Saint Francis with the Blood of Christ (c. 1490-1495) by Carlo Crivelli

The Triumph of the Cross and Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi – September 17
Texts: Gal 6, 14-18; Lk 9, 23-26.
Theme: A new creation is everything (Gal 6);
Subtheme: Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed (Lk 9). NRSV

Love for the Eucharist: Principles to Align and to Choose
Over 800 years ago, St. Francis of Assisi led a Eucharistic crusade to rekindle understanding, respect and love for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Our times mask the recurrent problem of growing cold in understanding, love and reverence for the Eucharist. In times that are uncommonly difficult, how do we deal with our duties towards God and our duties to society and the State. Our duties towards God and the State are different. Often enough they are seen as contraries. When our duties are contraries, what do we do? We often dance around issues as long as we can. We wait to make difficult decisions until we cannot defer any longer. The truth is that we do not hate the world, the State or society, but we have to align, which means to weigh our duties, our abilities, and the quality of our Christian example. When duties towards God and duties towards the State are contraries, we have to do more than align; we have to choose.
St. Francis of Assisi said: YES to the real innovation of Christianity, the truth in the Second Person of the Trinity as God and Man, the hypostatic union, by which the atonement and transforming forgiveness of sins is from above, and beyond our capability and incapability to explain. The Truth took on our human nature, was born in time, loved us and consumed our guilt in the fire of his love. To listen to conscience is to become free to hear the message of conscience. Truth becomes a yoke that is not too heavy. YES, we have the right to try to escape from extremities that God allows to come our way, to try to reconcile the demands of divine and human law, the laws of the Church and laws of the State. Thomas More’s precise teaching justifies our natural desire to escape what God allows us to suffer.
The Eucharist is the center of the Church’s life. We live with real and apparent contradictions. Pope Benedict teaches: “Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom; without him freedom loses its focus, without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, reduced and alienated to empty caprice. With Jesus, freedom finds itself.”[1] St. Francis imitated Christ perfectly. He suffered with Christ’s wounds. St. Thomas More (martyred 1535) aligned with Christ’s suffering. As a statesman, he exemplified the license to defer, to compromise as inevitable, and how to religiously sanction compromise.
Guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the Second Vatican Council reminded us that in every age of the Church’s history, the eucharistic celebration is the source and summit of her life and mission. “The Eucharist makes us discover that the Christ, risen from the dead, is our contemporary in the mystery of the Church, his body.”[2] As our primary teachers on the wonder that the eucharistic mystery must awaken in the hearts of the faithful, the American Bishops are leading the faithful towards a renewed Eucharistic crusade that aligns with Eucharistic crusades throughout history. May the Virgin Mother of our Savior assist us to ignite a new Eucharistic “awe and love.” May the Holy Spirit fill us with the same ardor experienced by the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Lk 24: 13-35)![3]
Sts. Francis and Thomas witness the persuasive authority of Eucharistic truth in our secular age. Conscience formation, prayer and discussion of love for the Eucharist pivots on: (1.) alignment and choice; (2.) the Christian license to defer; and, (3.) compromise that is religiously motivated.

• Principle one: alignment is horizontal; choice is vertical. As a young man, Francis hesitated. Prayer led him to align with the Gospel and to choose to become like Christ. God gave him the gift of the sacred stigmata, the wounds of Christ. Thomas More was married and after his wife died, remarried. He aligned with King Henry VIII as a lawyer and loyal chancellor, but, in the end, chose God over the King.
• Principle two: the Christian is licensed to defer. Francis tried to defer, to become a knight, but grace overpowered him. Thomas More exemplified the genius of Catholicism to attempt to compromise. Compromise is relative rather than absolute. His skills were in loyalty to duties of the State, ability to reconcile with duties to God and duties to neighbor. When these duties became contraries, fidelity to conscience and religious motivation won the personal crisis, his license to defer.
• Principle three: claims of compromise by forming conscience needs religious motivation. Thomas More tried every legal avenue to escape taking the oath of supremacy to King Henry VIII. The inconvenient truth of the papal denial of the king’s petition for an annulment prompted Henry to make himself the Head of the Church of England. We live with consequences of the “rebellion.”

