We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world!

These words echo throughout the Church today on Good Friday. For those accustomed to praying the Stations of the Cross this is how each Station begins.



From the movie, "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson -- the Fifth Station -- Simon of Cyrene is pressed into service to help Jesus carry his cross to Calvary.



We proclaim that Jesus dies on the cross on Golgatha for the salvation of the whole human race. It is "Good" Friday because of the great good that God accomplished through Jesus' obedience even unto death, death on a cross (cf. Phil. 2:5-11). It is not in spite of the cross but actually through the cross that we have salvation.



St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that "for the Jewish people the cross is a scandal and for the Greeks (Gentiles) the cross is foolishness, but to those on the way of salvation -- Jew and Gentile alike -- Christ the power and wisdom of God!"



For St. Francis of Assisi, and for successive Franciscan friars, Sisters, nuns and lay people, the Cross of the Lord has always been an invitation to repentance and to joyful (yes, joyful) penance by seeking the Lord in all things and encountering him in every circumstance of life.



From the Crucifix of San Damiano when Francis was a young man, to the design of what would become the habit in the shape of the cross, to the sign of the Tau (T) at Lateran Council IV (1215) as a mark of renewal to the great episode on Monte LaVerna toward the end of his life when he received the sacred stigmata, the cross of the Lord Jesus always impressed upon St. Francis the great condescension of God toward humanity. Such great love of such a great God!



Undeserving sinners that we are, God has never given up on us nor has God turned his back on us. St. Paul reminds us of this in Romans chapter 5 where he writes, "While we were still in our sins Christ died for us."

As we contemplate the Lord Jesus' Passion, death and burial today -- whether Roman Rite, Byzantine Rite or another Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church -- let us consider this great love of God toward us today.

It transformed the lives of the Mother of God, the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, it transformed Francis' and Clare's lives and the lives of countless saints before us.

May this Good Friday be a powerful blessing for you and may your prayer today lead you ever closer to the Lord Jesus who gave his life for us that we might have life, and have it abundantly (Jn. 10:10).

That is our Christian vocation, after all. And this is the Franciscan vocation as well. We bless you, Lord Jesus for by your very cross you have redeemed the world. We believe this, Lord, we believe. Amen.

A New Franciscan Priest Is Ordianed!

Metropolitan Archbishop Basil Schott, OFM (middle) intones God's blessings on the congregation at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy for the priesthood ordination of Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM. (Please notice that Fr. Jerome (on the right) is vested as deacon and served in the capacity of deacon until his ordination later on duirng the Divine Liturgy.)

Saturday, September 20, 2008, beautiful and memorable day! It happened in Homer Glen, IL. At Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church.


His Eminence, Metropolitan Archbishop Basil Schott, OFM, the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Arcbishop of Pittsburgh, ordained our brother, Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM to the priesthood! What a blessed celebration and prayerful event.


Fr. Jerome's family was represented by his parents, Jerome, Sr. and Judy Wolbert, his brother and sister-in-law and their sons, his sister, and several uncles, aunts and cousins.

Fr. Jerome's Dad -- Jerome Wolbert, Sr. and Mom -- Judy Wolbert -- and a nephew, at Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen, IL before the Divine Liturgy.



Many of his Franciscan brothers celebrated with him, including friars from St. John the Baptist and Sacred Heart Provinces. Our novice, Bro. Galen Osby, OFM was also present. Guests came from Pittsburgh, from Cleveland, from Chicago, from Cedar Lake and Munster, IN and from the Milwaukee, WI area.







Bro. Deacon Jerome Wolbert, OFM is ordained to the priesthood by the laying on of hands of Metropolitan Archbishop Basil Schott, OFM according to the Byzantine Rite.









Prior to the ordination, Fr. Jerome stayed with two of our friars who serve in pastoral ministry at the campus of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago in Lemont, IL (close to Homer Glen).




Four members of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago (OSF) came as guests to Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM's priesthood ordination. They live at their Motherhouse in Lemont, IL and graciously hosted our brother overnight. Two of our friars, Bro. Mark Zapczynski, OFM and Fr. Warren Rector, OFM serve the Sisters and the residents at Franciscan Village in Lemont in pastoral ministry.




"The Franciscan Sisters of Chicago graciously hosted me--two of our friars work with them in Lemont, not far from Annunciation Church. I was moved by their request for blessings. Even the staff at their convent lined up for a blessing from this "new priest." Also, many of the parishioners were glad and honored that they would be able to host an ordination nine years after the first Divine Liturgy in their church. I feel invigorated in my own faith, seeing the graciousness and awe of others who were able to be part of the celebration." --Newly ordained Fr. Jerome Wolbert, OFM

Welcome to Lent 2008! It's More than "Giving Up"

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offense." Psalm 51:3 (The "Miserere" Psalm)


How many of us plan to "give things up" for Lent? Maybe we've been thinking about chocolate, or soda pop, or snacks between meals. Maybe we've thought it's a good time to actually fulfill those New Year's resolutions we were so determined to do on 31 December!


