Friars were asked to share a brief reflection on their hopes and expectations for the new year. Below are their responses.
Ross Chamberland, OFM
A Year of Hope and Health Saturated by Gratitude
Ross Chamberland, OFM
I have a wonderful life that I love! Gratitude is the lens through which I try to view the world – and that helps me keep a Eucharistic vantagepoint from which I lean into each day. For me personally, 2023 will be a year of hope and health. I have great hope in the future of our ministry as friars, and in our society. This hope is reincarnated each day as I live among our students at St. Bonaventure University, where we vigorously work to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving and justice across our student body. As I recognized recently that I have more years behind me than I likely do in front of me, I am gratefully inspired to address personal health and wellness. The physical struggles aging has brought me have highlighted, for me, how blessedly-grateful I am to have excellent healthcare, formidable doctors, and loving brothers. Furthermore, I am profoundly appreciative for my vocation as a Franciscan Friar and as a Catholic Priest. 2023 is a year of hope and health, saturated by gratitude to God and God’s holy people. Bring it on!
Linh Hoang, OFM
Bringing Harmony to the Earth
Linh Hoang, OFM
I grew up celebrating the “new year” twice a year. January 1 marked only a one-day celebration. My parents always reminded us that the celebration of Tet (Vietnamese New Year) lasts for about two weeks. It is also the beginning of spring and an occasion for young people to receive the lucky red envelope with crisp new money. It was a time to visit family, friends, and those we neglected – and to wish people good health, happiness, and serenity for the upcoming year. It was a time to also put away what happened last year and look with fresh eyes to the new year. My fresh eyes for 2023 is that people seriously consider climate change. This involves not only being aware that devastating natural disasters are getting worse, but that we have contributed to it and can mitigate it. I hope that individuals, communities, societies, nations, and the whole world will realize that all our actions – eating food, daily travel, education, peace-making, and war-mongering – will be affected and dictated by the climate. It is a united effort; no single country can do this alone. We should all work together to lessen the impact of climate change. It may help bring harmony to the earth.
Charley Miller, OFM
Role of Women in the Church – A New Pentecost?
Charley Miller, OFM
Like all of you, I read the results of polls and surveys that tell of the decline in church participation – and even a decline in faith. I believe that those who are “voting with their feet” have a message for us – and part of that message has to do with the role of women in the Church. If we listen to the message, it could lead to a new Pentecost. I live in the community with our postulants, and my work at St. Luke Institute includes candidate assessment of those discerning a call to religious life or the priesthood. There are a lot of faith-filled, idealistic young people searching for God and longing to serve in meaningful ways. Do they know about the joy we have found?
John Neuffer, OFM
Bringing the Message of Jesus’ Mercy and Friendship to Others
John Neuffer, OFM
“Hope” is the word that comes to mind as we begin 2023. Hope requires that I trust in God’s promise of loving kindness. And I pray that I have that trust! I have great hope for the future of the Order in the United States as we come together as one province and dream about new ministries to help heal any division or despair we encounter. At a personal level, I am hopeful that I will graduate in May and continue my initial formation through the Holy Spirit’s guidance and love. I have the hope that, despite any personal or worldly anxieties, God is in control and will bring us his peace. Finally, reflecting on both our Order and Vatican II’s call to missionary evangelization, I hope to discern how to bring the message of Jesus’ mercy and friendship to all those whom I encounter in my daily life.
Steven Patti, OFM
Seeing Migrants as Part of Us
Steven Patti, OFM
What I see on a Wednesday afternoon in a meeting room at St. Francis on 31st Street: a young migrant family, one of many who are now living in nearby hotels, waiting patiently at a table for new clothing. A volunteer goes into another room and emerges with a coat for a young girl. It looks new. She tries it on. It fits, and she likes it. Her mother and father and brother all smile at her, pleased at this new find. A volunteer nearby tells me that when the coat came in, it had ink stains all over it. So, she took it home, somehow got the ink stains off, and also replaced a missing button. And then she brought it back. I watch all this and I think, maybe this is what we all hope for in 2023, or in any year: a way of getting past all the news stories that label migrants as part of “an invasion,” and in some way, like what happened on a Wednesday afternoon at St. Francis on 31st Street, seeing migrants, or anyone on the margins of our common life, as part of us.
James Sabak, OFM
Bring Back Together What Has Fallen Apart
James Sabak, OFM
As 2023 dawns and a new future for Franciscans in the United States awaits us with the establishment of a new province in October, I hope that we might remember our responsibility to “bring back together what has fallen apart,” and put it creatively and powerfully into reality. As an increasingly divided world appears to become the norm, how are we Franciscans able to listen and respond to all sides, to their hopes and dreams, their fears and challenges? As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy from Vatican II, can what we pray truly inform and inspire our mission of witnessing as believers in the world? Can this witness open new horizons of hope in our weary world? At The Franciscan School in Raleigh, North Carolina, this hope takes concrete form. As the only Franciscan-founded elementary school in the U.S., our student body is continually formed in the Franciscan ideal of becoming people who respond courageously, practically, and compassionately to the needs of the world. May the free and generous embrace of this challenge by these youngest of Franciscans become an example to inspire us all.