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severus68
Guest
He is the patron saint for animals. My church had a blessing.
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S
severus68
Guest
Thank you for sharing Br. Happy Feast Day. Praying for you.I was going to write a long thread about the Franciscan tradition for the solemnity, but something happened that I cannot explain. During the last few days, as we (the brothers) prepare for the great feast, I’ve been in a rather “somber” mood, for lack of a better term.
As some of you know, I’m a revert to the religious life. I’m very involved in the great feast of our Seraphic Father, but in a very different way this year. It’s usually more like Christmas for me. But this year it seems to feel like a time of retreat, prayer, discernment and opening up to God’s love and his message for me, my brothers and my friends, especially all of you here on TC Forum.
I’m feeling very drawn to wonder, “Why me?”
I’ll probably not know the answer until I get to heaven. So I decided to drop that question. My motto is “Don’t waste time on questions that have no answers while the answers to real questions pass you by.”
I had a dream. I mean literally. In this dream I was back at my Alma Mater, CUA. It’s actually one of several universities that I have attended. But it’s one of my maters.
Back to my dream. In my dream, I was walking along the side of the campus when a beautiful young woman whom I have never seen approached me. I can still see her smile. She waved me to come up onto the campus You have to know CUA to understand. It’s on a hill. There are steps and slopes that one climbs from the sidewalk onto the campus.
I started to climb the steps. All the time, she’s smiling, but not saying anything. As I step onto the main mall of the campus, I see the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Now, I have a great devotion to the Immaculate and as a student I spent many hours in the shrine. Many of you may already know that the Franciscans have been great defenders of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In fact. St. Bonaventure was so Marian that when he was superior general he mandated that we observe the First Saturdays. I’m not sure if this was a Church custom or something that he started. But in any case, he mandated it to the friars under his care. But I digress.
As I looked at the shrine I remembered something that St. Francis wrote, which has left theologians perplexed for 800 years. No one ever said it before him and no one really knows what he meant to this day. “Hail O Virgin made Church.”
It’s obviously a reflection of his ecclesiology and Marian spirituality. But he never explained it and every attempt on our part to explain it has as many holes as Swiss cheese.
In any case, I heard that line very clearly in my dream. I looked around and saw the beautiful young woman smiling and looking to the shrine. All I can remember is her face and hair. She was absolutely beautiful. I can’t explain how beautiful.
In the dream, I asked her “Why am I here?”
Again, the voice “Hail O Virgin made Church.”
I walked across the campus and into the Basilica of the Immaculate. As I walked in a warm sense came over me. It was just a dream, but it felt so real. I suddenly had the answer to the question that I’ve been asking myself all week and I woke up.
“There’s no place like home.”
See my blog for the rest of the story and have a blessed feast of St. Francis. Please pray for my soul.
J
JReducation
Guest
Thank you for your prayers. It has been a quiet three days, but very fulfilling.
Did anyone else see the Holy Father’s mass in honor of St. Francis? It was at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Actually, it was on the mall in front of the basilica. They said that there were 50,000 people there. I don’t remember that space being that big. Maybe my memory is going and I need an immediate trip to Assisi before I forget how big or small things are.
The mass was very beautiful and the Holy Father’s homily was outstanding. His homilies are always very good, but this one was excellent because it tied in St. Francis with the vocation of all Catholics. It did not leave room for anyone to think, “Oh, this is for Franciscans.”
You can read it and watch it Pastoral Visit to Assisi
One thing that caught my attention is that the Holy Father used the Franciscan Missal and Lectionary. Normally, any priest who celebrates mass in a Franciscan church, chapel or oratory must use the Franciscan missal and follow the Franciscan liturgical calendar. However, this does not apply to the pope or the cardinals because of jurisdiction. The superior of the house does not have jurisdiction over them. But he used it. I think that the commentator was not ready for it, because he said “the readings are taken from the mass of the day, except for the first reading which has been added.”
The first reading was not added. The Mass for St. Francis is a Solemnity like a Sunday mass. It has three readings, an optional sequence, a mandatory Gloria and a Creed that can be replaced by another form of the profession of faith. Also the collects are different from the ones found in the Roman Missal under St. Francis.
The collects in the missal say “St. Francis” or “Francis”. The collects in the Franciscan Missal say, “Our Seraphic Father”, “Our Holy Father”, “Our father”, or “Our Seraphic Father Francis” Then there are some differences in the canon. Francis, Clare, Anthony and Bonaventure are part of the Canon. If you say, “I confess to Almighty God . . .” you include "and to Our Holy Father St Francis, that I have sinned . . . " You can omit this if it’s going to confuse the congregation. I don’t remember how they did it.
