Greetings of peace, dear Franciscan Family!
I pray this finds you well and filled with the peace of our loving Lord.
I wish you all a Blessed and Happy New Year as we not only move into this brand new year, but this brand new decade. Let us thank our Lord for the blessings and the grace to enter this new decade. Praise be!
In last year’s World Day of Peace Message, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, began by stating that “Bringing peace is central to the mission of Christ’s disciples.” Peace is especially central to the mission of each and every one of us who professed the rule of the Franciscan way of life. Saint Francis epitomized peace and we are called to live as Francis lived. We live in violent times and our very lives and vocations call us to be bearers of peace in this world.
It is fitting that the World Day of Peace message for 2020 is entitled: “Peace as a Journey of Hope: Dialogue, Reconciliation and Ecological Conversion.” Pope Francis begins this message with, “Peace is a great and precious value, the object of our hope and the aspiration of the entire human family.” The Holy Father goes on to say, “Our human community bears, in its memory and its flesh, the scars of ever more devastating wars and conflicts that affect especially the poor and the vulnerable.” Unfortunately, this is an all too familiar scenario in our world today. In our Christian and Franciscan journeys, we see the face of Christ in everyone we encounter, especially the poor and the vulnerable. To see Christ in every face, that is the beginning of hope. When we can see and acknowledge the face of love in others, it is difficult to have hate or fear in our hearts towards them.
This month is also Poverty Awareness Month, Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month as well as the Christian unity octave of prayer. What I love about January is not only a fresh new start, but the reminders to think and pray about those who are on the margins and pray with other Christians. Also, the poorest of the poor, the unborn – we are called to pray for them this month as well.
Thank you for your hearts, your minds and your hands that work for peace and justice. I pray that this new year bear much fruit and produce great works as live a faith that does justice. It is also my prayer that we continue the good work that God began in us with compassionate dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion. Imagine every conversation as a sacred moment with our Lord, who always listens with the ears of faith, hope and love. My heart is full because the greatest of these is love.
I wish you love, joy, peace, and a very blessed New Year!
Wishing you blessings of peace and all good!
Carolyn D. Townes, OFSNational Animator, Justice, Peace and Integrity of CreationU.S. Secular Franciscan Order
“Journey Together in Love and Compassion“(OFS-USA 2020 Theme)