Divine Mercy Fraternity●Secular Franciscan Order●Vero Beach, Florida ● July 2021

Our Regular Gathering Fraternity Officers/Council Members (exp. Feb. 10, 2022) Sunday, July 11, 2021, 2-4 PM Minister: Fred Schaeffer, OFS Vice-Minister: Helen Caldarone, OFS Secretary: Jean McGovern, OFS Meeting Agenda Treasurer: Jack Reddy, OFS 2:00 Opening, Reports, etc. Formation Director: Donna Haro, OFS 2:20 Formation Program: Brush up on your Rule. Councilor-at-large: Joanne Giordano, OFS Please read from Rule 6 to 10 (pgs. 17-21) in your red “The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order” books in advance of the meeting. Please bring your Rule Book to the meeting. We We welcome to our Fraternity: will read the rules and have an open book quiz on what you Patricia A. Cooper, OFS have read. Discussion to follow if time permits. Paul Szoke, OFS, and, 3:00 Divine Mercy Chaplet Marge Szoke, OFS 3:10 Social 3:40 Liturgy of the Hours: Evening Prayer (Pending receipt of their 4:00 Closing prayers, Dismissal Council Meeting follows. ”Transfer Form” )

Each month, Divine Mercy Fraternity, publishes a newsletter, “The Canticle.” In it there will be the Agenda of the next meeting, and one of Fred’s (or other) Reflections. Some of these Reflections will be new or one al- ready on our website(s). If you (members) have any ideas for our publications, please contact Fred. Thanks.

Reflections on Prayer by Fred Schaeffer, OFS Augustine says that "when we practice faith, hope and charity with continual desire, we pray always." At the same time, we also should set aside specific times for explicit prayer to God. "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God." (Phil. 4:6) Although God knows everything about us as well as what needs we have we continually desire to place ourselves in the presence of God. When praying to God, do so in the Trinity: pray to the Son, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit to the Father. Recognize that He is One God in Three Persons. Recently, we celebrated the Holy Trinity, and this form of Trinitarian prayer was mentioned. One of many prayers from the missal: “With our whole heart and voice we glorify Thee, we praise Thee, we bless Thee, God the Father unbegotten, the only-begotten Son, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the holy and undivided Trinity. For Thou art great, and dost wonderful things: Thou alone art God. To Thee be praise, to Thee glory, to Thee thanksgiving forever and ever, O blessed Trinity!” Alt- hough it is not strictly necessary to pray with words most people do pray in various ways using words. All are effective if the strong desire is there to be in God's presence when asking for a particular petition to be granted. It is, for example, highly commendable to pray the daily and thus petition the Blessed Mary to intercede for us, to ask her beloved Son, Je- sus, to grant the request. For some people it is not possible to pray the Rosary during their work or while driving the car and so other means of prayer could be used. Next page

Divine Mercy Fraternity gathers monthly, Second Sunday 2:00 PM (except May: Third Sunday), St. Helen Church, St. Patrick’s Room in Vero Beach, FL

Divine Mercy Fraternity●Secular Franciscan Order●Vero Beach, Florida ● July 2021. p. 2

