Life Issues | Franciscans of Life

Conscience in crisis

This year we remember the landmark decision Roe v. Wade of 1973. For 42 years, the American conscience has grappled with the rightness and wrongness of abortion.

Abortion is a human rights issue. If a human being does not have the right to be born, of what use are the other rights that follow? That’s the first problem.

The right to choose does not mean the right to terminate an innocent life. The problem with “it’s a woman’s right” is that we’re saying that a mother has the right to choose to terminate the life of her pre-born child. Should she have the right to terminate the life of a child after he or she is born?

The case of rape does not hold. The father is obviously a heinous criminal, but not the child. He’s her child as well, not just the male’s child. If a parent feels that keeping such a child would do her harm, there are adoption agencies that help with this. One does not need to kill a child to get him out of one’s life.

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Another problem with “a woman’s right to choose” is that it strips the man of his right to be a father. The child of a good father only has a father if the woman decides to keep the child – only then the father comes into the equation. However, we’re saying that a raped woman is carrying a “scumbag’s” child. Let’s run with that for a moment. If it’s a scumbag’s child, the child fathered by the good man also has a dad. If the rapist is a parent, so is the good man. What happened to a parent’s duty to bring his children into the world?

We can’t abdicate duties, because we have the means to eliminate the obligation. Means does not make right. We have the means to blow up our planet too.

It is true that we have a duty to protect and provide for those who have been born, regardless of age, social condition and politics. The duty to protect the voiceless is not rooted in the fact that a person has been born so now we have to provide for him.

Our duty to the voiceless is grounded in our humanity. As human beings we acknowledge that other human beings have the same rights as us. They have the right to be born and the right to succeed in life. The human response is to protect those rights from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion is not a human response. It is a response of humans. Responses of humans are acts of which a human being is capable, but they are not acts that make us better people.

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The bible argument does not hold. The fact that Jesus never uses the term abortion does not mean that he was indifferent to it. Abortions did exist in his time. There were many other forms of evil as well.

The Gospel writers report in concepts. Jesus condemned evil, not specific acts alone. Those specific acts that the evangelists mention in the scriptures are given to the reader as examples of evil, not the only evils in the world.

The Scriptures were written as summaries of the faith of God’s people, not as comprehensive statements. If one wants to know what God revealed to man, one must look at the oral tradition as well as the written tradition. Much of what we know about moral truths was passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. The biblical writings are synopses. We must read beyond the scriptures to fully understand what the early Jews and Christians understood, and understand it as they understood it.

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on January 28, 2015 at 7:48 PM Leave a Comment

Walking for Life

Every year, Respect Life hosts a “Walk for Life” at Archbishop McCarthy High School to support the Hollywood Pregnancy Center, which provides counseling, education, material assistance, and support to men and women in crisis pregnancies.

It is not uncommon for the three-hour event to witness hundreds of “walkers” who are animated by great music, refreshments, and the Holy Rosary. The event also provides an opportunity for students to earn community service hours.

This year, some of our brothers joined the Walk. It was a great time; we even made some new friends!

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on January 17, 2015 at 10:04 PM Leave a Comment

Parents and God: friends or foes?

This week, I’ve had the privilege of working with many parents and their children. When you work in the field of evangelization, you get to meet many families. I consider it pretty special. I always walk away feeling that I have exchanged gifts. It can be an individual member of a family or an entire family who gives me a gift and to whom I give a gift.

For the sake of privacy and because it would be silly to give so many details, I’m going to combine all of my families into three groups.

GROUP I:

I received a letter from someone whom I do not know. I have never met this person or any member of her family. It was a lovely letter.

Brother JR, I just wanted to thank you – you were so instrumental in our family’s conversion five years ago. I spent many long hours reading your articles, which were always gentle and full of the beauty of the faith. For that, for helping us know the beauty of the Catholic Church, I am forever grateful.

God bless you, and please know you’re in my prayers.

This letter moved me a great deal. The Holy Spirit can use anything and anyone to save. The key is to be aware of that one is an instrument, not the solution to a problem and certainly not God. Messages like this help us.

My articles are not written with children in mind. They’re written for adults. This means that an adult in the family read the articles and shared it with spouse and children. This is a parent who has found a means to evangelize the family, a means that works for that family. This is the duty of parents, to bring their families to the faith.

