Minister’s Message – “Who We Are”
(This article originally appeared in the Fall 2021 Issue #104 of the TAU-USA)
By Jan Parker, OFS
Three years ago, I made a Visitation to Tau Cross Regional Fraternity. Something happened during that visit that made quite an impact, and I have remembered it ever since. Our ongoing formation topic that day was the OFS Rule. I was interested in what the Rule meant to those gathered, so I handed out blank postcards and asked everyone to write down three words β just three words β to describe the Rule. After a few moments, I collected the cards, and then chose some to share with the group.
As I looked through the cards, there were many good responses. One said:
Gospel. Life. Penance.
Someone else had an interesting take and wrote:
Spiritual. Orderly. Concise.
But one card stood out among all the others. In large letters it simply said,
Who we are.
I smiled, because to me those three words describe our Rule perfectly. Ever since that day, I have kept that card
inside my little red Rule book as a reminder that this is my goal β to make the Rule βwho I am.βΒ Read more . . .
Minister’s Messages – Archives
- Minister’s Message – “Let Us Serve the Lord with a Pure Heart and Mind” – TAU-USA Fall 2019
- OFS Mission Opportunity β To Assist Migrants and Refugees
- 2019 Easter Message from National Minister OFS
- Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land
- Minister’s Message – “The Rule: Rebar for Concrete Christian Lives – TAU-USA Spring 2019
- Minister’s Message – “See Christ, Be Christ! Going From Gospel to Life and Life to the Gospel” – TAU-USA Winter 2018
- Minister’s Message – “The OFS Rule – A Gift, a Call, an Inspiration, a Tool” – TAU-USA Fall 2018
- September 2018 β Formation Visioning Workshop
- June 2018 β Our Jubilee Begins! (40th anniversary of our Rule)
- May 2018 β National Fraternity Elective Chapter
- May 2018Β β Prepare for Pentecost!
- Minister’s Message – “What Does it Mean to Rise from the Dead” – TAU-USA Spring 2018
- February 2018 β As Lent Begins
- Minister’s Message – “A New Theme for a New Year – ‘O Breath of God Unite Us in Action'” – TAU-USA Winter 2016
- Minister’s Message – “We’ve Been Revived” – TAU-USA Fall 2016
- Minister’s Message – “The TAU, the Nametag, and the Tombstone” – TAU-USA Summer 2016 (Tribute to Tom Bello, OFS)
- Minister’s Message – “Son Beam – An Easter Story” – TAU-USA Spring 2016
- January 18, 2016 – Love for All, Life for All, One in God
- January 1, 2016 – Happy Q Year
- Christmas 2015 – O Sweet Gift of Christmas!
- December 2015 – The Moment of Mercy
- Minister’s Message – “Finding Joy in Our Littleness” – TAU-USA Winter 2015
- Minister’s Message – “Lady, Holy Queen, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Virgin!” – TAU-USA Fall 2015
- Minister’s Message – “The Final Test of Servant Leadership in the Secular Franciscan Order is Love” – TAU-USA Summer 2015
- Minister’s Message – “From Lent to Life: A Proposed Daily Spiritual Agenda” – TAU-USA Spring 2015
- Minister’s Message – “One Possible Answer to the Mystery of Perfect Joy” – TAU USA Winter 2014
- October 2014 – Please
- Minister’s Message – “Jesus Never Invites Us To Failure” – TAU USA Fall 2014
- Minister’s Message – “A Trinity of Be-Attitudes with an Examination of Conscience Concerning the Vitality of our Fraternities” – TAU USA Summer 2014
- Minister’s Message – “Follow Me” -TAU USA Spring 2014
- March 2014 β Another, Perhaps Lenten, Look at βFair Shareβ With a Short and a Long Answer
- January 2014 – New Things for the New Year 2014- Temporary Suspension or Permanent Dismissal – Being the Merciful Presence of God
- Minister’s Message – “Miserando atque Eligendo” – TAU-USA Winter 2013
- Minister’s Message – “The Franciscan Command to Smile!” – TAU-USA Fall 2013
- Minister’s Message – “Lessons Learned or Relearned from the 2012 Quenquennial” – TAU-USA Summer 2013
- Minister’s Message – “Conversion Times Three” – TAU-USA Spring 2013
- Β Minister’s Message – “For All the Saints – St. Francis’s Five-Point Plan for Salvation” – TAU-USA Winter 2012
- June 2012 β Please Join Us in Presence or in Prayer at the 2012 National Secular Franciscan Quinquennial Congress!
- Minister’s Message – “2012 Quinquennial Congress” – TAU-USA Spring 2012
- March 2012 β I Thirst
- January 2012 β Gathered Around the Manger in 2012
- Minister’s Message – “On the Care and Feeding of Our Fraternities” – TAU-USA Fall-Winter 2011
- September 2011 β Summer Vacations
- Minister’s Message – “Information, Formation, Transformation” – TAU-USA Summer 2011
- May 2011 β The Road to Emmaus
- Minister’s Message – “The Primary Focus and the Four Marks of a Vibrant Secular Franciscan Fraternity” – TAU-USA Spring 2011
- March 2011 β The Beatitudes of Penance
- January 2011 β The Joy and Mystery of the Incarnation
- December 2010 β Prepare the way of the Lord!
- Minister’s Message – “Prayer, Formation, Fraternal Sharing and Necessary Business – in this order” – TAU-USA Winter 2010
- August 2010 β The Heart of Our Faith is the Person of Jesus Christ
- June 2010 β Taking, Blessing, Breaking, Giving
- Minister’s Message – “Bearers of Peace: The Peace Award” – TAU-USA Summer 2010
- May 2010 β The Blessed Mother, St. Francis and All of Us
- Minister’s Message – “Brothers and Sisters of Penance” – TAU-USA Spring 2010
- April 2010 β The San Damiano Crucifix
- January 2010 β Come and March for Life in Prayer
- December 2009 β Greccio
- November 2009 β Five Things It Takes to Get to Heaven
- Minister’s Message – “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good” – TAU-USA Fall 2009
- Minister’s Message – “Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” – TAU-USA Summer 2009
- Minister’s Message – “Lenten Message” – TAU-USA Spring 2009