St. Thomas was caught in a dangerous ordeal that no one desires, deferred, and with legal skills compromised as far as possible. As the pressure mounted, he remained silent of criticism of the King, but in the end, Thomas’ religious conviction sealed his fate. He was condemned to death and martyred in full sight. When Thomas was going up the steps to the platform to be executed so all could see, he thanked the executioner for help and added that he would not need any help on the way down.
At his final earthly judgment, St. Thomas More said: “I am the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”  In his Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul described all Thomas Mores as “A new creation [which] is everything” (Gal 6). St. Paul was blunt with the Galatians. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus was publicly exhibited as crucified” (Gal 3). St. Paul reminded the Galatians that they had started with the Spirit, then relied upon doing the works of the law for their justification and redemption. “[How could] you be so foolish?” It is not doing the works of the law but “a new creation [that] is everything.” St. Paul cried out: “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6).
St. Thomas More’s convincing example is a virtue of attempted reconciliation that goes beyond the virtue of prudence. His choice to remain silent and not to speak out in public against the king prompts deeper reflection. In the end, Thomas More’s loyalty to King Henry VIII and his faithful silence did not help for he was executed by his friend over an inconvenient truth. How many similar martyrs are there? History attests to countless examples of loyal martyrs, bloody and unbloody or emotional.
Discussions about reception of the Eucharist and Catholic politicians who do not align with Catholic teaching are very painful. One side wants to escape, by which I do not mean running away from responsibility. The other side wants to align with the power of the lie, which is deaf to the internal promptings of truth. Yet, to be in denial of the consequences of our acts and deaf to the present judgment of conscience puts us into a perilous space. Vatican II confirms that the truth wins with gentleness and power.[4] God allows and uses sinners, frail and weak persons, to do his will.
How do we invite understanding, respect, and “awe” for God’s seven sacraments? How do we avoid weaponizing them? Christ became the food of truth inviting everyone to the truth about love!

In Celebration of My Golden Jubilee Year of Priesthood, Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, O.F.M.Conv.[5]
eondrako@alumni.nd.edu

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[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, (Vatican: 2007), 2. The Eucharist is the very center of her life.
[2] Sacramentum Caritatis, 3. Ritual forms are orderly from antiquity.
[3] Sacramentum Caritatis, 97. This is key to theological development on the Eucharist.
[4] See Vatican II, Decree on Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae. Memory has a freshness for modernity.
[5] See P.D.Fehlner, Theologian of Auschwitz (Hobe Sound, FL: Lectio Press, 2020); E. Ondrako, Rebuild My Church (Hobe Sound, FL: Lectio Press, 2021). Fehlner explicates St. Francis and Ondrako amplifies Fehlner’s Franciscanism.

Fr. Edward J. Ondrako, OFM Conventual
Research Fellow Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure, Rome
Visiting Scholar, McGrath Institute for Church Life
University of Notre Dame
September 17, 2021

Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you and adore you. Like Francis, we are amazed that you held nothing back from us in pouring yourself out for us so totally through your holy wounds on the cross. We ask you to breathe forth your Holy Spirit into us and set our hearts on fire, so that, with the Spirit’s help, we might respond more fully to you. Amen.

Fr. James M. McInerney, OFM Conv., Fr. Colin Mary Edwards, OFM Conv. and Fr. John Delaney, OFM Cap. are friars of our Province Custody – Blessed Agnellus of Pisa (Greyfriars of Great Britain & Ireland) who serve in ministry at the Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady in Walsingham, England. Starting today, September 15, 2021, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, pray along with our friars, the clergy and staff of the Walsingham Shrine, the devoted pilgrims there, and all who share in the online Novena in honor of Our Lady of Walsingham. The Novena ends on the September 24th Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. (Downloadable Novena)

Each day will be shared on our Province Facebook page from the posts on the Catholic National Shrine Walsingham Facebook page, so you can easily join in prayer. If you do not have access to Facebook, visit the Novena – Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady (walsingham.org.uk) on the Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady website for each daily prayer link: Novena, Day 1: The Annunciation of Our Lord – Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady (walsingham.org.uk)

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.
St. Michael and the Archangels, defend us from all evil and disease.
St. Joseph, patron & protector of the Universal Church, pray for us.
Saints & Martyrs of England, Wales, Scotland & Ireland, pray for us.

