Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular

PRAYER REQUESTS

To use a simple definition, prayer is our love joined to
God's love, and that love visits the person for whom we are praying.
(To offer a petition, please click on tab "Prayer Requests" to the left, below.)

"Make me an instrument
of Your peace"

"Silence is God's first language, everything else is a poor translation. In
order to hear that language, we must learn to be still and to rest in God."

Thomas Keating, Invitation to Love

The heart of our life and work is daily celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass. We pray daily for our friends and benefactors and for the growth of a new culture of life and civilization of love. Send us your intentions to be placed before the altar in our Chapel at St. Bernardine Monastery. Please remember our apostolic efforts in your prayers and donations. God bless you.

I believe that one of the most difficult acts of self discipline in the spiritual journey is to concentrate on the present moment. We all have a very strong tendency to often disregard the importance of the present moment by focusing in a wrong way on the past or in a wrong way on the future.

When we give in to this tendency we suffer a significant spiritual loss even in our prayer life. There are proper occasions for thinking of the past and the future. For example, we have to learn from the past and we have to prepare for the future, but our great emphasis has to be upon the present.

There is a Latin axiom which says, "age quod agis", which means: do what you are doing, concentrate on the present. And, of course, we are familiar with the term in the history of spirituality: the sacrament of the present moment. Growth in self-discipline should include a greater determination to get as much as we can out of the present moment.

People with a terminal illness have the opportunity, as they prepare for death, for increased prayer, contrition, love of God. For those who have the opportunity of knowing with some certainty the time of their death, I'm sure as they look back on their lives, they are saddened by the times they did not use time and opportunities for the service of the Lord properly, and are overjoyed at those times in which they did use the present opportunity properly.

A great means we have of living in the present properly is a greater focus upon our Lord. For if I have that awareness of the fact I am united with Jesus here and now, why should I be concerned so much about the future or the past?

Yes, a great help in living in the present and deriving all the good we can from it for ourselves and others is an ever greater focus on Jesus, because the more I focus upon Jesus and the more I live with Him in the present moment, the more I am satisfied with the present moment.

Now is the time. Now is the time to live and to love. Now is the time to become more united to Christ, to be more one with Him. Now is not yesterday; now is not tomorrow; now is today, and today is a gift from the Lord.

Fr. Patrick Quinn, T.O.R.
The Franciscan Friars
St. Bernardine Monastery
P.O. Box 139
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648-0139

Help me to replace the busyness of my life with a simpler lifestyle, so
I will focus on "the deeper things" in life and allow time for others.

Nourish my yearnings to understand and to appreciate myself;
keep me from being too self-oriented and unmindful of other's needs.

Fill me with trust in your consoling presence. Calm me when I am
anxious and troubled about many things.

Help me to have the courage to empty myself of everything that does
not contribute to the transformation of the world.

Continue to create a deep hunger for you within me. Feed me with
"the finest wheat" of your joy, peace and love.

Often replenish my weary spirit with an enthusiasm and energy that
comes from surrendering my life to you.

Be my wisdom as I search for meaning in a world fraught with pain,
suffering, hostility, and division.

Keep me hungry for you, Source of Life, so that I will always ache
and yearn a bit for you.