Anyway, it was very simple and very beautiful. The music was beautiful. Some of the pieces were written by Francis. I’m sure that some composer added the music, since we don’t have the music to any of the songs that Francis wrote. The music that we have only goes as far back as the 1300s and Francis wrote in the early 1200s.
Did anyone else see the Holy Father’s mass in honor of St. Francis? It was at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Actually, it was on the mall in front of the basilica. They said that there were 50,000 people there. I don’t remember that space being that big. Maybe my memory is going and I need an immediate trip to Assisi before I forget how big or small things are.
The mass was very beautiful and the Holy Father’s homily was outstanding. His homilies are always very good, but this one was excellent because it tied in St. Francis with the vocation of all Catholics. It did not leave room for anyone to think, “Oh, this is for Franciscans.”
You can read it and watch it Pastoral Visit to Assisi
One thing that caught my attention is that the Holy Father used the Franciscan Missal and Lectionary. Normally, any priest who celebrates mass in a Franciscan church, chapel or oratory must use the Franciscan missal and follow the Franciscan liturgical calendar. However, this does not apply to the pope or the cardinals because of jurisdiction. The superior of the house does not have jurisdiction over them. But he used it. I think that the commentator was not ready for it, because he said “the readings are taken from the mass of the day, except for the first reading which has been added.”
The first reading was not added. The Mass for St. Francis is a Solemnity like a Sunday mass. It has three readings, an optional sequence, a mandatory Gloria and a Creed that can be replaced by another form of the profession of faith. Also the collects are different from the ones found in the Roman Missal under St. Francis.
The collects in the missal say “St. Francis” or “Francis”. The collects in the Franciscan Missal say, “Our Seraphic Father”, “Our Holy Father”, “Our father”, or “Our Seraphic Father Francis” Then there are some differences in the canon. Francis, Clare, Anthony and Bonaventure are part of the Canon. If you say, “I confess to Almighty God . . .” you include "and to Our Holy Father St Francis, that I have sinned . . . " You can omit this if it’s going to confuse the congregation. I don’t remember how they did it.
Anyway, it was very simple and very beautiful. The music was beautiful. Some of the pieces were written by Francis. I’m sure that some composer added the music, since we don’t have the music to any of the songs that Francis wrote. The music that we have only goes as far back as the 1300s and Francis wrote in the early 1200s.
L
Luigi_Daniele
Guest
Thanks, fratello (for the link, too!).Thank you for your prayers. It has been a quiet three days, but very fulfilling.
Did anyone else see the Holy Father’s mass in honor of St. Francis? It was at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. Actually, it was on the mall in front of the basilica. They said that there were 50,000 people there. I don’t remember that space being that big. Maybe my memory is going and I need an immediate trip to Assisi before I forget how big or small things are.
The mass was very beautiful and the Holy Father’s homily was outstanding. His homilies are always very good, but this one was excellent because it tied in St. Francis with the vocation of all Catholics. It did not leave room for anyone to think, “Oh, this is for Franciscans.”
You can read it and watch it Pastoral Visit to Assisi
One thing that caught my attention is that the Holy Father used the Franciscan Missal and Lectionary. Normally, any priest who celebrates mass in a Franciscan church, chapel or oratory must use the Franciscan missal and follow the Franciscan liturgical calendar. However, this does not apply to the pope or the cardinals because of jurisdiction. The superior of the house does not have jurisdiction over them. But he used it. I think that the commentator was not ready for it, because he said “the readings are taken from the mass of the day, except for the first reading which has been added.”
The first reading was not added. The Mass for St. Francis is a Solemnity like a Sunday mass. It has three readings, an optional sequence, a mandatory Gloria and a Creed that can be replaced by another form of the profession of faith. Also the collects are different from the ones found in the Roman Missal under St. Francis.
The collects in the missal say “St. Francis” or “Francis”. The collects in the Franciscan Missal say, “Our Seraphic Father”, “Our Holy Father”, “Our father”, or “Our Seraphic Father Francis” Then there are some differences in the canon. Francis, Clare, Anthony and Bonaventure are part of the Canon. If you say, “I confess to Almighty God . . .” you include "and to Our Holy Father St Francis, that I have sinned . . . " You can omit this if it’s going to confuse the congregation. I don’t remember how they did it.
Anyway, it was very simple and very beautiful. The music was beautiful. Some of the pieces were written by Francis. I’m sure that some composer added the music, since we don’t have the music to any of the songs that Francis wrote. The music that we have only goes as far back as the 1300s and Francis wrote in the early 1200s.
The OFS uses a Franciscan supplement for the Liturgy of the Hours, too. There is a Feast in the “regular” Liturgy of the Hours, too, obviously, but the readings and prayers in the supplement are different. Just an FYI for non-Franciscans
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