekend.

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the

Franciscan House of Payer. 

Good morning and happy Friday.

The first Friday of each month has been dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In many churches First Friday devotions to the Sacred Heart are held, although the practice is not as popular as it once was.,

The image of the Sacred Heart is something that we all are acquainted with. The Heart of Jesus is flamed which portrays the love that He has for each one of us. The Heart of Jesus has been a powerful symbol in the church for many years.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta tells us today, “Do not let the past disturb you, just leave everything in the Sacred Heart and begin again in joy.”

“Begin again with joy.” The Father is always giving us another chance to begin again as a loving parent does when teaching His little one to walk, ride a bike, ice skate. The Father always calls out, “Good start, now just get up and try again, I know you can do it! “

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the 

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer. 

Good day to all.

I remember when I was in the Seminary, I would look over the courses I needed to take. Many centered on the Bible. Both the Old and New Testament was the foundation to the rest of our studies as the scriptures are the foundation to all theology we have today.

Because these texts were written in a much different time and place, we needed to understand the mind of the writer in what he (or in some places she) was putting forth.

Though these words were penned thousands of years ago, they still speak very loudly to us today. The following is but a hint of what we can gain from the study of these sacred words. 

Fr. Henri Nouwen gives us this interpretation of one of the beatitudes. ” ‘Jesus didn’t say ‘Blessed are those who care for the poor’ He said “Blessed are we where we are poor, where we are broken’. It is these that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with him.”

Maybe it is time to take down that family bible and wipe off the dust and begin reading. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your mind to what She has to speak to you. You may be very surprised at the message we just might receive. 

Peace and All Good,

Fr. Vinnie, fcm and the

Bros and Srs of the 

Franciscan House of Prayer.