 Giving Tuesday ~ Farm FocusFor four growing seasons, Little Portion Farm has benefitted from a great many gifts bestowed by the people and other creatures who visit and inhabit the land, by the land itself, and, of course, by the Creator above. The soil, sun and rain bestow their gifts on the seeds generously planted by volunteers. The seeds themselves sprout by a process that we may take for granted, but is, in reality, a miraculous burst of life flowing from above.  All Saints of the Seraphic Order ~ November 29thIn the Bull of Pope Honorius III, issued November 29, 1223, the Final Rule of our Order was ratified. The Rule was initially outlined and approved by Pope Innocent III, in 1209, but as the Order grew in those first years, revisions to the initial Rule were needed. After a version prepared in 1221 was seen as too strict, St. Francis of Assisi enlisted the aid of several legal scholars to compose the Final Rule that was approved in 1223. In commemoration of that day, all the saints of the Franciscan (Seraphic) Order are remembered each November 29th.
St. Francis was in intense prayer when the Lord appeared as a Seraph, whose flaming, resplendent wings mimic God’s intense love as it was shared by Christ, as is portrayed in the sanctuary space of our Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City, MD), in the reproduction mural by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Joseph Dorniak, OFM Conv. (see photo), reminiscent of Giotto di Bondone’s St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, a fresco (c. 1300) in the upper church of the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi. The Praises of God Let us pray: Prayer after Meditation  Image “borrowed” from our Province’s Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody friars, living in St. Francis Friary, in Wexford, Ireland  Upcoming Events ~ News from Our ShrinesOur Lady of the Angels Province has two Shrine Ministries: Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site (Fonda, NY) and The Shrine of St. Anthony (Ellicott City, MD). The Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site promotes healing, encourages environmental stewardship, and facilitates peace for all people by offering the natural, cultural, and spiritual resources at this sacred site. It is also the site on which St. Kateri lived from 166-1677 and the place where she was Baptized. The Shrine of St. Anthony has been home to many friars and has served as a student residence, a house of philosophy, and a novitiate. The historic property includes prayer paths, a Grotto of Lourdes, an outdoor Stations of the Cross, as well as the Carrollton Hall Historic Site – Manor House.  On Saturday, November 19, 2022, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site sponsored an Advent Wreath Making Workshop. If you would like to support the Shrine through the holidays, starting on November 28, 2022, they launched their second online fundraiser auction. Holiday 2022 Auction
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*Excerpt from page 10 of the Course Description Catalogue 2022-2023: Learn more about lie as a student at Archbishop Curley High School! For more information on vocations with our province, email: vocations@olaprovince.org.  Reflection by Fr. Ed Ondrako, OFM Conv.CAN I KNOW TRUTH? 12 Days on Pilgrimage in August Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s insight is that “in Vatican II the question of the Church in the world became the real central problem.”[1] He explains the critical reconsideration of the concept of the Church as the mystical body of Christ as having passed its peak.[2] In this situation, he wrote his dissertation on “People and House of God in Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church.” About the same time, Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv. wrote his dissertation: “The Role of Charity in the Ecclesiology of St. Bonaventure.” Two great contemporary thinkers inspire me to write with an eye on the new situation that has arisen for the Church in the world. CAN I KNOW TRUTH was an inspiration during our Marian Franciscan Pilgrimage from 14 – 23 August beginning in Prague, St. Vitus Cathedral (Hradčany), Our Lady of Victory Church and the miraculous statue of the Infant of Prague, Franciscan Church, to Altӧtting, Munich, Marienplatz, Ettal, the historic Passion Play at Oberammergau, Salzburg, Melk, Mariazell, Vienna, Bratislava, Esztergom, and Budapest. Now it is time to turn to the new situation in which we twenty-eight pilgrims find ourselves. Would you agree that “the question of the Church in the world” moved us to participate, or was at least a hidden motive? Faith raises questions in the brave new world. Our families engaged with theirs; it is time for our engagement. After Prague, we admired the beauty of Bavaria where Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was born and prayed at the Shrine he loves, Our Lady of Altӧtting. No doubt you agree with him that the question of “the Church in the world,” on the one hand, is lashed by secular modernity, and, on the other, the wider spiritual dimension of the concept of the Church is joyfully perceived. The question of the meaning of “the Church in the world” includes the realism of faith and its Catholic institutions throughout the world. Remember, public opinion immediately after Vatican II astonished those whose personal degrees of belief and unbelief desired the Church and its faith to be recognized, so long as its faith was considered beautiful, and in a harmless place.[3] “Keep your beautiful Catholic faith harmless” is the mantra buffeting the Church today. I will critique that mantra by engaging key elements of the Church in the world, interpret them with a positive and a negative perspective, and be alert to what is past peak. Defining secular modernity, according to my wise sister, Frances, is the starting point. Secular modernity is readily visible in the 1690’s in the thought of the philosopher John Locke. Think of Sts. Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure and Bl. John Duns Scotus as living during pre-modernity, and Locke as living in modernity. The origins of our U.S. Constitution (1787) are connected to Locke.