cal year with the celebration of Christ the King [Nov.
26, 2017]. The Christ who was born among us, lived
among us, died among us, and rose from the dead,
among us, is now the King of all creation. Then we
start all over again and welcome Advent.
year, is because we are not the same, year after year.
We change, we grow, we learn, we thrive, we begin
to slow down, we enter the "autumn of our years,"
as Frank Sinatra once sang. As the seasons come and
go, they remain constant. We change.
us to change: to recognize the mercy God has for us,
and to be conduits of God's mercy to one another.
Pope Francis continues to call us to be aware of those
who live on the margins of life, the poor, the vulnera-
ble and the outcast, and to "confront the poverty of
our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our
own and to take practical steps to alleviate it."
2016, he also reminded us that the doors to mercy
are never closed. It is always a part of our life with
God and should always be a part of our life with each
other.
darkness of my heart and give me Lord, a
correct faith, a certain hope, a perfect
charity, sense and knowledge, so that I
may carry out your holy and true will."
come. We pray in thanksgiving for Dr. Andrew Roth
as he leads us through this year of transition and we
pray for President-elect Dr. Dennis DePerro, that God
will inspire him to lead us into a special time of grace
and gratitude. We pray for our nation, and our world,
that we may be enlivened by the spirits of Sts. Francis
and Clare and hold dearly their profound sense of re-
spect for everyone and everything.
Friary.)
sometimes take our breath away.
There are also moments that we
look back, such as our birthdays, or the
anniversaries that mark how long we are
married, when we graduated from col-
lege, or, in my case, professed vows as a
Franciscan friar.
honored to share this jubilee year with Fr.
Dan Riley, O.F.M., who is celebrating 50
years of Franciscan life. I have found myself thinking, "How did that
happen? It seems like it was yesterday that I entered the friars." How it
happened, as we all know, is one year at a time.
cal calendar to mark moments in our lives as people of faith.
Catholics, ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord [Jan. 9, 2017].
Then after a brief snap of Ordinary time we begin Lent, which leads us
to Easter, the pinnacle of our Christian life. After coming out of the dark
days of winter, Easter is a time when we remember that the Light of
Christ will overpower any darkness that we may encounter. The season
of Easter ends on the Feast of Pentecost [June 4, 2017] with hopes re-
newed in the Holy Spirit of God's promise. We revisit those ordered days