Jonathan Ng, one of two postulants in the Custody of St Anthony (Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei), spent the first three weeks in June on a mission trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He shares his experience with us.
My mission trip in Kuala Lumpur from 1 to 21 June was working and living with refugees from Myanmar. I was assigned to two missions – a Catholic refugee learning centre and a refugee-focused clinic.
For most of the mission trip, I was attached to the refugee learning centre, which provides education to refugee children from nursery to primary five level. Most of the children were from Myanmar.
During my first week, many teachers fell sick with the flu, and I was “activated” to take over classes at various levels and made the stand-in form teacher for the Primary Five class. This was very much out of my comfort zone, as there was a language barrier. However, the children and I did our best to communicate, and the students shared freely and vulnerably about their struggles with their studies and their plight as refugees.
When they shared about their lives, at times there were frowns and sadness, but when they spoke about being in the school and being free from the challenges they face back home, smiles came quickly to their faces. I see this as gladness and joy that only God grants.
In the last week of my mission trip, I was attached to the ACTS clinic. Refugees of all nationalities are welcome there, but most of the patients are refugees from Myanmar. The clinic offers a flat rate to patients for consultation and medication.
Following Dr Caroline Gunn from ACTS clinic, I heard the stories of some of the patients –the challenges they faced in moving to Malaysia, and how they are coping.
Reflecting on my mission trip, I remember especially the time I spent living and working with the teachers at the refugee learning centre. They truly have the biggest hearts caring for the students, and unbeknownst to them, they have shown me God’s love.
Nehemiah 8:10 says “… do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”. It was there, being with them that the truth of “the joy of the Lord is my strength” was made so tangible. Despite their circumstances, the faces of these refugees, both young and old, were constantly lit with joy. This experience and the people that God has allowed me to meet will stay ever so close to my heart and prayers.
In May, the Custody of St Anthony (Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei) hosted a regional meeting of Lay Friars within the South Asia, Australia and Oceania Conference (SAAOC).
In the Franciscan Order, as in the Church, a baptised person falls under one of two states: Lay (non-ordained) or Clergy (ordained). Thus, if a friar, through his discernment, does not move toward ordination to the clerical state as a deacon or priest, he is a Lay Friar, commonly called a “Franciscan Brother”. A friar who undertakes the Sacrament of Holy Orders through ordination is known as an Ordained Friar or Friar-Priest.
In 2022, the OFM General Chapter resolved that each international conference of friars would hold regional/international conference meetings of Lay Friars to prepare for the international meeting of Franciscan Lay Friars to be held in 2025.
Accordingly, 15 Lay Friars from Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and West Papua gathered at La Salle House in Singapore for five days of discussion and fraternal bonding. The theme for the meeting was “Renewing Our Common Vision as Lay Friars in a Fractured World: Franciscan Contemplatives Formed for Pastoral Ministry and Evangelisation.”
Minister General Friar Massimo Fusarelli OFM set the tone for the gathering with a very encouraging letter to all gathered. In it, he exhorted the friars to deepen their identity as brothers and minors, and to also be very daring to welcome back the diversity and completeness of our (Franciscan) vocation.
“If the Lay Friars become very few or even die out, the provincial fraternities would lack an essential element of the (Franciscan) charism,” he wrote, before inviting the Lay Friars into critical reflection with recommendations for bolstering the vocational path of being a Lay Friar within the Franciscan Order.
There are only about 1,600 Solemnly Professed Lay Friars out of approximately 10,000 Solemnly Professed Friars around the world, at last count in 2022. The rest (an estimated 8,400) are Ordained Friars.
The meeting, held from 13 to 17 May 2024, was facilitated by Friar David Leary OFM, a Lay Friar-Psychologist, Professor and Counsellor engaged in social work services in Australia. The main topics for presentation, reflection and discussion were Contemplation, Formation, Pastoral Ministry and Evangelisation.
There was great richness in the sharing and discussion. The group noted that although the ministries of Lay Friars are significantly less visible to the public, and even to fellow members of the Franciscan fraternity, they are immensely important and impactful in the lives of the individuals to whom the Lay Friars minister. Lay Friars work in many areas including counselling, spiritual direction, nursing, teaching, social work, institutional management and the formation of friars and lay people, recognising that God’s call to minister to His people is not limited to the sacramental ministry of the ordained (Friar-Priests).
