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POTPOURRI OF ALL THINGS POSSIBLE
Baptism In The Spirit
Last evening, I was privileged to attend the ritual called “Baptism In The Spirit” at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines, Florida. It was an amazing experience.
There are those who don’t know much about the Charismatic Movement and others who thinking they know denounce it as being “Protestant” or “pure drama.” What I witnessed was far from Protestant, even High Protestant, and was very Catholic. There was no charlatanry here.
The evening began with quiet prayer time while we listened to Gregorian Chant in the background. The mood was “somber”, but not macabre. Without a pause, the Holy Rosary followed the quiet prayer time.
Then came the clergy, the pastor and two deacons, wearing albs and stoles. The pastor, Rev. Jeff McCormick, opened with prayer and reflection. A reading from Luke’s account of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, followed.
I didn’t see any hysteria, shouting, rolling on the floor or levitation. I saw more than 100 Catholic men and women, most of whom I have personally known for 15-years, quietly praying.
The leaders placed a large basin of water and fresh towels at the front of the Church (not in the sanctuary). Rev. Mr. Scott Joiner, explained to the congregation that they were not receiving the sacraments of Baptism or Confirmation. These they had already received, through which they received the Holy Spirit. The purpose of reverently walking up to the front and placing one’s hands in the basin of water was a moment of recollection and thanksgiving for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, effected in 
the Sacrament of Confirmation, which brings to fulfillment the journey of initiation into the Catholic Church that began at Baptism.
The congregation was encouraged to remain in prayer and to ask God to help each individual become aware of the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, aware of the gifts that we receive from the Holy Spirit and to ask God to help each person tap into whatever gift the Holy Spirit wants him or her to put at the service of the Church.
Rev. Mr. Scott Joiner
Rev. Mr. Pierre Douyon
Those who were to be “baptized in the Holy Spirit” were invited to come forward where the Rev. Mr. Scott Joiner and Rev. Mr. Pierre Douyon, signed them with the sign of the Holy Cross, reminding them of their Baptism and Confirmation, where they were welcomed into the Church and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Now, they were being challenged to pray for the grace to tap into the gifts of the Holy Spirit and use whichever gift God wants to accentuate for the salvation of the individual’s soul and the good of the Church.
Finally, stations were set up in different parts of the Church. Each candidate voluntarily approached a team who prayed with him and over him. Some team members held the candidates hands, others place a hand on the candidate, and others simply prayed. Any and all physical contact between the candidate and the team respected the candidate’s comfort level. It was at this point where the Lord was asked to open the heart and mind of each candidate and to help him cast into the deep for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit already present in the soul through the sacraments.
Praying over Br. Bernardo
I saw flowing tears, bright smiles, faces that seemed relaxed and relieved of heavy burdens and other faces deep in silent contemplation.
A hymn and prayer followed the “Baptism”. The evening concluded with everyone praising and thanking God for his love and mercy which endures forever. Father Jeff gave the final blessing, which was followed by another song and lots of happy hugs and wishes for a goodnight.
Not only was I impressed by the depth of prayer that I witnessed, also how fully Catholic was the event. I have never been to a prayer service at a Protestant community with Gregorian Chant, the Holy Rosary, and three validly ordained clerics, with a final blessing by a priest.
After the experience, one of our brothers, who had attended the six-week formation seminar that led to this beautiful and prayerful turning of the page, to begin a new chapter in the Christian journey, treated ourselves to a fish sandwich at McDonald’s while Brother explained his thoughts and experience.
While in prayer the Lord pointed out the areas in his life that need attention, confession, more prayer and thanksgiving for God’s many blessings. St. Benedict would describe what Brother experienced as a plan for the “conversion of manners.” Just to be clear, St. Benedict was not talking about Emily Post and etiquette, but the manner in which we live out our vocation.
I am grateful to God and the local Charismatic community. I had been through “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” 23-years ago. Last night reawakened my awareness of God’s proximity and the gifts that he places in our hearts, minds, and hands for the sanctification of the Body.
St. John the Evangelist — The Soaring Eagle
As John said in the last chapter of his Gospel, “It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true,” (Chap 21:24).
For whom are you looking?
Brother makes profession of vows in the hands of the superior
If you’re a man between the ages of 18 and 50, single, without dependent minors and feel that your life is missing something, maybe what you’re missing is COMMITMENT TO THE SACRED.
The Franciscans of Life have consecrated men who make vows of obedience, poverty and celibate chastity. We live in a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP with the Voiceless Christ, in the manner prescribed by the Rule of St. Francis of Assisi. All the brothers consecrate themselves to the Immaculate using the formula developed by our brother and patron, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, OFM Conv.
