Jesus gives us new hope by his New & Creative entry into the world…He continues even now…!

Franciscan Vision of Christmas

Francis of Assisi had a deep fascination for 
creatures and hence he brought this into his meditation on the birth of Jesus. For Francis the beauty of God was present in nature and particularly in its fragility and humility. We are used to contemplating God as all Powerful, Almighty and so on. But here in the Incarnation God has chosen a new paradigm of being simple, weak, powerless and of the status of a baby. We asked our Br. José Ángel the Secretary of the Lexicon about his view on Christmas. His reply was: “He who knows to become a child, sees through the eyes of God. The Creator God leaving his omnipotence came to give us a new image of Him. An image of a little child who depends on its parents and others. It is shift from power to love, in this God wants us to change our view of him. He is merciful and passionate.”


We could open ourselves to be inspired by this eternal wisdom of a humble, loving God. It also offers us a hope that our fragility, suffering due to sincere commitments, sacrifices, challenges due to living a value, perseverance in goodness have a value. Br. André Ménard, the French theologian, used to talk about the definition of Faith by St. Bonaventure: “Faith according to St. Bonaventure is recognizing the hidden God present everywhere, especially in the creation.”

There are a number of ways in which we can manifest the hidden God. Humble service could be one of them. This is a time for receiving the ‘grace’ by doing some work in a Capuchin Franciscan Way. Br. Mauro our Minister General in his recent letter to the Order on the “The Grace of Working,” (no. 7) in the section ‘the value of work for the individual friar,’ invites us receive the grace by working. “Work does not have a value just as a means of support, but provides for a person a sense of his own life, contributing to the realization of his own humanity.” He further insists on the importance of taking up a work given by the province, even if it is not pleasing to me, in the Evangelical Counsel of obedience and in service to the fraternity. “It is necessary that we ask the Lord for the Grace to make concrete and visible what we affirm and preach with regard to obedience, sacrifice and willingness to serve even to the giving of one’s own life for the growth and advancement of others. To accept a proposal of work or a fraternal service calls upon the same dimension of our faith and requires continual learning in free self-giving.” Yes, it could be working like Mother Mary and St. Joseph. The Christmas Season and New Year surely will offer us many opportunities to serve others sometimes in a very humble insignificant way. It would be a fine way of celebrating Christmas and New Year, by identifying ourselves with the ordinary workers of the society where the Grace of Incarnate Son is hidden in a mystical way.  

This world of ours with its human elements could lead one to despair. We may have experiences and hardships beset with dichotomies and incongruities of people and our life situations.  But the incarnate Spirit of God is ever present in this world and we need to be connected to that life, bringing Spirit so that we get revitalised. This season provides us an opportunity to have that experience of reaching our brothers and sisters on the periphery to which Pope Francis leads us often.  As we begin to set a stage for the New Year along with the Christmas sharing, let us add a contemplative dimension to our initiatives. Fr. Willie Doyle (the famous Jesuit Chaplain to the armed forces who was killed in action in France, 1916) would invite us saying, Make your prayer simple, as simple as you can; reason little, love much, and you will pray well.

Best wishes in trying the New Way of Jesus & St. Francis!

There is a new image of God known only to a few ... These people say that He entered our world (God with us, Mt 1:23) as a weak, poor, powerless and fragile babe. But has a strength to give meaning to all of us. Let us log on to Him; experience his love and connect others...!
Can we remain open to invite His Grace to bless and lead us ...?
Wish you a meaningful Christmas & a Grace abounding New Year 2014 

Dear Brothers,

We are in the Advent season and the Gospel readings invite us to be ready. Let us prepare ourselves by going deep into the revelation of God and the human reality. And here we would like to remind you about St. Bonaventure’s theology of Incarnation in the light of the humility of God. According to him the humility of God is intertwined with the Incarnation. Bonaventure views the humility of God through the words of John’s Gospel “the Word was made flesh” (Jn 1:14). In Incarnation, Bonaventure tells us, God stoops/bends down to embrace us in love. We might say God’s last name is ‘world’. In this way God could be understood as love or, more specifically, God is humble love. This insight came from the inspirations of St. Francis for whom the main experience of God is his ‘humility’. And this he discovered in his encounter with Christ on the cross who was poor, humble and abandoned. This humble presence is again alive to us in the Eucharist and in the poor and the needy we meet. Thus we can understand these mystic saints who explored love as the reason for both creation and Incarnation. And it is very vivid in the humility of God. How can this be concretized in our reality? If God bends over in love for us in and through the humble Christ, then we who are little “words” must bend over in love for one another and for all creation. We take and practice the humility of God in our fragmented, complex, changing, and sometimes insensitive world (cf: Ilia Delio, The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective, St. Anthony Messenger Press, Ohio, 2005, 3-13). In this context we shall talk about the world of the poor and the fear we sometimes have of them. The meditation on the humility of God can remove my fear about the poor and make me a simple brother who can be reached by the poor and the needy.