GROUP II:

The other case is also a letter representative of how other parents think. I have the honor of helping some men and women discern their vocation. I like to think of it as walking alongside them. At the end of the day, God does the calling and they respond. I’m just there to make sure that the person is paying attention.

In vocation discernment, I not only walk with the inquirer, but I often walk with the parents, if they allow it.

During the walk, I have received many positive and holy reactions from parents, especially those parents who have given God a hearing. I call it a hearing, because they have sought me out or invited me to their home so as to understand what it is that God is asking of them and their sons. I’m not God and I’m not the son. I’m the middleman. I get the opportunity to have some wonderful conversations with parents about consecrated life, marriage, Holy Orders, and parenting. I received a letter from a parent that really speaks for the several parents with whom I’ve spoken and edited it for privacy and brevity.

Dear Br. Jay,

God’s greatest gifts to a couple are their children. It is with great joy and love for God that we support our son’s aspiration to become a religious brother or any other vocation he chooses. Our son . . . and our family are blessed to have you in our lives. May our God of love and peace keep you healthy to continue to serve Him.

With much love and admiration,

I had to share this message, because I’ve heard this from other parents. They understand that their children are a gift. They understand that giving their son or daughter license to respond to God’s plan for his or her life is an act of love for God and the child. They understand that having a guide is a blessing that God gives to the family, to the son or daughter and to the guide. We’re all blessed that God has called us to cooperate with Him in His plan for the salvation of this soul. They have understood the most important part of all. God has a plan for every human being who is conceived.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jer 1:5

One’s vocation in life has already been written in God’s heart before one ever existed. All one has to do is follow what God puts before you in the present moment. He takes care of the rest.

GROUP III:

I also have had experience with a third group of families who struggle with the idea of a vocation to the priesthood and to the consecrated life. The reasons for their struggles can be many. I believe that the bottom line is that they are worried about their children’s happiness. But here is where faith should enter the picture.

One’s happiness is not dependent on the parent. A man’s happiness is dependent on the choices he makes. If he chooses to cooperate with God’s plan for his life, he will be happy. If he chooses some other plan (no matter how noble), he may as well sign his own death sentence. There is no happiness outside of God’s plan for you.

In these families, parents want to take charge and direct the son or daughter in whatever direction they believes is best for the adult child. There can be validity to this. If my son or daughter were dating someone with a criminal background and were talking marriage, I have a duty to warn my child. At the end of the day, it is my child who consents to the marriage or not. It is not I who consent. My duty before God and child is to guide. Guidance is not the same as control, manipulation, placing temptations before our children to get them to change their minds (See Thomas Aquinas), nor is it the same as commanding, threatening or using guilt.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that children living at home have to submit to their parents, meaning to their rules, because it’s the parents’ home. They do not have to submit to that which is not beneficial to their soul.

As they grow up, children should continue to respect their parents. They should anticipate their wishes, willingly seek their advice, and accept their just admonitions. Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the children; not so respect, which is always owed to them. This respect has its roots in the fear of God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2217).

Our faith also tells us that

“Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God’s law,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2222)

And finally, our faith tells us,

“Parents should respect and encourage their children’s vocations. They should remember and teach that the first calling of the Christian is to follow Jesus (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2253).

Occasionally, the adult child is up against a parent that seems to have forgotten this. If I could send a message to parents it would be very simple.

Man was created to cooperate with God, not compete with Him. To compete with God is to place oneself and one’s child on a slippery slope. Don’t do it. You may regret it. You never know the long-term damage that you may do to your child’s soul.

Some important points to remember.

First, for the parent, competing with God is contrary to the vocation of parenting. It raises the question, where is God in this picture?

Therefore, life must be treated with the greatest reverence. Creating obstacles that interfere with the development of a person’s life according to God’s plan runs the risk of violating the sanctity of that person’s life.

I encourage all parents on this slope to step back. We don’t have to agree with our children’s choices of a vocation. Our daughter can bring home the last man on earth whom we would pick for her husband; but if there is no moral impediment and he makes her happy, I have to trust that God loves me and loves my child.

Second, for the child, one may never yield to the will of another, when that will is in conflict with God’s plan.

This includes other people as well, not just parents. It’s not a license to rebel against parents and follow others down the wrong path.

God makes His plans pretty clear through people, prayer, scripture, sacraments, and events in our lives. Love of parents is binding until death; but love of God is the first and greatest commandment and it does not end at death. We are called to love God for eternity.

