The Day Freedom was Fulfilled

The Last Supper is the lens through which we interpret the death and resurrection of Jesus. Holy Thursday anticipates, encapsulates and interprets Good Friday & Easter Sunday. What Jesus did tonight is the key to understanding the core of his saving sacrifice.

The Last Supper shows us that Jesus freely offered himself in love. "The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just" (CCC 1733). It was on Holy Thursday that Jesus fully modeled the purpose of freedom. He chose to offer himself in the service of love. You cannot understand the death and resurrection of Jesus apart from the Last Supper.

What does this mean for us? When we go to Mass, we receive Him in Holy Communion, we are taken up into his saving sacrifice. We, our lives, become "eucharistized". We are nourished and empowered to live that same loving freedom in the day-to-day reality of our lives. This is precisely what Saint Pope John Paul II taught: "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia 1). The Mass communicates the grace of Jesus to every believer. Now we can imitate the freedom of Jesus. Lives lived in loving sacrifice are the fulfillment of freedom, the very purpose for which God gave us freedom. Today is the day freedom was fulfilled!

+ Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR

Yonkers, NY

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The Day Freedom Failed

Today is "Spy Wednesday", the day we remember Judas the betrayer. His story is such a significant lesson for us all. It is scary how much God respects the freedom He gave us. We are free - now what? God gave us freedom to do not what we want, rather to do what we ought. Freedom is fulfilled in love, in doing what is good. Freedom is failed when we sin, in doing what is bad.

We know that the Lord never gives up on anyone. Like a GPS, God immediately starts recalculating at our every wrong turn. Up to the moment of death the offer of Divine Mercy is extended. This is the best way to understand what Jesus did at the last supper. The warning of betrayal and offering of the morsel was an invitation to freedom and repentance. "To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of 'predestination', he includes in it each person's free response to his grace ... For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness" (CCC #600). Judas was not forced into betrayal, he was free.

Might I suggest that there is a little bit of Judas in us all? Every sin is a betrayal, some bigger than others. Invited to love and goodness, we sometime miss the mark. There is a connection between the offered morsel and the kiss of Judas. If only that kiss meant what a kiss is suppose to mean! Today is a good day to pray for all those, especially among us clergy, who have betrayed Christ, betrayed the gift of freedom.

+ Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR
Yonkers, NY
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God's Mercy

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/gods-mercymp3

Podcast audio talk by Fr. Jeremiah Shryock, CFR

"God's Mercy"

Modern Snakes

The Internet cable reminds me of a snake, Bible study on Adam & Eve? #irony
Saint Patrick drive away our modern snakes!

Brother John-Mary of the @cfr_franciscans leads the second-to-last session of his Bible study for our fellowship, on the topic of evangelization. #Acts4

What Do You Seek? Podcast

https://soundcloud.com/franciscan-friars/what-do-you-seekmp3



‪Audio talk from Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR, Reflections on the questions of Jesus: What do you seek?

PLEASE PRAY TODAY

PLEASE PRAY TODAY for the seminarians in 3rd theology at St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie. Today is the comprehensive exam! 6 of our Friars are in the group, Deacons to be.

RENEWAL IN MOTION

Teaser



https://youtu.be/6rjVH-B0VAk

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Renewal in Motion



https://youtu.be/m8yDDB1SmD0


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The Inspiration





https://youtu.be/yZ5N68MMCnk

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Child 31



https://youtu.be/YzyoUGSBWKI

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Mary's Meals



https://youtu.be/I30piF2iDCM

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Donate to Mary's Meals here

Lent is a time for forming good habits

March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Here is Br. Kolbe making a Franciscan habit for a brother (you can't buy the robes at Old Navy)!

Calling For a Lenten Ban on Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

When I was a little boy, I had a traumatic experience. Upon returning home from school, I would often find my favorite chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter. One regretful day, I saw what looked like my cookies. I (thought I) saw a chocolate chip cookie, but when I tasted it my brain short-circuited! Confused, I spit it out saying, "What is this?" It was a cookie imposter! To this day I am wounded by that experience, please pray for my healing!

A great piece of advice for a fruitful Lent comes from Jesus himself. In his preaching he encouraged us to strive for a unity between our external and our internal. Today we would say walk-the-walk, don't just talk-the-talk. All of our Lenten devotions should aim at an integration, how we look on the outside should be a reflection of how we look on the inside. I am sure that Jesus took his cue from 1 Samuel 16:7, "For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

There is a connection between what we believe and how we behave, what we think and what we do.

+ Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR
Yonkers, NY
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Donate here.

Year of Mercy

Year of Mercy,
... leniency, clemency, compassion, grace, pity, charity, forgiveness, forbearance, soft-heartedness, tenderheartedness, kindness, sympathy, liberality, indulgence, tolerance, generosity, magnanimity, beneficence ...