Community of Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal
Winter 2015
“Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” - Pope Francis
The choice to enter religious
life becomes more counter-cultural with each passing
year. At the core, the only
authentic explanation can be
found in the person of Jesus
Christ who made poverty,
chastity and obedience His
own way of life. Sr. Antonia
Marie of the Good Shepherd
professed her 1st vows on
September 12, 2015 and is
pictured here with one of our
many guests –like a joyful
bride with her flower girl!
Dearest Friends,
When I was in grade school I had a profoundly touching experience of
mercy at a moment in which I least expected it. It was Christmas time
and I wanted to do something really special for my mother. So I came
up with this idea that I would take all of her jewelry to the store with
the intention of finding a gift for her that would match the jewelry that
she already had.
Now my mother had a lot of jewelry, all gifts from my father who
desired to show his love for her through gems of every sort. One day
I collected it all in the zipper compartment of my little leather pocketbook and proceeded to go to Macy’s on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to carry out my “mission’. As I was admiring a sale table of silk
scarves, I set my pocketbook down. To my surprise, when I went to
pick it back up, I found that it was gone! I was shocked!
In tears, I ran to my father’s store which was nearby to confess what
had happened. When he saw the state that I was in, my father rushed
to me crying out, “Lucille, Lucille, are you alright?” I was beyond
consolation and began to pour out the tragic story, “Daddy, you’re not
going to believe what I’ve done!” He held me close as I explained.
Then, in all sincerity, he comforted me and said, “Are you ok?” I, still
in disbelief, responded, “Yes, but look at what I did!” But my father
was not interested in the jewelry. “As long as you’re ok, that’s all that
matters,” he replied, “Jewelry can always be replaced.” My father, like
our heavenly Father, was ready to instantly forgive me and to welcome
me with a loving embrace – all I had to do was run to him.
As we find ourselves again in the Christmas season, we approach the
mystery of God’s mercy revealed to us in Jesus our Savior. Jesus, Who
takes on our human nature to reconcile us to the Father, comes to us
as a little helpless child, so that we won’t be afraid to come to Him to
receive His love and mercy.
St. Faustina’s Diary is filled with this same message of the love and
mercy of Jesus. Our Lord yearns to lavish us with His loving embrace – no matter what we’ve done, no matter where we’ve been.
Jesus says to St. Faustina, “The greater the misery of a soul, the
greater its right to My mercy…I want to save them all…no one have
I excluded” (#1182).
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has proclaimed an “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” beginning December 8, 2015 to encourage us all to
get in touch with the Father’s love for us revealed in His unfathomable
mercy that is always available to us. My prayer would be that all may
come to experience the gift of God’s mercy, the gift of being forgiven,
especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and then to extend that
same merciful love to many, many others.
For this mercy, the greatest gift of our loving God, may He be praised
forever!
Mother Lucille and All Your Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal
“Jesus is
joy, and He
wants us
to feel that
joy every
day of our
lives.”
~Words
spoken by
Pope Francis during
his visit to
Our Lady
Queen
of Angels School. The sisters were not only filled with joy but were
proclaiming it in the streets on September 25th when we had the unique
privilege of leading the school children in song and prayer as we
awaited the arrival of Pope Francis to “El Barrio,” as our East Harlem
neighborhood is known. Sr. Mary Pieta (with guitar) is pictured here
leading the 7th and 8th graders in song, “Yes, Lord!” as we waited with
great anticipation for the Pope’s arrival!
Early in our
Holy Father’s Pontificate he
encouraged
us all to
show the joy
that Jesus
brings with
our smile.
His words
call to mind
the frequent
admonitions
of Blessed
Mother
Teresa of Calcutta who repeatedly exhorted her sisters and others to smile!
To smile at another is perhaps the simplest work of mercy we can perform.
There’s no limit on the number of times you can do it, no expense involved
and it crosses all cultural, religious and political divides! There is nothing
but authenticity in the smile on Sr. Cecilia’s face in this photo taken at our
“Harlem Summer Life” program!
When he met with priests and
religious for Vespers at St. Patrick
Cathedral, Pope Francis spoke
of two pillars of the spiritual life:
gratitude and hard work. Novices
are cause for both! We are deeply
grateful to God for every sister He
sends to join with us in this blessed
Gospel way of life! And, no one
would disagree; to be “formed”
is certainly hard work! This work
of surrendering to God’s will,
detaching from anything that is an
obstacle to God and being nothing less than conformed to Jesus is a work
which never ends. This is why the religious sister knows from the beginning
that she is “in” for a lifetime of formation; the novitiate is just the beginning!
Hard work though it is, it is a source of deep peace and joy as is evident in
the faces of Sr. Kolbe, Sr. Philomena, and Sr. Gianna. (Our other novices not
pictured are: Sr. Therese and Sr. Mae).
(left)“To you, religious women, sisters and mothers
of this people, I wish to say ‘thank you’, a big thank
you…and to tell you that I love you very much.” The
words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, spoken at St.
Patrick Cathedral went straight to the heart of each one
of us. To see these words in action as the Holy Father
stopped to greet our own Mother Lucille and embracing
us all through her will be a treasured memory and an
heirloom to be
passed on to all
CFR Sisters to
come! (It is our
great joy to announce that as of August 2, 2015 Sr. Lucille will be known
as ‘Mother’ in honor of her many
years of leading, guiding and serving
the Sisters’ Community.)
(right) The New York Archdiocesan
pilgrimage to Knock with Cardinal
Dolan was an historic event and
great blessing for all who attended!
