St Francis & Transitus

Our September meeting had an amazing deep dive into 2 main events in St Francis of Assisi’s life by our own Brother Tom. St Francis had a history - he was a sinner. He became a great saint. He was forgiven by God and then he brought mercy and kindness to others.

In 1217, St Francis created the Creccio and he did this in response to the fact that people had said Christ was not human. This showed Jesus as a real life baby along with real animals and people. In 1221, he met with the Sultan and called him “my brother”. In 1223, he received the Stigmata in Laverna.

Franciscans originally were a mendicant order and actually sat with others who had to do penance. Forgiveness of sins was not done as it is now. It was done in front of a group. Then there was prescribed punishment to be done and Franciscans began going to sit side by side or work side by side with the one who had to do the penance. Another way forgiveness was given was by going on a pilgrimage which was super hard to do then.

St Francis got a plenary indulgence a form of forgiveness for those who went to Our Lady of Angels in Assisi. He got this approval from the Pope. It was an amazing thing to have for those in Italy to be able to gain an indulgence without going to the Holy Land.

In October, our meeting was held around the Transitus ceremony which was lovely. We also had a wonderful guided meditation courtesy of Joanne. First we had a beautiful Art History lesson about Bellini’s Francis in the Desert. It is at the Frick Museum usually though sometimes it goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for study. The painting is from 1475 and shows the stigmata in quiet showing itself on Francis. It does not match other paintings of the event which have angels and more. This painting shows some paper under his cord. We wondered what it could be. Joanne asked us what is so precious to us that we would never be without.

Inner Hermitage and Our Monthly Meeting

Our meeting on May 4 was an interesting session with both Brother Tom and Sr Margaret Mary speaking to our members.

Brother Tom told us of an interesting experience he had in Assisi by the hermitage just sitting. So many people came to talk to him and he assured them we would pray for them. Please note that God knows the names and details of these folks - we have the information below about their identity :).

  • A friar in Assisi will pray for us and we should pray for him (God knows his name)

  • A nun from Darfur who’s family was kidnapped we should pray for them (again God knows)

  • A young guy who left finance to become a priest

  • Sr Mary Refuge of Sinners taking perpetual vows shortly

Brother Tom told us the inner hermitage is like something St Theresa of Avila and St Catherine of Siena had done for themselves - the interior relationship with God. We all need a hermitage to be alone with God.

St Margaret Mary told us about her childhood and education. She is a formidable woman with so many incredible experiences and more to come. She is passionate about climate change and about helping others through education. She always knew God was present and knew she wanted to live a religious life from an early age.

She was the dean of education at Bonaventure for many years. She has been in the community for 60 years! The community was established in the US in 1859, Jamaica in 1879, Brazil 1946, Bolivia 1965 and Mozambique in 2021! The median age of the sisters is 81.

Sr Margaret Mary said they live in joy. She brought this prayer for us to say:

http://loreto.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Litany-of-Mary-of-Nazareth.pdf

Brother Tom pointed out she is a visionary.

Next month we will bring donations for the men of CHIPS. This month was donations for the women. Brother Tom said to think of toiletries etc.

Our meeting in June will be the last before we break for summer. We will get information about a potential retreat August 2-4 coming soon.

Pax et bonum.

Lenten Retreat at Alba House

We were so blessed to have an all day retreat for Lent at Alba House for our March meeting.

The day was full of friendship and Lenten observances like mass with Father Kevin (our Joanne’s son), confession, prayer time in the chapel and a wonderful luncheon. We also were blessed with a talk by Brother Tom (his eminence) about our penitential role as secular Franciscans. We went back to the early church and learned how penance was done. Spoiler alert, we would not have liked to experience it as it involved standing before the whole community and admitting our wrong doing with yearly plus long public penances. Penitent groups would do the penance with the sinner. We learned how reconciliation changed through the centuries.

As Secular Franciscans we try to fill the penitential vacuum.

We had a lovely guided meditation with Joanne leading us through the basilica in our imaginations to see St Francis of Assisi preach. This led to a one on one meeting for each of us with both St Francis and the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle.

Also a special guest Sr Margaret Mary from the Franciscan sisters introduced herself to us and was so happy we are nearby for her to visit with and talk to about St Claire and her research.

We left fulfilled and ready to serve the Lord this lent and always. Pax et bonum.

Extraction of Saints

In January we had our fraternity meeting that focuses on the extraction of saints. What is that? Well it is the random assignment of a saint to each member and guest of the meeting. For those of us in the fraternity the goal is to live our lives with that saint giving us “guidance” in our prayer life and our life in general.

