In today’s Gospel of John we hear: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” The peace that Jesus offers is different from the peace that we want in the world where divisions, prejudice and animosity cause hatred among nations and people. The world wants these to cease and for harmony to be established. Jesus offers us something deeper and lasting. Fear and anxiety no longer control us, and even though there may still be reasons to be afraid and troubled, Jesus offers us his life giving presence in our lives. He will come and “make his home in us.” He will help us move beyond and let go of what prevents us from having that peace that the world cannot give. We have to allow Jesus to have a key place in our lives.

Monday, May 27, is Memorial Day, a day to remember the many men and women who laid down their lives for our country and what we stand for: freedom, equality, the dignity of each person, and the fact that we are all brothers and sisters. When I was growing up, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day because the graves of our loved ones were planted with flowers and flags were put on veterans’ graves. There were Masses at the cemetery and parades, all to honor those who had given their lives. I like to also add a remembrance for their families who had their own struggle at these times, both in the past and now. Take some time over the weekend to say a prayer for these heroes.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.

After a few years of having problems with our previous phone service provider, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi has upgraded and modernized our phone system. The new phone system was launched just a few weeks ago and while we are getting a few of the kinks out, so far we believe that the new system is more reliable, easy to navigate, flexible and the new system is saving our community about $1,000 per month!

We are always looking for ways to save money in our budget to respect the donations that our members make to keep our church running.

We hope you will find the new system easy to navigate and we appreciate your patience in the transition.

Here are some of the new features:

When you dial our main number 212-736-8500 you will be greeted by a message with the voice of our very own Director of Music Ministries, Meredith Augustin.

She directs callers to the options that have available to get quickly to the person or office you are trying to reach.

For example, you can:

→ dial 1
and type in the first few letters of any staff members first or last name to get their extension.  If you know the extension you are trying to reach you can dial it at any time.  Our phone number and extension numbers have all remained the same.

→ dial 2
and listen to our regular Mass and Confession schedule or…

→ dial 9
to listen to the holiday schedule for the next upcoming holiday

Please listen to the message for the Migrant Center, the Counseling Center, Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings, etc., and of course you can always dial 0 during business hours to be connected to someone at the main desk.