Cell
Our life is simple. We own nothing. We live in a borrowed home, share an old van, each brother has three sets of clothes, one pair of sandals and a pair of shoes. No one has a private room. We sleep in one room divided into cells by curtains.
Our Oratory
Each day the brothers pray five hours of the Divine Office, three of which they pray in community. We have a period of silent prayer, spiritual reading, time to journal, and apostolic work with fathers in crisis pregnancies, the sick in the hospital, religious education, evangelization through the Internet, the terminally ill in hospice, and the immigrant poor.
Adoration of the Eucharist
The Sacrifice of the Mass is the highlight of our life of prayer and adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist.
We attend mass in both, the ordinary form of the Latin Rite and the Traditional Latin Mass. Occasionally, we attend mass in one of the Eastern Catholic rites, in imitation of our Holy Father St. Francis, a truly Catholic man who embraced the entire Church.
Our life in fraternity is dear to us. We are aware that St. Francis did not set out to found a religious order. He entered into a covenant relationship where he was the lover and Christ the beloved. Other men saw him and liking what they saw, they joined him. Slowly, they formed a family, known today as the Franciscan Family, with more than 100 independent orders and congregations all living the Gospel according to the Rule of St. Francis, but with some differences according to the apostolic needs of time and place and the gifts that each Franciscan brings to the table.
If this sounds like a way of life for you, write to franciscansoflife@gmail.com or call 786-495-3426 and visit our web page, http:/franciscansoflife.org.
Help Needed
Single or married men (age 18 – 60) to open “a room” to provide educational services to the immigrant poor. These services include, but are not limited to:
- English,
- using the computer,
- mathematics for daily life,
- resume writing and job application,
- interviewing skills,
- policies and procedures in community healthcare for low income individuals,
- policies and procedures for enrollment of immigrant children in public schools,
- and evangelization.
Spiritual Works of Mercy To Instruct and to counsel
This is not a school, and formal education program, nor a tutoring center. It’s simply a space in the local community that we call “The Room”. The Room is a special place where immigrant poor can go when they need to learn something important for their survival and integration.
It’s a God-given opportunity to share our Catholic faith with those who ask.
To help us create The Room, please write to us at franciscansoflife@gmail.com or call us a 786-495-3426.
If you own a large space (house or business) that is accessible by bus and would like to lend it to us, for free, the Immaculate will mediate many graces for you and your loved ones, especially a deceased relative or friend.
All things are possible, if you do whatever my Son tells you.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI, EVERYONE’S SAINT
Essay written in 2011
by +Dr. Franco Camarca (1950-2017)
Psychologist, Writer, Journalist
Father of Brother Bernardo, FFV
“The Providence, which rules the world…
…two Princes ordained in its behalf”.
Dante, Paradiso
Saint Francis of Assisi is perhaps the most “universal” Italian saint. We defined him “everyone’s Saint” to underscore this peculiarity of his person: venerated by Catholics but respected even by Muslims, when he joined a Crusade to preach the Good News, and studied by the Protestants, of whom Peter Sabatier wrote in 1893 the “Life” that has become a classic of world literature.
Assisi presents itself as a city dominated by a castle and surrounded by towers, fortified walls, and other constructions that immediately bring war to mind. Francis, of wealthy merchant family, contributed to those constructions, probably to defend the city against Perugia in one of the many wars that characterized his time. Francis lived between the 1100s and the 1200s: a time of wars between Christians and Saracens, Empire and Church, city and city, for prestige and commercial predominance. In the war against Perugia he was made prisoner for two years, 1202-03, and he was also sick for a long time. Once healed, he threw himself into a new adventure, but at Spoleto he was stopped by a new illness and by a vision that invited him to follow the example of Jesus and “rebuild the Church”.
What was the situation of the Church in that epoch?
Let’s briefly say that there was a deep popular displeasure against the excesses of wealth and corruption that characterized the high clergy. Preachers in the public squares condemned all of it, reminding all of the simple life preached by the Gospel. In Italy in the XI and XII centuries many social movements were born which united politics and religion, since political freedom and religious purity were values deeply sought after by the people.
Thus Dante wrote in Canto XI of “Paradiso”:
“The Providence, which rules the world…
…two Princes ordained in its behalf,
who should serve it as guides on either side.”
(Verses 28 & 35-36)
The “guides” to whom Dante refers are Saint Francis and Saint Dominic. Three more centuries awaited the necessary Reform of the Council of Trent, and a number of historians agree that without those powers of new purity triggered by the Franciscan and Dominican movements the Church would have suffered very grave damages.