However, it seems to me, this misses the point of Lent. Lent is the time the entire Church -- East and West, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox (although on a different calendar) -- journey together prayerfully toward the great celebration of the Lord Jesus' Paschal Mystery. It all aims toward the Sacred Triduum (Three Days) of the end of Holy Week toward Easter.

The Roman, or Western, Tradition solemnly begins Lent on Ash Wednesday with the marking of ashes on the forehead or sprinkling ashes on the top of the head (as is done in parts of Europe). The Byzantine Tradition begins on the evening of Cheese-Fare Sunday (this past Sunday) with Forgiveness Vespers, a penitential ceremony at the end of which the priest and congregation mutually ask forgiveness of one another and embrace one another in peace.


It is the time of the Great Fast, a time to refrain from regular life and to purposely prepare to deepen one's relationship with the Lord together with the entire Church. What a great retreat -- and we get to do it together with all our brother and sister Christians around the world! Praise God!


But, as I stated above, it's more than "giving up" something. It really is a matter of growing in Christian maturity, letting Jesus Christ genuinely be who he says he is in our lives. He is Lord, he is Savior, he is Master, he is the Good Shepherd, he is Son of God, he is Bread of Life, he is Resurrection and Life, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life -- and the list, of course, goes on.


So Lent is not a matter of taking advantage of a church time to lose weight, or exercise, or other such practices about us. It's about focusing on the Lord Jesus.


This is what St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi both understood intuitvely and practiced. The earliest Franciscans were known as the "Penitents of Assisi". Penance was a popular devotion in the Middle Ages, even into the Modern age. Some of the physical rigors we would consider odd or even bizarre today.

But the overall purpose of the penance that Sts. Francis and Clare practiced was to turn their minds and hearts to the Lord. That's the purpose of Franciscan penance; that is the purpose of Christian penance! It is to deliberately rid ourselves of unnecessary distractions (TV? ipods?), that which can separate us from the Lord, at least for the period of this retreat of forty days. And it is to face the temptations in our lives, by God's grace, and know the victorious power of the Lord's love over them. Even when we fail!

St. Francis of Assisi, as a young man, praying before the San Damiano Crucifix: "Lord, who are you . . .? And, who am I . . .?" His prayer in this run down chapel was pivotal in his conversion to the Lord. This was where he heard the Lord Jesus speak to him from the Cross and say, "Francis, go repair my Church, which you see is falling into ruin!"

As we turn to the Lord we are changed! The fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23) become more evident in our lives. The image of the Lord Jesus becomes more manifest and visible in our attitudes, our ways of speaking, our ways of acting and interacting.

This was what was so attractive about St. Francis and the Francisans, both men and women. Although quite imperfect, they were willing to grow in holiness as men and women of penance. It is about becoming conformed to the Lord Jesus.

In a word, we are undergoing conversion! Conversion from our selfishness to the Lord's own selflessness through acts of generosity and almsgiving (outreach to the poor); from self-preocupation to concern about what the Lord wants for us through self-abnegation (fasting); from vanity and self-absorption to deeper love of God and neighbor through prayer.

World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life

Tomorrow, Sunday 3 February 2008, is the annual World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. This usually falls on the Sunday closes to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (which is today, Saturday 2 Feburary). And, tomrrow happily coincides with the (optional) memorial of the Armenian holy bishop Blase of Sebaste -- the traditional blessing of throats!

Contemporary image of Saints Clare and Francis of Assisi surrounded by men and women Franciscans and Sisters Moon and the Stars and Brother Sun, from Francis' Canticle of the Creatures

All Christians are "consecrated" to the Lord through the Sacrament of Baptism, so what does this mean, "consecrated life"?

The term "consecrated life" became a popular term for religious life during the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II, when he wrote a treatise called Vita Consecrata (consecrated life in Latin) in the early 1990s.

Yes, all Christians are consecrated to the Lord in baptism -- the various passages in the New Testament (especially the letters of St. Paul the Apostle) testify to this truth. We are told we are a "temple of the Holy Spirit", "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ", "born again", "a new creation", "a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people which belongs uniquely to the Lord" and "the People of God".

But since the very beginning centuries of the Church, particularly in the Christian East, there has been a continual movement of certain men and women who discerned they were called by the Lord to a different sense of "vocation" than their peers. We have some evidence of this prior to the fourth century, but the two classical personages of this movement were St. Paul the Hermit and St. Anthony of the Desert (also called "the Abbot" and "the Great") of Egypt.

Originally they went into the desert to "escape the world". This meant that they wanted to consecrate their entire lives to the Lord through prayer, silence, mortifications, penances and work. They believed that living "in the world" was a great distraction and so they wanted to be free of all distractions, following the example of the Lord Jesus who, after his baptism, went into the desert for forty days and nights.

Many did so for the purpose of leading a penitential life. Perhaps they had committed grevious sins and determined that their only hope for salvation in the Lord was to avoid all possible contact with their former lives and begin an entirely new life away from the world. Others simply wanted to live for the Lord Jesus alone -- in prayer and with work.

