United in Spirit: OFE Newsletter A b b e y o f S a i n t M a r y T h e o t o k o s , I n c .

O r d e r o f F r a n c i s c a n s E c u m e n i c a l , I n c . ( O F E )

O r d e r o f F r a n c i s c a n s C u l d e e ( O F C )

O r d e r o f F r a n c i s c a n s E c u m e n i c a l S e c u l a r ( O F E S )

C a t h o l i c O r d e r o f F r a n c i s c a n s E c u m e n i c a l ( C O F E )

November 2018 VOL. 3 ISSUE 1

Dear OFE Family and Friends, Welcome to the sixth issue of United in Spirit. The OFE has experienced many changes in recent times:

• Valarie J. Stroud, OFES (hc), Deborah Rose-Milavec, OFES

(hc), Rene Reid, OFES (hc), and James Stubenrauch, OFES

(hc) were awarded an Honoris Causa memberships in the

Order of Franciscans Ecumenical Secular.

• Most Rev. Phillip Francis Straling, OFE (hc), was awarded

Honoris Causa membership in the OFE.

• OFE established the Catholic Order of Franciscans

Ecumenical (COFE), for Catholic autocephalous bishops and

priests who are of the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

Church, and were not ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop.

Most Rev. Anthony A.M. Pearson, became its first

professed Friar and Brother.

• Rev. Terence M. McDonough, OFE, established a novitiate

program of the OFES at the Friends of Frances Xavier Cabrini

Parish, MA, USA.

• There is now a fifth ecclesiastic affiliation (charter). It is with

Saints Cyrillos and Methodios Greek Orthodox Church in

Katakwi, Uganda, East Africa. Bishop-Elect Charalambos

Ocen is the founder and pastor of the parish.

• Abbey of Saint Mary Theotokos was awarded "Best Non-

Profit Charity Corporation – California,” by Acquisition

International, AI Global Media Ltd., United Kingdom.

In This OFE Newsletter: • OFE, OFES, COFE, Honoris Causa, and Charter Members

• Missionary News: Holy Apostles Monastery

• Birth of Jesus and the Visit of the Shepherds (Luke 2:1-20)

• Sacrifice in Suffering

“Bear your share of hardship along with me like

a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:3)

• The OFE was incorporated as a non-profit religious

corporation. The sole purpose of this corporation is to

minister to celibate and married Roman Catholic priests

and laity.

• Alphonsa Andrew, OFES became a professed secular

Franciscan of the OFES. Sister Alphonsa is the wife of

Archbishop Andrew Sagayam, OFE.

I appreciate all who have provided the articles included herein. I hope you enjoy this and upcoming issues of United in Spirit.

Wishing you our Lord’s peace, love, and blessings,

Abbot Father Michael Cuozzo+, OFE

M I S S I O N A R Y N E W S H o l y A p o s t l e M o n a s t e r y

• Abbot Michael Cuozzo, OFE, August 13, 2013

• Brother Athanasius, OFE, July 18, 2015

• Friar Donald Kelpinski, OFE, August 20, 2015

• Friar Max, OFE, September 11, 2015

• Friar Leonard Schmidt, OFE, November 9, 2015

• Friar George, OFE, January 6, 2016

• Friar Noel Clarke, OFE, January 19, 2016

• Friar Antony Mariathas, OFE, April 9, 2016

• Friar Andrew Sagayam, OFE, June 2, 2016

• Friar Matthew Zifoti, OFE, September 16, 2016

• Friar Terence McDonough, OFE, March 9, 2017

• Friar Rouville M. Fisher, III, OFE, April 20, 2017

• Friar W.W. Augustus Fernando, OFE September 5, 2015

• Friar Anthony A.M. Pearson, COFE, September 12, 2018

• Friar Aneesh Puthenpurackal, OFE, March 27, 2016

• Sister Patricia Cuozzo, OFES, November 13, 2015

• Doctor Richard P. Baldi, OFES, February 12, 2016

• Archdeacon John Demeis, OFES, February 19, 2016

• Brother Auguste Ahadjitse, OFES, August 31, 2016

• Sister Alphonsa Andrew, OFES, November 13, 2017

• Valarie J, Stroud, OFES (hc), October 4, 2018

• Most Rev. Phillip F. Straling, OFE (hc), July 14, 2018

• Deborah Rose-Milavec, OFES (hc), February 6, 2018

• Rene Reid, OFES, (hc), December 8, 2017

Members of Holy Apostles Monastery had gathered at Good

Shepherd Chapel for the celebration of the Eucharist before the

prepared statement was read.

