Could this be your call?

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JReducation

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I realize that I have posted this before, but time is moving along and events are progressing in a very dangerous direction. As many of you know, the healthcare bill is almost ready. There is still no guarantee for the protection of human life and respect for the Gospel of Life. In addition, some of our Catholic schools and religious education programs are being threatened by contamination from the secular world. Recently, on the news forum, there was a posting about schools that have opened their doors to a play that promotes same-sex and safe-sex ideas in a manner that is inconsistent with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and the Gospel of Life.

There is a shortage of men and women who are consecrated to promoting the Gospel of Life. Let us pray that God will send more men to consecrate their lives as brothers to those who need a brother. The only way that we can protect our young, from conception to natural death, is through prayer, penance, silence, solitude, poverty, obedience, and a fraternal presence in the world. Our presence must be one that calls men to think about God, to trust God’s design for them and leads men away from despair. Society is looking for beacons of hope.

The greatest reason behind abortion, same-sex unions, artificial birth control is man’s inability to see God. When man feels alone with his needs, passions, fears and limitations. When he feels alone, he becomes his own god. He tries desperately to find a remedy for his condition. The problem is that the remedy that man finds is not really a remedy. It only complicates his life by diminishing its meaning and purpose.

Today’s society wants to do away with suffering. Suffering for the sake of suffering is not a virtue. But suffering for the sake of love is redemptive. Accepting one’s condition and situation in life builds one’s sense of dependence on God. It promotes humility, which is a prerequisite for perfect charity. But who will tell society that God has a plan? This is the mission of the Franciscan Brothers of Life. Through total detachment from everything and everyone and total attachment to prayer, the Eucharist, brotherhood and service to the Gospel of Life, the brother becomes a living sign of God’s Providence in the world. His presence reminds man that God does care about his condition, his fears, his needs, his desires and his salvation.

We are still working with the spiritual assistant that the bishop has given us. As we go through this period of discernment on how to preach the Gospel of Life through our Franciscan charism, we realize that we have been given a very special gift during a very special time in the history of the Church. Please keep us in your prayers and pray that God may awaken other men to walk barefoot in the steps of Christ, as did St. Francis.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Thank you for all that you do and God bless!!

Are you considering praying exorcism prayers around abortion clinics? I have heard this works incredibly well… one clinic the owner, who sleeps in the basement, physically could not stay in the building while the prayers are being said. I imagine this would be a very lawful way to shut down any of them…

Me being a 17 year old girl, I would love to join, but… 🤷 :). As far as vocations though, I really feel God calling me to being a mother in a few years, but right now to spread the love for life to my friends and classmates. I’m actually going to my first prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic in two days!!! God has asked me to… basically that is my “vocation” for now.

God bless all those who help you out and commit themselves to this cause. The tides must soon turn or it will be our own self-destruction will continue. What I like to share with people is that 1/4 of my generation was murdered in the womb by their very own mothers. That really gets them thinking…
 
ljubim said:
Thank you for all that you do and God bless!!

Are you considering praying exorcism prayers around abortion clinics? I have heard this works incredibly well… one clinic the owner, who sleeps in the basement, physically could not stay in the building while the prayers are being said. I imagine this would be a very lawful way to shut down any of them…

Me being a 17 year old girl, I would love to join, but… 🤷 :). As far as vocations though, I really feel God calling me to being a mother in a few years, but right now to spread the love for life to my friends and classmates. I’m actually going to my first prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic in two days!!! God has asked me to… basically that is my “vocation” for now.

God bless all those who help you out and commit themselves to this cause. The tides must soon turn or it will be our own self-destruction will continue. What I like to share with people is that 1/4 of my generation was murdered in the womb by their very own mothers. That really gets them thinking…
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I think that what you’re doing is awesome. You’ll be a good mother, because you have a deep respect for life. In the meantime, pray for our brothers, the people we serve and for more vocations.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Bro. J.R.

Please keep this emerging affiliate charism in your prayers: the Sisters of the Holy Innocents & St. Gianna Molla.

cloisters.tripod.com/holyinnocents/

They also have a lay branch–Dr. Gianna’s Assistants for Life

cloisters.tripod.com/drgiannasassistantsforlife/

If you pray for us, then Francis & Dominic will be working together again. The Holy Innocents sisters are to be Third Order Regular Dominican, and we pray they will be grafted onto the Dominican tree eventually.

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
ljubim said:
Thank you for all that you do and God bless!!

Are you considering praying exorcism prayers around abortion clinics? I have heard this works incredibly well… one clinic the owner, who sleeps in the basement, physically could not stay in the building while the prayers are being said. I imagine this would be a very lawful way to shut down any of them…

Me being a 17 year old girl, I would love to join, but… 🤷 :). As far as vocations though, I really feel God calling me to being a mother in a few years, but right now to spread the love for life to my friends and classmates. I’m actually going to my first prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic in two days!!! God has asked me to… basically that is my “vocation” for now.

God bless all those who help you out and commit themselves to this cause. The tides must soon turn or it will be our own self-destruction will continue. What I like to share with people is that 1/4 of my generation was murdered in the womb by their very own mothers. That really gets them thinking…
Click to expand...
I will tell our affiliate emerging religious community about that exorcism prayer. (I think we need to do the same thing for Wash, DC!).

