Snapshot Week 1: Breakthrough

/in /by

by Br. Michael, ofm

When tested to exhaustion,

in our daily trials,

when temptations taunt us,

in the uncertain wilderness,

light does breakthrough

calling us to trust

standing upright with dignity.

 

Our God is with us in all our troubles. (Psalm 91)

 

 

Jesus,

full of the Holy Spirit,

you gift us with your Spirit.

May we be brave enough

to utilize and embody

the gifts of your Spirit

in our daily Lenten living,

so as to live in communion with you.

Amen.

 

Photo Credit: Matt Z.

Bragg Creek, AB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Lent 2022: Snapshots

/in /by

by Br. Michael, ofm

Lent 2022: Snapshots

 

It is said that a photo is worth a thousand words. Photos can often call us to pay attention to our heart and cause us to listen to what is being said in our soul. For Lent 2022 these weekly reflections will be focused on a photo. Seven friends each sent me a photo that they took, which stirred their hearts and captured their attention. I in turn have spent time with each photo and crafted a brief reflection for us to sit with during these weeks of Lent.

 

I invite you into these Lenten weeks, to come and be, come and listen, come and see. Like Lectio Divina “divine reading” is letting God speak to us through scripture, this is Visio Divina – “divine seeing”, letting God speak to us through the photo.

 

Lenten Blessings.

 

 

Ash Wednesday: Growth

 

We arise from ashes,

called to be ambassadors

heralding hope,

transformed from seed to flower

during these forty days

even in the most unlikely of places.

 

Christ Jesus,

in this Lenten Season

be our nourishment

so that we may grow

to radiate more like you.

Amen.

 

 

Photo: MJP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Two Sides

/in /by

by Br. Michael, ofm

 

snow gently falling

no noise in this moment

creation surrounds me

my home is warm

 

snow gently falling

sirens humming in my ears

tanks beginning to surround me

is my home safe?

 

freedom to complain about anything

food to fill my belly

my loved ones safe

 

freedom today is uncertain

food supplies begin to shorten

are my loved ones safe?

 

we are a human family

respect for each person

 

are we a human family?

is there respect for all people?

 

my world is at peace.

 

is the world at peace?

 

 

Isn’t it amazing how far removed we can be from the reality of our shared common home with our sisters and brothers of the human family?

 

As our world seems to teeter on edge with new chaotic situations of war emerging, we must remember that greater than the power of war is the power of needing and respecting each other. We are called to stand in solidarity with those who face the scourge of war again: the families terrified, women and children, the poor caught in the crossfire, the homeless, the refugee, the fleeing, the hungry, the disabled, and the elderly. These are not just people over there this is someone’s family, home, church, livelihood, life. Through the choices we make in our everyday lives, prayers offered, reaching out to those who are affected, keeping vigil, and discovering about one another we learn to look into the face of another, hear their voice, and come to know them as sisters and brothers. What our world needs now is not more divisions and more illusions of freedom, what our world needs now is to stand up together person to person as a family. It can and must begin with you and with me. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…

 

 

Let us pray:

 

O God, in you, is our peace and so we pray:

Hear us, O God.

In these times of global violence and war, we pray:

For all peacekeepers and peacemakers, we pray:

For government leaders to seek peace rather than power, we pray:

For all who are suffering from chaotic situations of international or civil conflict, we pray:

For families and communities caught up in violence and danger, we pray:

For those who mediate peace in situations of war and conflict, we pray:

For the situations in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and parts of Africa, we pray:

For our communities, homes, and hearts to be places of peace, we pray:

 

 

Jesus, Prince of Peace,

we pray for our world,

for those who know peace,

and for those caught up in war.

We pray for our enemies and our friends,

and those who feel caught in the middle.

We pray for the courage to allow our heart

to be changed from stony to a heart of flesh,

so that we may be vessels of your peace.

Amen.

 

Photo Credits:  Kristina Tripkovic and Sunguk Kim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Love My Enemies. For Real?

/in /by

by Br. Michael, ofm

“Love your enemies.” – Luke 6.27

Really Jesus?

Love my enemies?

Love those who are my adversaries and foes?

You must have known that it is much easier to love a friend.

Love my enemies?

They must not have heard you well on the day you said that.