We too must trust that even if our vocational choice causes our parents some grief, God loves our parents more than we do. He will give them what they need. We can never give our parents what God can give them. We need to move on and give to God what He asks and take what He gives. Sometimes, the grief is part of God’s plan. There is such a thing as redemptive suffering.

Father Mitch Pacwa tells the story of how his father swore that he would never speak to him again and would disown him if he joined the Jesuits. Mother Angelica told the story of how she had to run away from home to join the Poor Clares, because her mother would not hear of it. I know that Mother Angelica’s mother eventually softened and actually entered the community. I don’t know if Mr. Pacwa ever made peace with his son. These two people are examples of a man and a woman who would not stand on the slippery slope with their parents, no matter how much they loved them. Regardless of how much or how little they understood God’s plan for their lives, they knew that they had to follow the lead that God was giving them. God would unwrap the rest with time.

If you keep another person company on a slippery slope, because it will make them happy, you may want to ask yourself the question that Christ asked St. Francis. “Is it better to serve the Master or the servant?”

We must love and assist our parents in every way we can. But we must always serve the Master first. When we do, He will give us the means to honor our father and mother. Was Mary abandoned by Christ? Yet Christ said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matt 12:49-50)

God is both merciful and just. He will have mercy on those who live according to His plan. Beware of God’s justice. It is not God who punishes. God’s justice is an act of love. He allows us to live and die with the consequences of our choices.

Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel ³⁰who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. (Mark 10:29-30)

God created families, parents and children. When he did so, he had a plan for each member of the family. None of us can presume to love our parents, spouses, or children more than God loves them. All of us must see our families as a gift that is part a plan in the mind of God. We have to allow God to unfold that plan little by little. As He unfolds it, He also gives us the resources to love each family member even more than we do now. In the meantime, we follow the lead that he places before us. If parents and children make an honest mistake, God will help us find our way.

St. John XXIII said, “Follow the signs of the times.”

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on November 8, 2014 at 4:02 AM Leave a Comment

Listen attentively, not aggressively

The subject of the family is central to any discussion of the Gospel and society. God has always chosen to reveal Himself through the family. He created Adam and Eve as parents to the human family. He called Abram and Sarai to become mother and father of many nations. He brought Moses out of his biological family, grafting him to a royal Egyptian family so as to bring His Israelite family out of slavery. He raised the royal family of David from which he would take human nature in the Holy Family at Bethlehem. His told Mary “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee,” (Mt. 28:10). Throughout salvation history, God has spoken to the world through family life and from within the family.

The Franciscans of Life, though we are a very small and young family, are not less or more Catholic than our other Catholic brothers and sisters. Christ calls us to live the Gospel in the manner that St. Francis of Assisi lived it. Building on the experience of St. Francis, we believe that Christ also calls us to remind the world that the Gospel is a gospel of life.

To proclaim the Gospel of Life, one must proclaim the Gospel of the Family. It is in the family where Life calls out to life (Vita ad vitam vocat). If we follow the Gospel, we must accept that human life begins within the context of family. Every human being has a dignity that protects his right to be conceived, nurtured and born into a family. He has a right to protection, formation, and to receive care from a family. At the end of life, he has the right to die naturally in the arms of his family.

From within the natural family, God calls men and women to form new and younger families, as well as families of brothers and sisters who consecrate their lives to live according to the Gospel. Such a consecration can take different expressions, from monastic, religious order, society of apostolic life, secular institute, diocesan hermits to consecrated virgins. To the degree that these associations reproduce the relationship between Christ and his apostles, whom he calls “my brothers”, these are real families. They foreshadow family life in the Kingdom of God beginning with the Trinitarian family.

These thoughts help us who are trying to follow the extraordinary synod on the family with great interest. Our Catholic identity comes from feeling with the Church. We’re not talking about feeling emotional. We’re talking about loving God and man with the Church. To do so, we must know what the Church is thinking.

Here is where we must draw an important line. We, brothers, remind ourselves that a synod is a listening session for the Holy Father and from that session will come ideas that the Holy Father will consider for the ordinary synod in October 2015. The Holy Father will exercise his authority once he has all of the information on hand.

