The Pax Press

Issue 3

Volume 3

Summer  2008

The World Wide Newspaper of The Reformed Catholic Church

Front Cover

Global News

     The Franciscan Voice

Francis, the son of a prosperous merchant of Assisi, was born in 1182. His feast day is celebrated each year on October 4th according to the church calendar.  Most of his early life was spent in harmless revelry and fruitless attempts to win military glory.

Various encounters with beggars and lepers pricked the young mans conscience, and he decided to embrace a life devoted to Lady Poverty.  Despite his father's intense opposition, Francis totally renounced all material values, and devoted himself to serve the poor. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant, and had high hopes that his son would follow him in taking over the business, and was not at all pleased when Francis informed him that he chose not to live his life by following that profession.  In 1210 Pope Innocent the Third confirmed the simple Rule for the Order of Friars Minor, a name Francis chose to emphasize his desire to be numbered among the "least" of God's servants.

He began with a couple of friends on the path that would lead to the founding of the Franciscan order.. They went to the outskirts of the city to the church of San Diamo, which was in a state of disrepair, since Francis had a dream in which Christ had called him to rebuild His church.  Though Francis had not interpreted the dream correctly, this proved to be the humble beginnings of the Franciscan order.  The church and its leaders were not acting in accordance with what Christ had commanded, and the actual call to Francis was to reform the church from inside, calling the clergy to live according to what Jesus had called  them to be.

The order grew rapidly all over Europe.  But by 1221 Francis had lost control of it, since his ideal of strict and absolute poverty, both for the individual friars and for the order as a whole, was found to be too difficult to maintain.  His last years were spent in much suffering of body and spirit, but his unconquerable joy never failed.

Shortly before his death, during a retreat on Mt. La Verna, Francis received, on Sept 14th, Holy Cross Day, the marks of the Lord's wounds, the stigmata, in his own hands and feet and side.  Pope Gregory the Ninth, who was a former patron of the Franciscans, canonized Francis in 1228, and began the erection of the great basilica in Assisi where Francis is buried.

Of all the saints, Francis is one of the most popular and admired, but probably the least imitated.  Few have attained  his total identification with the poverty and suffering of Christ.  Francis left few writings. but of these, his spirit of joyous faith comes through most truly in the "Canticle of the Sun", which he composed at Clare's convent of St. Damian's. It begins:

Most High, omnipotent, good Lord

to thee be ceaseless praise outpoured,

And blessings without measure,

Let creatures all give thanks to thee

And serve in great humility.

His friend Clare, who was also from an affluent family, believed in the dream of Francis, and founded the order of the Poor Clares, or early Franciscan nuns. 

Another prayer attributed to St. Francis is the Prayer for Peace

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive;

 it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Francis was a simple man, a man who had great faith in God the Father, and His son Jesus Christ.  He knew that life was but a  brief sojourn here on this earth, and that he and all of us would leave to enter into the embrace of our Father, who is in heaven.  The Father who  would greet us with open arms saying "Welcome home my child".

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

A citizen of your kingdom

As I'm meditating tonight on the scriptures for mass tomorrow, I had the Holy Spirit ask me to look at Psalm 145 in a unique, but actually should be normal, way. What if we as Christians saw our selves first and foremost as citizens of the very present, here and now, kingdom God? As truly his disciples, we are the keepers of the kingdom on earth.

Therefore as the King is, so are we. Not greater than, but as our master who became the greatest servant of all. We would always be praising God and sharing his greatness with the next generation. We would be merciful, slow to anger, steadfast in love. We would be good to all, with compassion over all people and all creation! We would be faithful in all we said and all we promised. Our deeds would shine with great grace. We would uphold all who are falling, and raise up all who are bowed down.[ Regardless of race, religion or lack thereof, country, political ideology, sexual orientation, legal or illegal immigrant, no qualifications except their humanity that incarnates Christ], We would be SURE that all had food, and any hungry stomachs  would be filled from our bounty. We would be just in all our ways. We would be kind in everything we did! We would be near to all who called upon us for help. We would never let the desperate cry of the suffering go unanswered. We would guard and protect the weak ,the orphaned, the elderly among us, BECAUSE this is who we truly are!

We are the disciples of Jesus .Psalm 145 would be as much a description of how His disciples are in the world as how Jesus was in the world. The only reason the world is not like this is that WE ARE the hands, the feet, the mouth, of Jesus. But we have forgotten. We have become preoccupied with “mine vs. yours, instead of "ours".