 

Yet when you invite me to love my enemies, you invite me not to judge and not to dictate my moral stance, rather you invite me to be merciful and love even with a small glimpse of your divine love. This is not easy to do, for it challenges me first to reflect on my own living and shortcomings, realizing that I am not God. It means that at times I must see that I am my own worst enemy failing to love well because I defend my enemy lines. Lines that I create and take a hard stance on claiming they are of you and for you. Yet you show me they are not, and you ask me to surrender my false judgments of myself so that I don’t project defending and guarding all that is mine onto others and cause them to build up their enemy lines. Instead, you ask me to be compassionate, kind, and merciful even if it is not returned for you promise me that, “your reward will be great in heaven” (Luke 6.23). This is not easy to do, for I want instant results and proof, but your love is deeper, wider, broader (Ephesians 3.18), and better than instant anything the world offers.

 

In a world obsessed with drawing lines, defining who belongs and who doesn’t, who our enemies are, and what they want from us, you invite me to a true way of being. You invite me to be a blessing of mercy and show forth the depth and gentleness of your generous love. Something our world struggles with because we struggle with power instead of outdoing one another with love, compassion, gentleness, and mercy (Romans 12.9-18). Jesus, I know I must rise above the noise for you speak the truth for the way which leads to life.

 

God of both friends and enemies,

help me to love like you

with mercy beyond knowing,

with compassion which

tears down enemy lines,

builds community

and restores relationships.

Help me also to see

the enemy lines

which must be torn down

within my own life

and fill me with your courage

to do so.

Amen.

 

 

Photo Credits: Andre Hunter, Jon Tyson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Lent 2022

/in /by

Lent 2022 

Mount St. Francis Retreat

41160 Retreat Road, Cochrane

 

Day Away – Living a Resurrected Life

March 9 – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Registration at 8:30 am with Coffee and Muffins.

Day includes presentation, quiet reflection, Eucharist, noon meal and prayer.

 

Twilight Retreat – After the Winter Slumber

March 22 – 6:00 pm

Registration at 6:00 pm, Supper at 6:30 pm

Evening includes a guided reflection, time for quiet, and prayer.

 

Day Away – Life-Giving Spirit

April 6 – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Registration at 8:30 am with Coffee and Muffins.

Day includes presentation, quiet reflection, Eucharist, noon meal and prayer.

 

Holy Week Retreat: Charity of the Cross –

A Woman’s Mercy, A Man’s Help: The Call of the Cross

April 13 – 9:00 am – 3:00 pm   or   6:30 – 9:00 pm

 Guided by St. Francis and St. Clare’s love of the cross this Holy Week Retreat

provides the opportunity to enter into the Paschal Triduum with hope.

Retreat includes a guided reflection, time to walk the Way of the Cross,

Twilight Retreat begins with 5:30 pm Registration with time for quiet until supper.

$30/retreat

                             

To register: 403-932-2012 / mtfrancis@shaw.ca

Monday-Friday 9 am – 4:30 pm

www.mountstfrancis.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Blessed Are You

/in /by

                 – Br. Michael, ofm

“Blessed are you” in the gospels seems to be a way of saying,

“Be filled with hope.”

 

This current trying situation you are in will pass – be filled with hope!

This time of uncertainty consuming you will end – be filled with hope!

This hurt that is inflicted on you will not linger forever – be filled with hope!

The request to change your life is possible – be filled with hope!

 

To be filled with hope reminds us to turn our attention to Jesus. We must let go of our self-focus. We must keep our gaze on him who endured and transformed situations, uncertainties, hurts, and the human condition by filling them with hope and turning them into a blessing.

 

“Blessed are you…” is again an invitation to surrender and to trust that indeed “anything is possible with God.”

“Blessed are you…” is again an invitation to exult in the gift of the “kingdom life” offered to us.

“Blessed are you…” is again an invitation to be filled, for there is an abundance of mercy and hope in every day.

“Blessed are you…” let us rejoice as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus with the hope of the “great reward of heaven.”

 

We are blessed

God overflows goodness in our life.

We trust

God is at work in us.

We rejoice

God is always with us.

We yearn for the kingdom

God keeps promises with us.

We are filled

God is always generous with us.

We are blessed

God renews us with hope.

Amen.

 

Photo Credits: Alex Shute and Carly Hunley, Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Into the Deep

/in /by

                 – Br. Michael, ofm

Inspired by Luke 5.1-11 and Simon Peter.

Put out into the deep,

Jesus, you ask me to trust.

Put out into the deep,

Jesus, you call me to respond.

Put out into the deep,

Jesus, you encourage me from the familiar.

 

I am amazed, Jesus,

at what my life produces.

I am amazed, Jesus,

at the bounty in my life.

I am amazed, Jesus,

at the places where I’m sent.

 

Jesus, I fall down at your knees

knowing I am sinful.