How blessed and honored we are to have Bishop +Patrick, as our

shepherd.

“Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once,

temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to

teach.” (1Timothy 3:2)

and Europe. Kenyan children are more likely to be born with

HIV/AIDS related diseases and have for many years succumbed

to diseases of poverty, such as kwashiorkor, marasmus, and

O F E , O F E S , C O F E , H o n o r i s C a u s a

MEMBERS

The Divine Mercy Brothers of Our Lady of Perpetual Help now have six brothers, five priests, and five seminarians at the monastery.

Holy Apostles Monastery has had other notable events since the October, 2017, edition of our Newsletter:

• Reverend Paul Ochieng-Ogada+, DMB, and Brother

Leonard Ndegwa, DMB, were elected to the Board of

Directors to the Order of Franciscans Ecumenical, Inc.

as voting members

• During the months of June and July, 2018, Holy

Apostles Monastery moved to a larger complex. It is a

former novitiate house and was a gift from an

anonymous benefactor.

• Brother Mwai Joseph, DMB, joined the Divine Mercy

Brothers of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He’s a former

Consolata Missionaries Brother and is a nurse and child

psychologist by profession.

• Don Konana, son of a Dominican Roman Catholic

priest, spoke about optional celibacy at a Conference at

the Monastery: “Return my priesthood to what Jesus

intended it to be.”

• Mzee Jacktone Ojwang offered his land for God’s

service to Holy Apostles Monastery.

• Rene Reid), December 8, 2017

• James Stubenrauch, OFES, (hc), October 4, 2017

• Rev. Paul Ochieng-Ogada, DMB, OFE (hc), Aug. 31, 2016

OFE CHARTER MEMBERS • Holy Apostles Monastery, November 29, 2015

• Metropolitan Archdiocese of St. Thomas the Apostle, June 2, 2016

• Hermitage of Saint Tekakwitha, January 8, 2017

• Our Lady of Knock Abbey, March 9, 2017

• Sts. Cyrillos & Methodias Greek Orthodox Church, June 17, 2018

Sacrifice in Suffering By Most Rev. Anthony A.M. Pearson, COFE

S c r i p t u r e v e r s e

“Bear your share of hardship along with me like a good

soldier of Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:3)

Most believers have, at one time or another, questioned why they are

suffering. This is especially true when they are in the midst of a trial, test,

or other suffering, or having to watch their loved ones’ suffering. Is God

mad at us, so much so that he afflicts us or those we love? Are we weak in

faith? Is God punishing me for it? The answer is plainly taught in Scripture.

Of course, the heretical “Health & Wealth” gospel preachers pathologically

heap guilt on us, stating that if we’re suffering it’s because we don’t have

enough faith or that it must be God’s punishment for some sin we’re

hiding. They’re wrong!

"There is another reason also why the soul has traveled safely in this

obscurity; it has suffered: for the way of suffering is safer, and also more

profitable, than that of rejoicing and of action. In suffering God gives

strength, but in action and in joy the soul does but show its own weakness

and imperfections. And in suffering, the soul practices and acquires virtue,

and becomes purer, wiser, and more cautious." (St. John of the Cross, Dark

Night of the Soul, 149)

Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, Christians are called to

suffer. It is the best seminary education we could ever receive. It’s the

closest we will ever walk with Christ Jesus in this life! And it is in the

furnace of life and on the anvil of heartbreak that God forges His tempered

saints into instruments He can use. I know, because I have, am now, and

will continue to be in that furnace that burns away dross, consumes

weakness, and hardens brittle self-focus, leaving behind a glimmering

weapon of our authentic self - forged in God’s image.

