Franciscan Prayer : Prayer of Thanksgiving
Brother Francis and Brother Rabbit
In the first official biography of St Francis of Assisi, the author Thomas of Celano, one of the Saint’s first companions, wrote:
“Once while he (Francis) was staying near the town of Greccio, a certain brother brought him a live rabbit caught in a trap. Seeing it, the most blessed man was moved with tenderness. ‘Brother rabbit,’ he said, ‘Come to me. Why did you let yourself get caught?’ As soon as the brother holding it let go, the rabbit, without any prompting, took shelter with the most holy man, as in a most secure place, resting in his bosom. After it had rested there for a little while, the holy father, caressing it with motherly affection, let it go, so that now free it would return to the woods. As often as it was put on the ground, it rushed back to the holy man’s lap, so he told the brothers to carry it away to the nearby forest. Something similar happened with another little rabbit, a wild one, when he was on the island in the Lake of Perugia.”
Life of St Francis, Chapter XXI
There are numerous stories of how Francis extended the same loving care towards birds, fish and even earthworms, and how he praised the Creator through all created things. It is no wonder that Pope John Paul II named Francis of Assisi the Patron Saint of Ecology on 29 November 1979.
The story of Francis and the rabbit gives us an example of how we can live the reality of fraternity with every person and all creatures:
1. Be moved with tenderness: The brother who brought the rabbit saw the creature as food. Francis saw it not as a thing, but as a brother.
2. Welcome others into your life: We live in a world of fear, and people try to protect themselves because they have been hurt and threatened in many ways. Francis was so secure in himself and so welcoming in his love for all, that the rabbit instinctively knew it could run to him and find refuge.
3. Do not cling to anything or anyone: The rabbit wanted to stay with Francis, and Francis might have been tempted to keep the rabbit as a pet. But he knew that wild rabbits are meant to be free, and he found his own freedom in letting go.
4. Don’t stop at one act of generosity: As Thomas of Celano wrote, “A similar thing happened with another little rabbit, a wild one, when he was on the island in the Lake of Perugia.”
A Novice each from Singapore and Malaysia
We are blessed to have two new novices in 2023. On 14 January, Friar Peter Michael, Director of the Novitiate at St Anthony Friary, received Friars Jorgerson Japar and Nicholas Lee into the Novitiate programme.
Novitiate is a sacred time during which the novices undergo an intense period of formation to know and experience the Franciscan way of life. It is a year for them to understand themselves, to form their minds and hearts more deeply in the spirit of St Francis, and to test their resolution and suitability for the life of a friar.
The novices begin their day with Morning Prayer and Mass at 7 am. They then attend classes on Franciscan Spirituality, Franciscan History, the Writings of St Francis and St Clare, and the Constitutions of the Order. At noon, they have Midday Prayer followed by lunch and then personal time. At 6 pm, they gather with the rest of the community for Evening Prayer followed by dinner and then Night Prayer at 8 pm.
Novices also have household chores. They cook for the community twice a week and do some cleaning and gardening. On Thursday mornings, they assist in teaching Catechism classes at St Anthony’s Primary School.
Please keep Jorgerson and Nicholas in your prayers as they continue on their Novitiate journey.
Connecting and Growing for Faith and Mission
With the movement restrictions for Covid-19 lifted, the Franciscan Friars are delighted to be able to connect en masse and in person again.
On 28 February, the Devotion to St Anthony returned to the Church of St Mary of the Angels. Join us there at 7 pm on Tuesdays, after the evening Mass. The virtual shrine remains available for those of you who cannot get to church in time, or prefer to pray at your own time and in your own space.
Our Mother’s Day Concert returns too. Mothers hold a special place in the hearts of the Franciscan Friars. Through the motherhood of Mary, the Son of God became our brother. Through his mother Lady Pica, St Francis of Assisi learned how to love and be loved. St Francis asked his brother friars to care for one another as a mother cares for her son. Since then, mothers have been the major inspiration for most, if not all, friars in their journey and mission to love and serve God and one another.
Join us on 6 May at the Church of St Mary of the Angels as we friars give thanks for the gift of all mothers with a special tribute to Our Lady, the Mother of the Word Incarnate. The evening of prayer and celebration begins at 8 pm. Tickets will be available in April.