Jesus, I fall down at your knees

knowing your mercy is great.

Jesus, I fall down at your knees

knowing you see things differently.

 

Do not be afraid, you say,

so, I slowly let go of control.

Do not be afraid, you say,

so, I trust, surrendering my all.

Do not be afraid, you say,

so, I choose to follow you.

 

Put out into the deep,

I trust my life offers a bountiful catch.

Put out into the deep,

I know the support of others.

Put out into the deep,

I can only do so with you, Lord.

 

Photo Credit: Touann Gatouillat Vergos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Known Consecrated Appointed

/in /by

                 – Br. Michael, ofm

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born, I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

– Jeremiah 1.4-5

The great sense of being known, being held in love, being desired is something we all seek as a sense of this approval and acceptance. We seek it in relationships, in our work and in our living. We sometimes seek it in false places and in ways as our hearts yearn to be known and seen and valued. Our world is not an easy place to encounter true validation for it wants to validate us based on gain for its purposes and false fronts.

Our God on the other hand knows us intimately and although that may make us squirm a bit, this is a truth which is the true freedom of being known, consecrated and appointed. No need to masquerade behind tasks done, goals reached or images projected. God sees beyond all of this and knows who we are – our truest self – and how we are woven together with the very DNA of God. God knows us for God has formed us in the womb; we are flesh of flesh and bone of bone; we are heart of heart and soul of soul. God is infused into us. At times this may feel unknown or obscured. At other times it may be obvious and still at other times we may doubt. No matter the journey or the time, no matter how much we have been seeking or doubting, it is with deep love and mercy that our God always knows each one of us.

God consecrates us because God is love. This consecration is declaring that we are valid, beloved, holy, appointed and worthy simply because of who we are in belonging to God. Our consecration is a declaration of our dignity, the gifts we possess, the breath we breathe and the light we shine because we are of God.

Consecration can seem as a setting apart from. We should rather view it as a being connected to something greater. We are connected to the very Source of life and the love, mercy and graces that flow from this Source into who we are is our call to holiness. Our consecration is God declaring, “you are good, very good.” It is God claiming us again and again. It is God wiping our away sins and missteps. It is God appointing us as prophets, maybe not in the likes of Jeremiah or Isaiah, but rather in the way that each of us carry an important message of good news, because we are known.

 

God,

you speak my name

it echoes in the depths of who I am

because you know me.

You speak my name

with dignity, worth and holiness

because I am consecrated.

You speak my name

filling me with light and goodness

because in you I come to know who I am.

I praise you for this wonder

as I carry your message

into my living and being.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Eyasu Etsub

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Filled with Holy Spirit 

/in /by

                 – Br. Michael, ofm

 

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ – Luke 4.14-21

Jesus, the Anointed One

brings us good news

in the little ways of life,

in his word penetrating our living,

in our connections with one another.

 

Jesus, the Chain Breaker

proclaims release to us

declaring our sins are forgiven,

embracing us with dignity

honoring our worthiness.

 

Jesus, the Sight Giver

opens our eyes

to hope each day,

to the power of love,

to discover his beauty.

 

Jesus, the Freedom Architect

releases us from what is oppressive

with his endless mercy,

with his gentle peace,

with his life, death and resurrection.

 

Jesus, the Celebrating One

proclaims God’s favour in our lives

each day,

in all ways,

with much delight.

 

The Spirit of the Lord was indeed upon Jesus

and he has infused this Spirit in our living

calling us beloved,

showing us authentic living,

guiding us in relationship with God.

 

The power of the Spirit indeed filled Jesus

and is filling each of us;

let us be attentive to the promptings,

allowing holy wisdom to speak

so that in turn we move and act with the Spirit.

 

Jesus,

“filled with the power of the Holy Spirit”

help us to see that we too are filled with your Spirit

for we are vessels of you

bearing good news,

living freely in you,

seeing with clear vision,

releasing our burdens,

proclaiming your goodness and mercy

all the days of our life.

Amen.

Photo Credit: Hasan Almasi

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

Day Retreats in February

/in /by

Tuesday, February 1

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Healing, Wholeness and Hope

International Day of Human Fraternity

A day of reflection, sharing and prayer.

 

 

Wednesday, February 9

9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Day Away:

As the Father Has Sent Me So I Send You

A day set aside for reflection and prayer.

 

 

Saturday, February 12

8:30 am – 3:00 pm

A Day Away with One You Love

Spend a retreat day together.

Check our listing on website.

Limited spots available.

call 403-932-2012 or email mtfrancis@shaw.ca to register