Out of sufferings great saints were formed. Out of trials, testing, and

sufferings, we become one with the Lord of sufferings who was the “Man

of Sorrows, Acquainted with Grief,” who shows us the way of suffering and

how we are to handle it. "Love proves itself by deeds, and how shall I

prove mine? ... I can prove my love only by scattering flowers, that is to

say, by never letting slip a single little sacrifice, a single glance, a single

word; by making profit of the very smallest actions, by doing them all for

love. I want to suffer and even rejoice for love, for this is my way of

scattering flowers." — (St. Therese of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul, 4-5)

We read this exhortation from God through St. Peter, a man well

acquainted with both our Lord’s sufferings and his own terrible sufferings.

He is writing to the Church Militant, sorely afflicted in the sufferings of

Nero. They were persecuted, prosecuted, tortured, violated, humiliated,

taunted, fed to wild animals, and treated as a public spectacle for the gory,

blood soaked, cruel “enjoyment and entertainment” of the pagan crowds!

Men and women, boys and girls, infants and the elderly, pregnant women and

very ill, all were treated as vermin!

To this suffering Church the first Bishop of Rome communicated exhortation

and encouragement. In 1 Peter 2:21-23 we read, “For to this you have been

called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you

should follow in His steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on His

lips. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He

did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly.” (RSVCE)

Our Lord Himself had warning for His Apostles, the Proto-Catholic Church

whose holiness and power would arise out of the midst of what appeared to

be a terminal, unjust failure. We hear Jesus telling the Apostles, “ . . . saying,

"The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and

chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." And he

said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up

his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and

whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a

man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:22-25)

The lesson: no pain no gain, no suffering and death, no resurrection and

ascension to a higher state spiritually.

Bishop Barron notes, “Friends, our Gospel today from Luke lays out Jesus’

conditions for discipleship: ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny

himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save

his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’ How do

we overcome pain? How do we attain joy? Not from a Stoic resignation, nor

from a Buddhist negation of the self, nor from a Platonic contemplation of the

eternal forms, but rather from the sacrifice of the self in love. Jesus is going to

Jerusalem in order to give himself away, to sacrifice himself in love for the

other—and in this, he will become a source of life to others.

Ronald Knox talked about the sign of the cross this way: the first two gestures

form the letter “I” and the next two cross it out. That’s what the cross of Jesus

meant and means. The path of discipleship is the path of self-sacrificing love—

and that means the path of suffering.” (Bishop Robert Barron, Your daily

Gospel reflection, Thursday, February 15, 2018, Word on Fire Catholic

Ministries)

My patron Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, the “Apostle of Divine Mercy,”

knew this truth well! She wrote of her commissioning to that ministry that

Jesus said to her, “My daughter, suffering will be a sign to you that I am with

you.” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 669) We are always afraid of

having to suffer. I don’t like pain of any kind, and I fear being abandoned and

alone. We must learn to trust that God won’t abandon us in the midst of our

(Con’t. on page 4)

Sacrifice in Suffering Con’t. By Most Rev. Anthony A.M. Pearson, COFE sufferings, but that suffering is a sign that God is with us in a special

kind of way, walking along beside us, holding us up in His “Everlasting

Arms.” May God help us all to trust in this truth and not run away

from our trials. He is never closer to us than when we are in the midst

of some type of suffering.

"We live in a fallen world. We must therefore work out our destiny

under the conditions created by sin. Did we but realize this truth, we

would accept each of life’s trying changes in the same spirit in which

we accept the penance from the confessor. Were we truly convinced

that our hope of pardon, and consequently our salvation, depends

upon repentance, we would willingly undergo all the sufferings of life’s

warfare." (John A. Kane, How to Make a Good Confession, 81)

God’s promise is sure, “ . . . even to your old age I am He, and to gray

hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will

save.” (Isaiah 46:4) And again, our Lord speaks through His leading

Apostle to His suffering Church, in 1 Peter 5:5-7, “Likewise you that are

younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with

humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives

grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty

hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties

on him, for he cares about you.” (RSVCE)

The blessed saint quotes Jesus as saying all this succinctly, “You are not

living for yourself but for souls, and other souls will profit from your

sufferings. Your prolonged suffering will give them the light and

strength

Our spiritual state & prayer depends greatly upon our recognition and

acceptance of these truths. We must recognize that we are “called” to

accept our suffering by committing ourselves in deep and abiding trust

to God’s control and sovereignty. By faith, a courageous faith that

trusts God’s goodness and love, we are able by prayer to seek God’s

light and strength to accept His will for our life. Life was never

promised to us to be fair, entitled, or an easy journey. By faith, trust,

and a daily commitment in prayer, we form a life that sees and accepts

the value and profit of our sufferings as a means to deepen our

relationship with Christ.