It is useful to memorize a number of short prayers that can be said anywhere either aloud or as mental prayer. Examples of such short prayers are: "Jesus I love You", "Jesus meek and humble of Heart make my heart like unto Thine", and, "Dear Jesus, please be with me al- ways." You can address Jesus or Mary or your favorite Saint in the way you are accustomed to. Perhaps you might like to at the beginning of the day or at Holy Mass, in prayer, state the intention for all prayers of that day. In a family circle, with spouse and children there are possibilities for prayer as well. As the Rosary Father Patrick Peyton, O.S.C. said, "the family who prays together, stays togeth- er!" I know of a family where they come together at a specified time and read from Holy Scrip- ture or some other spiritual text and then the family will meditate silently about the reading for 20 minutes. Meditation is a different type of prayer than short prayers or the Rosary. Peo- ple who wish to meditate usually read a passage of Scripture or some other spiritual text. Then they think about it for 10-15 minutes. If the reading is on the Passion of Christ, they could meditate on this by imagining themselves at Calvary in the crowd. Whether in a family circle or single people at prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours is yet a different form of prayer and one that is highly recommended by the Church because it is the Prayer of the Church. , deacons, and many religious have a daily obligation to pray these beauti- ful prayers. Secular Franciscans may also pray these prayers of the Church. Any Catholic can. And perhaps we should, because then, united with the Holy Father, with Bishops and Cardi- nals and many thousands of priests we share a unity in prayer. Another method of prayer is "Conversational Prayer." This form of prayer is just what the title implies—the person praying tells everything to Jesus in a conversational style. Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heav- en." (Mat 18:3-4) God exhorts us in prayer to pray as children do. Conversational prayer is one way to do just that. I located an interesting book (years ago), "More Ideas for Prayer" by Dom Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B. (1967, Templegate Publishers). This book, written by Dom Hubert, a widely known English monk, scholar, author, and sculptor, contains 200 suggestions which may prove use- ful for those who find prayer tedious or seemingly impossible. Unfortunately, it was a library book, so I no longer have access to it. St. says that "no gift that is given us is for our own exclusive use." That is certainly true with prayer also. Prayer is a gift of God. Thus we do not pray only for ourselves but for other peo- ple and for every need. We also pray to thank God for all He has given us. Sometimes our prayer is very dry and unexciting but nevertheless our prayer is valuable. Dom Van Zeller says, "Prayer needs preparation. It is necessary to acquire the habit of recol- lection, the good use of leisure and solitude, the avoidance of deliberate imperfection. Obvi- ously, the man who lets entertainment, conversation, physical fitness dominate his day will find himself at a loss when he comes to the set times of prayer." Although you'll probably think that Dom Van Zeller is addressing himself to monks and nuns, he writes for all people. Given the frenetic pace of the working man or woman these days, or that of a mother with three or four kids at home, it is necessary to relax, to unwind from the workplace before one can pray without mental interruptions or distractions. Next page

Divine Mercy Fraternity gathers monthly, Second Sunday 2:00 PM (except May: Third Sunday), St. Helen Church, St. Patrick’s Room in Vero Beach, FL

Divine Mercy Fraternity●Secular Franciscan Order●Vero Beach, Florida ● July 2021. p. 3 One needs to settle in for prayer, to slow down the mind. At the same time, people should also pray when they are moved to pray and then ask the Holy Spirit to guide them. What I haven't yet touched upon is how most people pray. They pray the "prayer of petition." They ask Jesus and Mary to protect Aunt Sophie, and Uncle Ralph, and their children, their parish priest and maybe another dozen different people. Some people think poorly of their own prayer but they should not. It should never be a concern what they get out of the prayer, the main thing is to pray. God will do the rest. Dom Van Zeller also quotes an old axiom "Without God, we cannot; without us, God will not." There is a danger in pretending to leave God free to work His will in us by not praying or praying very little. Love is expressed in prayer, in conversation with Him. Prayer is the lift- ing of our minds to God. Other prayers, apart from the Holy Mass, are the Rosary, Novenas, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Stations of the Cross and various invocations to . When you pray without words, the soul may express devotion to Jesus, to the Blessed Virgin Mary or to Saints also. That would be mental prayer. Meditation is a form of prayer too. There are many Franciscan prayers, some of which are on the website: https:// www.reflections-dmf-ofs.org/franciscan-prayers The best prayers are the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. Peace and Good, Fred Schaeffer, OFS June 8, 2021

Franciscan Saints & Blessed in July 08 Blessed Gregory Grassi and companions 09 Saint Nicholas of Gorcum and companions 10 Saint Veronica Giulini Image top —> 12 Blessed John Wall and John Jones 13 Blessed Angelina of Marciano 14 Saint Francis Solano 15 Saint 15 Most holy Sepulcher of our Lord Jesus Christ 21 Saint 23 Blessed Cunegunda 23 St. Bridget of Sweden Image bottom —> 24 Blessed Louis of Savoy 27 Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo

Note: When praying at our meetings, please do not give instructions during the prayer itself. It is very disruptive.

Divine Mercy Fraternity gathers monthly, Second Sunday 2:00 PM (except May: Third Sunday), St. Helen Church, St. Patrick’s Room in Vero Beach, FL