CFP
RETREAT/REUNION/CONFERENCE 2004 HIGHLIGHTS
CFP Retreat/Reunion/Conference 2004 was truly
a blessed, joyful time of fellowship, prayer,
and healing. Everyone came away touched in
some beautiful way. We profusely thank the Holy
Spirit for His gracious presence and His many
gifts to us all, through this holy event.
May God be forever praised for what He gave to
us through this event and in all our lives!
Photos on this
link.
Following are
excerpts from and summaries of retreat and
conference talks for 2004
EXCERPT FROM THE FACE OF
JESUS
by Mary
McGarry , Minister (President)
Mary always leads us to Jesus. We can put a
face to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, because He
is not an alien God but our God and Father.
Contemplation begins with being face to face
with Jesus who shows us the way to the Father.
For He has said if you see me you have seen the
Father. As a penitent in the Confraternity, we
give up and surrender our will to His will and
we follow Him. As we look upon the face of Jesus
we become relaxed and our focus turns only on
Him. Many of us are very busy and have to do a
lot of running around in order to accomplish the
work that is set before us. But in the midst of
all of this, which is very good, we must take
the time to stop and look at Jesus and
contemplate His most precious face. . . .
There is no more beautiful sight than the
Face of Jesus, a Face that was once a baby, then
a young man, and then a dying man. Risen and
ascended- that same face is turned towards the
world now, beckoning us all to come closer to
God.
Thank you and May God bless you always.
EXCERPT FROM CFP VISION
by Madeline
Pecora Nugent
. . . We in the Confraternity of Penitents
are not to belong to ourselves. We are to belong
to God. And we do belong to Him. May we belong
to Him more and more securely with each passing
moment. Nor is our life of penance only between
us and the Lord. Rather, we live this life of
penance, which is a life of conversion, for
others as we offer our sacrifices and prayers
for them and for the world. How will we ever
know the power or effect of one penitent's
offerings, much less that of all of ours? . . .
. . . This is tenth year anniversary of
the beginning of the living of this Rule with
many of our current statutes. . . .
Our Rule and Statutes are a means for us to
surrender every aspect of our lives to God. He
has asked us to surrender much to His Providence
and Will which He has made known to us through
our spiritual advisors and diocesan officials.
God aims to make us holy through the living of
our Rule. He asks us to be like He is, to
embrace the highest law of love of God and of
neighbor, and to use that love to rebuild the
Church in our own locales. Moment by moment we
are to live in His love, seek His guidance, and
do His Will. He only asks for this moment,
moment after moment after moment. Let us thank
Him for taking us through our trials and for
carrying us during the darkest times of our
lives. Let us praise Him for the joys He has
given us and for the love that is here in one
another. Let us see Him in all and let us pray
for those who are at odds with us, asking God to
bring about reconciliation in His time and in
His way. In Him we are all one, and so all are
our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us go
forward to bring the message of God's love to
the world, through our web site, through our
witness, through our prayers. We are very little
cogs in the great machine of God's earthly
kingdom, but let us be the most loving little
cogs we can be as we wait the guiding Hand of
our Master. Let us make the prayer of the CFP
our own, every day:
"Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness
of my mind, give me right faith, a firm hope and
perfect charity, so that I may always and in all
things act according to Your Holy Will. Amen."
EXCERPT FROM
THE TREASURER'S
REPORT
by Rita
Farnsworth,
treasurer
.
. . Chapter 5, Statute 15b of the Confraternity
Rule states:
"All are to be reconciled in every way possible
and to tithe ten percent of their income to
their parish, the Catholic Church, or to
charitable organizations whose goals are in
keeping with the Church hierarchy and
magisterium. Since the penitent is to
financially support their home chapter or circle
of the Confraternity of Penitents and the work
of this Confraternity, a portion of one's tithe
may go to this cause." . . .