Because the synod has no authority, it all rests with the pope. The brothers are not alarmed by some of the statements that the media alleges that some bishops have made, nor are we alarmed by those that we know some bishops have made. The Church cannot change revealed truth.

As stated above, to proclaim the Gospel of Life one must proclaim the Gospel of the Family. However, it is not we who decide what the Gospel says or does not say. It’s the teaching magisterium of the pope that teaches us what the Gospel says. It’s important to listen carefully to what the bishops are telling the pope about family; because when all of this discussion is over and done with, the pope will probably issue a post synod exhortation that will carry the weight of the Church’s teaching authority. Listening carefully requires that we withhold reacting to what is being said until the pope speaks.

We don’t have to agree with every idea that the bishops put on the table. The pope invited them to be honest and candid. When you have that kind of openness, you’re going to have to put up with a degree of chaos and nonsense as well. We cannot have open dialogue without crisis. There is no such thing. An open dialogue invites all parties to re-examine what we believe and give respectful thought to what we have never thought about before. This includes those of us who are not in Vatican City right now. Not only should synod participants be listening attentively, every Catholic must listen attentively and resist the temptation to judge, condemn, and bash anyone who says something that sounds wrong to us.

There are always some challenges. These are what lead to crisis or struggle. The speaker may be wrong. The person may be quoted incorrectly. The statement may be sloppy so that it does not accurately reflect what the person is really thinking. The idea may need to be expressed using tighter language so that it avoids ambiguity.

The Franciscans of Life are listening, assessing what makes sense and what sounds outrageous. Regarding that which sounds outrageous, we are not pointing fingers at any bishop or cardinal. We are not labeling anyone a Modernist, conservative, liberal or traditionalist. We are not sounding the alarm of apostasy among the bishops. On the contrary, if it sounds outrageous to our ears, we try to understand why it sounds outrageous to us. The statement may truly be outrageous or we may be hearing it incorrectly.

In the meantime, the Franciscans of Life continue to pray for the pope, the synod fathers, the family and the world. We continue to hold on to what the Church has traditionally taught us about the family; but we are open to the fact that there are always new experiences that help us better understand what God is saying to us about Himself and our salvation. These experiences should not be ignored. Very often, new experiences contribute to our understanding of doctrine. They don’t change the doctrine, but they can enhance our comprehension.

We invite other Catholics to listen attentively. Be faithful to what the Church has always taught and be honest and humble enough to admit when we realize that we can still be taught more. No one ever reaches a ceiling of understanding of God and his divine plan for the human family. Let us avoid characterizations, name calling, judging people, and self-righteousness. Let us embrace the truth that the Church has taught using whatever experience can help us better understand the truth.

At the end of the day, we’re looking for the truth that God has revealed to us about the family. We want to understand whatever there is out there to be understood, not just pieces here and there. If we ignore those whom we consider to be on the Jesus and boy opposite side of the house, how would we know that we truly understand what God is revealing to us? To understand we must listen, ask questions, separate the reasonable from the unreasonable, truth from falsehood, and Gospel from fashion. Only then will we be on the right path toward achieving our ultimate goal, to know God, serve God and love Him with all of our heart, mind, body and soul, here and in eternity.

Let us listen attentively, not aggressively.

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on October 18, 2014 at 1:32 AM Comments (3)

DON’T MESS WITH MY FAMILY

This afternoon I received an important challenge from one of our brothers. October is an important month, because it’s Respect Life Month. There are also other important events happening this month.

Today, the Extraordinary Synod on the Family began in the Eternal City of Rome. On October 19^th, Venerable Paul VI will be become Blessed Paul VI. I don’t think that any of this is a coincidence.

Some people have narrowed down and boxed in pro-life ministry to fight against abortion. There is probably no greater fight than the fight for human life, but we must not limit ourselves to life in the womb. We must extend our concern to all people from conception to natural death. We must protect life at all stages of development and in all conditions: healthy, sick, poor, rich, male, female, old and young, with special attention to the voiceless.

But where does life flourish? Where should life find its first home if not in the family? Today’s family is under attack, maybe no more than families in the past, but certainly by different kinds of demons. The enemy is resourceful, if nothing else. He can find different ways of tearing apart the fabric of the family by war, poverty, disease, bigotry, politics, infidelity, heterodoxy, apostasy, atheism and secularism. The key is not how creative the enemy can get. The key is how smart we are.

