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Thursday, April 30, 2015
ICONS TV SHOW
Today is the day! Check out the NEW ICONS: Real People. Real Presence. video promo. Please like and share it with your friends, family, neighbors and strangers! Full speed ahead! Keep us in your prayers as we officially kick off our fundraising efforts to raise money for the pilot episode and first season. We are grateful for your support on this journey! God Bless!
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
CFR Founding Day
Today marks the 28th anniversary of the founding of our community, a most celebratory day. It is sadly though the first time we celebrate this day without Fr. Benedict Groeschel. His passing is still felt, especially on a day like today. Without him, our community would simply not exist. When he and 7 others left the Capuchins to found this community 28 years ago, little did they know that in a short time, the community would grow to over 120 members worldwide. Starting a new community is no picnic, as our founders have always said. It is full of blood, sweat, tears, trials, crosses, and yes, joy. Fr. Benedict and our other founders wanted to live in a radical way, carrying the charism and spirit of St. Francis into the poorest neighborhoods, and into the 21st Century.
It is difficult to say where we will all be in 28 more years, yet we can find inspiration in these 8 men’s’ example. They did not know what lay ahead of them when they moved to a war zone in the South Bronx in 1987. They could not see but a few days ahead of them. Yet they went all in on God’s Providence, and He provided in spades. Fr. Benedict often said when they began the Renewal: “We have to do something!” These are guiding words for us in our time and world. May their example inspire us to abandon our lives into the Hands of the Good Lord.
+ Fr. Anthony Marie Baetzold, CFR
Community Vicar
Yonkers, NY
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Saturday, April 25, 2015
Francis Cardinal George, Rest in Peace
STATEMENT OF THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF THE RENEWAL
ON THE DEATH OF HIS EMINENCE, FRANCIS CARDINAL GEORGE
The Friars wish to express their sadness upon learning of the passing of Cardinal Francis George.
We are particularly thankful for the friendship, guidance and example of Cardinal George. A fellow religious and stalwart leader of the Archdiocese of Chicago, His Eminence was a prophetic voice in our times. We are especially grateful for his support of our Father Bob Lombardo and the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels outreach on the West Side of Chicago.
May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
ON THE DEATH OF HIS EMINENCE, FRANCIS CARDINAL GEORGE
The Friars wish to express their sadness upon learning of the passing of Cardinal Francis George.
We are particularly thankful for the friendship, guidance and example of Cardinal George. A fellow religious and stalwart leader of the Archdiocese of Chicago, His Eminence was a prophetic voice in our times. We are especially grateful for his support of our Father Bob Lombardo and the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels outreach on the West Side of Chicago.
May his soul, and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The Playfulness of the Resurrection
At the Easter Vigil, the church—as always—was beautifully arrayed with lilies and tulips, with candelabra and their clean white candle sticks. Yet my favorite part is always the little lamb displayed before the wooden altar. It’s that image where the lamb has tucked up against his white fleece the banner of the Resurrection—a flowing white banner with a stark red cross. I failed, however, to notice this little lamb until I was walking up to receive communion. He caught my eye at this moment because of the movement of the people shuffling up the aisle towards the altar. Once I would see him then someone would shift their weight obstructing my view. This happened repeatedly so that the lamb seemed to be ebbing in and out of the people ahead of me as if hiding—playfully.
In fact, the same was true for the Lord himself. If I looked ahead in another direction there was Jesus prominently presented before the communicant and then disappearing into his hand. It was as if he was popping up, and winking, he would slip away again. I sort of laughed to myself about this playful interpretation of these events, but the truth is I found it very endearing of God. I’m going to get you, I thought. And I did, of course, but isn’t that what the hider wants when we play such games? When we play peek-a-boo with a child, its fun and elicits laughter insofar as eye contact is made or perhaps just anticipated. It is played with the hope of catching sight of the other.
I think about this in reference to the Resurrection. For forty days Jesus is popping up now here, now there. He comes disguised—looking like a gardener or a passer-by. He shows up walking through walls and eating fish. He appears at specific times to specific people but not at all times nor to all people. One may always be expecting him as if with eyes closed, and the Lord himself may somehow be joyfully anticipating his next encounter when his friend’s eyes are uncovered and he is beheld. I think there was much laughter during these days.
Of course, the rules change a little bit after the ascension. After Pentecost it is different, but the game is still played. Jesus still comes to his friends. Jesus still wants to appear before you when your eyes are uncovered. But since at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to give us a new spiritual vision, Jesus appears before our the eyes of our spirit. The problem is we seem to be very good at covering these eyes, huh? The problem may be that we’ve taped them shut.
