1000+ Ways to Share – A JPIC Service Project October 18, 2019
Dearest sisters & brothers,
Peace and all blessing!
Los Tres Companeros Region – Texas invites you to join us in a JPIC Service project to assist immigrants that are legally crossing the border, awaiting a court hearing and traveling to their US destination.
There are two distinct needs we’re working to address:
- Toiletries and personal items for immigrants as they travel to their US destination
- Bulk items for Catholic Charities that provides respite meals and services
Toiletries & Personal Items – We have set up an Amazon Wish list with items that you can purchase. The delivery address has been added to the Wish list so that these items can be delivered to me in Corpus Christi.
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1PHN3E1X0WJ7Y?
Los Tres Companeros Region will supply:
- 1,000 drawstring tote bags
- Toothbrushes & toothpaste
WE WILL NEED THESE ITEMS DELIVERED BY OCTOBER 15TH
On Friday afternoon, October 18th, all participants at National Chapter in Corpus Christi, Texas will fill the bags with the purchased items, similar to the “Q” project some years back. The tote bags will be sent to Catholic Charities in 2 -3 locations in Texas.
Note: We did not include water bottles in the list because 1,000 water bottles would be very heavy and difficult to transport along with the filled totes. The snacks will be sent to the center in the shipping boxes and handed out with the totes so that they are not crushed during transport or storage.
Bulk Items – https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/23FATW9RZ59HA?ref=cm_sw_em_r_wl_dp_oWghpPJ4H4mCT
Based on feedback from Catholic Charities in Laredo, Texas, a few most commonly needed items have been selected for the Bulk Item Wish List. These items will be delivered directly to Catholic Charities in Laredo, Texas.
Will you help?
Please send the attached flyer to your Fraternities, members, family & friends and ask if they would like to individually or collectively purchase items from one or both of the Wish lists. With your prayers and your assistance, we will have sufficient items to fill the 1,000 bags and provide needed supplies to Catholic Charities as they provide assistance to those in need.
Blessings to all of you!
Patsy Cueva Philipps, OFS
Minister, Los Tres Companeros Region – Texas
1000+ Ways to Share – A JPIC Service Project October 18, 2019
Recognize Fraternal Life: Relationship
(This article originally appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Tau-USA)
By Fr. Christopher Panagoplos, T.O.R.
We live in a world of change. We witness a significant re-ordering of our social fabric almost at the blink of an eye. The cultural, moral, and spiritual framework in which we live is evolving dramatically. This is the context where our Franciscan witness to the Rule is challenged. Fraternity members are immersed in society. We are acutely aware of the power and influence of many streams of thought and prevailing attitudes on the lives of people.
The discussions and the sharing of experiences in our formation gatherings, in order to “exercise our responsibilities competently in the Christian spirit of service, we together with all people of good will, are called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively” (Rule 14).
The heart of our Franciscan living is the reality of relationship. It is this bond of mutual love that forms the center of Franciscan evangelical life. To live the Gospel and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus means to build up the kingdom by living in loving relationships (RegB III: 10-14).
For Francis, the word “fraternity” identifies this relationship that each of us has with Jesus our brother. For St Francis, fraternity is his radical living in solidarity with all of humanity and creation. From the poetry and prayer of the Canticle of the Creatures to the Story of the Wolf of Gubbio and exemplified in the Encounter with the Sultan, Francis’ heart rests in the faithful recognition of his relationship with the other. “The strongest and most demanding love is that which is required with regard to those to whom we have committed our lives” (Thaddee Matura, “Fraternity,” 112). Such love is an active self-emptying love that frees our hearts from self-interest, in a daily conversion, which builds up the bonds of fraternity. Its absence undermines and breaks this bond.
When ruptures inevitably occur despite the best of intentions, the remedy of reconciliation becomes essential in fraternity life, to ask for forgiveness and to receive forgiveness (EpMin 9-12). We make peace with one another in a spirit of kindness and humility, accepting one another without preconditions, being realistic and merciful, and exercised in fraternal equality, blended together with our love of God, is the central value of our Franciscan vocation (Matura, “Fraternity,” 117). The Kingdom of God is realized when we live in loving relationships.
Living the Gospel means accepting to live with our sisters and brothers — all of them — bearing witness of God’s infinite patience, His inexhaustible forgiveness, His constantly renewed grace. To have the heart of God in our hearts. “Thy Kingdom come.” Is this not the kind of witness to be given for the light of the Gospel to shine in a murky world in which we serve? — in peace, justice, and in love. Fraternity becomes the place , and increasingly, the place of compassion and relationship.