If you live in Great Britain or Ireland and would like more information on vocations with our Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody, contact the Custody’s Vocation Director, Fr. Maximilian M. Martin OFM Conv. at The Friary, St. Mary’s Road, Oxford, OX41RU or email him at vocation@thegreyfriars.org.

An altered image of a Chapter at the Portiuncula (“Little Portion” as St. Francis called the St. Mary of the Angels chapel) from “The Little Flowers of St. Francis,” published in 1919 by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. London. The book is an English translation by Thomas Okey of “I Fioretti di S. Francesco,” by Antonio Cesari (1822) of collected tales of St Francis of Assisi. Original stories were in Latin from about 150 years after the 1226 death of St Francis.

A modern Franciscan Chapter is reminiscent of the 1221 version when St. Francis of Assisi called more than 3,000 friars to come together as family, to the Portiuncula chapel, in Assisi, for a general meeting or “Chapter of Mats.” At that time, the friars lived in huts made from reeds and brought their sleeping mats with them, to the area surrounding the chapel to have a place to sit. Modern day friars, instead meet in a conference center, get to sit on actual chairs, and sleep in “real” beds. It is however still thought of as a coming together as a family, offering witness of brotherhood and celebrating Franciscan life. Days are filled with meetings, presentations as well as the much-needed work of organizing the general needs of the friars and ministries of the Province. Chapter is also a time to just enjoy Franciscan Brotherhood. From September 13-16, 2021, a set of delegate friars (about 1/3 of the province) will be representing the rest of our 165 Solemnly Professed friars at an Extraordinary Provincial Chapter.

Our province is grateful to those to whom we minister, and all of those who prayerfully support our work, who are praying for our friar delegates at our Monday through Thursday Meetings. We will share some photos after the Extraordinary Provincial Chapter.

Pax et Bonum!

PHOTOS

Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv. (pictured at right on left: Provincial Delegate – Our Lady of the Angels Province Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi of Canada & Delegate to the M.I.) and the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. (pictured at top center: Our Lady of the Angels Minister Provincial) met with the Franciscans of Halifax (Nova Scotia) over the 2021 Labor Day holiday weekend to discuss future collaboration. The Franciscans of Halifax are a public association of the faithful, comprised of ordained priests, whose roots and charism are linked to the Italian Franciscan Friars Conventual. They currently number 8 members under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Halifax.

While in Halifax, Dr. Simone Abbass took her brother, Friar Jobe, and Friar James to visit and pray at the graves of 170 of the victims of the sinking of the Titanic.

Join Our Lady of the Angels Province friar and Executive Director of our St. Clare Inn ministry, in Toronto, ON, Br. Tom Purcell, OFM Conv., for the 12th Annual Linda’s Walk!
Every Year, St. Clare Inn hosts two major fundraisers to help with operating costs. Since St. Clare Inn is entirely funded privately and without any government support, these fundraiser are vital to keeping the doors open. Proceeds account for almost 40% of operating costs. On September 25th, they will hold their 12th Annual Linda’s Walk.

Saturday September 25, 2021
Linda’s Walk 2021

St. Clare Inn’s 12th Annual Linda’s Walk! Due to COVID-19, they will be offering walkers two options to participate:

• an in-person physical walk
• a virtual walk

The in-person option will consist of staggered walk time registration. The in-person walk will start and end at St. Bonaventure Church. The virtual walk option will allow walkers to walk in their own neighborhoods and at their own speed and convenience. The third way to participate is by buying a 50/50 Draw or making a DONATION.

