The Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

05/25/2026

The Christian’s power is a power of silent, hidden, and efficacious love. This is the life and fire of the saints.

For example, in a poem dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi, the celebrated Franciscan poet Jacapone of Todi, described this power of love present in the person of the little poor saint from Assisi.

“This is the mission of love: to make two one; Through his [Francis’] prayers it [love] transforms Francis into Christ…” Love seeks to unite, to bind, to draw others into communion.

Meanwhile, hatred is “satanic,” in so far as it divides, separates, accuses, and devours. For example, look at Saint Joseph. He was forced to respond to the presence and the power of hatred in King Herod, who threatened to destroy the holy family.

Joseph did not panic, nor did her reply with calculated defense plans or ruthless rebellion. His response was a poor man’s plea: prayer.
Therein lies our power.

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Word of the Week by Damiano Mary Pio, CFR. The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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05/24/2026

Come, Holy Spirit.

Fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Happy Pentecost from the friars. 🔥

05/18/2026

I prayed, “Sometimes I feel like it’s me against the world.”
The Holy Spirit replied, “Remember: I am your Advocate, always at your side to defend you. You do nothing alone.”� (cf. John 14:16)

I prayed, “But sometimes I feel alone.”
The Holy Spirit replied, “Remember that wherever I am sent, Jesus, the Word of God, is present: bringing creation forth from chaos, breathing life into dust, stirring the hearts of the prophets, bringing the Incarnation to the Virgin’s womb, giving the Apostles the power to do what only Jesus could do, preserving the Magisterium in truth, and bringing the Eucharistic Presence to the Church.”� (cf. Gen 1:2; Gen 2:7; Job 33:4; Ps 104:30; Is 32:15; Lk 1:35; Acts 2:4)

I prayed, “And sometimes, even with all of that, I feel dead inside.”
The Holy Spirit replied, “Remember that I am the Lord, the Giver of Life. I raised Jesus from the dead, and I pour the love of God into your heart.”� (cf. Rom 8:11; Rom 5:5)

I prayed, “But what if my heart has become too hard to receive you?”
The Holy Spirit replied, “Remember that I can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, and teach them to cry out to the Father.”� (cf. Ez 36:26–27; Jer 31:33; Rom 8:15–16; Gal 4:6)

I prayed, “Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your friendship and for the freedom you give me. But sometimes I forget.”
The Holy Spirit replied, “Do not worry. Where I am, there is freedom. And I will always be with you to remind you of all that He told you.”� (cf. John 14:26; 2 Cor 3:17)

“It is precisely because he loves us that the Lord does not leave us alone in life’s trials; he promises us the Paraclete, that is, the Advocate, the ‘Spirit of truth’ (Jn 14:17).” - Pope Leo XIV, Regina Caeli, 10 May 2026

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Word of the Week by Fr Luke Joseph, CFR. The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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05/17/2026

"Heaven is not a place above the stars, but something far more daring and sublime: Christ himself."
— Benedict XVI

Ascension of the Lord.
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05/11/2026

O God, come rescue me from the complexity of my heart—� and let me rest in the simplicity of your love.

It’s easy to overcomplicate things: too much focus on myself, on the details, on getting things right. It leaves me disoriented and empty.

“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us…” (1 Jn 4:10)

Take a deep breath; take a step back; take it back to the basics. God loves us first—not after we get things right. His love is the simple, solid foundation of everything.

Lord, let me rest in the simplicity of your love.

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Word of the Week by Br. Lazarus, CFR.�The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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05/04/2026

One of my favorite ministries, as a friar in Harlem, is to visit our neighbors in their apartments. We usually go out in twos or threes to visit our friends and pray with them, talk with them, and bless them in the intimacy of their own home.

For many, we’re the only guests they’re able to host. It brings them great joy that someone is thinking about them, that someone wants to visit them.

“If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).

Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us), more than simply wanting to visit us, wants to make His home in us.

How intimately we’re already joined to him by our Baptism.

How intimately and humbly He comes to us in the Holy Eucharist.

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Word of the Week by Br. Matthew, CFR. The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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04/27/2026

How do we cultivate this unity between our interior life with God and our exterior life of work and relationships?

The relationship is a mystery. It is paradoxical. In order to work more effectively, one must pray more intensely. In order to pray more fruitfully, one must give oneself in charity, generously to others.

This ‘divine paradox’ is described well by Luis Martinez in The Secrets of the Interior Life.

“One ascends by descending,”

that is, through humility, we are exalted. This is not the abstract logic of a theologian.

It is the enfleshed and precise reality of Jesus’ example and teaching in the Gospel. Victory comes through the failure of the cross.

Those who are first will be last and the last shall be first. He who wishes to save his life must lose it. This is the divine paradox of a truly evangelical and a concrete Franciscan life.

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Word of the Week by Br. Damiano Mary Pio, CFR.�The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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04/20/2026

The words “this is my Body… this is my Blood” are some of the most shocking words recorded in Scripture: they would be insane if they weren’t true.

Jesus repeatedly drives home that the Eucharist is really, truly His Flesh and Blood, and that He wants us to consume it.

His words were so extreme that many who heard it “turned back and no longer followed Him” (Jn. 6:66).

He wants to leave no doubt in our minds that He is there. Really. Truly.

Fulfilling His promise to remain with us always. He becomes our food so our hearts can become His home.

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Word of the Week by Br. Pius Marie, CFR.�The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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04/16/2026

04/13/2026

The octave of Easter has come to an end. But what Easter is, the mystery of Christ and His life, death, and resurrection does not terminate at the Easter Vigil, nor on Divine Mercy Sunday.

Christ is now our life and our light, and His life cannot be defeated.

Today Jesus invites us anew to let Him into our life, and to enter into His. In every prayer, every person in our path, Jesus invites us again and again.

With our baptismal promises renewed, we are reborn and live in Him. Our faith and trust are in Christ, and we now hope in life everlasting, where we will love and be loved life without end.

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Word of the Week by Fr. Lawrence Joshua, CFR.�The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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04/06/2026

Without Prayer, the Christian Life is purely theoretical

One may spend years studying theology, reading about the spiritual life, and faithfully participating in the sacraments, yet still know God only in an abstract way.

As necessary as studying the faith is, it cannot by itself lead to an intimate, loving knowledge of Him. Something more is required: prayer.

Not merely the recitation of words or attendance at liturgy, but a daily prayer in which one dares to be alone with God—in silence and solitude—gazing upon Christ and allowing His life and grace to take hold.

It is this prayer that transforms God from an idea into a living, indispensable presence.

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Word of the Week by Fr. Jeremiah�Shryock, CFR.�The hope is that this “word” offers you a continued source of grace, encouragement and focus throughout your week.

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