Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Community Director Sister Natalie Binversie encouraged all of us to build on the graces and blessings of 2016 as we look to a new year. We were invited to pray with this message by Franciscan Father Michael Perry, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor. You may find inspiration and direction as friends of St. Francis of Assisi.
My dear brothers of the Order of Friars Minor,
and all brothers, sisters and friends of our Franciscan Family,
May the Lord give you all His peace!
The love of Christ, indeed, urges us on; it compels us to share with all members of the human family what we have seen and heard, namely that in Jesus Christ, God’s Word of love became flesh so that we may be reconciled to one another as His children and to Him as our Heavenly Father (cf. 1 John 1:3). This is our vocation – as Franciscans, yes. This is, after all, the Good News we profess as our Rule and Life. More fundamentally, this is our vocation as Christians, and in world crying out for news of just such love, it is a most fitting theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Read more.
Call to Conversion
Clearly, Father Michael invites us to follow Pope Francis and Bishop Younan in a true conversion of our hearts.
“Our common faith in Jesus Christ and our baptism demand of us a daily conversion, by which we cast off the historical disagreements and conflicts that impede the ministry of reconciliation. While the past cannot be changed, what is remembered and how it is remembered can be transformed. We pray for the healing of our wounds and of the memories that cloud our view of one another. We emphatically reject all hatred and violence, past and present, especially that expressed in the name of religion. Today, we hear God’s command to set aside all conflict. We recognize that we are freed by grace to move towards the communion to which God continually calls us.”