Registration Prices
Adult Registration: $25.00
Youth Registration (Ages 12-15): $15.00
Child Registration: Free
A Linda’s Walk t-shirt is included with each registration!

50/50 Draw
This year, we will also be holding a 50/50 Draw.
The winner of the draw will be announced after the walk.
1 Ticket for $5.00 donation
5 Tickets for $20.00 donation

For more information please email St. Clare Inn at info@stclareinn.org or call 416-690-0330.
Participants can also register for the walk by visiting the website at www.stclareinn.com/events/.
Thank you for supporting St. Clare Inn!

THANK YOU from Br. Tom Purcell, OFM Conv.

Fr. Julio Martinez, OFM Conv. serves as pastor at St. Julia Catholic Community, in Siler City, NC. He was featured in this article in the Chatham News & Record. ~”God has given us the ability to develop the vaccine and so I have promulgated getting vaccinated among our people here at St. Julia’s,” Father Julio Martinez of St. Julia’s Catholic Church said, “and I will continue to do that.”

On Sunday, August 29, 2021, on behalf of Our Lady of the Angels Province Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. who sent a message available via the parish website, our Vicar Provincial, Fr. Michael Heine, OFM Conv. joined Fr. Carl Zdancewicz, OFM Conv. (pastor), Fr. Joseph Angelini, OFM Conv. (pastor emeritus) and Fr. Daniel Pal, OFM Conv. (parochial vicar) to say “Farewell” to the parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church & Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, in Winston-Salem, NC, after 34 years of pastoral ministry by our friars. Here are his remarks and photos he took throughout the day:

The façade of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church

“On behalf of Father James McCurry our Minister Provincial and the entire Our Lady of the Angels Province, I want to say thank you for opening your hearts and lives to us Franciscans for these past 34 years. My name is Father Michael Heine, and I am the Vicar Provincial. I first heard about this wonderful parish when I was still a seminarian back in 1987. I can recall the excitement of the friars as this new opportunity came about in the south, here in the Diocese of Charlotte. There was a thrust in the Province to move south and to minister to the thriving Catholic Community and ever growing Catholic Hispanic community. Father Edger Holden and Father Canice Connors couldn’t wait to arrive, and you all opened your hearts to these sandal wearing friars, as you did for the 21 other friars who followed. You have all made an impression on the friars and we are so blessed to have been able to minister to and with you here on Link Road as well as West 3^rd Street downtown.

The interior view of the Sanctuary Space of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church

Saying good-bye is never easy, especially when the love is so strong. Imagine how difficult it was for the apostles to say goodbye to Jesus as he ascended into heaven. The friars were broken hearted in the year 1226 as they said goodbye to Saint Francis as he welcomed sister death. Today is no less difficult. With heavy hearts and tears in our eyes, we Franciscans say that even though we depart, our love for you all has not diminished. It is not easy for anyone; for the friars or for you all.

Final Blessing by Friar Daniel, Friar Carl and Friar Joe

On behalf of our Franciscan Friars, I want to thank in a special way Fathers Carl, Joe, and Daniel as they have journeyed with you, especially in these last few months since the announcement by Bishop Jugas was made. As you know the friars profess three vows – poverty, chastity, and obedience. These three vows are much more than the three knots on our cords. Leaving a ministry and people we love, is when the rubber really hits the road – we are called to let go of something and people very important to us, our love is for all people not just a select few and even though I am sure if they had a choice, our three friars would want to remain, but that vow of obedience calls them, calls us to go and be led by the Spirit.

Friar Carl

Sad yes, disappointing I imagine, there may even be a bit of anger at the situation and that is ok. As Christians we know the Lord never leaves us. He is always calling us to a deeper relationship with Him. Those scared and confused apostles, once filled with the Holy Spirit preached throughout the world and it is on their shoulders we stand today. For over 800 years the friars, open to the working of the Holy Spirit, who Saint Francis called the real Minister General of the Order, have tried to share the merciful and gentle love of the Lord. What I am saying, the goodbye of the apostles and the early friars opened up new possibilities and empowered by the Holy Spirit enflamed them to continue to build God’s Kingdom on earth.

