Tag: catholic

  • The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    By an Anonymous Franciscan Friar

    The feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is very fitting for us to grow in two loves; not those loves that Saint Augustine spoke of which are opposed to each other, but two correlative loves. The holy doctor of Hippo said:

    “Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; and the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of our conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, ‘Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of my head’.”

    He said this in his book, The City of God, which is a kind of theology of history of that time. Today, we are not treating of that, but of two holy loves, loves that call to each other and affirm each other. These are love for the Blessed Virgin Mary in her exalted prerogative of the Immaculate Conception and love for the teaching of the Holy Mother Church, the source of light, hope, and salvation. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most appropriate feasts to witness with what caution, seriousness and scientific rigor the Catholic Church guides itself in fulfilling the mission that Christ himself entrusted to it. Alongside the Sacred Scripture and the Papacy arose the Holy Fathers
    and the primitive churches which, through their holy customs and their writings, formed the body of the Catholic Church.

    After this, very briefly speaking, came the great medieval Doctors with their famous
    syntheses, which were called Summas. They baptized, so to speak, all of the natural wisdom of humankind and assimilated it to divine revelation. The guiding point is this: God, Who is the Author of the divine revelation, is also the Author of human nature. Therefore, there can be no contradiction between revealed truths and natural ones. That is why they are known as synthesis, that is, unification or assimilation. Everything that could be explained by divine revelation was retained, and everything that opposed it was discarded. Four Doctors of the Church stood out for their writings and their synthetic efforts, although they were not the only ones. Doctor of the Church, the title Holy Mother Church gave to
    some saints, means that their writings can be read without fear because their doctrine is completely safe.

    In our case, it involves two teachers and two disciples, two Dominicans and two Franciscans. We’re talking about the 13th century. The dates are very important.
    The most well-known of all is Saint Thomas Aquinas of the Dominicans, along with his Franciscan companion and friend, Saint Bonaventure. Saint Thomas’s teacher was Saint Albert the Great, and Saint Bonaventure’s teacher was Alexander of Hales. Let us see what they said about the Immaculate Conception:

    Alexander of Hales: It should not be stated according to Catholic doctrine.

    Saint Bonaventure: The Blessed Virgin should in no way be excluded from this general rule (the need to be redeemed).

    Saint Albert the Great: The Virgin was not sanctified before her Conception; to affirm the contrary is heresy, according to Saint Bernard.

    Saint Thomas Aquinas: According to Catholic doctrine, it must be firmly held that every son of Adam, except Christ alone, contracted original sin.

    They taught that the Virgin Mary had been sanctified in her mother’s womb, after she had been conceived. The key point of these doctors’ entire argument is that Christ is the universal Redeemer. If someone were born without original sin, they would not have needed such redemption; therefore, Christ would not be the Redeemer of the entire mankind. As we can see, nothing could be further from the mind of the Catholic
    Church than the supposed idea that it does not consider or respect the divinity or the redemptive character of Christ our Lord.


    Finally, the Franciscan, Duns Scotus, received from tradition and developed the idea of preventive redemption, thus reconciling the Immaculate Conception with the redemptive work of Christ. In this way, the Blessed Virgin Mary, because of the honor due to her Divine Motherhood and because of the merits of Christ, was preserved, by anticipation, from original sin. It is important to stress that this prevention does not in any way contradict divine omnipotence or wisdom. Actually, it can be said that it is in accordance with them. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary depends on the
    redemption wrought by Christ, and it is called preventive redemption. What cannot be clearly understood from the perspective of time, is perfectly understood from the perspective of eternity. So, was the Blessed Virgin Mary redeemed by Christ? Yes. How was her redemption? It was preventive. What does this mean? It means that she was preserved, set apart, because she was the Mother of God, from the common inheritance of original sin. Scotus said: She shouldn’t be excluded from Christ’s redemption, rather, she
    should be highlighted. On December 8, 1854, the Catholic Church finally highlighted her when Pope Pius IX said:


    “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

    From the 13th century to the 19th century, five centuries passed. It took Holy Mother Church over 500 years to define the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What was the attitude of the Catholic Church during those 500 years? It was to observe the arguments presented by both sides, giving complete freedom to theologians, since praising the Mother of God does not contradict the decrees of the Most High. Nothing could be further from the spirit of the Church than the alleged intellectual suppression. Therefore, this feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
    makes us love the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is infallible, and the infallibility of papal doctrine makes us love the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a truth revealed by God. That is why we say they are two correlative loves; one is related to the other.