Human life, outside of the context of family life, is very difficult to defend, much more difficult to protect. To defend means to defend the dignity of human life. Man has a dignity that is inherent to his roots, which are found in the hand of the Creator. This dignity must be defended from those who would reduce man to an unexplained accident in the cosmos, making him expendable because he has no justification for his existence; therefore, no inherent value.

Any footb DON'T MESS WITH ME all player will tell you that the best defense is a good offense. Translated into Gospel terms, human life must be protected from the culture of indifference which is a culture of death. The best way to protect man and preserve him for the Kingdom is to push back against the economy of sin. Sin can no longer be allowed to be the currency that rules our lives as individuals, families or nations. When sin governs our lives, man despairs and the message of Christ is smothered by the cries of angst . . . . Man looking for gods, rather than God.

Pope Paul VI foresaw this coming and tried to warn us in his now famous encyclical Humanae Vitae, on the transmission of human life between husbands and wives in the intimacy of marriage and the shelter of the family. It is probably the Holy Spirit who has inspired Pope Francis to beatify Pope Paul VI at the end of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. Immediately following, on October 22^nd is the first feast day of St. John Paul II, the author of Gospel of Life.

We be signs lieve that this is a good month to do something together that is open to other members of the Catholic and pro-life community. The Franciscans of Life encourage everyone who reads our blog to organize an activity for this special month on life and the family. It can be something as simple as an evening rosary between several families, a night of praise and worship, a penitential service in atonement for those who destroy instead of build the human family. You may want to organize a meal with several couples to celebrate traditional marriage and family. The demon that afflicts human life and weakens the fabric of the family will only be evicted from our lives with prayer and fasting. A family or community day of fasting and abstinence is always St. Max good option.

Please post your ideas in the comments below so that others who read this can take some ideas back to their families and their parishes. Remember the words of Sacred Scripture. “Do not be afraid.” Through the prayers of the Immaculate Christ is slowly, but surely conquering the kingdom of darkness. He will not leave us orphans.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-bishops-invite-faithful-to-pray-for-family-synod-35304/ (more…)

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on October 6, 2014 at 12:09 AM Leave a Comment
Tags: Children

Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel’s Snowball

I want to begin by expressing to the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal (CFR) the most profound condolences from the Franciscan Brothers of Life on the passing of Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR. The Franciscan family may well have another icon in heaven. Father was certainly an icon while he was still with us.

My first encounter with Father Benedict was at the retreat house on Long “Gisland” as it sounded to me when he pronounced it. It was Advent 1980. I can’t recall the exact date, but he was hosting a Christmas party. I was attached to the Province of St. Augustine, but I had a Capuchin classmate at Catholic University of America from the Province of St. Mary. He had told me all about this colorful friar whom he wanted me to meet. As Providence would have it, we had to travel to New York for something and I got to meet the man whom I would later dub “Uncle Mame”.

He was loud, excited and to my young eyes, a little off. But, since he was a psychologist, I didn’t think much of it. All of us in this field are eccentric, neurotic or both. Yes, I became a neuropsych, but not at that point. Something remained with me. Like Auntie Mame, Benedict’s energy came from a noble heart. There was nothing pretentious about it. It was very credible.

A few years later, I asked for a dispensation and left the Capuchin Order, married, fathered three children and was widowed with two surviving children. Not having the Capuchins, having lost my wife and one child, and left alone to parent two children who were still in elementary school, life became terrifying. Like all people who are afraid, I too found different routes of escape that only complicated my life rather than help.

One day, in 1997, I can’t recall if I was watching EWTN or listening to some Catholic radio station, but I clearly remember that Father Benedict was doing a live program and you could call in after the show and speak to him off the air. I wish I could recall the name of that program.

In any case, I remembered my encounter with Uncle Mame, some 17 years before. I didn’t expect him to remember me, why should he. I was one of thousands of friars in the Capuchin Order and we had met in the midst of Christmas party. There was no time to get to know each other. Nonetheless, I had listened to him that morning and I remembered that energetic brand of kindness that emulated from him. I decided to call, thinking that I would never get through, maybe hoping that I would never get through. I’m not sure which. The fact is that I did get through.

I quickly explained my situation to him and told him that I was a former Capuchin, now a widowed dad of two very young children whose life was upside down and I couldn’t find a way get it on its feet again. I remember telling him of my fears as briefly as possible, figuring that this is a telephone interview, not a face to face spiritual direction. To this day, I have no idea what he said and it does not really matter. What matters is that whatever he said got me on the right path.