The humanity of the poor and the needy:

One of the very important personal experiences for me to understand the world of the poor was during my visit to a slum when I was doing my theological studies. There was a cobbler family who used to make shoes and live on that income. The family had four daughters, two of which were mentally challenged persons. The father of the family had tuberculosis and due to his economic struggles because of poverty he used to come to our friary asking for some help. We used to give him some amount to do his business. He used to take when he lacked money and return it as soon as he had earned enough. One day we were distributing house materials for the poor and we thought of him and asked him how many coconut thatching pieces he would need to cover the ceiling of his hut because it was already very old and damaged. He said he would need only 100 pieces. The brother who was distributing it gave him 125 pieces. To our surprise he left 25 pieces separate and took only the 100 pieces that were needed. We asked him why he did that and his reply was: I need only 100 pieces and the other 25 belong to other poor; you will need them to share with the needy.” The dignity and the humanity of this poor man was great. After a while we were not seeing him for some time. Then I went in search of him and I was informed that he was very sick and was admitted in the government hospital. The doctors told me that he was very anemic because he did not eat for many days. I asked him why he did not ask for help and his reply was: “I should not trouble you too much because already you are helping me for my business and there are many who need your help.”

Poor people enable us have good experiences of life wisdom. They teach us many things which no university could teach us. “My theology becomes meaningful with my experience with the poor and simple. The Catholic Church is full of potentiality and has a good future. It is the potentiality of the Gospel. We have to be with the poor, not with our ideology but with the Word of God,” says Bishop Bruno Forte. Above all today we have our Pope Francis who always invites us to go to the periphery and find the humble God present there. He also witnesses that in and through his life. The love and the humility of God could make me sensible and simple. All those who encountered the poor with the message of Christ’s love in their hearts came out renewed and started a new life.

Love of God that propels me to reach the least loved persons.

“Blessed are the poor because theirs is the kingdom of God.” The poor people have no one except God rely on. They are dependent and simple. Let us develop interest in entering into the world of the poor. Let their concern occupy some of our time. It will bring true meaning to our living and make us effective. Mother Teresa found this wisdom. In the midst of the poor we could find the hidden God and a meaning which none other material possession could give.

Some people have fear of meeting the poor and even hate their presence. Poor people sometimes cheat and manipulate due to their need and life struggles. As God-men we are called to have a special measure of compassion in understanding them.

One friar hit a poor man so hard on his face close to his ears that poor man became deaf. It was because he came to ask money again with the same lie filled grievance that he lacked money to feed his two daughters. This cruelty could be also due to the lack of inner healing and personal growth.

But we are called to look through the compassionate eyes of Jesus at the poor and there we will unearth a wonderful world of meaning and love. Jesus had deeper union with God the Father, a clear insight about the realities of life and closeness to the poor. Our Father St. Francis discovered the meaning of life by being closer to the poor, the needy and the lepers who were at the periphery. It is our turn to try something.

If someone says that he lost vigor and meaning in life invite him to go closer to the poor and needy. It will help him to get back the lost meaning and purpose in life. Let it become a reality in our lives.

I appreciate the good work done by community of St. Egidio for the poor and their readiness to stay close to the poor. It is amazing to see their ministry among the poor and the ease with which they befriend the needy. Whenever we have taken our friars there they were touched and inspired. It is a beautiful experience to be with the poor. Have you had the experience of being with the poor and needy? Recall that and praise God. If you have not, start thinking about such an experience with God’s grace and prepare. Try this experience at least once every month. And it will surely brighten your Capuchin religious life.

Some insights from these reflections would have inspired us. With God’s Spirit that is active in us let us try. A good Capuchin will have the poor and needy in all his deliberations, plans, celebrations, in his words, expressions and in prayer. Thoughtfulness for the poor and needy could be another indication of a true Franciscan. And in that way we could encounter the humble God. Do you have the poor & needy in your friendship circles? Do they have God’s love manifested through your love, closeness and generosity? Let the joy and the blessing of being with the poor and needy fill all of us during this Advent!