Friar Joe

The same Holy Spirit is alive and well here at Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Fatima. We always preach that the Church is not a building, although this one is beautiful and will always have the image of the San Damiano Cross on the front, but the Church is not the friars, not the sisters – the Church is all of us and as living stones the Lord continues to use us to build up His Body.

Friar Dan

Next weekend, there will be two new, young faces here celebrating with you. Certainly not as handsome as these three! We are all different in our own way and we know you will open your hearts and lives to them as you did to us.

The practice of saying goodbye goes back centuries. It’s a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye.” In the distant past, people didn’t have the means of communication we do today, and they often didn’t know when or if they would see that person again when they parted. So, they issued a sincere send-off, asking God to be with them until they met again.

Parishioner Blessing on the Friars

Sister and brothers, God be with you until we meet again, either here in the beautiful south or ultimately in our heavenly home. May our Blessed Mother under the titles of Our Lady of Mercy, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of the Angels, intercede for all of us as we listen the voice of the Lord and follow His holy and true command. Thank you and God bless!”

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The bulletin message of thanksgiving, presented by Friar Carl, on behalf of Friar Joe and Friar Daniel:
Dear beloved parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Fatima Churches, I want to express my deepest thanks to all of you for your support over the many years that the Conventual Franciscans have ministers at both of our churches in Winston Salem, NC. It certainly has been a great privilege for me to come to know so many of you throughout the 7 years I have been your pastor. Your help in so many different areas of leadership has given me hope that the church is still valued by you. We have a very diverse population in our parish. We have tried to be authentic ministers to the great blend of cultures that make up our wonderful community. The spirit of our parish is alive and well and it will flourish in the coming years. I reflected this past weekend on one important idea. Due to the Covid pandemic which arrived in 2020, we need to focus our attention on reinvigorating our ministries. As September comes, all leadership positions in the parish community need to be filled with people who are currently attending church services. We have fewer people attending and many of the positions for leadership especially in the liturgical area are vacant. Since we less have Altar Servers, Lectors, Ushers, and Eucharistic Ministers, I invite you to volunteer to come active in one of these important rolls. Remember that the Lord Jesus calls us all to service among ourselves and others. Let us continue to be a vibrant community! The Friars of Our Lady of the Angels Province will continue to support the people here at Our Lady of Mercy and Our Lady of Fatima with our prayers and very good memories of what has been achieved over these many years. Please keep Fr. Joe, Fr. Dan and Fr. Carl in your prayers. Keep in touch with us via email or telephone. We will love to hear from you.

Left to Right: Most Reverend Adam J. Parker – Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore, The Most Reverend William Edward Lori – Archbishop of Baltimore, Friar Chris, Dr. Donna Hargens – Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and James B. Sellinger – Chancellor of Education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Chris Dudek, OFM Conv. was chosen as the Teacher of the Year, not only for our Baltimore, MD high school ministry of Archbishop Curley High School (where he is a theology instructor, Curley’s campus minister and moderator of Franciscan Youth Ministry), but also as the Archdiocesan High School Teacher of the Year. He and Fr. Donald Grzymski, OFM Conv. (school president) concelebrated the Catholic Schools Convocation Mass on Thursday, August 26, 2021, celebrated by Archbishop Lori. The Mass was limited to attendance by those who received “Teacher of the Year” throughout the schools of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, but joyfully the choir from Archbishop Curley was able to provide the music for the Liturgy. Another one of our friars serving at Archbishop Curley, Br. Lawrence LaFlame, OFM Conv. was also recognized for his 5 years of service in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. On May 20, 2021, Friar Chris was surprised on the campus of Archbishop Curley High School. He is pictured here, receiving a new laptop from Archbishop Lori, during the presentation ceremony after the August 26th Mass.