[4] A second chapter to CAN I KNOW TRUTH? will change the subtitle from “12 Days on Pilgrimage in August”, to “The Church in the World.” Unlimited resources will open up: the Bible, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, from Sts, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine to John Henry Newman, Maximilian M. Kolbe, Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Franciscan School as sketched by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, OFM Conv.,[5] and others, such as Charles Taylor. Pope Francis, the first named after St. Francis, focuses on the Church of the poor, mercy, synodality, and integral human development for everyone. Twelve reflections have shown me what direction to take. Being with you on pilgrimage made us critically reconsider dimensions of the universal Church for our day. With Pope Emeritus Benedict, we agree that the important concept of the Church as the mystical body of Christ was awakening in souls and has passed its peak. You will agree with him about the concept of the Church, for its part, not missing the realism of faith and how it is lived or not throughout the world. We aspire for a Church whose ecclesiology has not passed its peak. Our 12 Days of Pilgrimage gave birth to experiences in preparation for engagement with the question of the Church in the world. One pilgrim came from the Anglican Church which gave an ecumenical tone. There were two astrophysicists; two lawyers; a research historian; a speech pathologist; a linguist; several in the business world; a widower increasing belief in his wife’s presence; a math teacher and writer; a widow praying for her family’s faith, who is a teacher and active with the poor; a confessor at the Vatican; administrators in government and the Church; and a theologian studying the “gift of modernity.” All prayed for our families, friends and communities, living and grieving our deceased. We shared insight into how the forces of secular modernity evacuates faith. A transition is to “The Church in the World.” Kierkegaard’s counsel to one who intended to write a book was to consider carefully the subject about which he wished to write, to acquaint himself as far as possible with what has already been written on the subject, for he might meet an individual who had dealt exhaustively and satisfactorily with one or another aspect of that subject, and would do well to rejoice as does the bridegroom’s friend who stands by and rejoices greatly as he hears the bridegroom’s voice. “When he has done this in complete silence and with the enthusiasm of a love that ever seeks solitude, nothing more is needed; then he will carefully write his book as spontaneously as a bird sings its song, and if someone derives benefit or joy from it, so much the better.”[6] “O brave new world!”—it is brave, but is it human?[7] Know the answer yourself. Fr. Ed Ondrako, OFM Conv., Univ of Notre Dame, eondrako@alumni.nd.edu ________________________ [1] Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Rev. Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, President, Franciscan University of Steubenville, 7 October 2022. Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conventual  Click on this link to read Parts I-XII  Guadalupe Torch Arrives at St. Julia’s  The Guadalupe Torch (Carrera Antorcha Guadalupana Mexico New York) again arrived at our Siler City, NC pastoral ministry ~ St. Julia Catholic Community, on Monday, November 14, 2022, all the way from the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. For 20 years the Asociación Tepeyac de New York has coordinated the Torch Race to honor the Queen of Mexico. The torch left Mexico City and crossed the border into the USA, where it will end in New York City.The St. Julia Catholic Community, including their pastor, Fr. Julio Martinez, OFM Conv. (seen holding the Paschal Candle which was lit by the torch – held by parochial vicar, Fr. Luis Palacios Rodriguez, OFM Conv., in photo at left) celebrated with song and dance, as a welcome. Along with the torch, the images seen in the Sanctuary Space photo above, of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalpe have been traveling along with the runners. This event has been incorporated into the spiritual preparation for the great Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on December 12th. More photos are available on the parish Facebook page.  VocationsNational Vocation Awareness Week (November 6-12, 2022) may have ended, but our Vocation Awareness efforts are in effect year-round. Three of our friars serve as Vocation Directors: Br. Nicholas Romeo, OFM Conv. & Fr. Emanuel Vasconcelos, OFM Conv. on the East Coast of the USA, and Friar Reto Davatz, OFM Conv. in [Ontario] Canada, for our Province Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi. If you live on the East Coast of the USA, contact Friar Nick and Friar Manny If you live in Ontario, Canada, contact Friar Reto
In other parts of the world, visit our Curia’s website for contact information for the Province Location nearest to you.  Honored in Stained GlassAs a chaplain, a Franciscan priest and an Army captain, he shows the German officer these men are all wounded and dying….It was a moment when he had to make this life-threatening decision. He handed his Mass kit to the owner of the house-café for safe-keeping because he might not be back.”  Veterans Day 2022Veterans Day is dedicated to American veterans of all wars, celebrated on November 11th each year. This date was chosen because, in 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, then known as “the Great War.” Originally commemorated as Armistice Day, and becoming a federal holiday, in 1938, in the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day.  Many of our friars have served in the Armed Forces. A veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, Fr. Santo Cricchio, OFM Conv. currently serves the province as Guardian of the St. Philip Benizi Friary, assisting the parish with priestly ministry, while provides counseling services for the Jonesboro, GA area through an office in our pastoral ministry of St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church. [Pictured here, in October 2005, Chaplain Santo Cricchio, OFM Conv. gave his first Mass in French at a Catholic Mission in Arta, Djibouti. He was requested to assist in a shortage of priests in the area by the Catholic Bishop of Somalia.
Excerpt from the “Navy Hymn” Friar Curt’s reflection ~ “The Priority of Peace” |
According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi prayed the following prayer:
On Saturday, November 26, 2022, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., the rooms of The Shrine of St. Anthony were filled with families and friends, as the friars of St. Joseph Cupertino Friary hosted the Annual Advent Family Festival. Joined by the student friars of St. Bonaventure Friary (Silver Spring) and their formators, the event featured hayrides, a build your own Advent wreath workshop, snacks and cider, a bon fire and even photos with St. Nicholas ~ joyfully portrayed by student friar Raad Eshoo, OFM Conv. – pictured with Fr. Jacob Carazo, OFM Conv. – Assistant Formation Director and student friar Sebastian De Backer, OFM Conv. Good will offerings were accepted at this free event, and the gift shop was open.