Charles Alphonse & Jaime Rey 

Healing, Reconciliation & Spirituality

Last week there was a phone call from a person who said that she is not able to forgive her husband who is sick with a particular ailment. These years the sickness has made him irritated and a most disturbing person in the family. Living and accompanying a person of this sort is a real challenge for this woman. From her conversation one could understand that they both need healing and reconciliation. The wisdom of God reflected in counseling psychology reminds us that all of us are in need of some kind of healing or the other. Specially the unhealed memories of the past can make my present unbearable and can make me very hostile and negative. In reality there are many persons in each society who pass on their lives carrying the negative toxins of their past lives unhealed. These wounds in turn may result in sickness or remain as a toxin taking away the enthusiasm of life. The week of reconciliation at San Giovanni Rotondo is one of the efforts of the Capuchin Order to help brothers and sisters to become the healed healers.  Healing power is a God given free gift which Padre Pio made the at most use.

Growth to be a healer is an ongoing journey. Before I go to heal others I need healing, forgiveness and reconciliation with the persons against whom I have something and with my past. Let us remember that we healers are specially chosen by God, and every Franciscan is supposed to be a healed healer. A true spiritual journey calls me to grow into harmony with others, nature, myself and above all with God.

Pope’s message

Pope’s is also confessing every fifteen days, this the message came from him on 20^th November 2013 during the General Audience at St. Peters Square, Rome. Why because he is also a sinner and needs pardon. Therefore all of us need this pardon. But is always necessary to carry it in the name of the church. And one is invited by the Father in the Sacrament of reconciliation, tells Pope Francis who is becoming a source of inspiration for millions around the world. By calling himself a sinner Pope Francis reaffirms the depth of the Sacrament of Confession and reconciliation attached to it. He talked of his personal meetings with his confessors saying, “He listens to what I say, he counsels and he pardons me.” He also reminded of the commission of God to his servants to do this ministry in His name.

According to Br. Jaime Rey we need to understand this from Franciscan perspective. Because our Father St. Francis experienced God’s unconditional love and forgiveness himself in his personal life. And he cannot stop thanking God for that grace of mercy and then he invited his brothers to look with that same compassionate eyes and gaze of Jesus and give forgiveness to people who need it. In this process we have to count the blessings we have and forgive one another.

Let us pray for the success of the Reconciliation Week and we would further share with you the insights we would be getting from that. 

The Third International Week of Reconciliation, titled "I believe in the Forgiveness of sins," will be held at San Giovanni Rotondo from the 25th to 29th November 2013. For more information you could visit the below mentioned website of the shrine and do the registration. www.conventosantuariopadrepio.it

Heritage Programme September 2013

Pope Francis & Prayer for World Peace

On 7 September 2013 people of good will all over the world joined hands with Pope Francis to pray for peace in the world. The particular context was to pray for the crisis in Syria.

Prayer life became more fully alive on that day. It started around 7pm at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy where around a hundred thousand people gathered to pray with Pope Francis. It was a great experience to see people from different nationalities, ethnic groups, religions and languages coming together to pray.

It all had one purpose, as I have mentioned, to pray as one family for peace. It was a great occasion of feeling the oneness and deep faith. It manifested the power of prayer that can lead humanity to come together in God’s love. The Pope’s message was very powerful and personal. He was fatherly and had the ability to win over the hearts of the people. His paternal heart spoke to thousands of other hearts around the world.

One could get the feeling of faith, forgiveness and healing. Four hours were spent for the purpose of coming together to express solidarity and to pray.  Through the symbols of fire and incense we also offered to God the suffering, struggle, pain, loss, hurt, anger and every emotion and thoughts of people who suffer and have suffered. These symbolized the purification and deep passion for change. The rosary and thoughtful rituals to honour Mother Mary added a maternal touch. It was beautiful to see the Holy Father Pope Francis paying homage to her, surrendering all our efforts to God through her intercession.

We could divide our vigil prayer that day into three levels: The first was to bring to God’s presence all the countries that experience war and violence and to offer them to God with their realities. The prayer methods (praise and worship, silent prayer, listening to the Word of God, offering symbolic things representing our lives, Eucharistic adoration) and hymns used helped us to surrender their struggle to forgive and reconcile, their helplessness and anger. It formed a sort of universal prayer where all of us had our part to contribute. We also had intercessory prayer where specific mention was made of the names of the countries and their people, especially the little children whose lives are at stake and their leaders who need wisdom and healing.