    So, let us love the Blessed Virgin Mary on this day and congratulate her for the very special place she holds in God’s work. Let us love the doctrine of the Church as it has always been taught, because it is the only way to reach Heaven. Let us love Christ our Lord who gave us such a Mother and let us love the Blessed Virgin Mary who gave us such a Son.


    “For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this”. (Isaias 9, 6-7)

  • December Update

    Dear Friends, Families, and Benefactors,

    Ave Maria! We pray you are all in the midst of a very holy and grace-filled season of
    Advent. Work continues on our little convent chapel. We hope to have it ready within the
    next two weeks so that we may welcome the Infant Jesus, our God and Spouse, into our
    hearts, our souls, and our tabernacle at Christmas. What a joyful Christmas it will be to
    dwell with the King of Heaven!

    We now have a “Sister Carpenter”, who frequently calls upon St. Joseph to help her with
    work she never imagined herself doing in the convent: stripping and refinishing old wood,
    constructing chairs and kneelers, and learning the names of various tools and how they
    work. The early Franciscans, embracing Lady Poverty with great jealousy, worked in this
    same fashion, and we are learning just how spoiled we are in the modern world. While we
    are unable, due to small numbers in our beginning stages, to do everything by the labor of
    our own hands, we are attempting to do what we can.

    We are now also experiencing our first true Winter in Colorado. Coming from Texas, this
    has been very…well…cold! We laugh at our frailty and remind ourselves that the elements
    provide plenty of opportunity to save souls if we remain in the presence of God and keep
    always in front of us the reason we consecrated our lives to God. We give others plenty of
    opportunity to save souls too when they are forced to drive in the snow behind the nuns
    with the Texas license plate!

    Our appeal for your help continues, as we are now beginning to receive correspondence
    from young ladies around the country, and we have no room to receive them. We are
    praying a perpetual novena to St. Joseph to provide a permanent home where our
    foundation may grow and where we may truly live according to the spirit of St. Francis
    and our Capuchin customs. We live in a world that no longer understands religious life and
    the necessity of consecrated souls to pray and sacrifice for the conversion and salvation of
    sinners, for our country, for our world, and for the triumph of the Holy Catholic Church
    against her enemies within and without. We rely solely upon Divine Providence and the
    generosity of the faithful in order to live. We thank all of you for your generous support,
    and we assure you that we carry each and every one of you, with all of your intentions, in
    all of our prayers and sacrifices. In every Mass and at every holy Communion and, since
    we have a special claim on the Heart of Our Lord, we trust in Him with great confidence to
    repay you all the promised hundred-fold in this life and in eternity.

    May God bless you, and may Our Lady keep you close to her Immaculate Heart!

    The Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph

    • Before the snowfall, the Sisters work to clear an area for Our Lady’s spring grotto.
    • Our first attempt at refurbishing an old table
    • We quickly discovered it was an outdoor job….
    • When power tools failed, we discovered it was a two person job!
    • One of our Capuchin customs is to kneel for collations during Advent.
    • The Sisters are learning many trades, including electrical work.

  • Counsels for Families

    Dear Family, Friends, and Benefactors,

    Pax et Bonum! This past week, we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We were blessed with a beautiful sung Mass, where we remembered all of your intentions. How appropriate that this feast is followed tomorrow by that of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, since we cannot reflect upon the Cross without contemplating her standing with unwavering Faith and love at its foot. On Wednesday, we will celebrate the feast of the Stigmata of our Seraphic Father and Founder, St. Francis of Assisi. St. Bonaventure wrote of him that he was adorned with the Sacred Stigmata and bore the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but engraved upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. These three feasts make for a very beautiful and grace filled week in the Franciscan Order, an Order particularly devoted to the Passion and Death of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

