On Thursday, October 4th, at 7pm, at  Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Montreal, there is a special Franciscan Feast Day Mass, followed by a friendly franciscan buffet downstairs. The church is located at 7755 d’Outremont Avenue, in Park Extension, Montreal (H3N 2M1).  All are welcome! The event is hosted by members of Saint Antony’s Secular Franciscan [...]

THE FRIARS MINOR IN THE CURRENT CRISIS On the occasion of the feast of our father Saint Francis, we want to share some thoughts about the current financial and economic crisis. (…) Our intention is not to treat the whole problem which is very complex, but rather to encourage one another to ask, personally and [...]

A Day to Celebrate Franciscan Religious Vocations! The 49th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations will be celebrated on April 29, the Fourth Sunday of Easter. This year’s theme is “Vocations: the Gift of the Love of God.” Instituted in 1964 by Pope Paul VI, this event calls on all of us to pray [...]

A Canticle for Earth Day St Francis never heard of Earth Day, celebrated on 22 April this year. However he would have loved the idea of a time to refocus on the gift of creation, a time to recommit to reverence and care for “our sister, Mother Earth”. His Canticle of the Sun – written [...]

Lent is a time to take a deep look are our lives in the light of Christ’s love. People make a special effort to celebrate his compassion in Confession.  But to be honest, many do not find this easy to do. Elizabeth O’Connor suggests a way to approach the sacrament in a more positive way. [...]

Imagine if God created you to be the Michelangelo of this age, but you stayed so busy doing all kinds of things — good things — that you never got around to painting and sculpting. You’d end up missing God’s plan and design for your life because you got distracted chasing lesser things. What a [...]

The psalm we hear in today’s liturgy is taken from the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 1, 47-55). It’s one of the few occurrences we have in the Gospel where Mary speaks. In fact she doesn’t speak… she sings!  Her very beautiful hymn is called the Magnificat.  Mary breaks out into song, as she is visiting [...]

Three Canadian Franciscan friars spent the first two weeks of November in South Korea, visiting with the Korean friars and getting to better know their culture. This visit will help prepare for the arrival of a young Korean friar who will come to Canada shortly, to contribute to our Franciscan life and share in our [...]

On Saturday, October 22nd, representatives from eight world religions gathered in Montreal, to commemorate the Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace, organized by Pope John-Paul II, in Assisi, in 1986. This event was organized by the Franciscan Family of Québec and by Religions for Peace – Québec. It was held, again this year, at Holy [...]

Feeling like you don’t belong? We’ve probably all had times when we have felt like the Canaanite woman of this Gospel. I’m referring to the feeling of not belonging to the right group. It can be for many reasons:  sometimes, it’s because of race, because of language, because of social standing, because we’re not of [...]