On 2 August of each year, the “Pardon of Assisi” is celebrated in Assisi in the Church of St Mary of the Angels. This church is also known as the Portiuncula, which means “little portion of land”.
St Mary of the Angels is conceivably the most important Franciscan sanctuary in Assisi for the memories of Francis that it contains. He was so fond of the little church that he once said to the brothers, “If anyone should evict you from one door, return through another one.”
Francis lived here with the brothers in community, and he considered it his home base. After St. Clare left her family on Palm Sunday 1212, she met Francis in the Portiuncula where he gave her the tonsure. Finally, here Francis died on 3 October 1226.
According to the traditional account, in July 1216, Francis was praying in the Portiuncula when he had a vision of Jesus and the Virgin Mary surrounded by a host of angels.
Jesus asked him what grace he desired, to which Francis replied that he desired the complete forgiveness of all sins for everyone who came to his beloved little church. Jesus replied that he should go to the pope, since he was the Vicar of Christ, to request such an indulgence.
Francis went to Perugia, where Pope Honorius III had just been elected pontiff, and made his request that anyone who journeyed to St Mary of the Angels would receive a plenary indulgence – a full pardon for their sins.
Such a request was unprecedented. There were only a few ways to receive a plenary indulgence at that time – by making a pilgrimage to one of the great basilicas in Christendom such as St Peter’s in Rome, St James in Compostela, St Mary Magdalene in France, or by making the “queen of all pilgrimages” to the Holy Land. It was inconceivable to attach a plenary indulgence to a wayside country church.
Perhaps miraculously, Pope Honorius granted Francis his request. However, he limited the indulgence to just one day a year – 2 August.
The indulgence was initially limited to the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi for 2 August. However, over time, the indulgence was extended to all Franciscan churches around the world on that day. Today, the indulgence is available in Assisi any day of the year.
The “Pardon of Assisi” can be obtained from the evening of 1 August until midnight on 2 August. To obtain the plenary indulgence, the faithful should
go to confession (a week before or after 2 August)
receive the Eucharist (a week before or after 2 August)
recite the Creed and the Our Father, and pray for the intentions of the Pope
visit a Franciscan church or any parish church on 1 or 2 August to honour Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula
“A chance to follow in St Francis’ steps”: Eight centuries after the Italian holy man visited Egypt, his relics make a return.
When Saint Francis made his renowned journey to Egypt in 1219, he was wearing the humble tunic which went on to become characteristic of his followers.
Now, 800 years later, that tunic – or part of it – has made a return to the country.
A piece of the garment – which counts as a second-class relic of the saint – arrived in Cairo on the 23rd May. It then made its way to Alexandria, and will also visit Minya, Assiut, Qena and Luxor before returning to Italy on the 2nd June.
Following in St Francis’ steps
The relic belongs to Franciscan friars from the Italian region of Tuscany, who are bringing it to various countries in celebration of the 800th anniversary of St Francis’ stigmata.
Speaking to Vatican News, Anthony Amen, a youth representative for the Egyptian Franciscans, said that the event aimed to “bring back the spirituality of Saint Francis”.
He added that he hoped the encounter with the relics would inspire the Church in Egypt to “follow in St Francis’ steps”.
The Saint and the Sultan
St Francis’ visit to Egypt is now best remembered for his encounter with Sultan al-Kamel, who was at the time the ruler of Egypt.
In the midst of the Crusades, the saint travelled behind enemy lines to meet with the Muslim leader, and remained with him for several days.
Amen said that the visit of the relic was “always a reminder for us to take the initiative to sustain dialogue between us and the other.”
He said that relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt had taken a “huge step forward” in the past ten years, during the leadership of President al-Sisi.
And, he said, much progress had also been made just in the past couple of years precisely because of the 800th anniversary of Francis’ encounter with the Sultan.
Dialogues took place, he said, between leaders and youth representatives from the Catholic Church and Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, one of the most prestigious centres of Muslim learning worldwide.
“From that moment,” Amen said, “we entered a new phase in interreligious dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.”