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Yonkers, NY
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In fact, the same was true for the Lord himself. If I looked ahead in another direction there was Jesus prominently presented before the communicant and then disappearing into his hand. It was as if he was popping up, and winking, he would slip away again. I sort of laughed to myself about this playful interpretation of these events, but the truth is I found it very endearing of God. I’m going to get you, I thought. And I did, of course, but isn’t that what the hider wants when we play such games? When we play peek-a-boo with a child, its fun and elicits laughter insofar as eye contact is made or perhaps just anticipated. It is played with the hope of catching sight of the other.
I think about this in reference to the Resurrection. For forty days Jesus is popping up now here, now there. He comes disguised—looking like a gardener or a passer-by. He shows up walking through walls and eating fish. He appears at specific times to specific people but not at all times nor to all people. One may always be expecting him as if with eyes closed, and the Lord himself may somehow be joyfully anticipating his next encounter when his friend’s eyes are uncovered and he is beheld. I think there was much laughter during these days.
Of course, the rules change a little bit after the ascension. After Pentecost it is different, but the game is still played. Jesus still comes to his friends. Jesus still wants to appear before you when your eyes are uncovered. But since at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to give us a new spiritual vision, Jesus appears before our the eyes of our spirit. The problem is we seem to be very good at covering these eyes, huh? The problem may be that we’ve taped them shut.
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Yonkers, NY
---------------------------------------
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Friday, April 10, 2015
Lessons from Lourdes
At Lourdes, as in many apparition spots, the Blessed Virgin Mary asked for a chapel to be built. Why? Mary always leads us to her son, Jesus. A chapel is where we encounter Him at Mass! On our birthday we had the blessing of offering Mass in the original Lourdes chapel. St. Bernadette herself prayed in this chapel before she left Lourdes for the convent.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Easter
Mary of Magdala had just the time to run to the Cenacle and to come back to the Garden behind the Golgotha, incredulous, by the lane asleep of Jerusalem. The sun had not yet crossed the top of the mounts of Moab. At her first visit to the Tomb, she had not noticed that the jasmine and the almond tree exhaled a sweeter fragrance than usually, and she had remained deaf to the cheerful song of the bird that, dumbfounded, had seen the stone rolling.
In the stories of appearances, always the Lord makes the first step. There is first surprise and
confusion, then recognition and confession of faith, and finally a mission is given. Todays’ Gospel
respects this sequence.
The one whom she searches since daybreak, Mary mistakes Him for the gardener. Jesus has to call
her by her name so that she recognizes Him and confesses Him as Her Master. Mary would
undoubtedly try to extend this moment, but Jesus puts an end to effusions to entrust her the mission
to confirm the Good News of his resurrection to his disciples. So therefore, the first Evangelist was
a woman! The sinner with demonstrative love entrusted with the mission to strengthen the unsteady
faith of the first companions.
This mission of “confirmation” did not stop on Easter morning. Since 2000 years, men and women had received the mission to proclaim Christ’s resurrection as the core of the Christian faith to their brothers and sisters. It is still ours today. While the faith in Resurrection collapses in the West, including among churchgoers, to the advantage of a vague belief in ”reincarnation” for liberals and “jet-setters”, it is essential to return to the foundations of our Christian faith. Because, as pope Francis put it in his first Encyclical Letter : Christ’s death discloses the utter reliability of God’s love above all in the light of his resurrection. As the risen one, Christ is the trustworthy witness, deserving of faith (cf. Rev 1:5; Heb 2:17), and a solid support for our faith. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile", says Saint Paul (1 Cor 15:17). Had the Father’s love not caused Jesus to rise from the dead, had it not been able to restore his body to life, then it would not be a completely reliable love, capable of illuminating also the gloom of death. (2)
With the all Church, we have fifty days to rediscover our faith in Christ’s Resurrection and to build all our life on this unshakeable corner stone.
fr. Raphael-Jacques, Cfr
Friday, April 3, 2015
Holy Friday
Jesus said : It is consummated
…
And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit - John 19, 30. It is by this sentence, of an extreme sobriety, that the Gospel according to saint John depicts Christ’s death. In his account, no darkness or earthquake, torn curtain in the Temple and opened tombs with raising saints walking in the city - Mt 27, 45, 51-53. No! Just a feeling of fullness.
Certainly, the Passion according to John, as the three others, puts every reader in front of an absolute horror : the condemnation and execution of an innocent, of THE Innocent. Two chapters where meet all together: bad deal, treason, indifference - denounced in his Letter for Lent by Pope Francis - and finally, a pure violence of which men are sometimes capable. Synthesis of all the misfortunes of our world, which, in spite the increasing feeling to belong to the same humanity, seems to have no limits. How, in this year where we remember the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Death Camps, do not think to Auschwitz in this day?
