NEW SIGNS ON THE PROPERTY

 

(sign where Abbey and St. Francis trail join)

NEW SIGNS

During Thanksgiving week the friars erected a series of signs marking the trails on the property between here and Assumption Abbey.   In an effort to make it easier for our retreatants and guests, and those of the Abbey also, to know their way around, the friars erected signs naming and marking the various trails.   The sign above marks the area where the Abbey trail and the St. Francis trail connect.    It is a two-mile walk between  our friary and Assumption Abbey, whether one walks via the trails, mostly old logging roads, or on the highway.   Nearer to the friary are several shorter trails through the woods on our property.   The trails are named   St. Francis,   St. Clare,   St. Anthony,  St. Joseph, and the Assumption Abbey trail.

 

PRAYER

 

Recently in a catalogue this sentiment was seen:

 

 

PRAYER:   The world's greatest wireless connection. 

Along with the articles being sold, a T-shirt and a plaque, was this thought:  "Technologically speaking, prayer is a message that ALWAYS gets through!"

SINGING TO GOD -- SONG AS PRAYER

 

(St. Francis playing the violin)

Psalm 144:9    O GOD, A NEW SONG I WILL SING TO YOU.

DO WE CONSIDER OUR SINGING, OUR SONGS, AS PRAYER?

St. Jerome is quoted as saying:  "When we sing, we pray twice!"   The following reflection by Sr. Bridget Haase, O.S.U. appeared in LIVING FAITH  (www.livingfaith.com) for Saturday, November 24th.  It raises an interesting reflection about singing and praying for us.  Might we consider that the songs we sing, certainly in Church, but just perhaps, even while driving the car singing along with the radio, humming a favorite tune, in the shower, while we work, etc. might indeed be  'prayer'? 

"Guess what, Sister?", my fifth-grader Estelle blurted out.  "Sometimes my heart's words become a song to God.  That's called prayer."   It was a fitting reminder that God loves to hear the lyrics in our hearts even if, like that November day, I was singing the spiritual blues.

In the psalmist's hymn today (Psalm 144), we chant a promise:  We will sing a new song.  The "new" depends on what we need God to do for us.  As another liturgical year soon begins, perhaps we hope God showers us with amazing grace; comforts us by trading our life's rugged cross for a crown;  transforms us into channels of peace; unites us more deeply as one bread, one body.   In singing each day from our heart,  our prayer will be sincere and will bellow forth in expectation and praise to our God from whom all blessings flow.

another Thanksgiving reflection for prayer

 

IMPORTANCE OF THANKFULNESS IN OUR LIVES

Peter John Cameron, O.P. writes of the importance of thankfulness in life:

The giving of thanks is vital to the life of faith because thanksgiving is life-giving.

Just why is it so important to give thanks?

Thanksgiving acknowledges how much we rely on others for our well-being.

Thanksgiving protects us from forgetting what matters most.

Thanksgiving saves us from taking things for granted.

Thanksgiving deepens our appreciation of our blessings.

Thanksgiving imbues us with an incomparable sense of wonder.

A spirit of thanksgiving keeps us rooted in th Eucharist - the sacrament of thanksgiving.

Anything that we are not grateful for, we lose.

THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER

 

(feasting with the monks at Assumption Abbey)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING  2012!

 

Again this year the friars from the Prayer Fraternity will be joining our Trappist brothers at Assumption Abbey for Prayer and Thanksgiving Dinner;  this day is one of two days annually when the monks have a special feast inviting guests to join them in the Abbey for a meal and fellowship.

a THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER:

With our hearts filled with gratitude and joy,

We thank You, O Lord,

For bestowing us with cherished friends and family,

For our health and prosperity,

For the majestic beauty found in nature,

For Your mercy and forgiveness,

And, above all, for bringing Your Word of salvation into our lives.

For these things, we are truly THANKFUL.   AMEN. 

 

 

 

SIMPLE PRAYER OF THE BLIND MAN

 

Scripture text:  read  Luke 18: 35 - 43

This reflection on today's gospel of the blind beggar at the side of the road was written by Portia Clark in DAILY BREAD for Nov. 19, 2012, from www.celebrationpublications.org

 

"LORD, PLEASE LET ME SEE!"

 

This simple prayer of the blind beggar should be in our hearts and on our lips continually.

Lord, please let me see the beauty of your creation:

    the colors of the flowers in summer,

   the shapes of the snowflakes in winter,

    the glow of the stars in the night,

   even the blur made by summer heat coming off the pavement.

