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Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Lord from the Franciscan Friars of the Province of Our Lady of Consolation! The Easter Season, a fifty-day journey, is a time of reflecting on the profound experience of the Lord’s Resurrection and the promise of our resurrection. The invitation is to explore and experience the Passover to Pentecost event in our life experience.

I invite you to explore the following reflections and discover your Passover to Pentecost journey. Friar Bob Roddy shares the experience of passovers in his life so that something new may be born. Friar Tom Smith speaks of the desert experience as a call to embrace the coming Pentecost as an invitation to choose a life of evangelization and mission. The article about the friars’ pastoral ministry in parishes of Louisville, Kentucky, reflects the Passover to Pentecost journey, the going forth from the table of Word and Eucharist to healing in a world that suffers. Friar Wayne Hellmann reminds us that the primary celebration of Christians is the gathering on the Lord’s Day, the day of Christ’s Resurrection.

Both Rob Murray, Pastoral Associate, and Rita Burns Senseman, Pastoral Associate & Director of Religious Education, offer reflections for our pilgrim journey that ever continues. Pentecost is the proclamation of new life in the Holy Spirit as we proclaim the Risen Christ with our lives.

What now is your experience of journeying deeper into God’s love?

St. Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua both lived and proclaimed the Passover to Pentecost truth – He is risen!

We friars will continue to remember you, our dear friends and companions, in our daily prayers and devotions.

May God bless you and fill you with the Peace of our Lord!

Sincerely in Christ, St. Francis, and St. Anthony

Fr. John Elmer OFM Conv.
Spiritual Director

Mission Spotlight – Louisville Parish Ministry

From Left to Right: Fr. John Pozhathuparambil OFM Conv., Fr. Shaju Puthussery OFM Conv., and Fr. George Munjanattu OFM Conv. celebrate Holy Thursday Mass at Holy Family Catholic Church in Louisville, KY For over 160 years, our friars have been ministering to and serving within the Louisville Diocese/Archdiocese. Our friars have served…
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Passover, A Personal Experience

“The word, ‘Paschal’ comes from the Greek term, pascha, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew, pesach. Pesach refers to the annual commemoration of Israel’s first Passover in Egypt.” (from The New Dictionary of Theology, edited by Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins, and Dermot A. Lane, © 1990 by Liturgical Press,…
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In the desert with hunger and temptation…

While on a three-month Scripture sabbatical in the Holy Land, I decided to walk from Bethany, where we stayed, to Jericho. I thought… Jesus and the disciples walked all through that area of what is now Israel, and I should be able to make it in one day. I took along sufficient…
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Pentecost: The First Fruits of God’s Harvest

Brothers and sisters: We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.         Romans 8:22 The celebration of Pentecost brings…
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Why Triduum?

The primary celebration of Christians is their gathering on Lord’s Day. It is the Day of Christ’s Resurrection on the first day of the week. Every feast in the liturgical calendar pales in comparison. It did not take long for early Christians to begin celebrating one of those weekly Sundays in a…
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Water is Life! Water Cleanses! Water Destroys and Renews!

A powerful and life-taking-life-giving symbol! No wonder water is so integral to religious practice. Water is the Creator’s gift on the first day. Noah saved two by two of the Creators’ animals, or gifts, from the flood. Water cleansed the Israelites from slavery. The Essenes used water to perform ritual cleansings. John…
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Mystagogy – A Season for Beginners and Beyond

By Rob Murray, Pastoral Associate, St. Joseph University Parish, Terre Haute, Indiana So, you’re sitting in the dark, and all of a sudden, a couple of reading lights come on. You see a priest take a stick from a newly lit fire, and he lights the Easter Candle. The Candle makes its…
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