The second was to offer those good willed women and men who are involved in bringing peace, relief and change, offering thanks to the Lord of life and asking Him to strengthen their minds, hearts and hands with his power. It might have surely sent positive vibrations of healing and impacted them.

The third was to pray for our own personal intention and need for healing, because we also carry the ‘chaos’ as Pope rightly said which alienates us from love and brotherhood. Offering our life situations, hurts, pain, suffering, helplessness, anger, unhealed memories and our very selves so that we become people of reconciliation and peace. On the whole it was a moment of strength and St. Peter’s Square was filled with God’s presence, warmth and new hope that this world is filled with harmony. The impact of that coming together was felt within two days as there was new initiative taken to resolve the Syrian issue without using force. We only need to join hands time and again to become aware of our oneness and work together to let the dove of peace find an abode in our hearts.

Words of His Holiness Pope Francis 

at the Vigil of Prayer for Peace in Saint Peter's Square

Saturday 7 September 2013 

(From the website: www.vatican.va)

“And God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25). The biblical account of the beginning of the history of the world and of humanity speaks to us of a God who looks at creation, in a sense contemplating it, and declares: “It is good”. This allows us to enter into God’s heart and, precisely from within him, to receive his message. We can ask ourselves: what does this message mean? What does it say to me, to you, to all of us?

It says to us simply that this, our world, in the heart and mind of God, is the “house of harmony and peace”, and that it is the space in which everyone is able to find their proper place and feel “at home”, because it is “good”. All of creation forms a harmonious and good unity, but above all humanity, made in the image and likeness of God, is one family, in which relationships are marked by a true fraternity not only in words: the other person is a brother or sister to love, and our relationship with God, who is love, fidelity and goodness, mirrors every human relationship and brings harmony to the whole of creation. God’s world is a world where everyone feels responsible for the other, for the good of the other. This evening, in reflection, fasting and prayer, each of us deep down should ask ourselves: Is this really the world that I desire? Is this really the world that we all carry in our hearts? Is the world that we want really a world of harmony and peace, in ourselves, in our relations with others, in families, in cities, in and between nations? And does not true freedom mean choosing ways in this world that lead to the good of all and are guided by love?

But then we wonder: Is this the world in which we are living? Creation retains its beauty which fills us with awe and it remains a good work. But there is also “violence, division, disagreement, war”. This occurs when man, the summit of creation, stops contemplating beauty and goodness, and withdraws into his own selfishness. When man thinks only of himself, of his own interests and places himself in the centre, when he permits himself to be captivated by the idols of dominion and power, when he puts himself in God’s place, then all relationships are broken and everything is ruined; then the door opens to violence, indifference, and conflict. This is precisely what the passage in the Book of Genesis seeks to teach us in the story of the Fall: man enters into conflict with himself, he realizes that he is naked and he hides himself because he is afraid (cf. Gen 3: 10), he is afraid of God’s glance; he accuses the woman, she who is flesh of his flesh (cf. v. 12); he breaks harmony with creation, he begins to raise his hand against his brother to kill him. Can we say that from harmony he passes to “disharmony”? No, there is no such thing as “disharmony”; there is either harmony or we fall into chaos, where there is violence, argument, conflict, fear ....

It is exactly in this chaos that God asks man’s conscience: “Where is Abel your brother?” and Cain responds: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9). We too are asked this question, it would be good for us to ask ourselves as well: Am I really my brother’s keeper? Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! To be human means to care for one another! But when harmony is broken, a metamorphosis occurs: the brother who is to be cared for and loved becomes an adversary to fight, to kill. What violence occurs at that moment, how many conflicts, how many wars have marked our history! We need only look at the suffering of so many brothers and sisters. This is not a question of coincidence, but the truth: we bring about the rebirth of Cain in every act of violence and in every war. All of us! And even today we continue this history of conflict between brothers, even today we raise our hands against our brother. Even today, we let ourselves be guided by idols, by selfishness, by our own interests, and this attitude persists. We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death! Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death!

At this point I ask myself: Is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace? Invoking the help of God, under the maternal gaze of the Salus Populi Romani, Queen of Peace, I say: Yes, it is possible for everyone! From every corner of the world tonight, I would like to hear us cry out: Yes, it is possible for everyone! Or even better, I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it! My Christian faith urges me to look to the Cross. How I wish that all men and women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken.