Before the concert, we have in April the Conference on Franciscan Spirituality where, as our Custos Friar Derrick Yap said, we hope to deepen our knowledge of Franciscan Spirituality, and so be recharged and renewed for mission and fraternal relations. The conference will be held over two days, and we will be taking it to three locations so that more people can attend. We hope to see you in Kota Kinabalu (12 and 13 April), Kuching (15 and 16 April) or Singapore (19 and 20 April). To find out more about the talks and how to register, visit franciscans.sg/ conference-on-franciscan-spirituality.
Friar Derrick Yap OFM
Are Our Hearts Set Free Anew this Easter?
Every Lent, we journey through the desert landscape of our souls endeavouring to strip ourselves of all that burdens, oppresses and encumbers us. This is so that we can free our hearts to welcome the graces of Easter, the greatest event of Salvation history.
Some of us enter into the Good Friday liturgy more wholeheartedly than for the Easter Sunday Mass. The Good Friday service seems to move our hearts more. It shows us that deep in our souls, we connect with the self-emptying act of Jesus Christ – Jesus stripped and tortured, cruelly crucified on the cross, the emblem and epitome of shame and pain. Somehow what Jesus went through resonates with our own pain and distress.
As we hear that “it is always darkest before the dawn”, we know that our spiritual dawn is ushered in by our God who never abandons us. Jesus’ painful passion and death are overcome by spiritual grace and new life. This is what Easter is all about! The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the realm of the dead so that suffering and death have no hold on us anymore.
Jesus rose to new life in a glorified state. Our destiny is also to enjoy this amazing resurrection of our own bodies! We profess this every time we say the creed, but have we given enough thought and reflection to this reality and destiny of our Christian journey?
Many of us struggle to free our hearts to welcome the graces promised to us. We struggle to free our hearts from sin, from unforgiveness, from doubts, from insecurities. So where and how do we begin journeying into greater freedom?
Our Lord Jesus shows us the way for he is The Way. He overcame the triple temptation that tripped Adam and Eve. They ate the forbidden fruit because they saw that it was
1. good for food (lust of the flesh = pleasure),
2. a delight for the eyes (lust of the eyes = possession), and
3. good for knowledge to be like gods (pride of life = pride).
The devil tried to get Jesus to turn stone into bread (pleasure), to take possession of the kingdoms of the earth (possession) and to throw himself off the temple to prove that he was the Son of God (pride). To no avail.
To have this same power over temptation, Jesus commanded us to fast, give alms and pray, and to do all these in secret. Fasting is the antidote to pleasure, almsgiving is the reverse of possession, and prayer is the remedy against pride. What incisive wisdom from our Lord who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Lent is a good time to take stock and prioritise what the Lord has shown us is the way towards a life that is freer and more life- giving, and to reflect on how we can integrate these practices wholistically in our lives.
For the friars, the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience we profess as Religious can be seen as addressing the three temptations of possession, pleasure and pride respectively. For Franciscan Religious, our appreciation of the vow of poverty is “to have nothing of our own”. St Francis used the term “sine proprio” (without appropriation, without the need to possess) to remind his friars that we are not to cling to even the little that we have so that our hearts are free. If our hearts need to cling, to possess and to hoard, then our hearts are not free to love generously, and we may be too self- absorbed and self-preserving to be attuned to the needs around us.
Many of you have integrated almsgiving into your spiritual life. You practise almsgiving not only during Lent, but throughout the year.
We Franciscan Friars are grateful beneficiaries of your practice of almsgiving. Your contributions support the formation of our student friars, and the efforts of our vocation promotion team to journey with young men who are aspiring to our Franciscan way of life. They support the ongoing formation of our Professed Friars through training conferences and formative opportunities, even post-graduate degrees.
I myself have benefitted from your generosity which helped make possible my studies in Dogmatics and Master’s degree in Formation at the Antonianum, the Franciscan University in Rome. Other friars have done studies in Franciscan Spirituality, Canon Law, Sacraments, Liturgy, Spiritual Direction and Psychology, and two friars are currently pursuing their Master’s degree in Psychology and Counselling to better equip our Custody in the areas of pastoral care and healing.
We are truly grateful that you have chosen to be part of our mission and ministry. It is because of your support that we have also been able to begin new ministries, maintain the places we live in as well as meet our obligations as a Religious entity and charity in both Singapore and Malaysia.
As we journey from the graced season of Lent into the liberating effects of Easter, may we truly allow Jesus our Risen Lord to set us free through the practices of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. And thus truly live life to the full, and accompany others in their journey towards fullness of faith and love.
Friar Derrick Yap OFM