    We have a few pieces of news to share with you. This past week, we welcomed a young lady from Louisiana who is discerning her vocation to the religious life. Every religious vocation, especially in this time of crisis in the Church, is a miracle and a great grace for holy mother Church. It seems to be almost entirely forgotten that the lives of prayer and sacrifices of the religious are especially necessary to stay the hand of God and draw down from heaven the graces of conversion for our families, our cities, our country, and the entire world. Please keep her in your prayers. Also, we were recently surprised with the gift (on loan) of a tabernacle. It is a very old but very beautiful piece that needs repair. We are now very joyfully working on all that is necessary to make it ready for the Divine Guest. A friend, who is extremely talented at woodworking, has offered to make the repairs, and the Sisters will complete all of the silk, linen and embroidery work. We are praying very fervently for benefactors so that we may construct a little portable chapel here while we continue to implore heaven to help us find a permanent home. We ask your prayers for this intention also, as it is necessary that we have a permanent home in order to continue to accept vocations and grow our Franciscan convent.

    Finally, we wish to share with you some reflections that we hope may be of help, especially to mothers. We often hear from parents regarding their teenage children. The problems, as well as the solutions, are generally the same. What is modeled for the children shapes who they will become. If the Faith is not the center of your home-life, it cannot be expected that it will be the center of your child’s life. The most important duty in the lives of parents is the formation of their children. This is not a personal opinion but, rather, the teaching of the Church. Time wasted is time that can never be returned to you and, in the blink of an eye, the children are grown, and the consequences of a tepid home life have taken deep root. If, then, you are troubled that your children are being swept along in the current of the world, it is necessary to take a look at life in your family home.

    First, does your family pray together, and what place does prayer hold in your home? The family Rosary is so important! In fact, at all six of her apparitions in Fatima, Our Lady asked for the Rosary to be said every day and warned that it, along with devotion to the Immaculate Heart, is the last remedy for the world. Your children need to see mom and dad on their knees with a dedicated time to pray. So often, we hear the term “Rosary ride.” It seems that it has become a trend to pray the Rosary in the car while on the way to some event. While it can readily be understood that this may be necessary from time to time and a very good custom for an extra Rosary, what message does it give when the daily Rosary is specifically set aside for a car ride, so that it can be checked off of the to-do list in order to do things one considers more important or more enjoyable at home? Does it foster a love for prayer and reflection on the mysteries of our Faith? The same could be said for holy Mass when families make it a custom to arrive at the last minute and leave immediately after Mass, without making a preparation for or thanksgiving after Holy Communion. Do you and/or your children miss Mass on Sundays or holy days in order to take part in sporting or other events? This is a violation of a precept of the Church, a grave sin, and yet it seems to be more and more common. We deceive ourselves if we say our Faith is the most important thing in our lives while putting prayer and the holy Mass in the second place. These are good questions by which to examine ourselves.

    A formation in strong moral principles is also extremely important. We frequently hear about teenage girls leaving home as quickly as possible after graduating, “dating” young men of questionable character, and making bad decisions that come with life-altering consequences. It is true that even if parents do everything possible to properly form their children and set a good example in the home, many will still stray from the Faith and make bad decisions. The current of the world is very strong, and swimming against the current requires great fortitude, which can only be attained by prayer and sacrifice, which children should learn from their parents.

    Concerning this formation of your children, it is necessary to ask what place the television holds in your home? Even in what are considered “more wholesome” movies or shows, the values of the world are often presented, and your children are being formed by what they see and hear. Most notably are the tendencies to present divorced and remarried couples as acceptable and even the norm, entitled or back-talking children, career women who do not submit to their husbands and husbands who do not honor their wives, immodest fashions, “dating” and company-keeping, even among children, which is an occasion of mortal sin, etc., etc. etc. The show may be considered “clean”, but what are your children learning as they watch these shows day after day? In the sixteenth century, St. Teresa of Avila was shown her place in hell for reading what were called “chivalry books.” Certainly those books were nothing in comparison to what is on television today.

    Are your children exposed to bad companions? St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis de Sales, St. John Bosco, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and many other saints warned of the dangers to the immortal souls of children by this occasion of sin. It is extremely important that your children, no matter what age, are not permitted to go out with friends without a chaperone. It only takes one brief moment, a glance, a picture, or a suggestion for your child’s curiosity to be aroused and innocence to be lost, even little by little. If you have not yet read it, we highly recommend the books , The Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco. If the dangers were so strong in that period, what would the saint think of the perils we expose our children to today?

