PAX~ET~BONUM NEWSLETTER OF THE FRATERNITY SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA 15940 Vol. 39, No. 19 – JuLY 2020 Minister: Spiritual Assistant: Mary Jo Fiore, OFS Fr. Kevin Queally, TOR 814-330-3761; [email protected] 610-741-3565 [email protected]

CALENDAR student leaders at Saint Francis University as they return to school. July 4 Independence Day COUNCIL NOTES July 8 Feast of Saint Gregory Grassi

July 9 Feast of St. Nicholas Pick and The Saint Bonaventure Fraternity Council Companions met on June 13 via Video Teleconference. Items July 10 Feast of Giuliani discussed were an idea for an apostolate for July- July 12 Feast of John Jones and John August and an August gathering date and the Wall. September picnic. There will be no formation starting until we return to face to face gatherings. July13 Feast of BL Angeline of Marsciano The treasurer’s report for May was approved. July 14 Feast of Saint Francis Solano July15 Feast of Saint Bonaventure CELEBRATIONS !! July 21 Feast of Saint Lawrence of Brindis Happy Birthdays to Dawn Mellott on July 5, Marie July 23 Feast of Saint Cunegunda Bettwy on July 11, Pat Serotkin on July 13, Dick July 23 Feast of Saint Gajewski on July 14 and Bill Duryea and Pat Fitzgerald on July 29. July 24 Feast of Blessed Louise of Savoy

July 27 Feast of Blessed Mary Magdalene of COMMON FUND Martinegro Aug 6 Feast of the Transfiguration All professed members of the fraternity are Aug 9 12 noon – Council Meeting expected to contribute to the fraternity’s common 1:15 pm - Gathering fund. Please send your July contribution to Patricia Location: Sacred Heart Retreat Center Serotkin, OFS, Fraternity Treasurer at 1072 N. in Munster Center St. Ebensburg, PA 15931. Aug 11 Feast of Saint Clare Aug 15 Feast of the Assumption

FRATERNITY GATHERINGS JULY-AUGUST APOSTOLATE There will be no fraternity gathering in July. Our August gathering will be held at 1:15 p.m. on As part of our August gathering we will be putting Sunday, August 9 at the Sacred Heart Retreat labels on about 150 snack bags to be distributed to Center in Munster. Ongoing formation will take student leaders on campus which will say “Welcome place. As part of our gathering we will be putting back!” to campus from our OFS fraternity. They will labels on the snack bags to be distributed to then be delivered to campus on August 10.

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JULY PRAYER INTENTIONS Our Holy Father, Pope Francis asks for our prayers. During July we pray that today’s families may be accompanied with love, respect and guidance.

From Fr Devadas Siddipogula (INDIA WELL PROJECT)

I am glad to inform you that water project has been successful. First our plan was to dig 400 feet deep but till 500 feet we couldn’t find single drop of water Blessing the bore well point and mission too as it was only stone. Trusting in the Lord and intercession of BVM we decided to dig 250 feet more. We got wet mud after 550 feet and later we got after 630 feet. We were really happy to see water gushing form deep.

God heard our prayers and inspired you to be kind for the water project. I thought $1500 would be enough for the project. Project exceeded up to $1900 including pipes, motor pump, cable etc.

Thank you for being part of this project. It is successful only because of your generous contribution of $620. God bless you and those contributed. (Thank you Marie Bettwy, OFS for organizing contributions to this important project!)

I with Anthony Xavier and children before digging the bore well. (Anthony is a child we give money to for his education.)

ADMONITION...Mary Jo, OFS

While pondering a topic for this month’s newsletter and researching information I realized the topic would be one that is very prominent in our society today. That topic would be racism. I want to share a statement on racism from The National Commission of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation of the Secular Franciscan Order in the United States to do the following in response to racism: JPIC as it is known declares that racism is morally wrong. It does not love or respect life. Neither scripture, Our Rule of Life nor our faith Digging the bore well at 550 feet deep. justifies it, for any reason, or under any