I remember his voice of concern for me, as if I were the only person on the queue waiting to talk to him. His voice was strong, but soft and soothing. Whatever his words were, they didn’t seem as important as the fact that this friar truly cared about me. I felt loved and cared for in a very special way. There was nothing mystical or magical about it. My life was still difficult. But as the days went by, whatever Father Benedict said to me started to kick in, kind of like a time-released medication.

That conversation led to other conversations with other holy men and women. Father helped me to realize that more than afraid, I was hungry. I was hungry for the Church. I was hungry for my Franciscan brothers. I was hungry for the life that Saint Francis had given to his sons and daughters. I was hungry for a tangible experience of God. My short conversation with him was the little snowball that rolled down the hill and grew and grew.

Fast forward. Today, my daughter is happily married. My son has finished his education, owns his own home, and is financially and socially independent. Both are model Christians. In 2009, I returned to Franciscan life. This time, not as a Capuchin, but as one of the founders of a new Franciscan brotherhood committed to preaching the Gospel of Life and living the Gospel as the first brothers lived it. We are the Franciscan Brothers of Life or Fratres Franciscani Vitae (FFV).

Is Father Benedict responsible for this? I would say that he set that little snowball in motion that turned into a very big snowball that led to my “reconversion”. In simple words, Father Benedict was a crucial element in a process, a small yet essential pebble on my journey’s road.

When we wrote our constitutions for the Franciscans of Life, we borrowed heavily from Father Benedict’s writings on the Franciscans of the Renewal. Though our mission may be slightly different from that of the CFR, our vision and roots are the same, St. Francis of Assisi and the early brothers. An important spiritual benefactor was Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR. His courage and that of the early CFRs inspires our brothers to look back and go forward to proclaim the Gospel of Life while living it as did those first brothers.

Thank you Father Benedict. One never knows where the seeds will land. But I can assure you, my good and faithful Franciscan brother that you planted a seed in my life, which was probably the first of many that I needed in order to begin again in a new garden.

Rest in peace my Brother.

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on October 5, 2014 at 1:04 AM Comments (1)

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EVENING!

Friday evening, the Franciscan Brothers of Life celebrated the Transitus of Our Holy Father St. Francis at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Pembroke Pines. It was an incredible evening of prayer, meditation, silence, some music, preaching and a role play of the death of St. Francis. There were the secular brothers and their families and the regular (consecrated) brothers and our relatives and friends.

The service began at sunset, just about the same time that we believe St. Francis died, with Postulant Eduardo reading St. Bonaventure’s narrative of St. Francis’ last days in this world. As Eduardo read from the writings of St. Bonaventure, two brothers carried in Aspirant Bernardo who played St. Francis of Assisi. It was very beautiful to see the great reverence with which the brothers and the rest of the congregation responded to a fragile and sick looking St. Francis, who wounded by the Stigmata, was carried in and laid on a stretcher on the sanctuary floor.

At one point, St. Francis asks to be stripped naked and laid on the bare earth. Father Superior and Aspirant Albert Rodriguez proceeded to strip St. Francis’ habit and to lay him naked on the floor, with the habit thrown over him just as Brother Elias had done 800 years ago when Francis was stripped of his habit by the brothers.

As Eduardo kept reading from St. Bonaventure, we heard St. Francis ask that the Canticle of Brother Sun be sung for him one last time. This time, the community broke into a quiet, almost whispered version of the Canticle, as if singing a lullaby to a child who is falling
asleep. There was such great tenderness and love in that church that one could feel the brothers of 800 years ago saying goodbye to their father and friend.

There was one last request from Francis. He wanted to hear the John 13: 1-17, the Washing of the Feet. For Francis, this was the rule of life. Christ exemplified poverty, humility, fraternity, charity, and service to the poorest of the poor. Christ gave the example of what it means to be the first-born among many brothers and a servant to all of them. With that, continued the reading from the Legend of St. Francis by Bonaventure until the moment when Francis’ soul is released from his body.

The brothers then proceed one by one to venerate the blessed hand of our Holy Father by kneeling and kissing it. The brother who played St. Francis had spent time in reflection with Father Superior on what it means to be an icon. This was not just a role play for us and he was not just acting. He was called to serve his brothers as a living icon of a saint. He entered into the moment with great reverence and a desire to do honor to the memory of St. Francis, charity to his brothers and give glory to God.