If you haven't been supporting the
Confraternity as is clearly stated in Chapter 5
of the Rule and want to begin to contribute a
portion of your tithes to its support there are
several ways to contribute. First, we have a
computerized Pay Pal program that can
automatically make deposits to our bank account
at your request. Secondly, you can mail a check
to the treasurer. If you are a member of a
chapter or circle and do not contribute towards
its support the third option is to please
consider a monthly collection at your meetings
and mailing the contributions to the treasurer.
The complication with this option is that the
Chapter/circle treasurer will have to keep track
of everyone's donations for tax purposes because
a statement will be given to all members at the
end of the year, or send a list of names and
donations amounts along with the collected
contribution to the treasurer each month.
St. Paul says to the people in (2 Cor. 8:1-5):
'We want you to know, brethren, about the grace
of God which has been shown in the Churches in
Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction,
their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty
have overflowed in a wealth of liberality on
their part. For they gave according to their
means, as I can testify, and beyond their means,
of their own free will, begging us earnestly for
the favor of taking part in the relief of the
saints [in Jerusalem].'
How much has the Lord used the Confraternity to
call you out of the bondage of the world and
into His marvelous light? Please take some time
to pray and ask God what He's calling you to
give to support the financial needs of the
Confraternity. Thank You.
HIGHLIGHTS OF LITURGICAL GARB,
VESSELS, AND OTHER MASS ITEMS
Presented by
Karen Sadock
Karen showed a
video which explained altar vessels and Mass
vestments and also had examples of each to
display and discuss. Here is just a
bit of information:
"The question
of clerical dress and address falls into two
parts, liturgical and non-liturgical. First,
there is the question of clerical dress during
sacred functions. As canon 2 might suggest,
liturgical law in general governs this area.
Thus, the General Instruction on the Roman
Missal indicates that whilst celebrating Mass a
priest should wear an alb and chasuble and a
deacon should, instead of the chasuble, wear the
dalmatic. The General Instruction on the
Liturgy of the Hours, by contrast, indicates
that a priest should wear a cope over an alb or
cassock and surplice and that a deacon should
wear, instead of a cope, a dalmatic during such
celebrations. For other sacraments and
sacramentals a priest or deacon will wear a
surplice and cassock along with a stole in the
manner appropriate for his order as the rubrics
direct." (from "The Dress and Address of
Deacons," by Duane L.C.M. Galles)
FACES OF MARY
Highlights of
Talk on Our Lady of
Victory
Father Nelson Baker, when assigned to a boy's
home in Buffalo, NY, wanted to remove the bars
from the windows. Town residents protested,
saying that they were not safe from the boys who
were so bad that they would steal from the towns
folk. Father Baker said that, "There are no bad
boys." He removed the bars. With
training and love, the boys did well and lived
up to the expectations Father Baker had for
them.
When money was needed, Father Baker had
recourse to Our Lady of Victory. He set
about drilling for oil and found, instead,
natural gas which still heats the boys' home and
its complex.
Our Lady of Victory is
pictured as crowned with the infant, crowned
Christ and seated on the world and the heavens.
Highlights of
Talk on Our Lady of
Good Remedy
Presented
by
Mary McGarry with skit by Karen Hopersberger,
Nancy Myer, Michael McGarry, Larry Dusek
In 1198, St. John of Matha founded the
Trinitarians to go to the slave markets, ransom
Christian slaves, and set them free.
Needing large amounts of money to achieve this
goal, the Trinitarians placed their fund raising
efforts under the patronage of Mary. They
were so successful that, over the centuries,
they were able to free thousands of people and
return them to their homes.
In gratitude for Mary's assistance, St. John
of Matha honored Mary with the title "Our Lady
of Good Remedy." Her feast day is
celebrated October 8. Our Lady of Good
Remedy is depicted crowned as queen and holding
the infant Christ, also crowned.
Highlights of
Talk on Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Presented
by Lou Samuels
Our Lady of Guadalupe
appeared to Saint Juan Diego in December, 1531,
at Tepeyac, a hilltop outside of what is now
Mexico City. On this site the Aztecs
worshipped a mother goddess. The Lady told
Juan Diego that she was his mother and the
mother of all mankind. She asked Juan to
approach the bishop and request a church built
there in her honor. The bishop asked Juan to
have the Lady produce a sign to indicate that
the apparition was authentic.