His first companions and biographers called Francis “the herald of Christ”, “the invincible knight”, and the said he was “armed with the weapons of Christ”. In another contemporary work, “Speculum perfectionis”, he is compared with his disciples to the Knights of the Round Table. And the spouse – “dominam”, as one of his biographers says – of such knight was poverty, who appears symbolically in classical vestments in the frescoes of the great Giotto.
The Order of friars minor, his Rule, was approved by pope Innocent III, who also gave them permission to preach. Before we expose our thoughts on the Saint let us briefly mention some biographical notes, referring to the historical data of Martignetti (Italian Encyclopedia). Returned to Assisi, Francis founded with Saint Clare the “second order of the poor clares” and then went to preach the Gospel amidst the Saracens. His followers grew fast, reaching the thousands, but the Saint went back to preach to Egypt, where he was honored by the Sultan, and in Palestine. Returned to Italy in 1220 and leaving the direction of the Order to Pietro Cattani and eventually to friar Elias, he prepared the “first Rule” (1221) and then dictated the text of the “Second [Third] Rule” that pope Honorius III approved in 1223. Continuing in an intense spiritual life which included preaching – which did not impeded him to ‘invent’ in 1222 the Crèche that became one of the most intimate representations of Christmas – he founded the “Third order of the penitents”.
We thus reach 1224, when in a spiritual retreat of fasting on mount la Verna he received the stigmata.
Then we find his autograph writings, the “Laudes Dei” and the “Canticle of brother Sun” in which, according to authoritative reviewers, “the rigid Benedictine spirituality is overcome in favor of a new conception of Creation characterized by an exaltation of a sense of universal brotherhood”, and, we think, of a sort of mystical fusion with nature and thus with the omnipresent God.
The hymn begins with an invocation to God, followed by the sun “beautiful and radiant”, the moon and the stars “clear and precious and beautiful”; then the four elements: the earth, the water “useful and humble and precious and chaste”, the fire “beautiful and playful and robust and strong”, and the air.
Our Prezzolini, faculty of Columbia University, mentions that the adjectives applied by the Saint reveal a new interpretation of Nature and place it in a new relationship with Man. The hymn is not written in Latin but in the vulgate language of the people of Umbria, which for the first time assumes an artistic form, although preserving the simplicity and characteristics of the local dialect. The language is mixed with Latinized words; the verses do not have a regular metric yet there are many rhymes and assonances. The epilogue, according to Prezzolini, was added at the nearing of the Saint’s death in 1226, a death that Francis calls “sister”.
It is worth mentioning what Sapegno recalls in his History of literature: “It is certain that the hymn of grace, raised to the Creator by a beautiful world, admirable in its harmony and its ends, finds its roots not in an easy and superficial enthusiasm, but in the “labor pains” of ascesis and penance, from which the soul resurrects renewed, capable of contemplating the things and events of the earth with new, peaceful, and joyful eyes. The simple poetry of the Saint translates itself in the adjectives that accompany one step at a time the evocation of the creatures and they underscore the poetic aspect […] but the power and resonance of the hymn resides instead in the deep intimacy and novelty of the religious feeling that pervades it, outside and in a certain sense above pure poetry”.
The behavior of Saint Francis towards animals, with whom he spoke (like the wolf of Gubbio) opened a new field in painting: Giotto and his successors felt a great influence and even the architectonic structures of the churches of the Franciscan order displayed a new disposition of the altars, a new amplitude of the walls, a significant austerity in their entire edification.
Towards the end of his life, with a serious illness in his eyes, Francis returned to Assisi and asked to be taken to Saint Mary of the Angels, where lying on the bare ground he reached the Lord that he so much loved in 1226.
Saint Francis was canonized by Gregory IX in 1228. His feast in the Catholic Church is October 4th and Pope Pius XII proclaimed him, with Saint Catherine of Siena, “Patron of Italy”.
It is interesting to note that many centuries later the charm and personality of Saint Francis still live. His fame is worldwide. Saint Francis remains one of those figures of Western civilization without whom our history would not be complete.
The Franciscans are today, and we witness it by our personal and direct experience, an imperishable and daily example for all the orders.
The letting go of Saint Francis was in actuality acquisition of a superior freedom and his poverty was the acquisition of spiritual wealth, and Jesus rewarded him with the gift of the stigmata.
Easter Wishes from the Brothers
The Franciscans of Life wish all our family, friends, and benefactors all the blessings that the Easter Season brings. May the mother of the Risen Lord walk with us and increase in us the desire to atone for our sins and those who do not do penance and may she guide us to greater virtue so that we live with the Risen Christ through eternity.