The Liturgy of the Hours continued as usual and Father Superior preached after the psalms. The sermon touched on sin, atonement, death, judgment, purgatory, heaven and hell. We reflected on the purpose of a Transitus. We look at the death of our Seraphic Father to learn how to die like saints. We ask ourselves the most important question in the world, “What would I leave behind, if tonight were my last night on earth? Would I leave behind good seeds that would continue to grow into beautiful plants and fruit bearing trees or bad seeds that would continue to grow as weed that chokes the life out of everything around it, all in my honor?” We know what kind of seeds Francis left behind, but as Francis said to the early brothers. “I have done my part. Now you must do yours.” The brothers then knelt before the crucifix and with arms wide open, forming crosses with our bodies, we prayed the Lord’s Prayer five times for each of his five wounds, the wounds of love with which he signed St. Francis’ body.

There was also the reading of St. Francis’ Last Will and Testament, followed by a prayer that he wrote and his blessing to the City of Assisi seconds before he died.

We spent the rest of the evening at Anthony’s eating pizza, exchanging stories, laughing and just enjoying being together as brothers. The secular brothers were blessed to have their wives and children to go home to after such a wonderful spiritual experience. The regular brothers were also blessed. We spoke about the blessings of celibacy and how it frees us to

live as family with each other. We talked about how much we love our family of Franciscans of Life, which not only includes secular and regular brothers, but it also includes our extended relatives, friends and the people whom we serve. No one escaped the jocularity, not even Mother Angelica and the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration. Friday night, everyone was Franciscan and every Franciscan around the world was remembered and some were roasted.

All I can add to this is what a blessing it is when we go back to the roots, recover what we were and move forward with confidence in God and love for each other. Pray that God will give us many more years together and that we may preserve our simplicity so as not to become another institution in the Church. We need living breathing icons, not more organizations and institutes. Happy Feast of St. Francis to everyone. Pax et Bonum.

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Life Issues

on October 4, 2014 at 2:40 AM Leave a Comment

God’s policies and Church teaching

I just saw the article linked at the bottom and thought I would comment on it. Once again, journalists are speaking out of their field of expertise and the general public is following along like sheep. A journalist is not a theologian. His or her role in society is to report news, not to rewrite Revelation and much less to distort it.

Reproductive rights and reproductive healthcare for men and women only includes artificial contraception and abortion in the mind of those who want to resolve a health issue the easy way out, without understanding what’s at stake here.

The Church has no authority to change revealed truth. The Old Testament condemns the spilling of the male seed in order to avoid

Pope Paul explained God’s policy on birth control. He did not invent it.

conception. The Church Fathers sustained this as Divine Revelation, therefore part of the Deposit of Faith.

The Church’s teaching on artificial birth control is not a matter of policy that the Church has the authority to change. This policy is God’s policy, not the Church’s policy. The Church can only teach God’s policy and remind us of it every few years, in case we forget. No man has the authority to overrule God.

The same is true on abortion. Natural law teaches us that the killing of an innocent human being, even an innocent animal, who is not a direct threat to our safety, is immoral. Why do we have campaigns to save the whales, save the dolphins or save some other endangered species? We have them because these are life forms that are not a threat to human safety and they are not a necessary food source. Therefore, there is no reason to attack them and take their lives. The preborn child is not a threat to human safety either, nor is he a source of nourishment. One has to use one’s imagination and stretch it exponentially in order to say that a preborn child is a threat to his mother.

A pregnancy may trigger some complex and even dangerous health issues, but this is not the same as a conscious attack coming from an adversary. The preborn child is not an adversary. This danger stems from nature following laws that God built into it when he created the natural world. To insist that one terminate the life of the preborn child is an unjust act and an unethical interference with the laws of nature, which man did not create. God did. It’s unethical because there are natural laws that allow us to avoid high risk pregnancies. They require some sacrifice on the part of the parties involved.

If we defend the natural right to life of non-human animals, why do we challenge the right to live of the human animal? Just as there are natural ways of avoiding the risk of being eaten by an alligator, there are natural ways to avoid pregnancy. In both scenarios, the living organism is not attacked and destroyed, nor is any human being who follows the the natural means to avoid a potentially dangerous situation threatened by an innocent life form.