Yes, all bloody human madness, and more still, is contained in the Passion. However, it is the apex, the summit, of a way, which, from Bethlehem to the Golgotha, brings back humanity on its feet! Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped - Philippiens 2, 6 ss -. And again : In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered - Hebrews 5, 7-8. If Christ, in John’s, can give up his spirit so serenely to the Father, it is because during all his life on earth he was drive by the accomplishment of his father’s will: Holocaust or victim you did not desire… then I said: Behold I come. In the head of the Book, it is written of me that I should do your will, O my God - Psalm 40, 7-9. Where the first Adam had rebelled, second, The Eternal Son, found his joy in obedience. Pilate was not aware that he was right when he proclaimed: Here is the man - John 19, 5. The man who accepts his condition of creature, who refuses deadly temptation to think himself as God, and to act as a demiurge - Genesis 3, 5.
This True Man tells himself to us throughout the Gospel and the Cross summarizes his message. Today, we must contemplate it in order to know more about Him. Come, let us adore Him in the silence of our heart. By his wounds, we have been healed of ours and He guides us toward His glory.
+ fr. Raphaël-Jacques, Cfr
And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit - John 19, 30. It is by this sentence, of an extreme sobriety, that the Gospel according to saint John depicts Christ’s death. In his account, no darkness or earthquake, torn curtain in the Temple and opened tombs with raising saints walking in the city - Mt 27, 45, 51-53. No! Just a feeling of fullness.
Certainly, the Passion according to John, as the three others, puts every reader in front of an absolute horror : the condemnation and execution of an innocent, of THE Innocent. Two chapters where meet all together: bad deal, treason, indifference - denounced in his Letter for Lent by Pope Francis - and finally, a pure violence of which men are sometimes capable. Synthesis of all the misfortunes of our world, which, in spite the increasing feeling to belong to the same humanity, seems to have no limits. How, in this year where we remember the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Death Camps, do not think to Auschwitz in this day?
Yes, all bloody human madness, and more still, is contained in the Passion. However, it is the apex, the summit, of a way, which, from Bethlehem to the Golgotha, brings back humanity on its feet! Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped - Philippiens 2, 6 ss -. And again : In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered - Hebrews 5, 7-8. If Christ, in John’s, can give up his spirit so serenely to the Father, it is because during all his life on earth he was drive by the accomplishment of his father’s will: Holocaust or victim you did not desire… then I said: Behold I come. In the head of the Book, it is written of me that I should do your will, O my God - Psalm 40, 7-9. Where the first Adam had rebelled, second, The Eternal Son, found his joy in obedience. Pilate was not aware that he was right when he proclaimed: Here is the man - John 19, 5. The man who accepts his condition of creature, who refuses deadly temptation to think himself as God, and to act as a demiurge - Genesis 3, 5.
This True Man tells himself to us throughout the Gospel and the Cross summarizes his message. Today, we must contemplate it in order to know more about Him. Come, let us adore Him in the silence of our heart. By his wounds, we have been healed of ours and He guides us toward His glory.
+ fr. Raphaël-Jacques, Cfr
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Holy Week 2015 | 2 Minute Meditation in Images
Holy Week 2015:
A meditation in images.
https://youtu.be/dmOciPAf0wY
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Monday, March 30, 2015
Bridges Across the Abyss
Last week we heard the Gospel parable about Lazarus and the Rich Man and the great abyss that divided them after death. Last week we also had a medical brigade come down from the States to Honduras for a surgical mission. I was grateful again to see how San Benito Jose Medical Center becomes a bridge in a variety of ways.
It is beautiful to see the encounter of people from the so-called *first world* and *third world,**gringos* with *catrachos,*appreciating each other with a sense of solidarity, of being brothers and sisters. The gringos are edified by the patience, the gratitude and the faith of the Hondurans. The Hondurans are edified by the generosity and kindness of the medical team from the States. SBJ is a wonderful bridge in that way across the abyss between rich and poor that unfortunately still exists.
More importantly, SBJ also becomes a bridge between the abyss between each of us and the Lord. The gap between divinity and humanity is huge, but the heart of Christ is the bridge. The doctors and nurses encounter Christ in His distressing disguise of the poorest people, for whom medical care is completely out of reach economically. The poor encounter Christ in His healing and consolation, that they are not forgotten by Him and that He is able to work miracles in their lives. I was grateful to hear from the patients so consistently their gratitude to God first of all and secondly to the team at SBJ. *Primero Dios* was the constant refrain as they gave thanks.
Thanks be to God for our Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis who lives out the title of *pontiff,* which means *bridge* in Latin, in his love for the poor and his call to solidarity with them. May we also allow the heart of Christ to be the bridge that draws us together to the Father.