    Are your children attending public school? Many parents will argue they have no choice in this matter. It is not our purpose here to debate, so we will focus our attention on those parents who do have a choice and who, for reasons of sports, scholarships, or convenience, place the immortal souls of their children in danger. Not considering only the multitude of dangers your children are exposed to in public schools (the LGBTQ agenda, impurity, indoctrination with anti-Catholic teaching, to name only a few), the Catholic Church (prior to Vatican II) strongly cautioned against sending children to public schools and often explicitly forbade it, primarily viewing them as threats to the Catholic Faith due to their secular or Protestant foundations. The teaching of the Church is that the primary duty of parents is to ensure that their children receive a proper Catholic education and formation. In 1890, Pope Leo XIII identified public schools as hostile to religion and “the stronghold of the powers of darkness.” In 1929, Pope Pius XI reaffirmed that parents have the primary right and duty to educate their children and declared the secular school to be fundamentally flawed. Are sports and scholarships, which are here today and gone tomorrow, worth putting your child’s immortal soul at risk?

    Mothers, how do you dress? Do you make concessions in order to “fit in” or appear more fashionable? Do you consider that Mary-like modesty is only for church, failing to consider that both in and out of Church Almighty God is present, and men are equally tempted by immodesty outside of the church as inside? Our Lady of Fatima warned in 1917 about immodest fashions and that more souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than any other sin. If she was offended by the fashions in 1917, what would she think of leggings, tight pants and jeans, shorts, mini-skirts, low cut tops, bathing suits, girls and boys swimming together half-naked, etc.? The clergy and the sisters are often met with the objection from women that fashions change with the times. The fashions of our world, a world over which Satan is the prince, are rapidly changing to undress the woman and to lead souls to sin and, ultimately, to hell. There are resources for modest clothing and, even if we must be creative, it is our duty to make war against the immodest fashions of our day. Remember that, at your judgment, you will render an account of your own sins of immodesty, as well as all of the sins that were committed as a result of your scandal.

    Parents, do you correct your children, or is your home a democracy? Are your children permitted to tell you what they will and will not eat, what they do and do not want to do, what time they will get up in the morning and go to bed at night, etc? Are they allowed to speak disrespectfully to you or as if they are your equal? Unless a child learns to obey promptly and without question, he or she will become master of the household. You must exercise the necessary firmness with your children at an early age in these and all matters for, if you do not exercise your authority through laziness, poor judgment, or a mistaken notion of kindness and tenderness, you will quickly see that it is too late. These seemingly small things lead to a world of problems for the future of your children. If they are not taught to obey authority and to practice mortification and self-restraint while they are young, evil tendencies will set in, and they will likely have great difficulty controlling their need to gratify themselves, opening wide the door to sensuality and all manners of vice.

    Finally, let us consider the topic company-keeping (“dating”). Company-keeping has for its purpose marriage. Even if the period of dating does not end with marriage because the couple discovers that marriage is out of the question for them, the purpose of testing and of finding out was still kept. When marriage is unlawful, impossible, or entirely out of the question (as is certainly the case with your school-age children), there is no moral justification for dating and exposing oneself to the intrinsic danger of such relationships. Teenagers who are permitted to date are placed in a very strong and dangerous occasion of mortal sin. Parents have the obligation of forming their children and helping them to understand this principle early in life. Your children should never be permitted to be alone in the company of the opposite sex. Parents who encourage or permit their children to date, or who think it is innocent or cute, place the souls of their children in danger and will have to carry that responsibility before God on the day of judgment. We cannot tell you how often we have received the calls from heart-broken parents whose children, after having been permitted to date, have ended up in serious moral troubles that will affect the rest of their lives and the lives of those involved.

    In close, although this may seem overwhelming and discouraging, Almighty God gives us everything we need to perform well our duties of state and, if the difficulties are great, His grace is far greater. Begin now to pray with your children. Frequent the sacraments, recite the Rosary every day, and instruct your children in the catechism and the truths of our holy Catholic Faith. Establish your homes on the foundation of the Catholic Faith and enthrone them to the Sacred Heart. By so doing, your homes will become veritable strongholds of Faith, schools of virtue, abodes of peace and love, which the angels of God will delight to visit and which God Himself will look down upon with pleasure and bless with a foretaste of the joys of Heaven.