These are laws that God built into nature. The Church can only teach them. She has no authority to change them. They are not the Church’s policies. They are God’s policies. It is God’s policy that innocent life, human or other, cannot be destroyed. Man has a moral duty to protect all life forms, especially human life, from conception to natural death. Man has no right to extrapolate a specific group, in this case women who are of childbearing age, and create exceptions to the natural law to protect women’s lives by killing preborn women. Natural law, as God created it, demands that the lives of all women be protected and natural law does not place the woman of childbearing age at the top of the female hierarchy, granting her a greater right to life than the woman in her mother’s womb.

Therefore, the Church cannot say anything different about abortion until such time as God changes the laws that he implanted in nature. The mission of the Church is not to make policies for God. The mission of the Church is to teach us God’s policies and to explain them as clearly as possible for each generation. If we have a problem with God’s policies, then we need to take the matter up with Him, not with the pope. From the time of God’s first self-disclosure to the Jews, Christians and Muslims, He made it perfectly clear, “Though shall not kill.” In context, this means that one may never take a life unless that specific person threatens our safety and we have no other option to kill or be killed. As long as their is another way to protect our lives, we are bound by the law. “Thou shall not kill.”

The Catholic Church does not make policies for God, she only explains them.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/aug/27/pope-francis-womens-lives-catholic-church?commentpage=1

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on September 3, 2014 at 10:58 AM Leave a Comment

Rosary Crusade for Life

Please say special prayers for Muslims and Christians in Iraq. This situation is definitely one that should attract the attention of a fraternity like our own, one that is committed to the Gospel of Life. The situation in Iraq has deteriorated into a complete disregard for the dignity of the person and the sanctity of human life, not just the life of the unborn, but also the lives of those between birth and natural death.

While we’re speaking of prayer to increase respect for the sanctity of life, let us not forget the Israeli-Palestinian situation. This has escalated to a point where boarders, differences in faith, or economic resources don’t seem to be important. The situation is starting to appear more like simple hatred.

Let’s just think about Muslims and Christians. We know that there are Israeli Muslims and Christians. We also know that there are Palestinian Christians, most are Orthodox and a small minority are Eastern Catholics and Latin Catholics. Despite this, we have a situation where brother is killing brother as if wanting to exterminate each other.

There is no room for indifference in the Christian life. The sanctity of life is disregarded. Human dignity is violated. Those whom God holds most dear to his heart, the voiceless, are killed, driven from their homes and terrorized.

The Franciscans of Life invite all of our friends and readers to remember the voiceless, even those who are thousands of miles away. Just because we don’t see them does not mean that they don’t exist, don’t suffer and don’t need our prayers.

(August 15).I’m inviting everyone whom we know to engage in a Rosary Crusade from the moment that you read this to the Solemnity of the Assumption Let us call upon the Mother of Life itself to intervene and open new windows so that hearts and minds can see and try new approaches to peace and compassion.

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on August 1, 2014 at 12:59 AM Comments (1)

How does morality define discrimination?

If this is true, our country is spiraling out of moral control. Refusing to pay for contraception, abortifacients and anything that violates moral law is not discrimination against women. Discrimination is denying someone what the person has a natural right to have.

Medicare pays a fraction for hearing aids. Many older people have hearing problems. It refuses to pay for prescription glasses without a copay. Most older people need glasses and live on fixed incomes. Medicare clients paid their share of. FICA for years. The current HHS mandate requires no copayment or premium on the part of the employee. Which of the two groups is a victim of discrimination? Discrimination is a grave sin.

When a society discriminates against the elderly, few people notice; because most seniors are part of the voiceless. The Culture of Death has found a voice in the public square.

The Franciscans of Life need everyone’s help to turn the Culture of Death into a Culture of Life. This is our moral obligation as human beings. Let us pray that people will look at these issues and see them as God sees them.

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on July 9, 2014 at 5:49 PM Leave a Comment

Franciscans of Life

Vita ad vitam vocat

Conscience in crisis

Walking for Life

Parents and God: friends or foes?

Listen attentively, not aggressively

DON’T MESS WITH MY FAMILY

Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel’s Snowball

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EVENING!

God’s policies and Church teaching

Rosary Crusade for Life

How does morality define discrimination?

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