(If you would like to understand more of what happens at San Benito Jose, you can go to the link here on our website)
Gratefully in Christ,
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
Comayagua, Honduras
---------------------------------
We need your help!
Donate here.
It is beautiful to see the encounter of people from the so-called *first world* and *third world,**gringos* with *catrachos,*appreciating each other with a sense of solidarity, of being brothers and sisters. The gringos are edified by the patience, the gratitude and the faith of the Hondurans. The Hondurans are edified by the generosity and kindness of the medical team from the States. SBJ is a wonderful bridge in that way across the abyss between rich and poor that unfortunately still exists.
More importantly, SBJ also becomes a bridge between the abyss between each of us and the Lord. The gap between divinity and humanity is huge, but the heart of Christ is the bridge. The doctors and nurses encounter Christ in His distressing disguise of the poorest people, for whom medical care is completely out of reach economically. The poor encounter Christ in His healing and consolation, that they are not forgotten by Him and that He is able to work miracles in their lives. I was grateful to hear from the patients so consistently their gratitude to God first of all and secondly to the team at SBJ. *Primero Dios* was the constant refrain as they gave thanks.
Thanks be to God for our Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis who lives out the title of *pontiff,* which means *bridge* in Latin, in his love for the poor and his call to solidarity with them. May we also allow the heart of Christ to be the bridge that draws us together to the Father.
(If you would like to understand more of what happens at San Benito Jose, you can go to the link here on our website)
Gratefully in Christ,
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
Comayagua, Honduras
---------------------------------
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Donate here.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Silent Psalm
Psalm 123
To you have I lifted up my eyes,
you who dwell in the heavens.
My eyes, like the eyes of slaves
on the hand of their lords,
like the eyes of a servant
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the lord our God,
till he show us his mercy.
Have mercy on us, lord, have mercy.
We are filled with contempt.
Indeed, all too full is our soul
with the scorn of the arrogant,
the disdain of the proud.
It’s a silent psalm full watching.
The lifting of eyes. The muted gaze of slaves upon their masters. The hushed attention with which the servant girl steadies her eyes on the hand of her mistress. The heavens, silent, somewhere beyond the clouds.
Lent is a silent season. A season of watching. We fix our eyes not on the hand of our Lord alone but upon his whole body. We note each scratch, scrape and wound of the one we call master and Lord. Yet the psalmist doesn’t stop with just quiet observation. The focus shifts dramatically from his eyes to the depth of his throat and his gut as he cries out, “Have mercy on us Lord, have mercy. / we are filled with contempt.” He started with his eyes, but we are left—among remorse—in the psalmist’s heart.
It is a great mediation for lent, in fact, all of prayer. So often it starts with our eyes, our eyes upon a word or a devotional image, sometimes a moment or an aspect of creation. Then like the servant our eyes must engage the person to whom the hand belongs, the Living One made present by the word or image. Holy week will fill you with plenty of these words and images to capture your eyes and external senses. May they capture, also, your hearts, and lead you to the person to whom they point, the Crucified Christ. From there, what you say, how you engage him, is up to you.
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Yonkers, NY
----------------------------------------
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Donate here.
To you have I lifted up my eyes,
you who dwell in the heavens.
My eyes, like the eyes of slaves
on the hand of their lords,
like the eyes of a servant
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the lord our God,
till he show us his mercy.
Have mercy on us, lord, have mercy.
We are filled with contempt.
Indeed, all too full is our soul
with the scorn of the arrogant,
the disdain of the proud.
It’s a silent psalm full watching.
The lifting of eyes. The muted gaze of slaves upon their masters. The hushed attention with which the servant girl steadies her eyes on the hand of her mistress. The heavens, silent, somewhere beyond the clouds.
Lent is a silent season. A season of watching. We fix our eyes not on the hand of our Lord alone but upon his whole body. We note each scratch, scrape and wound of the one we call master and Lord. Yet the psalmist doesn’t stop with just quiet observation. The focus shifts dramatically from his eyes to the depth of his throat and his gut as he cries out, “Have mercy on us Lord, have mercy. / we are filled with contempt.” He started with his eyes, but we are left—among remorse—in the psalmist’s heart.
It is a great mediation for lent, in fact, all of prayer. So often it starts with our eyes, our eyes upon a word or a devotional image, sometimes a moment or an aspect of creation. Then like the servant our eyes must engage the person to whom the hand belongs, the Living One made present by the word or image. Holy week will fill you with plenty of these words and images to capture your eyes and external senses. May they capture, also, your hearts, and lead you to the person to whom they point, the Crucified Christ. From there, what you say, how you engage him, is up to you.
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Yonkers, NY
----------------------------------------
We need your help!
Donate here.
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