From the Minister- Christina Imislund
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we approach the doldrums at the end of the summer
we tend to slow
down sometimes. This can also happen in our prayer life. Sometimes
we
may feel that we cannot pray. Consider the following:
I Cannot Pray
(Author Unknown)
I cannot say “Our” if my religion has no room for others and their
needs.
I cannot say “Father” if I do not demonstrate this relationship in
my daily life.
I cannot say “Who Art in Heaven” if all my interests and pursuits are
in earthly things.
I cannot say “Hollowed be thy name” if I, who am called by His name,
am not holy.
I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am unwilling to give up
my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God.
I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am unwilling or resentful of having
it in my life.
I cannot say “On Earth as it is in Heaven” unless I am truly ready
to give myself to His service here and now.
I cannot say “Give us this day our daily bread” without expending honest
effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellow men.
I cannot say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us” if I continue to
harbor a grudge against everyone.
I cannot say “Lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately choose
to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.
I cannot say “Deliver us from evil” if I am not prepared to fight the
spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.
I cannot say “Thine is the Kingdom” if I do not give the King the disciplined
obedience of a loyal subject.
I cannot say “Thine is the power” if I fear what my neighbors and friends
may say or do.
I cannot say “Thine is the Glory” if I am seeking my own glory first.
I cannot say “Forever” if I am too anxious about each days’ affairs.
I cannot say “Amen” unless.........
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
God’s Word: “Even now I find my joy in the suffering I endure
for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings
of Christ for the sake of his body, the Church.” (Col. 1:24)
Practice: Trust today and always in God’s ever watchful care
of you since, as He told us, not even a sparrow falls from heaven
without His knowing of it. (Mt.11:29)
Practice: When you learn of someone lying sick at home, in a
hospital or nursing home, try to visit. When you do this, you are the feet
of Christ bringing His presence to the afflicted and lonely.
Fr. Paul Juniet, OFM-
Spiritual Assistant
The history of the southwest is replete with the intermingling
of many cultures.
Blessed Kateri’s death in April of 1680 for the Faith foreshadowed
the deaths of 21 Friars and one Native American here in the southwest
four months later-also for the Faith. Consider the following names as we
remember this month’s saints.
“Paz y Bien” From the Infirmarian:
Welcome back to Father Paul after his surgery.
Prayers are needed for:
Mary Lou Ruiz who had eye surgery
Mr. Martinez (Rose’s husband) who is recovering from an aneurysm
Mary Bates (Fred’s wife) who has her good and bad days. Also
a
prayer for Fred and his daughter
Mary Trujillo’s sisters are sick and need special prayers as
well.
SFO INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL Weekly News
From:CIOFS Bulletin, 1998, N.2-Vol 4 N. 26
“The Unity of the SFO”
(The following excerpts are from an address of Friar Valentin Redondo,OFM
Conv. as pertaining to
spiritual assistance to the SFO—)
“Relying on the laity, one needs to entrust them with tasks
of service in the Church, allowing them
freedom and action, even inviting them opportunely to undertake activities
of their own initiative.” We need to help our Secular Franciscan
brothers and sisters to have an ever clearer notion of not only of belonging
to an order, the Secular Franciscan Order, but that they ARE the Order.
They received a “norm of life”, that was already found delineated
in the first Letter to the Faithful, and was somewhat more developed in
the second draft of the same, with these five elements:
a. love of God
b. love of neighbor
c. opposition to the spirit of the flesh, to sinful trends
and to evil.
d. celebration of the sacraments, in par ticular, the Sacra ment
of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
e. to work in all that which leads to con version.
This “unity” of Rule contrasts with the called “obediences”
that they have been maintained until today, that are nothing more than
a reflection of disunity and separation betwen Conventuals and Observants.
Our separations have impinged on the theoretical but not real and practical
union of the Secular Franciscan Order which we are called to help recover.
They are “secular”, not friars; the SFO is not identified with any of the
branches of the First Order or the TOR, not even with their geographical
presence or structures......
The same Leo XIII considered the Third Order a “single Order”,
when he wrote: “when I
speak of social reform, I think especially of the Third Order of Saint
Francis.” And in other
part: “The Third Order of Saint Francis organized for social action
is capable of giving
wonderful fruits.” The “inter-obedience” that it appears in the Constitutions
of the 1977, was
the first step to achieve the union of the SFO, which existed from
its beginning, but was
darkened with the division of the First Order into several Families.
Evening Prayer of St. Augustine
Calendar of Saints/Feast Days: August
2. Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula. Feast
11.St. Clare of Assisi,virgin of II Ord. Feast
14.St. Maximilian Kolbe,priest of I Ord. Opt.
15.Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
25.St. Louis IX, king, member and patron of III Ord.
St. Clare of Assisi
(c. 1193-1253)
St. Clare was drawn to join St. Francis as a wandering preacher but
could not because she was a woman. Instead she lived in strict enclosure
in the convent of San Damiano, where she served as
abbess and composed its Rule. “If you suffer with Him,” she wrote,
“you shall reign with Him.”
St. Maximilian Kolbe:Saint of Auschwitz
Born in Poland in 1894, the son of poor, devout Catholics, Maximilian
Kolbe experienced many interior trials as a seminarian, but he was sustained
by a vision of the Blessed Mother who offered him a crown of purity or
a crown of martyrdom. He asked for both. Plagued by chronic physical weakness,
notable two years in a tuberculosis sanitorium, the young priest went on
to form a group of friars called “The Knights of the Immaculata,” dedicated
to restoring the world to Christ through Mary.
In 1941, St. Maximilian was arrested by the Nazis and
transported to Auschwitz. When in reprisal for the escape of an inmate,
the prison guards selected ten men to be starved to death. St. Maximilian
offered to substitute himself for one of the men chosen. With the last
surviving four, he was killed by lethal injection.
Louis IX, King, Patron of the Third Order
Louis was born in the year 1214. He became king of France at the
age of twenty-two. He married and had eleven children to whom he gave excellent
training. He was particularly noted for his spirit
of penance and prayer and his love for the poor. In fuling his kingdom
he showed concern not only for the peace of his people but also for their
spiritual welfare. He joined the crusade to free the tomb of Christ and
died near Carthage in 1270.
INQUIRER’S CLASSES:
August 8 at 12:30pm and August 23 at 1:30pm at Queen of Angels. Instructor:
Joanne Elfers
CANDIDATE CLASSES;
August 8 and August 23 at 1:00pm.Chapters 13 & 14 Queen of Angels.
Instructor: Rena Xuereb.
ONGOING FORMATION:
August 23 at 1:30pm. Queen of Angels. Series on the Holy Spirit in
preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000. Come and celebrate the “year
of the Holy Spirit.” ALL PROFESSED MEMBERS WELCOME. Instructor: Louise
Baca.
FRATERNITY GATHERING:
August 23 at 2:30pm-21st Sunday.in Ordinary time. Topic: To be announced.
at Queen of
Angels.
COUNCIL MEETING:
August 29 at 1:30. Queen of Angels. Members are encouraged to attend.
SPECIAL WORKSHOP:
All fraternities from our Guadalupe Region are invited to attend the
annual Regional Council Meeting at Roger Bacon (2400 Marr St.) in El Paso,
Texas, on September 12, 1998 from 10:00am to 3:00pm. Accomodations have
been prepared with meals, lectures and open discussions.
You are also invited to attend the SFO Regional Picnic on Sept. 13
at Roger Bacon the following day. If you need lodging call Norma Castillo,
Regional Secretary at (915) 565-7131 after 8:00 pm.