The movement would eventualy spread throughout the Christian world -- Persia, Greece, Italy, Ireland. Great saints emerge from this movement, countless saints. Over the course of centuries, Western monasticism would develop into what we know as religiious life in our day and age. Rather than stay in monasteries, many men and women discerned their vocation to serve among the poor, to educate, to assist the sick and the dying, to preach, to go among non-believers as missionaries or to preach among the baptized, calling them to deeper relationshiop with the Lord and to conversion.

Our own Franciscan movement, begun with Sts. Francis and Clare in the early 13th century helped change religious life from the monastery to the city and beyond. All of these are examples of "consecrated life."

Bro. Mario Nagy, OFM, of the Assumption BVM Province, on mission in Siberia, Russia, receiving the first (simple) profession of a Russian Franciscan novice

Quite simply, it is discerning the Lord's call in our lives to deepen our baptismal consecration. This disceernment into religious life includes looking critically at our world (not to be negative but to see it as it really is, from the Lord's perspective, through prayer and familiarity with Holy Tradition [including Sacred Scripture]).

The Vita Consecrata takes many forms in the Catholic Church. As Franciscan friars, we seek to serve the Lord and his Church by striving to live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ like St. Francis of Assisi, our founder, and his early band of "Penitents of Assisi". These he would name, "friars minor", or lesser brothers.

By responding to the Lord's call in faith, that is, a Franciscan vocation, we trust the God is calling us to live in fraternity as brothers, to pray together according to the norms of the Catholic Church (Roman and Byzantine [Ruthenian] Rites), to grow in our relationship with the Lord through personal prayer, days of recollection, spiritual direction and retreats and to become appropriately educated and trained so that we may adequately serve in various capacities. All of this is encompassed with the desire to identify with the Lord Jesus who "became poor for our sake so that we could become rich in the mercy of God". This is what both Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi desired with all their hearts.

They listened to the Gospels and responded to them, even imperfectly, because of their love for Jesus and his People, the Church. That is what imples us, like St. Paul wrote the Galatian Christians in the New Testament. The love of Jesus Christ impels us to seek him as our greatest good in consecrated life as vowed religious. This we believe is fulfilling our baptismal vows and consecration to the Lord -- to God's glory and for the life of his People.

Visiting the Friars at a "Live-In Retreat" Weekend

Last weekend, 12-14 October, four men from various parts of the country gathered at St. Joseph Friary in Chicago, IL to visit the Franciscan friars of the Assumption BVM Province and learn who we are and what we do.

From Dallas, TX, Grand Rapids, MI, Milwaukee, WI and even Chicago, IL, they traveled to the Inter-provincial Post-novitiate Formation house located in the heart of the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. It is located just a few blocks from both Catholic Theological Union (CTU) and the University of Chicago.

Fr. Joachim (Kim) Studwell, OFM with Greg Hendricks of Michigan and Andrew Gill of Texas at "The Port Ministries", Chicago, IL

Fr. Bernard Kennedy, OFM, Bro. David Kelly, OFM and Bro. Tommy Mandello, OFM offered their guests superb hospitality and refreshment. The friars began on Friday night by sharing their respective vocation stories -- how God called them in rather ordinary lives to become friars minor. The community's postulant from Milwaukee, Galen Osby, also joined the men on their "Live-In Retreat" weekend. Fr. Joachim (Kim) Studwell, OFM, Vocation Director for the province, led the weekend retreat.

Early the next morning they headed to the novitiate, San Damiano Friary, in Cedar Lake, IN for morning prayer, Mass and breakfast. Fr. Ed Tlucek, OFM, the Novice Director, gave them a rather thorough introduction to the year-long living experience of the novitiate. Then they visited another friary very close by, Lourdes Friary, and were treated to a delicious lunch.

Once they returned to Chicago, the group visited "The Port" ministries in another neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Back of the Yards, among the very poor. David Krug, SFO (Secular Franciscan Order) guided us on a tour of the facilities and discussion about the various ministries.

Matthew Brophy of Wisconsin, Fr. Kim Studwell, OFM and Andrew Gill of Texas at "The Port Ministries", Chicago, IL

After a bit of a rest, we went to the famous "Connie's Pizza" for supper and met up with Bro. Craig Wilking, OFM, who later on shared his unique vocation story and current ministry as a nurse among the indigent and homeless poor on Chicago's North Side.

Later that night, Fr. Kim met with the retreatants individually to review their experiences and their perspective of the retreat and particular vocation discernment.


Finally, on Sunday, we traveled to Whiting, IN, to St. Mary Assumption Byzantine Catholic Church for Divine Liturgy (Ruthenian), since the province is bi-ritual (Roman and Byzantine Rites). After brunch, we returned to St. Joseph Friary for wrap-up, evaluations and concluding prayer in the chapel.



It was a good experience retreat. This is not a "theory" retreat, but an opportunity to go and visit the friars, meet them, and if possible see where the serve God's People. We welcome others who would like to investigate our community and "Live-In" with the friars for a weekend.