Our
Lady had Juan pick a bouquet of Castilian roses
from the hilltop where they were growing
profusely despite the winter. When Juan
took these to the bishop in his tilma (shawl),
they spilled out to reveal an image of the Lady
miraculously imprinted on the tilma. The
basilica was built on the spot of the
apparitions.
Our Lady of Guadalupe looks
like a member of the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs.
The image is a pictorial sermon for the Native
Americans who find much symbolism in it.
Highlights of
Talk on Our Lady of La
Salette
Presented
by Rita
Farnsworth
In September 1846, in France,
two shepherd children were granted a vision of a
beautiful, weeping Madonna. She told the
children that great famine would come to their
area because the people used the name of God in
vain and because they worked on Sunday instead
of going to Mass and keeping the day holy.
She later gave the children secrets. The
boy's secret was lost but the girl's spoke of
future wars, natural disasters, and a time of
corruption within the Church. The Lady
requested prayer, penance, and fasting to remedy
these evils.
The
Lady of La Salette was
dressed like the women of that region: a long
dress, long apron tied at the waist, a shawl
crossed and knotted in the back. On her head she
wore a peasant bonnet. There were roses in a
crown around her read, around her shawl and her
shoes. Light shimmered like a flery diadem on
her forehead. A chain seemed to weigh heavily on
her shoulders. A finer link-chain held a
brilliant crucifix on her breast, with a hammer
on one side and tongs on the other.
TALKS BY
FATHER PIO MANDATO, Franciscan Missionary
Hermits of St. Joseph
Excerpt from Talk 1: The Call to
Contemplation
" . . . this call that Christ gives to each
of us. We are all called by Him. You have
been called. That's why you are here . . .
we are all called by Christ, but how few people
respond. Often times His voice is drowned
out . . . In St. Matthew's Gospel, it says,
'They took offense at Him (Jesus).' When
you take offense at someone, when someone steps
on your feet or someone may say something you
don't like, and you close your heart to them.
They closed their hearts to Christ. We don't
even know what He said. . . . But just His
person because He is the eternal Word Who comes
to call. He comes to call His own people,
and they have very puny hearts, puny minds.
And God's word cannot rest in puniness. Is
there such a word--puniness?
"God is infinite. Jesus, the God man,
is infinite in His Divinity. . . . . And
these people could not accept Him in their
hearts and their souls. . . .
"Asceticism does not make you a penitent in
itself. Asceticism is part of the
penitential life, but it's not the heart.
The heart of asceticism is really what St.
Francis talks about--being a poor man or a poor
woman and not just materially poor but poor in
the sense that you know that you are completely
dependent upon the Father. So you
are an athlete for the kingdom of Christ and you
live and die for that kingdom, and it's that
kingdom that governs your whole life. . . . "
Excerpt from Talk 2: Obstacles and
Interference to Prayer
" . . . Satan's mission in life . . . is to
interfere with God's word. His mission is to
interfere with God's call in your heart.
Of course, you have to choose to block out that
call, and he easily does it, he easily sets the
stage for it, but you and I have to choose that
and sometimes we do choose that. We can
strangle God's word in our souls. Anybody
can do that. No matter how old you are, no
matter how long you've been on the spiritual
journey, you can strangle God's word in your
soul. We all have to walk very, very
carefully, very, very humbly before the Lord.
Sin murders the Light in us. Sin and grace
cannot coexist. . . . Sin cannot coexist with
God's grace. One will dominate the other.
