Dear Sisters and Brothers of the National Fraternity,

Joy to you this day!

This is a reminder that we are asked to unite in prayer tomorrow.  Let us join our worldwide family of some 300,000 OFS members to pray the Rosary of the Seven Joys – the Franciscan Crown Rosary – as our Minister General asks of us.

This special day of prayer tomorrow, November 29, is the Feast of All Franciscan Saints and the start of the beautiful season of Advent.

I invite you to watch this 2 minute video message from Tibor  (click on this link, and when the page opens, scroll down a little for the video).  You can also read Tibor’s  Letter about this day of prayer.

Next, below is a transcript of an interview with Tibor that was conducted by the Hungarian Courier – Catholic News Portal.  It was translated from the Hungarian, and shared with us by our sister Emma Lozowski, Regional Minister of Franciscans of the Prairie.

Lastly, I have included Meditation on Seven Joys.  In this meditation I focus on these seven Franciscan experiences:

Call 

Fraternity

Holiness

Prayer

Identity

Joy

Glory

I look forward to joining you, and our worldwide fraternity, in prayer tomorrow.

Please share this widely.

Peace, all good, and Happy Advent!

Your sister,

Jan Parker

National Minister

Secular Franciscan Order–USA

Interview with Tibor

The Secular Franciscan Order is organizing a worldwide day of prayer on November 29, 2020. We asked the Minister General, Tibor Kauser, about this initiative.

– What is the message behind choosing the first Sunday of Advent?
This is the first day of the liturgical year, and it is a good opportunity to start our lives again in prayer. We have been living and suffering for eight months in this pandemic. We are badly in need of some renewal and refreshment of our souls. On the other hand, November 29 is the feast of all Fransicasn Saints. We are asking for their intercession for beginning anew.
– The Secular Franciscan Order is a worldwide organization. What do we need to know about the members’ geographic spread?
The OFS are part of the Franciscan Spiritual Family. The first orders are well known, the Order of Friars Minor, the Capuchins, etc. And then there are the second order sisters, who are the Poor Clares, who live a contemplative life and are connected to the Franciscan family in their own special way. This is followed by the third order, and its different branches. One branch is the Third Order Regular, among others here are the religious brothers and sisters who serve the poor and nurse the sick, and also the Secular Fanrsicans, that is made up of people living in the world. Worldwide we are present in 116 countries and have about 300,000 members. The biggest fraternity is in Italy; that’s where the Franciscans originated, but we have many members in Latin America, within that in Brazil and Mexico, and there are quite many in the United States, and there are more than 10,000 members in Korea.
-In Hungary, too, the order is known.
In our homeland, we number about 450. Compared to the size of the country, that’s not too few.
– The minister general is nevertheless is a Hungarian. You have been part of the International Council for 6 years.
That shows that in the Secular Franciscan Order we operate as true brothers and sisters. Not the headcount or economic weight are the deciding factors, but the degree to which one is committed and that one is seen as suitable for the task by the others.
– How will the proclaimed prayer day take place?
Our appeal asks a very simple thing from each and every Secular Franciscan brother and sister: that each pray a crown rosary any time on this day, either individually or in community, or in family, or in parish, asking the intercession of the Franciscan Saints.

The Franciscans have been praying the “crown rosary” or “seraphic rosary” for centuries, or as it is also called the “rosary of the seven joys of Our Lady.” It consists of seven decades, each commemorating one of the seven joys of Our Lady.