Let me see the suffering of others,

    and not ignore their pain or remain in ignorance.

Let me see the needs of the world,

    and the solutions to problems in my own life.

Let me see the innate dignity of each person

    who is made in God's image.

Most of all, let me see your will in my daily decisions!

 

 

NEW COMMUNITY MEMBER

 

(Br. Paul Belco, OFM)

Our Lady of the Angels Friary is blessed to welcome officially (we finally got a picture of him) our newest community member, Br. Paul Belco.   Paul is from Kalamazoo, MI and joined the friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Province based in the Milwaukee, WI area,  originally headquartered in Pulaski, WI.   Paul has been a Franciscan for over 50 years and mostly recently came to us from Green Bay, WI --(guess who's a Packer fan and wears a lot of green and gold around here?) -- where he served as the local guardian and also liaison with some of their senior friars.   Paul has had two previous experiences at a House of Prayer and brings that experience with him to our fraternity.   He hopes to stay with us for a period of two years.   WELCOME, BR. PAUL!

PRAYER and cultivating inner peace

(Bryant Creek as it cuts through monastery property) 

PRAYER AS A MEANS TO CULTIVATE INNER PEACE

This following reflection appears in a book called LIFE PRAYERS by Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon published by HarperOne

 

Prayer has always been used as a means of cultivating inner peace.   Without some measure of equanimity, the spiritual journey is impossible.  Prayers offer a skillful means for marrying an inner sense of peace with the outer demands of the world.   They help to quiet and focus the agitated mind.  They use words to carry us beyond words.  As such they are the most primordial language we humans use to align ourselves with the Divine.  By silencing inner noise and distractions, prayer brings us into the presence of the moment.  Its gift is an inner experience of prayerfulness in which the silent center of life's meaning is revealed.

Prayer also gifts us with a deepening of our compassionate caring for the world.  By aligning us with the rest of creation, prayer shows us that the impulse to be of help does not require superior moral fiber or ascetic religious training.  It flows naturally out of being human.  In serving the common good, we learn that we need not become martyrs, sacrificing ourselves in some painful task, but simply become that which we most passionately are.

 

 

 

ST. GERTRUDE AND NUPTIAL MYSTICISM

Today is the feast of St. Gertrude;  in Saint of the Day from St. Anthony Messenger Press, we read about her life and life of prayer:

St. Gertrude, a Benedictine nun in Helfta (Saxony), was one of the great mystics of the thirteenth century.  Together with her friend and teacher, Saint Mechtild, she practiced a spirituality called "nuptial mysticism",  that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ.  Her spiritual life was a deep personal union with Jesus and his Sacred Heart, leading her into the very life of the Trinity.

But this was no individualistic piety.  Gertrude lived the rhythm of the liturgy, where she found Christ.  In the liturgy and Scripture, she found the themes and images to enrich and express her piety.  There was no clash between her personal prayer life and the liturgy.

and a COMMENT that follows speaks of the prayer that is at the heart of the Christian life:

St. Gertrude's life is another reminder that the heart of the Christian life is prayer;   PRIVATE and LITURGICAL,  ORDINARY  or MYSTICAL,  always PERSONAL.

 

PRAYERS ON ELECTION DAY

(friary chapel on election day afternoon)

DAY OF ADORATION ON NOVEMBER 6th 

Our local bishop,  Bishop James Johnston, had encouraged all the parishes in the Springfield/Cape Girardeau diocese to have a day of adoration and prayer throughout election day.   Beginning with Mid-day Prayer, the friars here joined in for an afternoon of adoration and prayer for God to guide and inspire the voters of our nation as we went to the polls on election day.   Adoration ended about 6 pm at the conclusion of Evening Prayer.

 

ANNUAL RETREAT COMPLETED

(Sr. Ingrid Peterson, OSF)

CONTEMPLATION IN A FRANCISCAN KEY

 

October 29th to November 2nd were the dates for the annual retreat here at the Prayer Fraternity.  Sr. Ingrid Peterson, a Rochester, MN Franciscan, was our presenter and spent the five days walking with us and reflecting with us on the contributions to contemplative prayer made by a number of Franciscan greats:  St. Francis,  St. Clare,  St. Bonaventure,  St. Anthony of Padua,  Angela of Foligno and Francisco de Osuna. 

The friars here were joined for the retreat by two friars from the St. John the Baptist Province as well as by Sr. Grace Mary from Nazareth Hermitage.