Brother Bernardo’s Pizza Rush
Mos
t of the brothers remained in Florida for Holy Week. Brother Bernardo and I flew to Virginia where we spend time with my daughter, son-in-law and my granddaughter, Katherine Marie Therese, who turned six-months during Holy Week. We also had a fantastic opportunity to surprise Brother Bernardo, whose birthday it was on April 13, Holy Thursday. 
Because it was the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, we kept the celebration simple and quiet. Brother Bernardo’s favorite food is pizza. Brother Jay’s daughter made sure that he was not disappointed. She served him about nine bagel pizzas for breakfast, which he devoured. For lunch, it was an individual DiGiorno pizza with rising crust. In the evening, he was treated to not one, but two large pizzas with his favorite toppings and a musical card from Brother Jay’s family.
Brother Bernardo ha
s voluntarily stepped up to serve as Brother Superior’s caretaker and health monitor. He can tell when Brother Superior’s diabetes is too low or too high by looking at him and quickly dispenses the correct amount of insulin. He installed a railing on Father Superior’s bed after the superior fell twice during the night. Brother Superior’s vision is failing and everyday his legs grow weaker. He moves from a wheelchair, to a walker that Brother Bernardo purchased at a White Elephant Sale, to a cane with a cuff around the forearm. When Brother Jay must go anywhere, Brother Bernardo drives him and his medical equipment in the community’s van. This allows Brother Jay to run Project Joseph at the Archdiocesan level, give talks, teach religious education and work on his book.
None of this love and support has gone unnoticed by Brother Jay’s family. Because Brother Bernardo has no nieces or nephews and has never been married, he does not have frequent interactions with infants. Brother Jay’s granddaughter, who just turned six-months on the 15th of April, love Brother Bernardo. 
She breaks into a smile and reaches out to him as he approaches. We won’t mention that Brother Bernardo is quite attached to Katherine. He holds her, feeds her, rocks her to sleep and has even taken her on a short walk in her stroller.
We have many good reasons for being forever grateful to Brother Bernardo. The least we could do was fly him to visit his beloved Katherine, feed him pizza for an entire day and formally incorporate him into the family. Brother Jay’s family has adopted him.
We pray for Brother Bernardo, who is still in formation. We ask the Immaculate, if it is her Son’s will, to walk with him to the end of his formation period, when he will make perpetual vows of obedience, poverty, chastity and fidelity to the Gospel of Life.
Prayers for Brother Leo
Our brother Leo has had health problems during most of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. He was unable to participate in the community’s Easter meal, because he is too ill to walk. He’s under the care of
an excellent physician and is properly cared for at home. We pray that he will be up and running soon. Brother Leo is one of those special souls who has a natural gift to bring peace, comfort and hope to the terminally ill and their families. He has served in hospice ministry for more than a decade. It’s an emotionally draining ministry.
Brother is a registered nurse and is also trained in Christian spirituality. He brings medical and spiritual support to the bedside. His greatest gift is listening. Brother is always willing to listen to the concerns, fears and hope of the dying and their families. His quiet and gentle manner communicates the Lord’s peace to people in terminal situations. He also provides guidance when moral questions such as euthanasia, assisted suicide, and extraordinary means of life support arise.
Please join our prayer to the Immaculate that she will intercede for her son and our brother, Brother Leo, so that he can return to bring Christ’s comfort to those who are dying, their families and their healthcare providers. Losing a patient is never easy for a doctor or nurse who is truly committed to preserving and respecting life from conception to natural death.
Project Joseph, Up and Running
On the 29th of April, we will have a workshop for all who volunteer to mentor our dads in crisis pregnancies. We will also welcome and begin training new volunteers who wish to serve fathers who are struggling with unexpected and often unwanted pregnancies. The brother bring light where there is darkness. They provide education to help the dads become better dads.
They also provide material assistance to poor moms and dads who come to our pregnancy centers. This material assistance goes from things as simple, but important, as disposable diapers to cribs, stroller and every other contraption that modern parents need to keep their babies safe and occupied. Don’t ask me what those contraptions are called, because I don’t know. Lately, I have begun to feel very old when a five-year old helps me open a childproof bottle of pills. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? It’s supposed to be childproof but it takes a first-grader to help a 65-year old with several graduate degrees open a vial of pills. Ugh, I’m aging faster than I thought!
