After a beautiful Christmas celebration, and now with the arrival of the visitors from the East, we continue to enjoy the wonder of Christ’s coming, God becoming one like us.

And as we enter this New Year of 2015, we pass on to you the greeting of St. Francis of Assisi to all he met: Peace and All Good.

Here are some of the things that are happening this year around The Province of Our Lady of Consolation:

• In January, our new Chapel at Holy Cross Retreats, Mesilla Park, New Mexico, will be open for our guests.
• In March, our Minister Provincial Fr. Jim Kent, OFM Conv. will present your petitions during Mass at the Basilica and Shrine of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy
• St. Benedict Parish in Terre Haute, Indiana, celebrates its 150th anniversary — Conventual Franciscans have served there for 148 of those years
• Our younger Friars from across the country who are in formation and in the seminary will join us here at Mount St. Francis to celebrate Holy Week and the Triduum, leading up to Easter Sunday
• Once again, thousands of pilgrims will join us in Carey, Ohio, for the Novena to Our Lady of Consolation, ending on the Feast of the Assumption on August 15
• And many opportunities for retreats and days of recollection will be offered at our Retreat Houses at Mount St. Francis, Indiana, Prior Lake, Minnesota, Carey, Ohio, and Mesilla Park, New Mexico

Please keep checking the website during the year for other items of interest.

May your lives and our world find the peace that Christ’s presence promises. And may all of you and your families be filled with the good of God’s abundant graces.

Thank you for being our friends. Thank you for your prayerful support of our ministries.

May God reward you for your generosity.