We also had an amazing discussion about St Clare of Assisi by Brother Tom. The talk covered her genealogy and the stuff she and her sisters went through to become Poor Clares.

A Recap of Our Lovely Feast of the Immaculate Conception

On December 8th, our Fraternity Council with special help from Minister Michelle Move, organized a wonderful trip for those members who could attend. We started off at Holy Family with a beautiful 9am mass. There was a bus waiting for the group and they traveled on to the Cloisters. From there, a delicious lunch at Rory Dolan’s Restaurant.

We have some lovely photos to share here and we look forward to other trips in the future, God willing. Special thanks to Mary Schneider for the photos.

Pax et Bonum.

Advent Ceremony

We had a lovely meeting on December 2 with an Advent service as well as a welcome to a new candidate for profession.

Jackie was introduced officially as a candidate by her sister, Michelle. We are so blessed!

We also had a lovely Advent ceremony near the beautiful presepio of on our our order.

We could not let the moment pass without a lovely photo of our order. And a quick video wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas! Pax et bonum.

A Happy Thanksgiving and Some Good News!

Whether you were professed 20 years ago or a few weeks ago, we all have so much to be thankful for as Secular Franciscans. Our faith helps us to always remember what we are thankful for and to thank God always. We hope you and your family had a blessed Thanksgiving.

Also some news from Rome regarding a special plenary indulgence available to celebrate the 800th year of the creation of the Nativity Scene from our founder, St Francis of Assisi. From Catholic News Agency:


“The conference wrote: “In order to promote the spiritual renewal of the faithful and increase the life of grace, we ask that the faithful receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions from 8 December 2023, the solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to 2 February 2024, feast of the Presentation in the Temple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by visiting the churches run by Franciscan families throughout the world and stopping in prayer in front of the Nativity scenes set up there.”


We look forward to visiting a Franciscan church during this time of plenary indulgence. Pax et Bonum.

Our Fraternity's Namesake Feast Day - St Elizabeth of Hungary

Happy feast day for our Fraternity’s namesake, St Elizabeth of Hungary.

Photo from Web search.


St Elizabeth of Hungary was inspired by St Francis of Assisi to help others and spent her royal life giving to the poor, helping the needy and feeding the hungry. She is the patron saint of bakers, beggars, brides and widows, to name a few. She was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. She joined the order in 1228. She founded a hospital in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. After her husband died, she was mistreated by her in-laws who did not agree with her giving nature. They wanted her to stop giving away the riches to the poor and removed her from the house. She was able to continue her good works with the help of her fallen husband’s comrades. You can read more about St Elizabeth of Hungary here.

St Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us. Pax et Bonum.

October's Meeting - A Guided Meditation

In October, Joanne presented an amazing guided meditation using an image of Jesus healing Jarius’ daughter. We put ourselves into the scene and watched in our imagination the healing and were guided via mediation into thinking about what Jesus would say to us. Jesus knows and loves us. It was a powerful guided meditation.

We also discussed the different ways to encounter Christ with identifying our own dark side, to follow Christ and his Passion by carrying our cross, love with whole mind, body and soul and help our spiritual efforts to lead us to joy. Happiness is something that can be fleeting but true joy is always something we can grasp through our spiritual life.

In our fraternity, we work together to find that joy through Christ. As St Francis said, “The Lord gave me brothers” much like we have been given sisters and brothers through our fraternity.

Pax et Bonun.

The image used during the meditation.

Some of our fraternity listening to Joanne’s presentation.

A Joyous Profession

This past Saturday, November 4, 2023, our fraternity was blessed to experience the permanent profession of four candidates.

The mass was presided over by Father Pomeisl and our own Brother Tom. During the mass, the permanent profession took place. The homily spoke about the humble are to be exalted and the proud to be humbled. Father Pomeisl brought home the correlation between that Gospel reading and the life of a Franciscan. He spoke about both the inner and outer stigmatas that so many saints have experienced with the outward stigmata of St Padre Pio and St Francis and the inner ones of St Theresa of Liseux and Mother Mary from their lives of suffering and acceptance of such suffering as being sent by the Lord.

The fraternity joyously welcomed our new professed members and a delicious cake was shared by all.

We also wished a fond farewell to Anthony who has been a part of our fraternity for the last 10 years as he moves away to another state. We will miss you Anthony!


We look forward to our next meeting in December. Pax et Bonum.

Who is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary?

Brief Biography of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
(1207-1231)
In her short life Elizabeth manifested such great love for the poor and suffering that she has become the patroness of Catholic charities and of the Secular Franciscan Order. The daughter of the King of Hungary, Elizabeth chose a life of penance and asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been hers. This choice endeared her in the hearts of the common people throughout Europe.