Detachment
The Franciscans of Life don’t do much marketing for vocations, but I think it’s time that we invite men between 18 and 50 years of age to think about a life detached from the material cares of the world, totally dependent on God’s Divine Providence to support you and guide you, and a life attached to the Immaculate who always leads us to Christ in the Sacred Host for spiritual nutrition and contemplation. The brotherhood is poor. Every brother engages in some kind of part-time job over and beyond our apostolic commitments to eat and pay utilities, rent, food, healthcare. We own nothing. Like our father, St. Francis, we share all things in common and some things we simply don’t need; therefore, we don’t have them.
Our life of prayer is very rich. The brothers engage in the ancient monastic tradition of praying the 
Divine Office five-times a day, quiet prayer and adoration, spiritual reading, mass, and service to the voiceless.
I promise you that we are very tired, but very happy building something beautiful for the Immaculate. Like St. Maximilian Kolbe, we hope to present Christ a holy city where men, women and children live, work, study, play and sing confident that Christ is alive and very close. This is not a physical city, but a spiritual city of people open to God’s embrace.
Single men between 18 and 50 are invited to come and discern if this is where they can best serve Christ, living and being one with, the voiceless and doing penance for those who have not entrusted themselves to God’s forgiveness and mercy.
Project Joseph Training – April 29 2017
MEN 25+ IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI: COME, LEARN ABOUT PROJECT JOSEPH AND HOW TO HELP MEN IN CRISIS PREGNANCY.
To learn more visit www.projectjoseph.org
– You can also RSVP on Facebook –
UPDATES
A huge THANK YOU to the Archdiocese of Miami for including the announcement of the workshop in the Pastoral Bulletin of April, and to the Knights of Columbus of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe County for promoting the workshop.
We look forward to prepare more men so that they be ready to mentor dads in the Archdiocese of Miami’s 5 Pregnancy Help Centers.
You’re invited to a Lenten walk
It feels as if we just took down the Christmas decorations, lights and trees. Yet, Lent will be here in less than two weeks.
Lent is a time of penance. For many people, the word “penance” is a negative word. They choose to refer to Lent as a time of “conversion.” The assumption being that every Catholic knows that the Church means conversion from sin to virtue; which has an a priori condition to it. One must acknowledge one’s sins, ask for absolution in the Sacrament of Confession and have a firm resolve not to sin again. Being human, we often fall into the same sinful hole from which we were just rescued by the Sacrament of Penance. However, we keep trying.
Sorrow for our sins, confession, absolution and a firm resolution to avoid sin brings many graces. The early Fathers of the Church taught us that the only way to overcome sin and not end up confessing the same sin time and time again was through concrete acts of penance, as we shall see below.
“Convert and believe in the Gospel” in plain English means, stop sinning and live per the Gospel. The idea of believing in something with which we are unfamiliar and we don’t follow, is silly.
The Franciscans of Life suggest that you to try one or more of the following this Lent. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Usually that leads to failure, which leads to frustration and abandonment of our good intentions. It’s like overfilling your plate at an “all you can eat buffet”. You can only eat so much; the rest is thrown into the garbage.
We invite you and your friends to join the Franciscans of Life this Lent. You can join us from your home. If you you’re male and live in South Florida, you can join us on a Monday night family meeting.
First: We’re going to begin with a good examination of conscience. This means that we’re going to take inventory of the sins we have committed as well as the things that we should have done, but failed to do. If you have poor memory, make a little list for yourself. Make sure to dispose of it properly when you no longer need it.
Second: We’re going to Confession as soon as we can get there. As soon as we can get there means exactly that. Go to confession as soon as there is a priest to absolve you. Never put off what may never happen, if you get hit by a bus the day after tomorrow. You had better go to confession tomorrow instead of postponing it until next week.
Third: The Franciscans of Life invite you to join us in doing penance to atone for our sins. The keyword here is ATONE. We don’t do penance to feel good. We do penance, because we know that we have sinned and that we must make up for it. If you steal from me, you must ask for forgiveness. Justice demands that you return what you took or offer to pay for it. The same is true with God and sin. God forgives, but his justice demands that you make retribution for your sins.
Our first commitment this Lent is fasting and abstinence. Every Wednesday and Friday, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, the brothers observe a fast and do not eat any kind of meat or meat product. This does not mean that we replace steak with crab, lobster or baked salmon. You may as well have the steak. It’s probably cheaper. Tuna, eggs, or simply a nice soup with bread is enough. It’s not as if we were going to do this forever. Obviously, we use common sense. People with certain health conditions or those who are too young or too old should not engage in a fast. Maybe they can abstain from something else, such as the Internet.
Fourth: Try to get an extra mass in at least once during the week. If your schedule does not coincide with your parish’s daily mass schedule, make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament at least once or twice a week.
