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March 2007 |
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May the Lord give you His peace! On April 28, 2007, our community will celebrate our twentieth anniversary. In the history of the Church, twenty years is a very short period of time. We are only getting started! This year I will focus on various aspects of the CFR way of life in particular. |
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Nuts and bolts: We pray the Angelus at the three traditional times each day; daily Rosary; the Liturgy of the Hours together in community five times a day; an hour of meditation each morning and an Eucharistic Holy Hour every evening. Once a week we have a prayer day with quiet and Eucharistic Adoration available throughout the whole day. Once a month we take a day or two alone with the Lord in a hermitage. Once a year we have a week long community retreat and a week long solitude retreat done privately. More on our brotherhood next month... |
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Two Outstanding Documents from the Vatican: |
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+ May 31, 1983, "Essential Elements in Religious Life" by the Congr. for Institutes of Consecrated Life: found here |
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+ Feb. 2, 1994, "Fraternal Life in Community" by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life: found here |
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 Br. Simon, me and Fr. Sylvester praying for all of you last month at the grave of J.R.R. Tolkien, Oxford, England. |
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 Vocation Discernment Retreat last month at St. Fidelis Friary, London, England. Men came from England, Ireland and France. |
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 Br. Simon and Fr. Sylvester in the "Rabbit Room", a meeting place at the Eagle and Child Pub, Oxford, England. This was the place where the Inklings met to discuss writing projects such as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Under the clock is a framed letter from the Inklings. Picture of C.S.Lewis between the friars. Picture of Tolkien to the left of the framed letter. Thank you to Tommy Heyne for the pictures and beer! |
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N.B. The official "two-week visit" for those men hoping to join us as Postulants in September 2007, will be July 16-30, 2007 (We are flexible if you can not make those dates). Please let us know soon. |
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God bless you,
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 Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR Saint Joseph Friary 523 W. 142nd Street New York, NY 10031 (212)281-4355 (212)234-8871 fax Archive eLetters |
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There are three basic elements to the CFR way of life, likened to a three-legged stool: prayer, fraternity and apostolate. The order is important, our founders wanted to recapture the primacy of prayer in the religious life. This is clearly articulated in several documents from the Vatican. From a deep prayer life flows our brotherhood in community. Out of our prayer and brotherhood we are strengthened to serve in the apostolate. Our apostolate is two-fold: hands on work with the poor and evangelization. On first meeting many people they often ask, "What do you guys do?" Prayer is first. The Mass is the source and summit of our day. 
There is no reform without much prayer. Someone once told Bl. Mother Teresa that they were too busy to pray. Mother Teresa responded, "Well, then you need to pray more!" We see our prayer life as foundational. I suppose most religious communities would say the same thing. A mature prayer life is essential for your relationship with the Lord. 
We are praying for you and your discernment everyday, especially on Wednesdays. Let us set our hands to the plow in the Lord's vineyard and not look back! "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be
rewarded according to his own labor"