At the age of 14 Elizabeth was married to Louis of Thuringia (a German principality), whom she deeply loved; she bore three children. Under the spiritual direction of a Franciscan friar, she led a life of prayer, sacrifice and service to the poor and sick. Seeking to become one with the poor, she wore simple clothing. Daily she would take bread to hundreds of the poorest in the land, who came to her gate.

After six years of marriage, her husband died in the Crusades, and Elizabeth was grief-stricken. Her husband’s family looked upon her as squandering the royal purse, and mistreated her, finally throwing her out of the palace. The return of her husband’s allies from the Crusades resulted in her being reinstated, since her son was legal heir to the throne.

In 1228, Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of St. Francis. Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231. Her great popularity resulted in her canonization four years later.

Comment:
Elizabeth understood well the lesson Jesus taught when he washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper: The Christian must be one who serves the humblest needs of others, even if one serves from an exalted position. Of royal blood, Elizabeth could have lorded it over her subjects. Yet she served them with such a loving heart that her brief life won for her a special place in the hearts of many. Elizabeth is also an example to us in her following the guidance of a spiritual director. Growth in the spiritual life is a difficult process. We can play games very easily if we don't have someone to challenge us or to share experiences so as to help us avoid pitfalls. Her feast day is celebrated on November 17th.

Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
 

Our Ministry

Our Rule mandates us to be involved in apostolic ministries. When we are called to action, we embrace the call joyfully. At this time, we are planning for a ministry to the poor through which each of us can serve in a variety of different ways.

The various apostolates through which our members currently serve:

  1. Lectors

  2. Ministers of Holy Communion

  3. Bringing of Holy Communion to sick and homebound

  4. Tutoring and teaching of autistic children

  5. Parish Catechists

  6. Parish Directors of School of Religion

  7. Catechists to Adult Mentally Disabled

  8. Formators of Catechists for the Archdiocese of New York

  9. Retreat Leaders

  10. Visitors to Fraternity members who are incapacitated by age or illness

  11. Leaders of Marian Youth Groups

  12. Eucharistic Adorers

  13. Philippine apostolate "2000 Hail Marys" Eucharistic and Marian Devotion

  14. Prayer Shawl Ministry

  15. Ladies of Charity

  16. Companions to Down-Syndrome Teens and Adults

Is God Calling You to the Life of a Secular Franciscan?

The process of becoming a professed Secular Franciscan is a journey that involves three separate stages and culminates in a lifelong commitment to live the gospel following the example of St. Francis of Assisi. This formation process unfolds in regularly scheduled formation sessions during which the home study material is thoroughly discussed.

The first stage, Orientation, provides time for dialogue and developing relationships in fraternity. During Orientation you will be introduced to the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare and share in Franciscan prayer life. You will be given general information about the Secular Franciscan Order. Orientation is a time to discern if the Spirit is calling you to a Secular Franciscan vocation. The period of Orientation is a minimum of three months.

The second stage, Inquiry, is the first formal period of initiation. It is a time of in-depth study of the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare. During Inquiry you will learn about the Franciscan charism and Franciscan history. You will deepen your understanding of what it means to be secular and Franciscan, and you will continue to discern if the Spirit is calling you to the Secular Franciscan way of life. The period of Inquiry is a minimum of six months. If a vocation is discerned, the Inquirer is received into the Order.

The third stage, Candidacy, is the final formal period of initiation. It is a time of preparing for permanent commitment by immersion into fraternity life. Central to this stage of formation is Article 4 of The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order which states: "The rule and life of the Secular Franciscan is this: to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people." The period of Candidacy is a minimum of eighteen months and culminates in permanent commitment to the gospel life.

After profession of the Rule and permanent commitment to the gospel way of life, the newly professed member joins the rest of the fraternity in ongoing formation!

Our Rule of Life as Secular Franciscans

Secular Franciscans follow the OFS Rule, which requires us to spend time in community with our Franciscan brothers and sisters.

We gather together at least monthly. We support each other through the ups and downs of daily life, and we pray together. We take opportunities to learn about our Church, our community and our world. Our Rule provides a guideline for our spiritual journey through life, as we try to bring God more deeply into our thoughts, words, and actions.

If you would like to read our Rule of Life, click on the link below to Our Lady of the Angels Regional Fraternity, where the Rule, our Constitutions and more information about the Order of Secular Franciscans is immediately available.

http://www.ourladyoftheangelsregion.org/