Fifth: Pray with your bible. You can pray a psalm or two every day. You can read a short passage from the scriptures and ask yourself how you would respond in a specific situation in the Bible. Ask God for the grace to do so. Storing up on grace for when we need it is the best savings plan around.
Sixth: We’re going to be doing something concrete for those who are not as fortunate as we are. We’re going to collect money to purchase soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes to those who have none. We’re also going to be praying a weekly rosary for those who are being persecuted and those who are refugees and have no place to go. We’re going to beg the Immaculate to help us help them. If she wants to help them in her own way, that’s good too. But we must never dump on God, Our Lady and the saints asking them to solve problems that we can help solve. We start asking for the grace to find ways to reach out to our neighbor and we conclude by asking God to find another way, if He believes that it’s the better way to go.
You don’t have to live in our community house to join us. If you care to join us in one or more of these penances during Lent, please let us know by writing to us at
Please include your first name only, age (so that we can offer you appropriate support) and anything else that you want to tell us about yourself.
Always your brother and servant,
Brother Jay, FFV, Superior
In a few weeks, we will be announcing the time and day for our evening of contemplation that we call Carceri (Prison) in honor of the Prisoner of Love. Stay tuned in to this blog for that information.
Our Forefathers Have Been Betrayed
As we approach the inauguration of a new presidency and the anniversary of Roe vs Wade, I assume that many of our friends expect the Franciscans of Life to say something wise and uplifting. Try as I did, I was unable to come up with anything wise to say. Perhaps is the fact that I fell today and lacerated my forehead. Thank God that my cranium was not currently occupied. In any case, I can’t come up with some wise and profound comment to make. So, I’ll let my simple country logic do the talking.
Roe vs Wade must never be forgotten, not only because it made abortion a constitutional right in our country, but it did much more. It stripped the preborn human being of the right to be born. Roe vs Wade was one of the most selfish acts that the American people have ever perpetrated on its citizens.
Our Founding Fathers rebelled against a monarchy and parliament that was tyrannical, a king and government that had no respect for the basic human rights of its citizens on the western side of the Atlantic. As far as the English crown was concerned, the colonists and their descendants were to be silenced when it came to matters that affected their lives, the lives of their families and the future of the kingdom. We must say “kingdom”, because on July 3, 1776 there was no United States. There was simply the American colonies and territories of the English Kingdom.
But our forefathers changed all that. They fought and many gave their lives for the right to live, the right to have a voice about their lives, and the right to choose their future.
Hilary Clinton once said that the unborn CHILD has no constitutional rights. The issue on the table is not whether the being in the womb is a person, human being, child or other. The question has been settled. The being in the womb is a CHILD.
The laws of nature dictate that the child of two human beings cannot be a chimpanzee. He must be a human being, regardless of his parents’ faults and virtues.
Yet, this human being, who lives in our midst, is denied the right to be born.
We have dared to do the unimaginable. We have dared betray the memory of those who fought for our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We betrayed their dream of a nation where people were given the right to live according to the graces endowed by their Creator, as Thomas Jefferson so eloquently wrote.
We have misrepresented the mind of the Founding Fathers, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In other words, we have hijacked the American dream.
Roe vs Wade limits the right to life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness to those who have the power and cold-heartedness to terminate the life of one who is weaker and defenseless.
Br. Jay, FFV
Video by youtube user on ultrasound of their 8-week baby.
Watch full-screen!
See and hear baby’s heartbeat, watch the 1-inch baby wiggle,
and see description for link to video of 1st year birthday.
They came from the east, west, north and south
Happy New Year to all our relatives, friends and benefactors.
Christmas week was a very active one for us. On December 23rd, Brother Jay and Brother Bernardo flew into Virginia to spend Christmas with Katherine Marie Therese, Brother Jay’s brand new granddaughter. It was her first Christmas. But there was much more to it. We’ll get to that shortly.
December 24th family came in from Pensacola, FL, Pembroke Pines, FL, and Bloomington, IL. The house was filled with joy, conversation, a lot of picture taking and a fantastic dinner.
Daniel, Brother Jay’s son-in-law, cooked the main course, a roast pork shoulder. No one knew Daniel was such a great cook. Our waistlines, the next day, proved that Daniel cooks very well. Let’s put it this way, on the trip home, Brother jay could not move once he opened the tray-table in front of him on the airplane.
