Happy Feast of St. Francis of Assisi!
Today, October 4th is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Our Patron Saint.
Join us to celebrate our beloved St. Francis!
Festive Mass on Thursday, October 4, at 5:30 PM
Additional Masses at 7:00 • 7:45 • 8:30 • 11:30 AM 12:30 & 4:30 PM
The Pastor’s Corner – October 7, 2018
The readings from Genesis and the Gospel reading today are very familiar to all of us: in Genesis, the creation of a partner for man, and Jesus’ teaching on divorce in the Gospel of Mark. Understanding the culture at the time they were written is important, especially the reading from Mark.
Remember that at the time when Jesus lived, woman were considered a man’s possession. Jewish law assumed that divorce was lawful, but the man was the only person in a marriage who could do the divorcing. Jesus’ teaching brings out the ideal of marriage: monogamy is the ideal. This passage has been debated and we know that sometimes a relationship doesn’t work. Staying together certainly does not reflect what marriage is meant to be. The church today wants to offer those who are divorced a chance to be reconciled. This is different from what people were told years ago.
In 2019, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi will celebrate a milestone: 175 years of serving the people of New York City – and the world. On May 9, 1844, the new Coadjutor Bishop, Most Rev. John McCloskey, blessed and laid the cornerstone of the new parish of St. Francis of Assisi located between 6th and 7th Avenues on West 31st Street. At this time, the west side of Manhattan between 23rd Street and Times Square had 400 residents. “Tree-lined streets, farms, and country estates dotted a pastoral landscape. Many of the inhabitants were German Catholics from Prussia, Bavaria, Austria and Hungary, even Bohemia.”These were our humble beginnings. 2019 will be a Year of Celebration with events throughout the year which will be announced at a later date.
-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.
Francis Week 2018
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Blessing of Animals
Sunday, September 30, at 2:00 PM
Please gather with your pet at the entrance of the church on W. 31st Street.
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Triduum of Prayer in Honor of St. Francis
Monday, October 1, to Wednesday, October 3, at 11:30 & 4:30
Let us pray for the grace to be instruments of peace in our world.
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Culture Meets Catholicism:
A Franciscan Perspective
Tuesday, October 2, at 7:00 PM
San Damiano Hall (Free, no tickets required)
The hugely popular Heavenly Bodies exhibit currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates how much the Catholic imagination has influenced art and culture over the course of two millennia. This presentation will explore notable examples of the intersection of Culture and Catholicism from the Early Christian Era onward, and how this conversation is particularly Franciscan in outlook and practice.
Speaker: Francis Greene, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus,
St. Francis College, Brooklyn; Lecturer,
St. Francis Adult Education Program
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Transitus
Wednesday, October 3, at 7:00 PM
The commemoration of the Passing of St. Francis from earthly life to Eternal Life.
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Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
Festive Mass on Thursday, October 4, at 5:30 PM
Additional Masses at 7:00 • 7:45 • 8:30 • 11:30 AM 12:30 & 4:30 PM
Special Francis Week Event: Culture meets Catholicism: A Franciscan Perspective
Tuesday, October 2, 2018, 7:00 PM;
San Damiano Hall (Free admission)
CULTURE MEETS CATHOLICISM:
A FRANCISCAN PERSPECTIVE
The hugely popular Heavenly Bodies exhibit currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates how much the Catholic imagination has influenced art and culture over the course of two mil- lennia. This presentation will explore notable examples of the intersection of Culture and Catholicism from the Early Christian Era onward, and how this conversation is particularly Fran- ciscan in outlook and practice.
Speaker: Francis Greene, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus,
St. Francis College, Brooklyn;
Lecturer, St. Francis Adult Education Program
Blessing of Animals
Do you love your pet? Well, God does too!
St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals and it’s part of our Franciscan tradition to bless our furry friends on or near Francis’ feast day.
So bring your cat or dog, fish or frog, or any friend you have to get blessed.
Sunday, September 30, at 2:00 PM
Please gather with your pet near the entrance of the church on W. 31st Street.
Feast Day Mass of San Lorenzo Ruiz
Please join the Ugnayan Filipino Ministry on the Feast Day of San Lorenzo Ruiz
Friday, September 28, at 6:15 PM
Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Upper Church)
135 W. 31st New York, NY 10001
For Feast Day Mass sponsorship and intentions, please contact Zeny Avila (718- 672-0596) or Carla Lopez (718-503-4637).
Evangelii Gaudium – Chapter 5, Spirit-Filled Evangelizers
Keeping our missionary fervor alive calls for firm trust in the Holy Spirit, for it is he who “helps us in our weakness.” But this generous trust has to be nourished, and so we need to invoke the Holy Spirit constantly. He can heal whatever causes us to flag in the missionary endeavor. It is true that this trust in the unseen can cause us to feel disoriented: it is like being plunged into the deep and not knowing what we will find. I myself have frequently experienced this.
Yet there is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills. The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful!
Francis Rebuild my Church
We’ve all heard the story. Francesco Bernadone was a restless young man, unable to find his calling. His dreams of being a heroic knight had turned into a bit of a nightmare after spending time as a prisoner of war. His father, Pietro, wanted his son to follow in the family business, but that didn’t interest Francesco, either. What to do?
He found himself wandering about the outskirts of his home town of Assisi in the hills of Umbria – breathtaking vistas at every turn, but he seemed to hardly notice. Until he came upon San Damiano, a little church in need of a good bit of repair. He entered and knelt down underneath a large wooden crucifix painted in the Byzantine style of an icon.
The open eyes of Jesus on the cross seemed to lock him in a stare that was both intimidating and beckoning at the same time. He couldn’t look away as feelings of doubt and fear, guilt and desire welled up within him. “Lord, what do you want me to do?” he asked. “Show me what you want me to do with my life.”
And the Lord answered! A voice as clear as the day responded: “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.”
That was all he heard. That was all he needed to hear. It took a bit longer, however, to realize that Jesus wasn’t asking him to physically rebuild San Damiano as well as a few other rundown churches near Assisi. He did that, of course, but it gradually dawned on him that his vocation was to rebuild the church, the human institution that was perilously close to falling apart.
Today, some 800 years later, the Church is facing yet more crises and is need of a bit of repair. But amidst all the cries of anguish and anger we’ve been hearing of late, there are also firm statements of faith and resolve from folks who will not let the betrayals and disappointments distract them from their commitment to Jesus Christ.
Yes, the Church is divine, but also very human, and Jesus uses human beings in all their fragility and sinfulness to be the sacrament of his love and mercy in a world that seems to be increasingly unpredictable.
Like Francis kneeling before the cross of San Damiano, we need to keep our gaze focused on Jesus, who beckons us to follow him. Let us continue to do so, in moments of joy as well as sorrow, in the darkness as well as the light.
TJS
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