November 2017 Divine Mercy Fraternity Secular Franciscan Order, Vero Beach, Florida www.dmf-ofs.org Regular Meeting: The next meeting is: Sunday, November 12, 2017, 2:00 - 4:00pm. South Room, Christian Living Ctr., St. Helen Church. Agenda and Schedule - Regular Meeting 2.00 Opening, Reports, etc. 2:10 Blessing of Donations to the Food Pantry. 2:15 The Holy Souls (this means Souls in Purgatory, readings from accounts of the life of St. Padre Pio on this topic. By Donna Haro. 2:55 Refreshments and Break Fraternity Officers/Council Members 3:15 Franciscan Crown Rosary (exp. 3 years from Jan. 10, 2016) 3:40 Liturgy of the Hours Minister: Fred Schaeffer, OFS 4:00 Closing Prayers and Dismissal Vice-Minister: Helen Caldarone, OFS Secretary: Jean McGovern, OFS Refreshment Committee: Treasurer: Vacant Formation Dir.: Donna Haro, OFS Snacks: Stan Widing, Jack Reddy Councilor-at-large: Jack Reddy, OFS Drinks: Ginny Davis Spiritual Asst.: Rev. Mr. Richard Blake, OFS (when available) Council Meeting, Sat. November 18, 2017, at 9 am, St. John of the Cross. See Fred Remember in your prayers: Eugene Caldarone, Fred Schaeffer, Ginny Davis, Ed O’Donnell, Marie Fee, Pat Riordan, Stanley Widing, Deacon Blake, and all Franciscans unable to come to the meeting. Anniversaries: Jack Reddy, OFS 11-13-2010 Virginia Davis, OFS 11-19-2011 Nancy Thomas, OFS 11-20-2012 November 2017 page 2 Divine Mercy Fraternity, Secular Franciscan Order, Vero Beach, Florida On November 18, 2017, Father Solanus Casey, a beloved Capuchin friar, will be Beatified. PRAYER FOR THE BEATIFICATION OF VENERABLE SOLANUS CASEY O God, I adore You. I give myself to You. May I be the person You want me to be, and may Your will be done in my life today. I thank You for the gifts You gave to Father Solanus. If it is Your Will, bless us with the beatification of Venerable Solanus so that others may imitate and carry on his love for all the poor and suffering of our world. As he joyfully accepted Your divine plans, I ask You, according to Your Will, to hear my prayer for . (your intention) through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. “Blessed be God in all His designs.” Imprimatur: Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit March 31, 2007 © F.S.G. 3/07 November. Franciscan Liturgical Calendar (EWTN) (not adjusted for weekends) Liturgically, we are entering a very busy period of the year. Nov 1 All Saints Day falls on a Wednesday - Holiday of Obligation. Nov 2 All Souls Day. 7. Didacus of Alcala, religious, I Order 14. Nicholas Tavelic, priest, and companions, martyrs, I Order -- Memorial 17. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, Patroness of the III Order -- Feast 18. Bl. Salome, virgin, II Order (For II and III Order nuns). Even though not for OFS, we can still pray for those II and III Order nuns and for other intentions. 19. Agnes of Assisi, virgin, II Order (For II and III Order nuns: Memorial) 24. Commemoration of all the Deceased of the Seraphic Order -- Memorial This is a good day to pray for the deceased in our Fraternity! 26. Leonard of Port Maurice, priest, I Order -- Memorial 27. Bl. Francis Anthony Fasani, priest, I Order 28. James of the March, priest, I Order -- Memorial 29. ALL SAINTS OF THE SERAPHIC ORDER -- Feast The First Sunday of Advent is on December 3, 2017. There are many other Franciscan Blessed and Saints but those listed above are listed in our Liturgy of the Hours. ♦ November 2017 page 3 The Love of God is all Powerful by Fred Schaeffer, OFS God loves us as individuals. He knows us each by name! In Holy Scripture, we read: " Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations." We are His chosen, and His soul delights in us! [Isa 42:1] And also: "The LORD said to Moses, "This request, too, which you have just made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend." [Exodus 33:17] In the New Testament, we find the following words: "And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoev- er does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." [Mat 12:49-50] The relationship of those who do the will of the Lord's Heavenly Father, is an intimate relationship. Moses was favored by the Lord, so the Lord deemed him an intimate friend, and similarly, people who really try to observe God's law, are intimate friends. People say that they are all sinners, and there is no question that all of us are. Original sin took care of that burden. But if we are sorry for our misdeeds, God will forgive us. In frequent reconciliation, we gain in holiness along the way of life, and we too, will become intimate friends with Him. God is all-powerful, and there is no limit to his mercy and forgiveness. If we continue to strive to improve, to sin less and less as time goes on, we too will grow in intimacy with Jesus. There are definite advantages to becoming a friend of Jesus. One of those is a certain inner peace which follows us around. That is not to say that we won't be tempted and attacked by evil to do something that offends God, but at some point if we continue to persevere, we will overcome these temptations and continue to grow in love with God. The great classics in spirituality, such as Teresa of Avila's "Ascend to Mount Carmel", and, texts by St. John of the Cross, invite us constantly to practice daily conversion and thus grown steadily in our relationship with God. If we falter once in a while, that is OK - our Lord will give us the Grace to get up and continue on our journey. We are so special to Him that He does not want to lose us and thus will protect us and the friendship and brotherhood we share with Him and through Him with each other. If we fail Him daily and we are not careful in our relationship with Him, or perhaps even seek to stray away from Him, then we can damage our friendship. He will still love us, but we will not love Him. And so, when we come to the end of our days, if we do not reach that time in a State of Grace, and we fail to do something about that, then we are in danger of losing our immortal soul. It must not come to that. Our Lord forgave us for crucifying Him, or for being a part of that action, and in order to redeem us, He died for us. For each one of us. Do not let Him down. Repent. There is less time than you think. Repent, and sin no more. We are in difficult times. Our Church is being attacked right and left. The secular media and even scholars are attempting to sway our attention away from the Catholic church, by not recognizing God in any worldly setting anymore. It began, some years ago, by a small group of powerful people who did their best to hide the public display of the Ten Commandments. Then, other efforts at- tempted to omit references to God in all sorts of applications. It is almost as if the world says: Out of sight (God's Name) is out of mind. And even in our Churches, for a time, there was havoc as Church architects designed worship spaces devoid of crucifixes, showing the Corpus, and hid Tabernacles in corners and alcoves. God is all powerful, and He can punish people. We hope that we will continually grow in our relationship with God and with the Father, and we will grow as long as we remain an intensely loyal Eucharistic people. The strength of the Catholic Church is Jesus Himself, and people who believe and act accordingly - we have Jesus in our midst, in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Make Him welcome in our Heart and Soul. Make sure He has a place there, forever. FSS 2009 .