Anonymous well-rounded brother
To be perfectly transparent, if one can be transparent with such girth, the airline industry is determined to influence relationships between people who don’t know each other. The seats are so close to each other that no one with a waist over 40” can get to the window seat. There is no way to squeeze in between the three seats in your row and those in front of you, unless you breath and hold it as you navigate in a tight space. If you try to do this after eating several holiday meals, you can forget it. You may as well pay a little extra for a seat in the bulkhead section, preferably a loveseat. But let’s get back to Christmas Eve.
Unfortunately, we were unable to attend Midnight Mass, because the local parish did not have one this year. The closest Midnight Mass was about thirty minutes away, which is a rough trip for a two-month old little girl, in the middle of a cold December night. Since we couldn’t travel that far, we sat around and talked, teased each other and I believe that one or two of us may have dozed off for a few minutes, after such a large and delicious meal.
Earlier that day, Daniel’s mother and Brother Jay engaged in a conversation about a liquor that the Carthusian hermits have been making for hundreds of years. The more they talked about it, the more enthusiastic they became about finding it. Thank God for Google. The first problem was identifying the name of the liquor. Brother Jay is a “master googler”. We found the name of the liquor, Chartreux, named after the Charterhouse where the hermits have lived for about 1,000 years.
The next step was to find out where we could purchase a bottle of it to go with the Christmas meal. Once again, Google came to the rescue and the liquor was found and purchased. Did I mention that it smells and tastes like cou
gh medicine? Originally, the Carthusian hermits made this liquor for medicinal purposes. It’s no surprise that it smells like cough medicine without the artificial cherry flavor. Let’s put it this way. The stuff smells and tastes so awful that an ounce is about all you can drink in one evening. I don’t mean one sitting. I mean a full evening. The positive here is that you’re literally indulging in Catholic spirits that have been around for about 800 years. If you’re looking to make contact with your Catholic roots and traditions, here is a drink that you can use as an aperitif or as a cure for any disease imaginable.
Opening the gifts under the Christmas tree was a beautiful experience. You have picture some 15 people in a small living room with room for a sofa, a chair and a Christmas tree. There is no more floor space. The little floor space that used to be available is now occupied 
by baby Katherine’s play mat, chair and some other contraptions. If you’re not careful, you can trip on a piece of infant equipment and find yourself sitting in an infant carrier.
In any case the gifts were distributed and opened. The beauty of the event was that there were no “over the top” gifts, no electronic gadgets (other than a book light for Brother Jay) and there were many books given as gifts. Each gift was purchased with the intention of enriching the life of the next person, as the infant in the manger enriched the lives of the shepherds and peasants in the surrounding pastures.
These are true Christmas gifts. It’s not a show of opulence; nor is it an attempt to impress the recipient with one’s FANTASTIC present. It was a sharing of gifts that have meaning that we share and that enrich the life of the recipient, because the giver has been enriched by it first. You’re not just sharing a thing, you passing on a positive experience in your life.
On December 25th, everyone met up at the local parish for Christmas Day mass. It was a great experience. We were all filled with the same awe as the shepherds in Bethlehem the morning of Our Lord’s birth. That’s one of the wonderful things that happens when you have a family where everyone is a practicing Catholic and well catechized. The mystery of the Eucharist, especially on a solemnity such as Christmas, moves you as an individual and as a family. In this way, the entire family travels down the path to redemption following Mary, the star that leads to Incarnate Son of the Father.
Then came December 27th. This was the day that Baby Katherine was to be baptized, her godparents being her paternal uncle and auntie. This time, family members came not only from the cities that we mentioned above, but more family arrived. Some drove all the way from Miami. Others took a five-hour bus ride to be there. There were cousins who live in New York and other relatives from Virginia, and there were the brothers, the Franciscans of Life. There were also childhood friends who are now married and parents themselves. They took the time off from work to participate in the baptism.
Three generations of family from her father’s side and three from her mother’s side, plus long-term friends, were present to welcome Katherine into the Church and to formally name her, Katherine Marie Therese. She is now a Catholic along with her family and friends. For this we are grateful to God. Passing down the faith to the next generation is always a memorable event when those present are more than spectators. They are men and women of faith opening the door for a loved one to enter into a deeper communion with the family and with Christ, through the waters of Baptism.
It was finally time to go home. But Brother Bernardo couldn’t find his wristwatch. He decided to take a look behind the sleeper sofa, not knowing that the sofa is alive. The bed started to close and swallow him up.
Thankfully, the sofa spit him out and the brothers returned to the Motherhouse, exhausted, elated, enriched and in one piece. It’s going to be a great year. The best part is that it’s not an election year. NO MORE CAMPAIGNS!!!!! YEY!!!!!