What if Psalm 145, and the Gospels, and the beatitude's were truly our marching orders? What if we Truly saw ourselves as the movers and shakers of the heavenly kingdom? Not the United States, or the Republican party, the Democratic party, the Iraq's, the Islamic, the Jews, or whatever, but only the kingdom of God? What if just two or three or four of us joined the Mother Theresa's and the Shane Clairebornes of the world until more people cared about people than anything else? Lord, let me find the courage to see you in every soul near and far. Lord give me the courage to ask myself what would you do for another soul in need to help them know how much you love them and forgive them.

This kind of transformation cannot be left to the Red Cross or the United Nations. Peoples well being is not up to politicians or delegations. Peoples well being lies in the hearts of seeing each of us seeing our brother and sister as fellow souls on the journey of life period, no questions asked, no qualifications necessary.. Jesus folks must take on who they truly are so the world, one by one, can be touched by God's supernatural love, not a” program" . We cannot leave the well being of our brothers and sisters who incarnate Christ into any other hands than Gods hands. My hands ARE the hands He has in the world. Lord, help me to so dedicate my very being to your service, to being the love ,the voice of compassion, the touch of Jesus to my family ,my neighbor, my patients, to whoever you call me to be with, so that it is clear to all that they have been loved in your name.

Help me to understand that I am truly  a citizen of your kingdom above all else in a lost, lonely and desperate world that You came to redeem and manifest yourself to. Today Lord ,in this very moment, I give you all I am so you can be all you are through me, your servant. Humbly and forever yours. May the Blessed Mother pray for me , My heavenly Father give me courage, the Lord Jesus continue to redeem me and the Holy Spirit sanctify me. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bishop RaeLynn Scott, OFMC

I would like to inform you,  the fact that Abbot Bryan Watson  was my guest at my apartment in San Antonio, Texas I was very impressed by the spirituality this man possesses and got me going again on the liturgy of the hours by giving the weapons to  keep going on my daily prayer, he gifted me the liturgy of the hours one volume which I appreciate very much, I have noticing the change in me as I progress in my daily work,  and has given me ideas as to how to progress spiritually in my journey with God, with the apostolate assigned in the 12 areas I need to approach as a Deacon,  he addressed several areas through questioning in regards to my life style and way of life: personal, spiritual, work related;  I came across with honesty and no barriers, the only way anyone who needs assistance will be better helped.
 
We have made some objectives:
 
1. work on my surrounding community (Apartment Complex) I will give them a flyer which he provided, about our church and missions.
2. Work on the Hospice Service-work related that I am doing right now.
3. Start a Communion Celebration in coordination with  Msgr Mike Baremore with a Senior Citizen Home in Pearsall 45 Mins away from San Antonio, reason because they were kind enough to accept us on a weekly basis for a celebration, even though I visit them everyday.
4. He will visit again in a month from the day he left.
5. Keep on working on my spirituality thru the Rosary and Daily prayer  with the assistance of the liturgy of the hours.
 
I also got to meet the Gracious + Raelynn Scott, I was impressed with her spirituality, I believe  her example should be a form spiritual formation, and I also got a taste of her Hospice work with convalescent people in the last stage, Different to what I am providing because she actually gives all the benefits of medication, visits, and she is actually in the process of building her own congregation for the same purpose, and also provide assisted living for those in their final stages, with all the regulations of the state of Texas (Impressive work), and her energy to raise a whole organization for this purpose. 
with the help of Msgr Mike Baremore, we all got together and celebrated mass in my apartment on Saturday evening. I should say that:  "without  the directions and organization for us to get together it wouldn't be have been any better if it wasn't  for the help of Mike Baremore".
 
I apologize that my vehicle’s transmission gave up on me, so I could not  attend to Abbott Bryan the way I had planned it, but it made it like a little spiritual retreat (Monastic Style), which I am most grateful to God, things happen for a reason.
 

Rev. Deacon Sergio Ibarra

The Franciscans of Reconciliation

 Sister Mary Bridget F.O.R.

RELIGIOUS SISTERS AND BROTHERS
ORDER OF The DIVINE MERCY FRANCISCANS

Religious Sisters and Brothers

The Reformed Catholic Church formally accepted our first Religious Sister on July 23, 2005.  At the present, those seeking to dedicate themselves to a consecrated life of service as a religious sister or brother may seek admission into the Order of The Divine Mercy Franciscans (DMF).

Life of the Sisters and Brothers of the DMF

Brothers and Sisters of the Order of The Divine Mercy Franciscans are committed to living a simple life of service, as outlined in the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: