“…Father Emmanuel Acquaye, a chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, thinks soccer and Advent go together like candy canes and Christmas trees. ‘I love it,’’ said Father Acquaye, a native of Ghana who played as a goaltender through high school before coming to the U.S. in 2013. ‘I think Advent and the World Cup are a natural fit. Advent is all about the joy of waiting for the arrival of the Lord, and the World Cup is all about joy. When you enter that stadium or turn on that TV, you forget about religious ideologies and politics and it’s just the joy of the game. …It’s like walking into heaven. Soccer finds a way to cut through differences and bring people together…'”
Friar Michael reflects on his November 2022 trip to the Amazon and his visit with Friar Erick Marin Carballo, OFM Conv., who serves on a team of itinerant missionary disciples in the Amazon.
If you live in the Syracuse, NY area and you have never tried Fat Friar Cookies, you are in for a real “treat!”
This continued tradition, with a recipe & decorated shape perfected about a decade ago by Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Nick Spano, OFM Conv., not only are these Chocolate-Dipped Shortbread Cookies deliciously adorable, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these and the Linzer Tart Cookies goes directly to helping the Food Pantry & Soup Kitchen ministry of our Franciscan Church of the Assumption, to provide nutritious food to those in need in the Syracuse, NY area. Your deadline is December 13th, so get your order in today, before you forget. This special Christmas promotion pick up is on December 22nd, only at the Assumption Food Pantry & Soup Kitchen.
Fat Friar Cookies are also sometimes available at another ministry of Assumption Church ~ The Franciscan Place, a chapel, spiritual sanctuary & religious goods shop, in Syracuse’s Destiny USA Mall. Call ahead to see if they have any in stock.
Side Note: Fr. Nick Spano, OFM Conv. now serves the province as Pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish (Coal Township, PA) and St. Patrick Parish (Trevorton, PA), two of three parishes in Pennsylvania’s Northumberland Coal Region, served by our province friars.
For 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.
In 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. In September of 1224, two years prior to his death, while praying on Mount La Verna, St. Francis received the marks of our Lord’s Passion in his hands, feet and side; a miracle known as the Stigmata, after composing and praying “The Praises of God” (see below). Written on a parchment which is signed and also contains a blessing from St. Francis to brother Leo, it is conserved as a relic in the Basilica of St. Francis, in Assisi. In the Life of St. Francis, Saint Bonaventure states, “while Francis was praying on the mountainside, he beheld a Seraph having six wings, flaming and resplendent, coming down from the heights of heaven. When in his flight most swift he had reached the space of air nigh the man of God, there appeared betwixt the wings the Figure of a Man crucified, having his hands and feet stretched forth in the shape of a Cross and fastened unto a Cross. Two wings were raised above His head, twain were spread forth to fly, while twain hid His whole body.” (pg. 139 Vision of the Seraph) Later in the work, St. Bonaventure speaks of the Fulfillment of the Visions (pg. 146-147), “Now finally that vision that was vouchsafed thee toward the end of they life, – to wit the exalted likeness of the Seraph, and the lowly Image of Christ shewn in one, – kindly thee inwardly and marking thee outwardly as another Angel ascending from the sunrising, having the seal of the Living God in thee, – giveth a confirmation of faith unto those visions aforesaid, and likewise receiveth from them a witness unto its own truth.”
According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi prayed the following prayer:
“O Lord Jesus Christ, two favors I beg of you before I die. The first is that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in my soul and in my body the suffering in which you, O gentle Jesus, sustained in your bitter passion. And the second favor is that I, as far as it is possible, may receive in my heart that excessive charity by which you, the Son of God, were inflamed, and which actuated you willingly to suffer so much for us sinners.”
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 word seraphic is often used to describe St. Francis of Assisi and his passion for God. In turn it is affiliated with the Franciscan Order, whose members strive to live the charism of our Seraphic Father and founder. This is why it is also referred to as the Seraphic Order. We are comprised of the First Order – priests and brothers professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as members of one of three independent branches (OFM, OFM Conv. and OFM Cap.) as well as the Second Order – cloistered nuns professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience belonging to the Order of St. Clare (OSC) the Poor Clares (PC), and those members of the Third Order – religious and lay men and women performing works of teaching, charity, and social service known as the priests, brothers and sisters of the Third Order Regular (TOR) & the lay men and women of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).
The Praises of God
You are holy Lord God Who does wonderful things.
You are strong. You are great. You are the most high.
You are the almighty king. You holy Father,
King of heaven and earth.
You are three and one, the Lord God of gods;
You are the good, all good, the highest good,
Lord God living and true.
You are love, charity; You are wisdom, You are humility,
You are patience, You are beauty, You are meekness,
You are security, You are rest,
You are gladness and joy, You are our hope, You are justice,
You are moderation, You are all our riches to sufficiency.
