2304 Prestonwood Ct Arlington, TX 76012

raternity Reflections

IMMACULATA FRATERNITY, OFS JULY 2015 VOL XI ISSUE VII

Vice Minister: Deb. Ludwick-Bales, OFS - 817-281-0140

Secretary: Mary Dang, OFS – 817-962-3040 Web Administrator: Clark Jones, OFS – 817.917.2511

Spiritual Assistant: Vacant

Ordo Franciscanus Saecularis www.immaculatasfo.org

Fraternity gathering every third Friday of the Month from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Most Blessed Sacrament in Arlington,

TX. Formation for Inquirers and Candidates meet every first Friday from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Most Blessed Sacrament

Immaculata Fraternity is a local fraternity of the Three Companions Region – www.lostrescompaneros.org

Minister: Deborah Pettie, OFS - 817-370-9768

Master of Formation: Sharon Toups, OFS - 972-865-6826 Acting Treasurer: Chuck Lieser, OFS - 817-914-0157

Newsletter Editor: Rafael Refi OFS & Clark Jones OFS

F

The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity.

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraph 2239 -V.

The Authorities in Civil Society

HAPPY 4th

Month of the Most Precious Blood Month of the Most Precious Blood

Holy Scripture tells us that God does not change. He

is the same yesterday, today, and always, which is

most likely one of the things that we as children of

God, find so comforting about our Heavenly Father.

For many, change is not always easy, because we

focus on our circumstances, rather than placing our

trust in God and while we are created in the image

of God, we are creation and not the creator, which

often means for us, the creation process continues,

as we grow and stretch more and more into His

likeness.

With all this in mind, we’d like to let you in on

some changes Immaculata Fraternity has gone

through Brothers, Sisters and Friends of

Immaculata.

God Has Not Changed

One of the things we’d like

to share is that our brother,

Warren Falgout, OFS, has

retired as editor of our

monthly newsletter,

“Fraternity Reflections”.

This rest for our brother has

been long overdue, as noted

by our Volume XI

Issue VII copy,

representing eleven

years and six months of

undying commitment

on his part. He’ll be

quick to tell you, it’s

been a labor of love and

while our brother, has served

on Immaculata Fraternity’s

Counsel for almost as many

years, our newsletter was not

part of his “duties”. This

month the baton has been

passed to brothers, Rafael

Refi, OFS & Clark Jones,

OFS, and it’s our heart to

follow Warren’s lead in

serving each of you in all

humility.

We would also like to express our openness to suggestions and contributions as

our brother, Warren, has done over the years and by

all means, let us know how we’re doing.

In continuation, many of our friends may not be

aware that the Order of Franciscan Seculars (O.F.S.)

are governed by a council of members that are

elected every three years to guide each fraternity in

the way of our constitution, by-laws and Rule of the

OFS, as well as providing ongoing formation and

growth to the membership. This process continues

on a regional, national, and international level and if

it helps, you may think of this structure as that of a

small Holy See for our Order, that provides and

protects unity just as Holy Mother Church does for

the greater church.

As of our June

meeting a council

election has taken

place, offering five

of our council

members rest after a

two term stint,

equaling six years.

Immaculata Fraternity

could not possibly

thank these brothers

and sisters enough for

the commitment and

devotion they have

brought to our council

and fraternity life, but

we would welcome

inspection of the fruits

of their labor as they

have sowed and they

have watered and to

that kind of

faithfulness, it is

God that brings a

harvest.

With Much Gratitude To Our brother, Chuck Lieser, OFS Our sister, Carol Lieser, OFS Our brother, Warren Falgout, OFS

Our sister, Ann Falgout, OFS

Our sister, Diane Klein, OFS

By: CJones OFS

JUNE 2015 Counsel Elections

Immaculata Fraternity has been in prayer for several

months for our upcoming council elections and we

truly saw our prayers answered as each new council

member was elected by land slide votes and so well

placed into each position of their individual office.

We were most grateful

to Father John

Shanahan TOR for

providing assistance

throughout our election

process, & in his simple

presence as a TOR

Brother that embraced

us in fraternal humility.

Father John currently

resides at Saint Andrew

Catholic Parish in Fort

Worth, where he serves

as Parochial Vicar.

In addition to Father John’s assistance, we were

blessed to have our brother, Jorge Sosing, OFS

Minister of Senor Santo Nino Fraternity in Dallas, as

well as Angelo Portion Councilor for Los Tres

Companeros Region of Texas.