And, of course, the battlefield is us. . . . "
Excerpt from Talk 3: The Summit of
Contemplation
". . . Saint John the Baptist laid down his
life for God's word. And that's what it
takes, really, to be a Christian, to lay down
one's life for the Lord. That's what Jesus said
is the greatest act of love--to lay down your
life for one's friend, for others, and certainly
Christ has done that. That's what it means to be
a Christian. . . . that's what your
commitment represents. It's an intensification
of your baptismal vows. That's what religious
vows are. That's what your marital vows
are all about . . . an intensification of the
Christian life. At heart, it means that
you are laying down your life for Christ as
Christ laid down His life for you. That's
the summit right there, that's the goal of your
union with Christ, to lay down your life for
Him. And it may mean death. And, in fact,
it does mean death. Ultimately our
personal death when it comes . . . but also
the daily deaths in our daily life. . . .
. All that stuff here is a hill of beans if it's
not lived out . . . if it's not lived out, it
has no meaning . . . it's the day to day living
out . . . for Christ. . . . "
TALKS BY SR.
KELLY FRANCIS, Capuchin Sisters of Nazareth
(These are available in full in either audio or
video format from the CFP Holy Angels Gift Shop)
Excerpt from Talk 1: In Poverty and
Love for the Crucified
". . . From the Gospel of Luke:. . . When he
had finished speaking he said to Simon, "Put out
into deep water and lower your nets for a
catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have been
hard at it all night long and have caught
nothing; but if you say so, I will lower the
nets." Upon doing this they caught such a great
number of fish that their nets were at the
breaking point. They signaled to their mates in
the other boat to come and help them. These
came, and together they filled the two boats
until they nearly sank.
At the sight of this, Simon Peter fell at the
knees of Jesus saying, "Leave me, Lord. I am a
sinful man." For indeed, amazement at the catch
they had made seized him and all his shipmates."
" I think this is a very important passage
for a number of reasons. First: Peter
allowed Jesus into his boat. He
allowed Jesus into his life. Then he listened to
the words of Christ. And then he obeyed
Christ. . . . And . . . the catch
was amazing. And that confrontation, that
experience of Christ, brought Simon Peter to his
knees, at the knees of Jesus, and he said, what
all of us should say, or should have said, or
what we say at our first encounter when we go to
prayer, "Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
Later in that passage, Our Lord will console
Peter as He consoles all of us. "Don't
worry about it." He doesn't say, "No,
you're not a sinful man," but "I'll work through
that. And I will make you a fisher of men.
As long as you remain open to Me, as long as you
allow Me in your boat, as long as you listen to
what I say and then do it, then you will be a
fisher of men, because it will be Me who is
working through you. . . . "
Excerpt from Talk 2: Silence and
Thirsting for God with St. Francis
". . . I'm going to read a quote from St.
Francis: ''For wherever we are, or
wherever we go, we always take our cell with us,
for brother body is our cell and our soul is the
hermit who lives in it, constantly praying to
God and meditating on Him. If the soul cannot
remain quiet in itself, then a cell made with
hands is of little value." . . . If we look
around, we realize that we are constantly
bombarded with noise, visual noise, hearing
noise, touch, taste, every sense you can
imagine. We are just bombarded with noise.
And I think that's a reflection of what's going
on internally with people . . . people have a
lot of stuff going on inside, a lot of noise,
trying to drown out whatever . . . Silence is
not solely the absence of noise . . . the other
part is so that we can be open to hear God. . .
. "
Excerpt from Talk 3: Life of Love and
the Eucharist
". . . Saint Francis, the sources say, not so
much that he prayed but that he himself
was becoming a prayer. . . . That is very
important in our lives, because prayer should
transform us . . . so that we not only have a
prayer life but so that our life is a life of
prayer. And there's a difference. We
in our society have a wonderful way of
compartmentalizing our lives: this is my
prayer time, this is my play time, this is the
rest of my life time. And they don't mix.
. . . But it all has to become one. A true
prayer life, a true life of prayer, has to
complement one another . . . because God, not
man, has to be the center of our prayer and our
life. We need to start to allow God to
permeate every aspect of our life. . . . "
Confraternity of Penitents
520 Oliphant Lane
Middletown RI USA
02842-4600
401/849-5421
bspenance@hotmail.com
copenitents@yahoo.com