Christmas in a Galaxy Not So Far Away
Earlier, one of our younger brothers asked me if I had an article to publish for the blog, because he noticed that I wrote several articles this week. I told him that none of my current articles were Christmas material, to which the young brother asked me for permission to read my articles and determine for himself if any were good Christmas material. Just a few minutes ago, he approached me and said, “You’re right, none of these articles is Christmas material.”
I was very touched by his interest in publishing a Christmas article written by me, given the fact that he is a much better writer than I am and a lot smarter, he can probably write a better article.
Suddenly, the thought hit me, “There is a dimension of Christmas that is rarely mentioned.” During the Christmas season, we write beautiful cards and letters wishing our loved ones a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whatever the custom in your family may be. We inject adrenaline into the household with shopping, travel plans or preparations to welcome friends and loved ones for the holidays.
When we go to Church, be it Midnight Mass or on Christmas Day, we hear beautiful sermons about the birth of Jesus, God’s love for humanity and how Christmas sets the stage for the Cross. Let’s not forget that Jesus was a child born with a price on his head. The Holy Family did not travel to Egypt to visit the great pyramids. The Egyptians and the Canaanites were not the best of neighbors.
Mary and Joseph pick up and go to Egypt out of love for their son. They wanted to protect him from Herod’s insecurities, which would have concluded in murdering the child along with the rest of the innocents at the time.
The more that I thought about these points and the fact that the young brother was so interested in publishing one of my articles, rather than using a piece of his own exemplary writing, spoke to me about the undercurrent of Christmas. It is the undercurrent of Christmas that truly counts. That undercurrent is love.
Just as an undercurrent draws in everything that gets close, so too does the love that is born at Christmas. Brother wanted to publish one of my articles, not because I’m the best writer in the world. We all know that’s not true. He wanted to publish one of my articles because of love. He loves his superior and his brother. He rejoices when others learn from his superior’s writings and when they praise what they read.
In a simple request, Brother taught me that the Christmas spirit is truly the Love of God breaking into human history and radiating through every century, every culture and every human being to this day. Christmas is not simply a happy holiday, it’s a celebration of generous love. We keep Christmas alive not only when we give gifts, welcome guests or visit others. Those are just starters. Once the gifts are unwrapped and the greetings are over, what’s there besides food?
There is the love of God that has broken into our lives and is here to stay. God’s love is not a feeling, but a living being whom the Father calls “Son.” The Son of God wants to show all men that they are loved, not just give them a warm Christmas hug and a gift. He wants to gaze into the eyes of our neighbor, through our eyes and say, “There is something special about you that I believe must be shared with the rest of the world.”
This faith in the giftedness of the brother is the highest expression of love on this side of Heaven. It makes the birth of Christ closer to home, not as a story of long long ago in another galaxy far far away, as they say in Star Wars. No, the birth of Christ is God saying to man, “You are special and I will prove it, by sharing in your humanity and lifting you up to my divinity.”
Brother’s request for an article was a subtle message that told me, “You’re special to me.” This is the true message that the eternal Word of God says to mankind on Christmas morning.
Br. Jay
The Quiet Amidst the Storm – Part 1
Hello fellow readers! As some of you may have heard, we recently went through a weather emergency as a category 4 hurricane was scheduled to strike the coast of Florida, exactly between two of our community houses.
To make things worse, a particular satellite image caught the attention of the media, particularly as we approach the Halloween “season”, as the infra-red version of the hurricane looked somewhat like a skull. While this is a purely psychological illusion called pareidolia in which the human mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists, the point is that the hurricane did prove itself deadly. The death toll in Haiti is reaching 900, and we know that deaths have been reported in other Caribbean islands.
One infra-red photo of hurricane Matthew
The State of Florida was largely unaffected by the hurricane, with no deaths reported. The Franciscans of Life “cloistered” the motherhouse with some good old wood planks, and even tied down a nearby palm tree! Some supplies and a few flashlights and candles completed our emergency preparation.
The greatest impact we experienced were the wind gusts. You can see below a before-and-after of the above-mentioned palm tree.
The most important lesson we learned from Hurricane Matthew was that at times such as these we are called to be “channels of God’s peace”. Be it in workplaces or stores, we noticed many people looking extremely worried, angry, afraid, or stressed out.
Can anyone blame them? We all know how catastrophic (and even deadly) can a hurricane be…
However, our Holy Father St. Francis taught us that we must go through the world filled with the Lord’s peace and joy. This is something the brother must “radiate”.
– End of Part 1 –
In Part 2 we will discuss practical ways to achieve inner peace during difficult times.
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Franciscans of Life 