This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions, and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: violence and war are never the way to peace! Let everyone be moved to look into the depths of his or her conscience and listen to that word which says: Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation. Look upon your brother’s sorrow and do not add to it, stay your hand, rebuild the harmony that has been shattered; and all this achieved not by conflict but by encounter!

May the noise of weapons cease! War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity. Let the words of Pope Paul VI resound again: “No more one against the other, no more, never! ... war never again, never again war!” (Address to the United Nations, 1965). “Peace expresses itself only in peace, a peace which is not separate from the demands of justice but which is fostered by personal sacrifice, clemency, mercy and love” (World Day of Peace Message, 1975). Forgiveness, dialogue, reconciliation – these are the words of peace, in beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world! Let us pray for reconciliation and peace, let us work for reconciliation and peace, and let us all become, in every place, men and women of reconciliation and peace! Amen.

Third Reconciliation Week

To our brothers in Formation

From the  Secretariat of Formation we would like to greet all of you our student friars. You, our dear brothers, are the future of our Order and your witness and promising lives will add meaning to this world. Whenever we pay a visit to you in the name of our General Minister Br. Mauro and his Definitory, our hope and enthusiasm are renewed. Here is a message for you from our Holy Father Francis which he delivered to the youth gathered for the sacrament of Confirmation at St. Peter’s Square on the 28^th April 2013.

It is an invitation which I make to you, young confirmandi, and to all present.  Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord.  This is the secret of our journey!  He gives us the courage to swim against the tide.  Pay attention, my young friends: to go against the current; this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against the tide.  Jesus gives us this courage!  There are no difficulties, trials or misunderstandings to fear, provided we remain united to God as branches to the vine, provided we do not lose our friendship with him, provided we make ever more room for him in our lives.  This is especially so whenever we feel poor, weak and sinful, because God grants strength to our weakness, riches to our poverty, conversion and forgiveness to our sinfulness.  The Lord is so rich in mercy: every time, if we go to him, he forgives us.  Let us trust in God’s work!  With him we can do great things; he will give us the joy of being his disciples, his witnesses.  Commit yourselves to great ideals, to the most important things. We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for little things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals, my dear young people!

The new things of God, the trials of life, remaining steadfast in the Lord.  Dear friends, let us open wide the door of our lives to the new things of God which the Holy Spirit gives us.  May he transform us, confirm us in our trials, strengthen our union with the Lord, our steadfastness in him: this is a true joy! So may it be!

This can be an inspiring message for all of you, our younger brothers. You have the potential to bring new fresh air into our Capuchin Brotherhood through your creative and meaningful living. While getting to know our Franciscan roots, as our Pope invites us to do, open wide the doors of your hearts and be attentive to the new things that God wants us to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let our Father Francis come alive through your new contributions. For now you will have to do the homework of healing your past negative memories and strengthening your inner being with spiritual strength that Christ gives you. Our Father St. Francis had an answer due to his continued search and preparation, and you are invited to do your part. Along with your formators we are with you to accompany you. All the best brothers!

Connected with us through our blog: http://sgfofmcap-en.blogspot.it/

Dear Brothers,
Pace e Bene!

Wishing you a pleasant time of renewal during this time of Easter!

As our Pope Francis has said, let us not lose the hope that is within us! And let love be our motivating language of communication and living. The resurrecting power of Christ is within us, offering us the possibility to begin again a new life. Let us share that life with others, especially the needy. Happy Easter! And we wish that there be Pentecost in all our lives.

Our General Minister Br. Mauro Jöhri with his Definitory invites us again to form ourselves continuously in whatever way possible. We are called by them to reflect on the Formation Programme of the Order (Ratio Formationis) that we are to develop gradually within these six years. Along with that we would try to reach you through some of the animation programmes we are planning to have during this time. Some of our objectives are as follows: ‘Ratio Formationis’ preparations at different levels, conducting animation programmes (both for initial and ongoing formation, some in the repective conferences themselves), establishing contact with the formation houses and friars of the Order through the website, connecting with friars who are involved in special ministries around the globe, networking with the animation centres of the Order.

And here our Formation Office is ever ready to collaborate with you as were our predecessors Br. Rocco Timpano and Br. Marek Miszczyński in the past years. May God reward them!

Keep in touch with us.