Mary Protectoress of the Franciscan Family, My May Column for Fraternity Newsletter

“Toward the Mother of Jesus he was filled with an inexpressible love, because it was she who made the Lord of Majesty our brother. He sang special Praises to her, poured out prayers to her, offered her his affections, so many and so great that the tongue of man cannot recount them. But what delights us most, he made her the advocate of the order and placed under her wings the sons he was about to leave that she might cherish them and protect them to the end.” (Second Life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano)

“Mary, Mother of Jesus, is the model of listening to the Word and of Faithfulness to vocation; we, like Francis, see all the gospel virtues realized in her. The brothers and sisters should cultivate intense love for the most holy virgin, imitation, prayer, and filial abandonment. They should manifest their own devotion with expressions of genuine faith, in forms accepted by the Church.” (Art. 16.1, General Constitutions, Secular Franciscan Order)


At St. Bonaventure University in New York State, the University Chapel has a small side chapel. On the wall behind the altar was a mosaic depicting Mary with the Child Jesus, surrounded by friars. It illustrates how important Mary was to Francis and to the Franciscan Family. Francis asked her to be the Advocate for his order, his movement, before God. She is a model for us on how to live as a follower of Jesus. It begins with listening to His Gospel, then meditating on it, then living it.

One practice of meditation we have is the Franciscan Crown, a form of rosary where one meditates on seven joyful mysteries of Our Lady: 1) The Annunciation; 2) The Visitation; 3) The Birth of Our Lord; 4) The Presentation of Jesus; 5) the Finding of Jesus in the Temple; 6) the Resurrection of Our Lord; 7) The Assumption of Our Lady. The Franciscan Crown dates back to the early 15th Century, it officially became a devotion of the Franciscan Order in 1422. The Crown is a part of our spiritual legacy, during this month of May, Mary’s month, we should strive to learn more about it and practice it, in honor of Our Lady and Protectoress.

My August Column for Secular Franciscan Fraternity Newsletter

“And loving one another with the charity of Christ, may the love you have in your hearts be shown outwardly in your deeds so that, compelled by such an example, the sisters may always grow in love of God and in charity for one another.” (Testament of St. Clare of Assisi)

“The brothers and sisters are co-responsible for the life of the fraternity to which they belong and for the SFO as the organic union of all fraternities throughout the world.

The sense of co-responsibility of the members requires personal presence, witness, prayer, and active collaboration, in accordance with each one’s situation and possible obligations for the animation of the fraternity.” (Article 30, SFO General Constitutions)

When the feast of St. Clare came around in the past, my columns usually was a reflection on what Clare can teach us about contemplation. This time I would life to reflect on what she can teach us about living in fraternity. She and her sisters had a very intense, very challenging experience of what it meant to be a fraternity, a community of Franciscans. Enclosed in a monastery, they experienced each others strengths, each others weaknesses. There must have been days when living together was full of joy and light, and other days of trials and darkness. Through it all, St. Clare was a light that guided her sisters. The early biographies of her describe her love, her compassion, her humility, her service to the community. She saw herself as servant to her sisters, was never comfortable with the title of “abbess.” Clare was a mother to the community, caring for those sisters who were ill, moderating the penances some of them may have taken on, and making sure they took care of their bodies. She was also a spiritual mother, encouraging the sisters by her words and example on how enter into the Lord’s Presence.

In our fraternity, we are called to love each other, to serve one other. We are called to bear with each others faults, and encourage the best in each other. We are to be examples to our sisters and brothers of what it means to be a Franciscan, a follower of Christ.

My May column for fraternity newsletter SHALOM

“The Secular Franciscan Order holds a special place in this Family circle. It is an organic union of all Catholic fraternities scattered throughout the world and open to every group of the faithful. In these fraternities the brothers and sisters, led by the Spirit, strive for perfect charity in their own secular state. By their profession they pledge themselves to live the gospel in the manner of Saint Francis by means of this rule approved by the Church.” (Art. 2, SFO Rule of 1978)
In the last weekend of April, I attended the Chapter of Elections for St. Elizabeth of Hungary Regional Fraternity; the Region our fraternity belongs to. Gathered were representatives from fraternities located in northern New England. We came together to pray, to break bread together, to socialize, to make decisions, and to celebrate Eucharist together. During that weekend, I experienced the union that Article 2 speaks of, I saw that we were not a lone community, but really are a part of a larger Order.

Today, May 9th, 2009, we hope celebrate a Profession, a person, before the whole fraternity, will “pledge themselves to live the gospel of in the manner of Saint Francis.” We will have the opportunity to renew our own profession of the Rule. The question we need to ask ourselves, is this renewal just superficial, or is it a heartfelt declaration that we again intend to intensely live the Rule?

As part of my commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order, I have been reading Franciscan book containing a selection of New Testament readings, and a selection of writings of St. Francis and other early Franciscan authors. And reading these two sources together and reflecting on them, fills me with inspiration, but also with sadness. Sadness about how short of the mark I am in living the gospel in the spirit of St. Francis. I ask all of you in joining with me in rekindling the fire of the Franciscan spirit in our fraternity, in our Order, a fire that will burn brightly for the all the Church and the world to see.