“REBUILD MY CHURCH” … The Road to Renewal

“REBUILD MY CHURCH” … The Road to Renewal
 
October 4^th is the Feast of St. Francis. The Franciscan Community members at St. Bonaventure University, the Friary and the Sisters of St. Francis at the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse, have been    important and vital members of our Southern Tier communities and beyond. We    appreciate the ministries of the Franciscans that share and the good they do here and throughout the world.
 
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (St. Francis) was a restless young man, struggling to find his calling. His dreams of being a heroic knight had turned into a bit of a nightmare after spending time as a prisoner of war. His father, Pietro, wanted his son to follow in the family business, but Francis was not interested. He found himself wandering about the outskirts of his hometown of Assisi, Italy. Until he came upon San Damiano, a little church in need of a good bit of repair. He entered and knelt down underneath a large wooden crucifix painted in the Byzantine style of an icon. The open eyes of Jesus on the cross seemed to strongly beckon to him through a stare. He could not look away. “Lord, what do you want me to do?” he asked. “Show me what you want me to do with my life.” And the Lord answered! A voice responded: “Francis, go and rebuild my church which, as you see, is falling down.” It took a while, however, to realize that Jesus was not asking him to physically rebuild San Damiano as well as a few other rundown churches near Assisi. Francis did that, of course, but it gradually dawned on him that his vocation was to rebuild the Church, the human institution that was perilously close to falling apart (adapted from stfrancisnyc.org).
 
Today, some 816 years later, the Church is facing the need for repair and renewal   trying to recover from crises, scandal, and societal secular influence. With faith and resolve from you, God’s people, we pray and trust in the Lord that the past betrayals and disappointments will keep us from our commitment to and mission of Jesus Christ. Like Francis kneeling before the cross of San Damiano, we need to keep our gaze focused on Our Lord. As a member of the Family of Families, let us resolve to  renew our Church in the Southern Tier and beyond.
 
At the foot of the Cross, the Lord gave us His Mother to aid humanity. We ask our dear Blessed Mother, Our Mother in heaven, to help us on the Way of the Lord,  and during our local Road to Renewal to help us to move smoothly with the Spirit to rebuild and renew our Church. Our Diocese of   Buffalo is asking us to pray to Mary,  Undoer of Knots to help us in the renewal process.
 
In the Basilica and in St. John’s, you will see a display featuring Mary, Undoer of Knots and prayer cards to help us pray to Our Lady during the renewal process. We the Lord to link our God-given gifts we have in our  Catholic faith communities in Olean and Allegany to enlighten and strengthen us to better serve Him and the communities of the faithful here and beyond.

St. Francis, Pray for Us! 
Mary, Undoer of Knots, Pray for Us!