 HAPPY FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS!
Dear Members and Associates of the Order of Franciscan Hermits... Brothers and Sisters... Although we "Celebrate" and commemorate the Holy Life of our Founder - St. Francis of Assisi, today, I am sure many of us find it difficult to be sources of Hope and Joy when there is such devastation and suffering going on throughout the world with COVID-19, fires, social injustices, political divisiveness, the inability to attend Mass in many areas throughout the world, and overall lack of Unity among the people of this planet (etc. etc. etc.) It seems to be a tall order to believe we can solve all of these issues. St. Francis witnessed the tragedies of his own time and his solution was to keep his eyes on Christ... to imitate and identify with Him so closely, that he bore the wounds of his Lord and Savior. I'm not suggesting that we all need to have the Stigmata, but to really, truly be followers of Christ, by Living the Gospel Life... "The Good News"... "The Way" to LIVE and BE "on EARTH as it IS in HEAVEN." Jesus gives us the solution for our difficult times... to LOVE... God... Our Neighbor... Ourselves... Our Enemies. "LOVE" is not just a "State of BEing"... "to BE in LOVE" but is also an "Action Verb"... "To LOVE"... LOVE requires ACTION. The Gospels give us the strategy to solve the problems we're facing now and for all eternity. In John 14:12 we have an VERY interesting passage that I think is overlooked way too often... "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father." "Works" in the Gospels are not only feeding the poor and visiting the sick and imprisoned, but also include performing miracles. Healing others was part of Jesus' "works." In this passage, Jesus is saying that YOU and I can do "GREATER WORKS" than He did! I can hear you now... "Brother Paul is going crazy here... he's saying we can perform miracles???!!!" YES... with the Help of the Lord and our Faith in Him. ALL of our "Saints" that have been canonized, including St. Francis, have had "miracles" attributed to them through their intercession. YOU and I are Saints in the making. If you believe in the Bible... Here's my proof that we can solve our world's problems... "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 All we need is FAITH. Trust in the Lord, but we must "ASK and You Shall RECEIVE." Matthew 7:7 Many of you know that a dear friend's son, Ian, was diagnosed this summer with liver cancer at the age of 15. We immediately started praying here within our OFH FB group, and Ian was "miraculously" given a liver transplant even though he was way down on the list of recipients needing a new liver. For whatever reason, the Lord decided to send him a perfect donor match ahead of everyone else on the list. Within 2 days of receiving the transplant, he was walking and sitting up in a chair in the hospital. He is out of ICU now and has a bright future ahead of him. I TRULY BELIEVE that, through our prayers, Ian was given this new chance at life. It was through our "Asking" that we "Received" this miracle. The question is... How much do we want WORLD PEACE... EQUALITY... JUSTICE... to LOVE as the Lord has asked us to LOVE??? I believe that ALL of the world's problems are due to a lack of LOVE within humans. Greed and selfishness is so strong, there is no room for LOVE to exist within. I believe we cannot LOVE, Unless and UNTIL we FORGIVE... FORGIVENESS is a Dimension of LOVE... Forgiveness is not separate from LOVE. Let's start Forgiving and LOVING Today! Until we can see that we are ALL Children of God, despite our differences (political, religious, racial, financial, gender... ALL the many differences we perceive each day)... Until we BE and DO as Jesus did as asked of us in the Gospels, we will continue to suffer from the Sin of selfishness that has separated all of us from one another. Every time we pray the "Our Father" we say, "Thy Will Be Done, on EARTH as it IS in HEAVEN"... Who do we think is supposed to be "DOing" the Will of the Father??? It's just magically going to happen, or if it someone else's job??? NO... it is each and every one of us that are called to do the Will of the Father, by Living the Gospel Life! Knowing this now, we have the ability to be sources of Hope, Joy and HEALING for others... to BE LOVE and DO LOVE, to... BE on EARTH as it IS in HEAVEN! Pax et Bonum Dear Brothers and Sisters... PEACE and LOVE Always Br. Paul, OFH Founder and Guardian of the Order of Franciscan Hermits  VIDEOS
BOOKS
DOCUMENTS/ARTICLES
MISC. 
"In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis examined "two great issues . . . fundamental at this time in history . . . the inclusion of the poor in society, and, second, peace and social dialogue." In the very center of this examination, Pope Francis mentions Francis of Assisi, explicitly by name, as a model.Pope Francis is indeed a Franciscan pope. Yet he is not uniquely so, since previous pontiffs have also tried to incorporate elements of the Franciscan tradition. The difference is that Mario Jose Bergoglio has done it even more explicitly and comprehensively."
CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"a building was erected in St. Augustine in 1588 to act as a friary for the Franciscan missionaries who came to Florida with the intention of Christianizing the native people.“For 175 years, this was the headquarters for the Franciscan mission system. They effectively Christianized an estimated 40,000 natives,” St. Francis Barracks historian Alison Simpson said.
During their stay in Florida, the Franciscans built some of the first churches and made the first dictionaries based on Indian languages. Franciscans pledged themselves to poverty and remnants of the friar cells can still be found at the barracks today." CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"Around seventh grade, Steinbach says he knew he wanted to make performing and teaching music his career. He says a group of Franciscan nuns shaped his ability during the first 10 years of his studies. Sister Mary Senglaub stands out in his mind as a mentor who greatly inspired him to become a professional pianist."
CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"A special place has now been dedicated at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City to honor past and present Sisters of St. Francis.
Tina Stroud, interim vice-president of university relations at BCU, said the space has been designated to recognize the sisters who have given their “time and service to the campus since the inception” of the college." CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"The story of the waves of emigration forced on the Catholic Irish by the consolidation of English Protestant power in Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries is well-known.
Members of the Gaelic and Old English aristocracies, soldiers, priests and students fled largely to the Catholic monarchies of France, Spain and Austria. The Holy Roman Empire, a vast complex of around 1,000 semi-autonomous political units under the loose rule of the Austrian Hapsburg emperors, was particularly welcoming. Many of them ended up in Prague, capital of the kingdom of Bohemia where, after the 1620 Battle of White Mountain ended the first phase of the Thirty Years War, a parallel process of trying to suppress Protestantism was taking place." CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"In the mid-1980s, Clare Van Lent was happily working as a Franciscan sister in Dubuque, Iowa, when a bothersome idea entered her head: Mississippi.
"You'd think I'd come to Mississippi?' she says, still a bit incredulous 30 years later. She traveled to the state and met with the bishop. They talked about the two Trappist monks in Noxubee County, who were ready to call it quits on their efforts to create a self-sustaining monastery on a 600-acre farm. The bishop offered little encouragement, but Van Lent thought she ought to have a look." CLICK HERE for Full Article 
"ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Some have called the mission of the Franciscan priests a journey of faith.
"450 years ago, September 8th, Christianity became firmly planted in what is now the United States," Father Tom Willis, priest at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Augustine said. Pedro Menendez founded St. Augustine with hundreds of people and with four priests, Willis noted. "There had been several other expeditions before Menendez to Florida, but they failed for one reason or another," Dr. Timothy Johnson added. Johnson is a professor at Flagler University and an expert on Franciscans." CLICK HERE for Full Article |
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