Our sister Deborah (Debbie) Pettie was elected as the

new minister for Immaculata Fraternity and has been a

professed member since January 2003. She comes

with a very learned background of church teaching

and the Franciscan charism, but what Debbie brings in

her heart is far deeper to make a great minister and by

that we are blessed, as we are with the election of our

new Vice-Minister, Debbie Ludwick-Bales. Our sister

Debbie was professed into the order; September of

1993 and took a short leave a few years later, to

pursue the mission field of Bolivia, where she taught a

vulnerable population of women the skill of martial

arts for their protection as well as other skills. Debbie

continues here in the states with the heart of a

missionary and Immaculata Fraternity welcomes her

skill-set for living a Gospel Life.

Our sister Sharon Toups also joins our new council as

Master of Formation. Sharon made her profession,

June 1984 and brings a wealth of knowledge to grow

us in the richness of our faith.

Our brother, Rafael Refi was voted into the office of

treasurer and as a young husband and father, we are

grateful for his openness to stretch himself in service

to Immaculata Fraternity. Our brother, Rafael

professed into the OFS, March 2011.

Mary Dang, whom became our sister in February

2009, has been elected secretary after years of serving

our fraternity on formation teams, and always ready to

say yes, much like another Mary we know.

By: CJones OFS

This month, we celebrate the service to God of a number of martyrs

and saints who preached the Gospel in the Americas, China and

Mongolia

1. Servant of God Philomene Jane Genovese Virgin. Third

Order.

2. Servant of God Bernard of Quintavalle. Confessor. First

Order.

3. Servant of God Andrew of Burgio. Confessor. First Order.

4. St Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal. Widow. Third Order.

5. Servant of God John Martinez. Confessor. First Order.

6. Servant of God Sancia. Widow. Second Order.

7. Blessed Emmanuel Ruiz and Companions. Martyrs. First

Order.

8. Blessed Gregory Grassi and Companions. Martyrs. First

and Third Orders.

9. St. Nicholas of Gorcum and Companions. Martyrs. First

Order.

10. St. Veronica Giuliani. Virgin. Second Order.

11. Blessed Vitalia of Bastia. Confessor. Third Order.

12. St. John Jones and St. John Wall. Martyrs. First Order.

13. Blessed Angelina of Marsciano. Widow. Third Order.

14. St. Francis Solano. Confessor. First Order.

15. St. Bonaventure. Doctor of the Church. Bishop. First

Order.

16. St. Mary Magdalen Postel. Virgin. Third Order.

17. Servant of God. Frances Garces and Companions.

Martyrs. First Order.

18. Servant of God. Cecilia Joanelli-Castelli. Housewife.

Third Order.

19. Blesed Peter Cresci. Confessor. Third Order.

20. Blessed Oddino Barrotti. Confessor. Third Order.

21. St. Lawrence of Brindisi. Confessor and Doctor of the

Church. First Order.

22. Blessed Kinga (Cunegunda). Virgin. Second Order.

23. Blessed Bridget of Sweden. Widow. Third Order.

24. Blessed Louise of Savoy. Widow. Second Order.

25. Blessed Petronilla of Troys. Virgin. Second Order.

26. Blessed Felicia Meda. Virgin. Second Order.

27. Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo. Virgin. Second

Order.

28. Blessed Archangel of Calatafimi. Confessor. First Order.

29. Blessed Peter of Mogliano. Confessor. First Order.

30. Blessed Somoin of Lypnica. Confessor. First Order.

31. Servant of God John of Piano Di Carpine. Confessor.

First Order.

Martyrs & Saints July

HAPPY BIRTHDAY To Our Brother

Joe McGookin

Congratulations

to our new Minister, Debbie Pettie and her lovely daughter, Nikale Pettie and her marriage to Brian Bordovsky on May 30th 2015

Our council elections would not have been complete

without a celebratory rendition of the Macarena!

Which for those not knowing; translates “Blessed”.

Please Note: RE: Our recent elections.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our brother, Rafael Refi will be taking a leave from the fraternity for a time. As a result our brother, Chuck Lieser will be acting as Treasurer for Immaculata Fraternity.

Many thanks go out to Br. Chuck!

