Student Friars of our North American Provinces are on retreat in Ocean City, MD. Several took some time to participate in a Plunge for Vocations in the cold Atlantic Ocean, as seen in this video posted on the Facebook Page of our confreres of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation. Keep them and all of our friars in formation, as well as those in discernment, in your continued prayers. For more information on life as a Franciscan Friar Conventual of Our Lady of the Angels Province, email vocations@olaprovince.org
January 8, 2021: The Holy See officially announced that Pope Francis has appointed Friar Dominique Mathieu, OFM Conv. as the Archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins (Iran).
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Brad Milunski, OFM Conv. is the Director of our Inter-Province Postulancy, in Chicago, IL. In addition, he serves as a Pilgrim Guide for Franciscan Pilgrimages and gives his time on several ministry Boards, including the Franciscan Mission Service, where he serves as Board Chair. On January 7, 2021, virtually from the Chapel in the St. Bonaventure Friary (The Postulancy) , he was presider at their Mass of Gratitude for Monthly Donors.
Franciscans hold great reverence for the saints. We customarily celebrate the Epiphany as a feast for promoting personal holiness. During the para-liturgical ceremony of the Extractions, each friar draws the name of a saint (who becomes his patron for the year) and a short spiritual exhortation (as a focus for spiritual refinement). During Epiphany the community also renews the sanctity of our homes (friaries) by processing to bless each room. Early in Franciscan history, this tradition developed for our friars. In our province, traditionally, friars from local friaries in one area would join together for this fraternal celebration. As we are practicing safe social distancing, concessions had to be made. Friars of a singular friary either celebrated in their own residence, or with several friaries virtually gathered using today’s technological resources. The insert at left is from our Immaculate Heart of Mary Friary (Baltimore, MD), as they celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany with the Extraction of Patron Saints. It shows the Blessing of the friary with the signing of the entrance door by the friary Guardian.
Below is a screenshot of the ZOOM Celebration with our four friaries in North Carolina: Blessed Sacrament Friary ~ Burlington, St. Anthony of Padua Friary ~ Durham, Our Lady of Guadalupe Friary ~Pittsboro, and Our Lady of the Angels Friary ~ Winston-Salem.
Throughout our province, many ministries are still offering live-streamed Masses. A sampling of these Masses is often posted via our Province Facebook Page and we encourage to faithful, who are unable to attend Mass in person, to continue to join our ministries online. To find a website link for our ministry location nearest to you, visit the “Locations” page on our website.
Weekend Masses are streamed online from many more of our ministry locations. For example, the Duke Catholic Center YouTube Page is a great source for not only weekend Mass, but many videos created for adult enrichment, presented by Fr. Michael Martin, OFM Conv., Director of Campus Ministry. Here is his Christmas Reflection for 2020:
Since I last wrote you to commemorate the founding of the Militia of the Immaculate (October 16, 1917), the world has experienced a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, on the occasion of the anniversary of St. Maximilian’s birth, I wanted to write again to encourage you and to strengthen the bond that unites us through St. Maximilian and his devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God.
On January 8, 1919, Father Maximilian celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday, having been ordained a Franciscan priest on the previous May 28, 1918. How timely the parallel is for us that, in those days as well, the second and worst wave of their own pandemic (1918 Spanish flu) was coming to an end. Perhaps, Father Maximilian and the other friars in Rome, where he was studying for his doctoral exam in theology, were feeling some sense of relief. Still, the Spanish flu had claimed the most victims in the age group from 20 to 29 and Father Maximilian had already lost two young friends, close confrères with whom he had founded the Militia of the Immaculate: Friar Antoni Głowinski, from Romania, died October 18, 1918 and Friar Antonio Mansi, from Naples, died October 31, 1918. Following the funeral service for Friar Antonio on November 2nd (All Souls’ Day), Father Maximilian, together with other friars, accompanied the body to the cemetery. Typically, All Souls’ Day in Europe sees cemeteries filled with visitors but, in 1918, the cemetery itself became another victim of the Spanish flu, as Father Maximilian simply writes in his notes, “An automobile with several coffins. The cemetery closed.” Then, Father Maximilian’s own “City of the Immaculate” in Poland was ravaged by the pandemic; of the 70 friars affected, several died.
However, in St. Maximilian’s written notes following spiritual meditation at the time, there is no entry on the significance to be attributed to the pandemic or the anxiety it was inevitably causing. No, his notes are filled with expressions of complete entrustment and utter confidence that all things can be done through the Immaculate. The following meditation notes appear in and around St. Maximilian’s birthday: “Jesus is our love. Mary our hope – you can do all things through her.” (January 4); “Entrust all things to the Immaculata.” (January 18); “Trust her in all things.” (January 21); “Trust in the Immaculata without limits.” (January 26).
St. Maximilian’s filial devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God is unique. Behind every expression of faith in our loving God and Savior, who cares for all in every circumstance of life, there is also implied the conviction that the Immaculate will intercede and insist on our behalf (Ad Iesum per Mariam). Even at Auschwitz, this can undoubtedly be read into St. Maximilian’s letter to his mother on June 15, 1941. In this, the last extant letter written by him, St. Maximilian writes, “All is well with me. Beloved Mama, do not worry for me and for my health, because the good God is in every place and, with great love, He thinks about everyone and everything.”
Let us pray to our loving God, through the Immaculate, for an end to the Covid-19 pandemic and for the consolation of all who have been devastated by it. Let us pray especially that we, as M.I. members, will continue to consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate for the common good, for the betterment of our world and for the conversion and salvation of souls. May the prayers of St. Maximilian accompany and strengthen us in this holy resolve.
Very Reverend Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv.
Provincial Delegate –
Our Lady of the Angels Province Delegation of St. Francis of Assisi (Canada)
Province Delegate – Militia of the Immaculate (M.I.)
The harvest continues! Interestingly, we have harvested more food (by weight) this month than we did in November. As a result, we have officially surpassed 20,000 pounds of food harvested this year! We were put over the top last week after harvesting 861 pounds of carrots from two 100-foot beds.
Invisible Light takes us through the story of a man named Theophilus who shares with us his grief of losing his son and the struggle of living through a time of violence in Rome. He returns to the Gospel of Luke, which was dedicated to him, as a source of comfort and soon finds himself being transformed by the story of Christ’s humble birth. What Theophilus soon discovers through Luke’s Gospel is ‘Emmanuel’ come to life in some unexpected encounters leading him to see this “Invisible Light.”
Additional credits:
Elder – Friar Israel Sabastian, OFM Conv. of St. Joseph Cupertino Province
Young Woman – Bethany Perzanowski
Woman with the Yellow Veil – Bethany Perzanowski
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” song credit to:
Richard Foty
Ernest Marquez
Ken De Los Santos
members of the Seraphim and Cherubim choir
Very Reverend Fr. Jobe Abbass, OFM Conv.
Invisible Light takes us through the story of a man named Theophilus who shares with us his grief of losing his son and the struggle of living through a time of violence in Rome. He returns to the Gospel of Luke, which was dedicated to him, as a source of comfort and soon finds himself being transformed by the story of Christ’s humble birth. What Theophilus soon discovers through Luke’s Gospel is ‘Emmanuel’ come to life in some unexpected encounters leading him to see this “Invisible Light.”
