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The Canticle
Meetings:
Please Note that our meeting time has been changed to avoid
parking problems
2:00 - Opening Prayer.
2:05 - Secy/Treas./Commissioners Reports. Old and New Business. A sense of community will make them joyful and ready to place themselves on an equal basis with all people, especially with the lowly for whom they shall strive to create conditions of life worthy of people redeemed by Christ." 3:00 - Mid-meeting break/Refreshments
3:15 - Ceremony marking the Candidacy midpoint for Peter Askin. 3:45 - Liturgy Of the Hours 4:00 - Dismissal
Soda or fruit drinks - Jack Solloway * Remember our fraternity apostolate, St. Helen’s Food Pantry
Remember to include in your prayers: * Andrea Cardoza and Peggy Rysdyke who will be professed on May 3rd. (See details below). * A truly beautiful program on 10/4/03 - - and for the full commitment it will require from each of us. * Our Inquirers and Candidates: Ed, Pauline, Kathleen, Julie and Peter.
* Peace and stability in the Middle Last - our
President has asked the nation for prayer, fasting and humility as our troops
in Iraq
* PROFESSION CEREMONY FOR ANDREA AND PEGGY. Msgr. Burke, pastor of St. Lucie Parish, has given us permission to celebrate the Rite of Profession and Mass on Saturday, May 3rd at 11:00 am. Fr. Tom Murphy, OFM, our Regional Spiritual Asst., will preside. Please invite family and friends to attend and to rejoice with our
fraternity on this awesome occasion! What a blessing for us all! * Unquestionably, all of us have been praying for peace in the Middle East; for our troops, for the Iraqi people, for prisoners of war and their families, as well as for our enemies and their leaders to have a change of heart. As we pray, let's meditate on the prerequisites for peace in the world. We know that peace in our own homes and communities doesn't happen by magic. It comes only after struggles to bring about justice, forgiveness, atonement, love of our neighbor, humility, etc., which must pave the road toward the peace we seek. Page 2.
Palm Sunday: Jesus Christ, the King is here. As he enters the city of Jerusalem, he is heralded as a King, even though in the days that follow, he will be humiliated, accused, scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, and crucified. Through His suffering He blesses us, and now that we have learned more about Him, we know that He did all this to redeem mankind. We have also learned that in order to draw closer to Jesus in an ongoing relationship there is much suffering. We should examine our experience of sorrow and distress. Of humility and even of being exalted, as Jesus was on Palm Sunday as He entered Jerusalem.
Can we, on this Passion Sunday, sharpen our understanding of Jesus as the suffering one, and also probe our hearts as we deal with the suffering we experience today? Maybe we have relationship problems with others in our family, or we cannot see eye-to-eye with something done in Church. Or you find yourself in a situation where medicine you are receiving is not lessening your pain?
As we explore our capacity of suffering, can we rejoice in Christ's mystery of suffering and pain? Or do we try to go it alone? When we place our pain at the foot of the Cross, we do not feel abandoned and we do not worry. We know Jesus is with us, and that He'll take care of us because He knows what real suffering is all about.
He still suffers, every day, as we, brothers and sisters, are sometimes misguided and as we get ourselves into trouble. When we forget Him, and His Father, we cannot experience His great Love. We are closed to love, and nothing that can be said seems to get us out of our predicament. So, share your sufferings with Jesus in a prayerful attitude and allow Him to shower you with His Graces, as He thanks you for sharing His Cross.
As this Holy Week in April 2003 unfolds, I wish all of you a very holy time. A time of reflection and prayer. A time where you could especially be helpful to others, to those who suffer. To members of your Franciscan or Parish community.
In the Mirror of Perfection, § 92, we read about St. Francis: "A short while after his conversion, as he was walking alone along the road not far from the Church of S. Mary of the Portiuncula, he was uttering loud cries and lamentations as he went. And a spiritually-minded man who met him, fearing that he was suffering from some painful ailment, said to him, 'What is your trouble, brother?' But he replied, 'I am not ashamed to travel through the whole world in this way, bewailing the Passion of my Lord.' At this, the man joined him in his grief, and began to weep aloud. We have known this man and learned of this incident through him. He is one who has shown great kindness and compassion to blessed Francis and to us who were his companions."
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