By her consecration of it, the Church has freed water from the dark powers that sleep in it. This is not a form of language. Anyone whose perceptions have not been blunted must be aware of the powers of natural magic inherent in water. And are they only natural powers? Is there not present also a dark and preternatural power? In nature, for all her richness and beauty, there is something demonic. City life has so deadened our senses that we have lost our perception of it. But the Church knows it is there. She "exorcises" out of water those divinities that are at enmity with God. She blesses it and asks God to make of it a vehicle of his grace. Therefore the Christian when he enters church moistens forehead, breast and shoulders, all his person, with the clean and cleansing water in order to make clean his soul. It is a pleasing custom that brings grace and nature freed from sin, and man, who so longs for cleanness, into the unity of the sign of the cross. At evening also we sign ourselves in holy water. Night, as the proverb says, is no friend to man. Our human nature is formed and fashioned for light. Just before we give ourselves over into the power of sleep and darkness, and the light of day and consciousness is extinguished, there is a satisfaction in making the sign of the cross on ourselves with holy water. Holy water is the symbol of nature set free from sin. May God protect us from every form of darkness! And at morning, when we emerge again out of sleep, darkness and unconsciousness, and life begins afresh, we do the same thing. But in the morning it is to remind ourselves of that holy water from which we have issued into the light of Christ. The soul redeemed and nature redeemed encounter one another in the sign of the cross.

From Guardini's Sacred Signs (Holy Water): Water is a mysterious thing. It is so clear and frictionless, so "modest," as St. Francis called it. It hardly pretends to any character of its own. It seems to have no other end or object than to be of service, to cleanse what is soiled and to refresh what is dry. But at some time you must have gazed down into the still depths of a great body of water, and felt it tugging to draw you in, and have got a glimpse of the strange and secret thing water is, and of the marvels, terrors and enticements that lurk in its depths. Or, at another time when it was whipped to a boiling torrent by a storm, you have heard it rushing and roaring, rushing and roaring, and watched the sucking vortex of a whirlpool and felt a force so grim and dreary that you had to tear your thoughts away. It is indeed a strange element. On the one hand smooth and transparent, as if it hardly existed in its own right, ready at hand to wash away dirt and satisfy thirst; and on the other a restless, foundationless, enigmatic force that entices us on to destruction. It is a proper image for the secret ground-source from which life issues and back into which death recalls it. It is an apt image for this life of ours that looks so clear and is so inexplicable. It is plain why the church uses water as the sign and the bearer of the divine life of grace. We emerge from the waters of baptism into a new life, born again of water and the Holy Ghost. In those same waters the old man was destroyed and put to death. With this elemental element, that yields no answer to our questioning, with this transparent, frictionless, fecund fluid, this symbol and means of the supernatural life of grace, we make on ourselves, from forehead to breast, from shoulder to shoulder, the sign of the cross.

Sister Water the power of humility

SACRED SIGNS by Msgr.ROMANO GUARDINI

Copyright 1956 by PIO DECIMO PRESS St. Louis 15, Mo. IMPRIMATUR + JOSEPH E.RITTER-Archbishop of St. Louis

November 14, 1955

Francis spent much of his time praying in solitude in nature. He

practiced contemplation, or "a long loving look at the real," which

allowed him to see in a new way. Seeing from a pair of glasses

beyond our own is what I call "participative seeing." This is the new

self that can say excitedly with Paul, "I live no longer, not 'I' but it is

Christ now living in me" (Galatians 2:20). In the truest sense, I am

that which I am seeking. This primal communion communicates

spaciousness, joy, and a quiet contentment. It is not anxious, because

the essential gap between me and everything else has already been

overcome. I am at home in a sacred and benevolent universe, and I do

not need to prove myself to anybody, nor do I need to be "right," nor

do others have to agree with me.

A mature believer, of course, knows that it is impossible not to be

connected to the Source, or to be "on the Vine," as Jesus says. But

most people are not consciously there yet. They are not "saved" from

themselves, which is the only thing we really need to be saved from.

They do not yet live out of their objective, totally given, and unearned

identity, "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). This is what

saints like Francis and Clare allowed, enjoyed, and "fell into." It is

always a falling! For most of us, our own deepest identity is still well

hidden from us. We are all "Sleeping Beauty" waiting for the

redemptive kiss. Religion's primary and irreplaceable job is to bring

this foundational truth of our shared identity in God to full and

grateful consciousness. This is the only true meaning of holiness.

The irony is that this "holiness" is actually our "first nature"; yet we

made it into such a contest that it did not even become most

people's "second nature." This core identity in Christ was made into a

worthiness contest at which almost no one wins and so most do not

even try or give up early. Francis and Clare totally undermined

this contest by rejoicing in their ordinariness and seeming

unworthiness--which I believe is the

core freedom of the Gospel itself, the ultimate coup d'etat of the soul.

Now losers are the real winners, and that includes just about

everybody.

Adapted from Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Saint Francis of Assisi,

pp. 65-67

Gateway to Silence

"I am who I am in the eyes of God, nothing more and nothing less."

--Francis of Assisi

SHARED IDENITY

The Franciscan Way Daily meditations by:

Br. Richard Rohr