You sound like you would enjoy their lay branch, Dr. Gianna’s Assistants for Life:

cloisters.tripod.com/drgiannasassistantsforlife/

Nuns are considered spiritual mothers. Please keep that in mind.

Blessings,
Cloisters
 
JReducation said:
I realize that I have posted this before, but time is moving along and events are progressing in a very dangerous direction. As many of you know, the healthcare bill is almost ready. There is still no guarantee for the protection of human life and respect for the Gospel of Life. In addition, some of our Catholic schools and religious education programs are being threatened by contamination from the secular world. Recently, on the news forum, there was a posting about schools that have opened their doors to a play that promotes same-sex and safe-sex ideas in a manner that is inconsistent with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and the Gospel of Life.

There is a shortage of men and women who are consecrated to promoting the Gospel of Life. Let us pray that God will send more men to consecrate their lives as brothers to those who need a brother. The only way that we can protect our young, from conception to natural death, is through prayer, penance, silence, solitude, poverty, obedience, and a fraternal presence in the world. Our presence must be one that calls men to think about God, to trust God’s design for them and leads men away from despair. Society is looking for beacons of hope.

The greatest reason behind abortion, same-sex unions, artificial birth control is man’s inability to see God. When man feels alone with his needs, passions, fears and limitations. When he feels alone, he becomes his own god. He tries desperately to find a remedy for his condition. The problem is that the remedy that man finds is not really a remedy. It only complicates his life by diminishing its meaning and purpose.

Today’s society wants to do away with suffering. Suffering for the sake of suffering is not a virtue. But suffering for the sake of love is redemptive. Accepting one’s condition and situation in life builds one’s sense of dependence on God. It promotes humility, which is a prerequisite for perfect charity. But who will tell society that God has a plan? This is the mission of the Franciscan Brothers of Life. Through total detachment from everything and everyone and total attachment to prayer, the Eucharist, brotherhood and service to the Gospel of Life, the brother becomes a living sign of God’s Providence in the world. His presence reminds man that God does care about his condition, his fears, his needs, his desires and his salvation.

We are still working with the spiritual assistant that the bishop has given us. As we go through this period of discernment on how to preach the Gospel of Life through our Franciscan charism, we realize that we have been given a very special gift during a very special time in the history of the Church. Please keep us in your prayers and pray that God may awaken other men to walk barefoot in the steps of Christ, as did St. Francis.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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*Blessings to you and your brothers on your apostolate, it is always so good to hear from you and about your religious community … The sisters here in Spokane pray daily for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life, , as well as for perseverance for those currently in religious life.( Perhaps you could share more about your community??) Blessings of Peace and all good… *
 
I have found out my call, my meaning in life, it’s to meet all the ladies at the bar tonight 😃
 
I’d be more than happy to share about this emerging community. The idea of the Brothers of Life of the Order of St. Francis or as the local people call it, Franciscan Brothers of Life, began in 2008 when I was watching a program on which Fr. Pavone was speaking about the mission of Priests for Life. As I listened to Fr. Pavone I was deeply moved by the fact that not only are millions of children torn apart by abortion, but also the fact that millions of men and women who are lied into procuring an abortion must live with the horrid consequences of their choices.

The idea suddenly hit me like a brick. “Who made this a woman’s issue?” I realize that men must take a place in the proclamation of the Gospel of Life. This is not a woman’s issue. All of these babies who are aborted have fathers. Most of the people who pass legislation on abortion are men, since men outnumber women in politics. In addition, the majority of physicians who provide abortion services and who make money in this industry are men. The brick kept hitting me between the eyes and it kept hurting more and more. Men are as responsible for the termination of human life in the womb, as women.

Having been a member of the Franciscan family for many years I prayed to St. Francis of Assisi. I hurt as I prayed. I asked my holy Father Francis for the grace to see what I should and could do. I had no idea where to begin. One day, I was suddenly reminded of my good friend, Cardinal O’Malley in Boston. Cardinal O’Malley and I have a friendship that dates back to 1972 when I first joined the Franciscan family as a Secular Franciscan. So, in 2007, I proceeded to write him about my concerns and he responded with encouragement.

I gathered up my courage and approached the local bishop, with a letter of introduction from the Cardinal. We spoke several times and he was open and gracious. But a lot of work still had to be done. I had no money and no men who would want to dedicate their lives to this endeavor.

I knew that it had to be a Franciscan endeavor. I could not depart from my own Franciscan Order. I have always been in love with my brothers and sisters, with our holy Father Founder, and with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as lived by Franciscans everywhere.

With the pastoral encouragement of my good bishop and an excellent spiritual director, I began to write the description of the new foundation. It would be a group of brothers, men consecrated to live the Gospel as it was lived by our holy Father Francis, in obedience to the Church, without property of our own, and in chastity that liberates us to live as brothers to one another and to the unborn.