2 circumstance. Litany of Humility Our Catholic social teaching calls us to respect and honor the dignity of every human life, from womb to O Jesus! meek and natural death. It makes no exclusions based on humble of heart, hear me. color or ethnicity. We are called to honor and From the desire of being respect the lives of people we love and people esteemed, deliver me, O whom we may find hard to love; people who are Jesus. like us and people who are different from us. From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus. As Catholic Christians and Franciscans, we owe it From the desire of being to ourselves to do the following in response to extolled, deliver me, O racism: Jesus.  To identify and replace the structures in From the desire of being society that perpetuate racism and replace honored, deliver me, O them with structures that are fair and just, Jesus. and that value the lives and gifts of every From the desire of being person. praised, deliver me, O  To pray for an end to racism: pray for Jesus. interracial solidarity, for our laws and our From the desire of being faith practices to reflect our compassion and preferred to others, deliver value for the dignity of every human life. me, O Jesus.  Identify and confront our own unconscious From the desire of being racial biases. We all have them, and they consulted, deliver me, O Jesus. make their way into our lives often From the desire of being approved, deliver me, O unnoticed. We need to acknowledge them Jesus. and replace them with love and From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O engagement. We need to have safe and Jesus. meaningful dialogue about those racial From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O biases. We owe it to ourselves and to our Jesus. brothers and sisters to develop a strong From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O sense of community and fraternity through Jesus. peaceful conversations. This is truly a From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O conversion moment. Our Rule calls us to Jesus. be “bearers of peace.” From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O SUGGESTED READINGS Jesus. From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Jesus. Brant Pitre, Doubleday, c2011, ISBN 978-0-385- From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O 53184-9 Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist shines me the grace to desire it. fresh light on the Last Supper by looking at it That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, through Jewish eyes. Using his in-depth grant me the grace to desire it. knowledge of the Bible and Jewish traditions, Dr. That, in the opinion of the world, others may Brant Pitre answers questions such as: What was increase and I may decrease, Jesus, the Passover like at the time of Jesus? What were grant me the grace to desire it. the Jewish hopes for the Messiah? What was That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, Jesus' purpose in instituting the Eucharist during grant me the grace to desire it. the feast of Passover? And, most important of That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, all, what did Jesus mean when he said, "This is my grant me the grace to desire it. body ... This is my blood"? That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

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That others may become holier than I, provided that keep you! May the Lord show His face to you and be I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me merciful to you! May the Lord lift up His countenance the grace to desire it. upon you and give you peace! God bless you Brother Leo!" Francis sketched a head (of Brother Leo) and then drew the TAU over this portrait. Why was the TAU special to St. Francis? Why do Secular Franciscans wear the TAU? Due, no doubt, in large part to Francis' own The TAU Cross affection for and  TAU, as a symbol of sanctity, comes devotion to the TAU, it from Ezekiel 9:4 has been a well- "Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a recognized and TAU on the foreheads of those who grieve accepted Franciscan and lament over all the detestable things symbol among that are done in it." It is the last letter of the Franciscans of various Hebrew alphabet and looks very much like denominations and of the letter "T". all orders within those denominations for centuries. It remains so today.  Franciscan scholarship points to St. The TAU carries with it all of the symbolism of the Francis’s being present at the Lateran Cross of Christ as well as Francis' ideal of life and Council in 1215 dream for himself and his followers. o He would have heard Pope Innocent III announce that every Catholic The TAU is designated as the distinctive sign of the should take the TAU Cross as the Secular Franciscan Order of the United States. symbol of their Passover o He would have heard that the elect, Secular Franciscans, do you wear your TAU the chosen will be marked with the every day? What do you think about when you sign of the TAU (Ezekiel 9:4) put on your TAU? o He would have heard the pope say (Information from the FUN Manual) that the TAU has the form as the Cross on which our Lord was crucified and that those who had mortified their flesh and conformed their life to that of Christ crucified will obtain mercy.

 From then on, the TAU became Francis's own coat of arms and he often used it in his writings as his personal signature.

St. Bonaventure said, "This TAU symbol had all the veneration and all the devotion of the saint: he spoke of it often in order to recommend it, and he traced it on himself before beginning each of his actions."

Thomas of Celano, another Franciscan historian and biographer of Francis, writes, "Francis preferred the Tau above all other symbols: he utilized it as his only signature for his letters, and he painted the image of it on the walls of all the places in which he stayed."

In the famous blessing of Brother Leo, Francis wrote on parchment, "May the Lord bless you and

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