It is in prayer, that we develop the type of mind (attitude, paradigm)

that commits even our individual existence to prayer for consecration

and a daily life that truly exists for the redemption of sinners, the

reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians, and the salvation of

our eternal souls. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are

not to live for ourselves alone; we are to live in love and dedication to

God, and consecrate ourselves without question to our responsibility

to work together with our triune God, the Blessed Eternal Virgin, and

all the holy Angels and Saints, for the salvation and good of all

mankind.

My prayers for you and I today are, “May we continue to abound in every good grace, deepening our relationship with our victorious suffering Savior, and His plan for us all. May God bless you with every spiritual gift in Christ Jesus, as you walk the way the Saints have trod

B i r t h o f J e s u s

T h e S h e p h e r d s In those days a decree went out from Caesar

Augustus that the whole world should be

enrolled.

This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius

was governor of Syria. So, all went to be

enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph

too went up from Galilee from the town of

Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is

called Bethlehem, because he was of the

house and family of David, to be enrolled

with Mary, his betrothed, who was with

child.

While they were there, the time came for her

to have her child, and she gave birth to her

firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling

clothes and laid him in a manger, because

there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region

living in the fields and keeping the night

watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord

appeared to them and the glory of the Lord

shone around them, and they were struck

with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do

not be afraid; for behold I proclaim to you

good news of great joy that will be for all the

people. For today in the city of David a savior

has been born for you who is Messiah and

Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will

find an infant wrapped in swaddling, clothes

and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was a multitude of the

heavenly host with the angel, praising God and

saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on

earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels went away from them to

heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let

us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that

has taken place, which the Lord has made

known to us.” So, they went in haste and found

Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the

manger. When they saw this, they made known

the message that had been told them about this

child. All who heard it were amazed by what

had been told them by the shepherds. And

Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them

in her heart. Then the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God for all they had

heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

(Luke 2:1-20)

United in Spirit: OFE Newsletter:

Sister Patricia Cuozzo, OFES, Editor

Copyright © 2015 – 2018 Order of Franciscans Ecumenical, Inc. | Abbey of Saint Mary

Theotokos, Inc. All rights reserved.

Opinions expressed in authored articles in any issue of United in Spirit are solely those of the

author and do not necessarily represent views of the Abbot General of the OFE, the OFE Board, or

any other members of OFE, OFES, and COFE.

strength to accept My will.” (St. Maria Faustina Kowalska Diary, 67)

Our spiritual state & prayer depends greatly upon our recognition and

acceptance of these truths. We must recognize that we are “called” to

accept our suffering by committing ourselves in deep and abiding trust to

God’s control and sovereignty. By faith, a courageous faith that trusts God’s

goodness and love, we are able by prayer to seek God’s light and strength

to accept His will for our life. Life was never promised to us to be fair,

entitled, or an easy journey. By faith, trust, and a daily commitment in

prayer, we form a life that sees and accepts the value and profit of our

sufferings as a means to deepen our relationship with Christ.

It is in prayer that we develop the type of mind (attitude, paradigm) that

commits even our individual existence to prayer for consecration and a

daily life that truly exists for the redemption of sinners, the reparation of

sins, the reunion of all Christians, and the salvation of our eternal souls. We

must constantly remind ourselves that we are not to live for ourselves

alone; we are to live in love and dedication to God, and consecrate

ourselves without question to our responsibility to work together with our

triune God, the blessed eternal virgin, and all the holy angels and saints, for

the salvation and good of all mankind.

My prayers for you and me today are these: may we continue to abound in every good grace, deepening our relationship with our victorious suffering Savior, and His plan for us all; may God bless you with every spiritual gift in Christ Jesus, as you walk the way the saints have trod with Jesus as their guide, the way of victory over the selfish dominance of our flesh, the corruptions of the world, and the deceiving attacks of the forces of Satan, through the way of suffering.