You are beauty, You are meekness,
You are the protector, You are our custodian and defender,
You are strength, You are refreshment. You are our hope,
You are our faith, You are our charity,
You are all our sweetness, You are our eternal life:
Great and wonderful Lord, Almighty God, Merciful Savior.
Let us pray:
Prayer after Meditation
Receive, most merciful God,
by the prayers and merits of the blessed Mary ever Virgin,
of our blessed father Francis,
and of all the Saints,
the service of our submission;
and if we have done anything worthy of praise,
graciously look down upon it;
and what has been done negligently, mercifully pardon.
God,
You live and reign in perfect Trinity,
world without end.
Amen.
Image “borrowed” from our Province’s Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody friars, living in St. Francis Friary, in Wexford, Ireland
Our 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
Upcoming Events at Saint Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine and Historic Site
For more info, call 518-853-3646 or email: info@katerishrine.org
December 10, 2022, 12-4:00 p.m. Christmas sales in Gift Shop
December 10, 2022, 4:00 p.m. Candles and Carols Service by the Crucifix
December 11, 2022, 12-4:00 p.m. Christmas sales in Gift Shop
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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.
Upcoming Events at The Shrine of St. Anthony For more info, call 410-531-2800 or email: info@shrineofstanthony.org
Franciscan Place Chapel & Gift Shop at Destiny USA, & Fr. Stephen Frenier, OFM Conv. (at right), who also resides in the same friary, along with five more friars, serving in the Syracuse area.
In addition to celebrating Mass and facilitating the sacraments for the Catholic community at SU, Fr. Gerry Waterman, OFM Conv. and the Catholic Center provides many opportunities for enrichment and service, such as the weekly “Thursday Night Dinners,” when the students and greater community gather for Mass (above), free dinner & dessert, and fellowship. On the last Thursday of each month, the evening concludes with a Service Initiative, such as making sandwiches for the clients served by Assumption Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen (an outreach of our Syracuse, NY pastoral ministry – Assumption Church) and by the Samaritan Center on W State Street, in Syracuse. This month, the Sandwich Ministry (below) took place on the 3rd Thursday, since the last Thursday in November is Thanksgiving in the USA.
Members of the Junior Catholic Leadership Course*, of our Baltimore, MD high school ministry ~ Archbishop Curley High School, under the direction of Fr. Chris Dudek, OFM Conv. (pictured above at right), delivered food collected through the school’s FYM Thanksgiving Food Drive, to the Franciscan Center of Baltimore, a ministry began by the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore in 1891, which also is the recipient of the produce grown on our Little Portion Farm.
*Excerpt from page 10 of the Course Description Catalogue 2022-2023: JUNIOR CATHOLIC LEADERSHIP 1 Credit This course will attempt to form students as authentic Franciscan ministers both currently in our Curley community, and in the future as part of one’s community, parish and family. The year will begin by discussing various existential questions of human nature such as happiness, grace, freedom, conscience and faith. Students will learn how to approach these various topics in their own lives and how to employ various basic peer ministry strategies. The course will then analyze practical applications of these fundamental principles. These will include discussions about human dignity, the sacramental life, virtue, sexuality, mercy, death, and grief. The students will be challenged to relate these various topics to their lives and find ways where they can authentically minister to their peers. Special attention will be made to show how Saint Francis and Franciscan Spirituality can speak to the various topics discussed and be a model of a radical living of the Christian life. Students will be expected to help plan and execute various FYM or school-wide activities. This course will fulfill the junior religion requirement and all students will receive honors credit from this course. This course requires previous involvement in the FYM program and requires approval of the director of campus ministry and one’s teacher.
CAN I KNOW TRUTH? (Part Twelve: FROM VATICAN II TO A NEW CLARITY IN THE CHURCH’S MISSION)
12 Days on Pilgrimage in August
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6).
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
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[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Rev. Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, President, Franciscan University of Steubenville, 7 October 2022. [2] Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, encyclical, 1943. [3] Pope Benedict XVI, Letter to Rev. Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, President, Franciscan University of Steubenville, 7 October 2022. This is a rare public statement of the Holy Father Emeritus. [4] J. Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Reasonableness of Christianity, Ltr. on Toleration. [5] P. D. Fehlner names a double gift from Vatican II: Sources of Revelation (Dei Verbum); and the development of doctrine throughout. I found a third gift within both: “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and of the Church” (Lumen Gentium, ch. 8). Three for one. [6] S. Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 7, Preface. [7] Miranda from Shakespeare’s, The Tempest. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932.
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
Feast Day of Saint St. Elizabeth of Hungary ~ November 17, 2022
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.
Our Lady of the Angels Province friar, Fr. Emmanuel Oposika Acquaye, OFM Conv. was quoted in this December 1st – The Catholic Review article, by Gerry Jackson.
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.