The brothers would not ask for anything in return, either from the Church, the state or through corporate fundraising. Like our holy Father Francis before us and the unborn whom we seek to serve, we would be totally dependent on Divine Providence for our material needs. We would beg for the money and resources to serve the unborn, their parents and those who protect them and ask nothing for ourselves, except what God provides through his generosity.

Like our holy Father Francis before us and the unborn in their mother’s womb, our only home would be the shelter God provides on loan. We would make no place our permanent home, in heaven, we have a resplendent home awaiting us. Like the child in his mother’s womb, whose home only temporary, we too make our homes temporary. Therefore, we have no monasteries, no convents, no large homes of our own. So that like Christ, who became incarnate and made his temporary home in Mary’s womb, would be born in Bethlehem, travel to Egypt, back to Nazareth, wander through Galilee, die in Jerusalem and lay in a borrowed tomb, we too become incarnate in the life of the Church with no place to call our own, except Heaven alone.

We would travel from parish to parish, school to school, hospital to hospital, pregnancy center to center and through all the world if necessary, to proclaim to all men the truth of human existence.

Our lives would be based on the rule that St. Francis wrote for the Brothers and Sisters of Penance in 1221, often referred to as the Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis. No other rule can better serve this mission than the Rule of Penance. For our lives must be surrendered as an on-going gift to the Father in thanksgiving for the incarnation and passion of His Son and as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins against the precious gift of life that the Father has given us.

Finally, our lives would also be one of constant preaching to those whose hearts have been closed to the cry of the unborn. It is not enough to speak to women in crisis pregnancies. We must also preach the Gospel to those who provide abortion services or who promote them. They too are sons and daughters of the Father. They too are deserving of our love and our compassion, because their eternal salvation is also important to Christ. We do not hold them in disdain. On the contrary, like St. Francis before us, we see in them the poverty of sin, ignorance, obstinacy, and relativism gone rampart in our modern age. They are not objects of our contempt, but of our love and desire for their conversion.

to be continued
 
conclusion

As brothers, we do not seek Holy Orders. Christ has called us to be one among many brothers and sisters for whom he has given his life. We are to die with him through a life of prayer, silence, austerity, fasting, abstinence, manual work, always taking that last place among men. As brothers to all, we seek to lead men through Christ. What greater love can a brother show toward another than to show him Christ?

Like our holy Father Francis, our life of community is paramount. Without community, there is no Church. Without the Church, there is no bride. Our life of community is rooted in the mystery of the Church’s identity as one body, eternally renewed and hidden in the heart of Christ. Every brother seeks to be a brother to each other, supporting each other spiritually, being available to each other, and recognizing the gift that each brings to the mystery of the Church. Therefore, every brother loves the other as Christ loves the Church. Thus, like our Father Francis before us, we go to our grave always concerned and in love with our brothers, because through them we discover Christ and through them we receive the grace to serve and the courage to continue.

Today’s life issues have reached a critical level. Let us pray that men will hear the voice of Christ calling them to serve as Brothers of Life. Such men must be willing to leave everything behind, to surrender totally to God’s Providence, to imitate the love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, loving without seeking anything in return, only the pleasure of her Divine Son. The brother must be a man who is flexible, willing to go to sleep in own city and wake up in another. Most of all, he must be a man of great joy, always grateful to be in the service of the Gospel with nothing to claim as his own, except his on sinfulness. Pray that God will send us more brothers.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
And this is funny, because . . . ?
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Who said anything about it being funny?

You gotta have fun man, this monk I once knew he was a real swinger, he’d be down at the irish pub on monday nights just having a go at the beer, and then some tap dancing with some lovely brunette.

He found a double vocation, ahahaha :cool:
 
TheRiver said:
Who said anything about it being funny?

You gotta have fun man, this monk I once knew he was a real swinger, he’d be down at the irish pub on monday nights just having a go at the beer, and then some tap dancing with some lovely brunette.

He found a double vocation, ahahaha :cool:
Click to expand...
My friend, what you saw is not religious life. There is nothing wrong with having a beer. There is nothing wrong with having fun. But there is a conflict when a monk is in a pub drinking and dancing. This is not the proper place for a monk. If what you describe is as you say, then you were exposed to a very bad example. Religious life has much more to offer than any pub or a swing around the dance floor. The life of a monk and the life of the friar has many rewards and moments of enjoyment and laughter of its own. As we let go of those things, such as the pub and the romp on the dance floor, we discover that there is a joy that does not end when the last bar call is made. You should look into it. There may be a message there for you.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
My friend, what you saw is not religious life. There is nothing wrong with having a beer. There is nothing wrong with having fun. But there is a conflict when a monk is in a pub drinking and dancing. This is not the proper place for a monk. If what you describe is as you say, then you were exposed to a very bad example. Religious life has much more to offer than any pub or a swing around the dance floor. The life of a monk and the life of the friar has many rewards and moments of enjoyment and laughter of its own. As we let go of those things, such as the pub and the romp on the dance floor, we discover that there is a joy that does not end when the last bar call is made. You should look into it. There may be a message there for you.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
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I get drunk, I head-bang to heavy-metal, I get laid regularly, and I swear every other word, and you want me to look in to the religious life?

In either case, good luck with your mission, I do mean it. I agree with no abortion and no contraception.
 
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