Pictured here at the base of Croagh
Patrick are (l to r) Sr. Maria Teresa,
Sr. Jacinta (our local servant of St.
Anthony Convent, Drogheda Ireland)
Mother Lucille and Sr. Francesca.
“Your mercy, Lord, holds me up.” –Psalm 94:18
Each of us is like a living story of God’s mercy. We have been
healed and forgiven. We have known good people and good things.
I think if we started in on it, we could tell stories of the Lord’s kindness for a long, long time. My story begins in “Mercy Hospital”
where my twin brother and I were born, two months early. We were
so tiny! My dad could fit his wedding band around my leg. I had
a hole in my heart and extra fluid pressing on my brain, but the
Lord wanted us to make it. The doctors tried a new medicine and it
worked! After a month in the hospital, we got to go home. We grew
up in a faithful, beautiful family. As a young girl, I spent most of my
time either playing sports outside or reading in my room.
In 6th grade, my grandmother took me on a special trip to Alabama.
One night we listened to a priest talk about so many things I’d never
heard of—“Divine Mercy”, “St. Faustina”, and a miracle in his own
life. God healed him of a terminal heart condition. After his talk,
my grandmother and I met him. Much to my embarrassment, she
told the priest my spine was crooked, could he please pray for me
to be healed of my scoliosis? He was kind and turned to me, “Just
trust that if God wants to heal you, he will…” In my heart, I just
did, I believed. He put his hand on my back and said a simple prayer
for God to heal me through St. Faustina’s intercession. I didn’t feel
anything, but the next time I went to the doctor, the x-rays of my
spine were totally straight. I didn’t have to go back anymore. It was
a physical experience of “Divine Mercy”, a glimpse of how very
much God cared for me.
But storms came with high school. Once Jesus spoke about a house
in a violent storm… If it was built on sand, it collapsed, but on rock,
it stood firm. Without realizing, I started building on the sand of myself. When struggles came, I kept them to myself. Eventually, I fell
like that house, depressed. Truly, I was in a bad way. But the Lord
didn’t leave me like that! One night I was up late after basketball
and studying, and couldn’t sleep. As I looked out the window at the
stars and huge, old pine trees, God came to my thoughts. I prayed
perhaps the most sincere prayer of my life. Is this all there is to life?
… Please help me. He did. I knew clearly He was there with me, a
Father who held me as I fell asleep. I was changed. How I needed
Jesus in the months that followed, and I opened up to others. I found
love waiting, and joy! It was like Almighty God blew away the sand,
so He could be my rock.
Those first encounters with our Lord deepened into a loving relationship throughout college, and now Jesus is everything to me. Steadily, He comes to me with mercy. He comes in my Sisters’ kindness,
He stays close in the Eucharist, and he never gets tired of forgiving
me in Confession. How He loves us! We are each a living story of
His mercy.
-Sr. Josephine Marie of Mercy, CFR
After professing 1st
vows on December 8,
2014, Sr. Josephine
Marie of Mercy was
assigned to St. Clare’s
Convent in England.
She is pictured here
serving (with evident
joy!) some of our
neighbors who stopped
by for the convent’s
“open house,” celebrating the Year of
Consecrated Life.
Pope Francis has declared an “Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy” to
begin on December 8th. He writes that this year is dedicated “to
living out in our daily lives the Mercy which our Father constantly
extends to all of us…” This picture was taken in September of 2015
when Fr. Andrew traveled to England to give our sisters in England
and Ireland their annual retreat. It was no coincidence that the theme
for the retreat was “Divine Mercy” and we certainly hope to live this
year of grace to the full!
This “Year of
Consecrated
Life” (closing
on February
2, 2016) has
brought us
three new
candidates!
Pictured here
with Mother
Lucille and
with Sr. Mary
Pieta, our
Candidate
Directress,
are from
left to right: Maria Montano from NJ, Talitha Lemoine from Winnipeg,
Canada, and Clarissa Krajewski from MI. A “Candidate” is a young
woman whose discernment process has brought her to enough clarity
about her call to actually enter a community. This means leaving home,
living in the convent, and participating fully in our life of prayer, our
fraternity and our mission of service of the poor and evangelization as
the discernment continues. The next step, God-willing, would be “Postulancy” beginning Feb. 2.
CFR Sisters Convents
Convent of San Damiano
1661 Haight Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461
718-829-9466
Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent
718-547-9840
3537 Bainbridge Avenue, Bronx, NY 10467
Being at the “World Meeting of Families,” in Philadelphia, PA with an estimated 2 million people had the familiar feeling of a “World Youth Day”…
crowds of happy pilgrims for whom almost no inconvenience or discomfort
is too much for the chance just to be there, to be together and to be with the
Pope! At the closing Mass the Holy Father spoke of the “little gestures” that
make us happy and make us holy. He called on us to show love “by little
things”. As pilgrims to the “World Meeting of Families” we were certainly recipients of many acts of kindness and hospitality along the way – for
which we are deeply grateful! May our Holy Father’s words take root in us
and may we learn to do the same! From left to right: Sr. Joseph, Sr. Francis,
Sr. Maria Teresa, Sr. Miriam (above), and Sr. Cecilia.
Our Lady Queen of Angels Convent
212-831-3334
232 East 113 Street, New York, NY 10029
St. Anthony Convent
011-353-4198-30441
Dublin Road, Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland A92 X044
St. Clare Convent
011-44-113-235-0573
19 Neville Road, Osmondthorpe, Leeds, LS9 0HD, UK
vocations phone number: 718-828-4104
www.franciscansisterscfr.com