World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Sunday 29 April 2007

Pope Benedict XVI has given his theme for this year's World Day of Prayer for Vocations (tomorrow, Sunday 29 April 2007), The Vocation to the Service of the Church as Communion. Our provincial minister, Fr. Leslie Hoppe, OFM, has encouraged us Franciscan friars to remember that "(w)e are a community of brothers whose commitments to each other are cemented by minority, i.e. by thinking of others as better than ourselves."

Simply put, our Franciscan witness is to mirror Jesus in his self-giving on the Cross. The pope points out that this communion is manifest best in our celebration of the Eucharist. This is when the Church is most visibly in communion -- we partake of the Holy Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ; we are in communion with one another. This is what is most important for our fraternal life as Franciscan friars, too.

As Franciscan friars, however imperfect we are, we try to live this communion both in our brotherhood and in our pastoral ministries. We hope that other men are inspired by the Lord through our witness to join us as friars minor (i.e. lesser brothers) to live for Jesus Christ after the example of St. Francis of Assisi.