Prayer

In the Franciscan life, prayer plays a most important role.  Prayer is the anchor that we use in our ministry.  It is, so to speak, the fire in our furnace.  We, as Franciscans, are called to preach the Gospel of Christ, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, to share the Good News of our salvation, more by our example, than by the words that we say.

But, it is prayer that allows us to have that fire.  It is prayer by which our patron, Saint Francis of Assisi, was able to have the spiritual strength to change the very direction of the Church. 

As Franciscans, we are called to be both contemplative and active.  Francis himself was more than just diligent in the observance of the daily Offices.  It was almost compulsive in the way he devoted his personal time to the daily prayers.  But more than that was his retreat into the “lonely place” of contemplative prayer.

We, as members of our particular order, the Franciscan Order of Divine Compassion, are no more or no less called to both be active in our vocation to spread the Gospel through our lives then all those Franciscans who have gone before us. We are also called to a life of prayer like our seraphic Father Francis.

Let us not forget that our Lord tells us to go to our “closet” to pray in secret as well as we are to set aside the time in our daily lives to pray the hours.

We need both.

Pax et Bonum

+Peter osf

Bishop Protector