First Mass Homliy

Homily from Fr. Luke Fletcher, CFR, on the occasion of the first Mass of the six newly ordained friars. Given at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Manhattan, New York City, on Sunday, May 28th.

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/first-mass-homily

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WHO AM I?

Podcast from Br. Gabriel and Fr. Luke. Just back from a great retreat, we discuss the question of identity. Who am I? Listen to learn more!

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/who-am-i






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Divinization: The Fullness of Christian Life

Podcast by Fr. Jeremiah, CFR

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/divinization-the-fullness-of-christian-life




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Why Lourdes is Famous

Lourdes is famous for many reasons, most of which is that everyone who comes receives graces of healing and graces of gratitude.  I was privileged the other day to visit the baths with my group.  As a priest I was moving about praying with all those preparing to enter the baths.  I met an elderly man who had a number of ailments. He could barely walk, had dementia, but loved to talk.  For some reason he had no one to help him get into the room to wait his turn for the baths so I went in with him. As i was waiting with him he mentioned to me that when he got to heaven he was going to give the Blessed Virgin a big hug and a kiss.  And I asked him "What is she going to do?" he said that she would give him a big hug and a kiss in return.  The faith of this failing man was tremendous.  

While we waited, Charles spotted a man waiting his turn to enter the baths.  Charles saw on his leg a number of terrible looking sores, and prayed at the top of his lungs: "Lord Jesus, heal his sores!'  This simple prayer made me realize that suffering makes one empathetic, compassionate towards others.  No matter how bad you may be suffering, there are always others who have a worse situation.  What one realizes here in Lourdes is that suffering is allowed by God, but the good He brings is to bring us together so that we suffer together, share one another's sufferings as we walk towards heaven.  

A member of my group was healed here as a child of terminal leukemia and has been returning every year since then to serve the sick.  A mother with a very ill child said she smelled roses as her baby was placed in the water of the baths. Those and other peoples' stories are quite dramatic .  But there are hidden miracles here, miracles of the heart, where many find God, find peace, find acceptance of His Will in their lives.  And even amidst their sufferings, so many leave Lourdes eternally grateful for their lives and faith.  I am so very grateful for God putting Charles in my path the other day.  God be praised.  Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us.

+ Fr. Anthony Baetzold, CFR

Down Wind

A deer’s sense of smell is at least 500 times greater than humans, and they can smell you up to a half mile away. Hence the sale of deer urine to squirt on boots, sent-blocking sprays, and laundry detergents, etc. I was reminded of all this because this past weekend I was on hermitage at an old farm house in the country where we make retreats…and there were tons of deer! 

As I sat on the front porch in the evening silently watching the suns shadow travel across the creek and green fields towards the wooded hillside in the distance, I heard the familiar sound of deer coming down the hill behind the house. On my right side two beautiful doe trotted out into plain view only twenty yards from where I sat on the porch, I just watched them as they ate cloves in the fields and wished that I had at least the single-shot crack-barrel 20 gauge shotgun my Dad made us start hunting with to learn to make the first shot count. ☺ The deer never noticed me and kept on their way. Then on my left a herd of at least a dozen deer descended the hill and entered the open roughly forty yards away. No sooner, however, did they walk past the house than all their heads popped up with noses raised – then they sprinted in the opposite direction. They never saw me, but they were down wind and smelt me, which led me back to the Gospel I was praying with before the glorious distraction of fourteen deer. 

I was reading through the various Resurrection accounts we have been hearing at Mass these days of Easter, and I was baffled by the recurring theme of intimate friends and disciples meeting Jesus face to face after the Resurrection and not knowing who he was! The Resurrected Christ somehow was not recognizable as he was in the overpowering manner of the Transfiguration or the miraculous manifestations of His power found in the Gospels. St. Paul tells us that the ability to see the unveiled face of Jesus is a work of the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18). The Church Fathers also spoke about how the Revelation of Christ was a work of the Holy Spirit, that is to say, without the Holy Spirit at work in us we cannot recognize Christ in His divinity. Throughout the Resurrection accounts we hear of a moment of revelation that comes to the disciples, whether upon hearing one’s name, the showing of Christ’s wounds, a miracle of fish, or in the Breaking of the Bread. The resurrected Christ is present before they realize it, and it is the Spirit of Christ that manifests this hidden presence to us. 

St. Francis was on to this very fact when he wrote to his brothers that “because God is a spirit, therefore it is only by the spirit He can be seen.” He went on to connect the disciples faith in the divinity of Christ while on earth with the gift of faith we have through the Spirit to recognize Jesus Real Presence in the Eucharist, or as the Gospel say, the “Breaking of the Bread.” This Easter season the Church proclaims boldly that the Lord is indeed risen. He is in our midst - in our everyday lives, our families, our work, nature, beauty, suffering, and most especially the Eucharist. He is here! The question is whether we are standing in the wind of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us His Presence, or are we up-wind eating grass unaware that “It is the Lord” who is before us. Come Holy Spirit and give us eyes to see the Risen One who dwells among us, especially in the “Breaking of the Bread”!

+ Br. Malachy Napier, CFR

Yonkers, NY

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How Jesus Brings It All Together

Podcast from Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR. The risen Jesus offered the first bible study while on the road to Emmaus. Finally it all makes sense, it all fits together. Jesus wants to teach us the meaning of our own lives. Finally it all makes sense, it all fits together. Listen to learn more!!

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/how-jesus-brings-it-all-together

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-friars/id1100357971

Google Play

https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/I7u2fjhkolw2aa235eto5siywza

Stitcher

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/from-the-friars