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February 2009 |
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 As Friars of the Renewal, we are called to be radical witnesses to the Gospel of Life and to a hope that is truly placed only in Jesus. As a community we are committed to advocating the Culture of Life by our works with the poor, evangelization and our explicit pro-life work. This, in many ways, places us on the front lines of the battle to further the Culture of Life. Our radical, total self-gift to God is a witness to the world of the ultimate victory of Christ at the end of time. Our vocation is to be a lighthouse of truth and love. God may be calling you to give yourself totally to be a light for this dark time ... will you say yes? |
May the Lord bless you,
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 Br. Pius Marie Gagne, CFR Assistant Vocation Director Saint Joseph Friary 523 W. 142nd Street New York, NY 10031 (212)281-4355 Archive eLetters |
We are at war! We are in a time where the battle lines are becoming more and more clearly drawn. The dignity of the human person, persons made in the image and likeness of God, is being threatened and undermined. We have entered an age where politicians are being hailed as the "Messiah" who offer the single most pro-abortion stance in the history of our country, where the lives of millions of children are threatened by the so called "freedom to choose", where legislation proposed to boost our economy includes efforts to prevent God's gift of life and where the very foundation of society - the family - is being called into question. Advocates of the culture of death are silently working in the highest positions of authority spreading their error. Even locally those who stand for the works of the culture of death are active. When I was recently in California, I learned that in response to the pastor's firm stance on the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman the doors of his parish were desecrated with feces. Things seem more and more clouded in darkness and even good people are confused about the truth. 
What can we do as followers of Jesus Christ and of His Gospel of Life? In his recent visit to our country, our Holy Father offered the answer: to recognize that Christ is our Hope. No politician or political system, no amount of money, nothing but Jesus can offer us any real lasting hope for the future. But our faith and hope must be more that "informative"... it must be "performative." It must transform the way we think, what we do, who and what we decide to support, and every aspect of our lives. To think that one can be a Christian and support any of these works of the culture of death is a great error. We must fervently pray for the change of hearts. We must gently but firmly stand up against anything that threatens the most vulnerable members of our society. We must speak out and make our voices heard to those in authority, insisting with Pope John Paul II: "There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights" (