    It is well to remember that “Children have not been given to parents as a present, which they may dispose of as they please, but as a trust, for which, if lost through their negligence, they must render an account to God.” St. Alphonsus Liguori

    May God bless you!

    Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph

    We welcomed an aspirant from Louisiana on the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis.
    Making habit Rosaries for future Capuchin Sisters.

  • Sanctity is Within the Reach of All…

    Dear Family, Friends, and Benefactors,


    Pax et Bonum!  We pray you are all well and in the peace of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our community life here in Burlington continues on peacefully and quietly, as we are at long last able to follow the daily horarium of a Capuchin Sister. We have frequently been asked if life according to a schedule, day in and day out, is monotonous and…well…boring?  We laugh heartily at this idea, as we count ourselves among the most blessed in this world to have all of our daily acts blessed by the virtue and act of religious obedience. With each sound of the bell, we hear the voice of our beloved Spouse reminding us of His presence and calling us to His loving service. We live in the constant peace of knowing that if we simply keep our Rule faithfully, it will keep us unto eternal life.  Our seraphic father, St. Francis, left this testament at the end of the Rule:

    “And whoever observes these things, may he be blessed in heaven with the blessing of the Most High Father, and on earth with the blessing of His Beloved Son with the Most Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, and all the powers of heaven and with all the saints. And, as far as I can, I, little brother Francis, your servant, confirm for you, both within and without, this holy blessing. ” 


    We live each day in the presence of God, ever longing after and aspiring towards that which is the only purpose for the short breath of this life: eternal happiness with God in heaven. It is our fervent prayer that each of you, most of whom must work and live amidst the chaos of a world that falls daily further into apostasy, may find this same joy. It is attainable for each and all, and in every situation. Many of the greatest saints lived in the world. Two excellent examples from the Third Order of St. Francis come to mind. On August 23rd, we celebrated the feast of Queen Blanche. Despite the numerous duties incumbent upon her as the Queen of France, and though she was surrounded by luxury, she practiced a life of prayer, penance, and love for the poor. She reared her son, the future King, St. Louis IX of France, whose feast is celebrated two days after hers, to prefer death rather than to ever commit a deliberate sin. Her example and solicitousness for his eternal salvation gave to the world a great saint, who would become the patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, to which both he and his mother belonged. Truly, in this example, it is made manifest that a form of religious life can be lived even amidst the busy occupations of the world and that sanctity is within the reach of all.


    In close, we wish to thank all who continue to help us raise the money needed for a permanent convent. Our first aspirant will arrive sometime in September, and others hope to follow her, so we continue to beg the charity of your prayers that Divine Providence will provide for those who long so ardently to consecrate their lives to Him. Be assured of our continued prayers for all of your intentions, and please pray for us!


    In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
    Your Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph

    NB:  Tax deductible donations can be made by following the donate link on our website. God bless you!

    Sister Seamstress stays very busy these days with sewing and mending tasks.

    Thanks be to God for our sisters, the hens, who provide Sister Cook with an abundance of eggs.

  • The Third Order Secular and an Appeal

    Dear Family, Friends, and Benefactors,

    Pax et Bonum! We pray you are all well and that this update finds you in the midst of a grace-filled month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary! This month is an especially joyful one for the Franciscan Order. In addition to the two great feasts of our Blessed Mother, the Assumption and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we will also celebrate the feast of our patroness, St. Clare of Assisi, on August 12th. Be assured that we will keep each and every one of you in the heart of our prayers and at holy Mass most especially on that day, asking St. Clare to bless you for your support which has helped make it possible for us to consecrate our lives to God alone.

    Recently, we have happened upon some very beautiful resources for the Third Order Secular. It is our great hope to post these treasures to our website so that our Tertiary Brothers and Sisters will have access to them. Please pray that Lady Poverty, who also embraces “free time” in the convent, will permit us to accomplish this little work. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical, Auspicato Concessum, wrote: “…it has been long and specially Our desire that everyone should, to the utmost of his power, aim at imitating St. Francis
    of Assisi…We exhort Christian men not to refuse to enroll themselves in this sacred army of Jesus Christ.” The severe lack of an authentically Catholic spirit, centered around prayer and mortification, is the predominant reality of our age. Our Lord Jesus Christ called St. Francis to help rebuild His Church which was, in that time, falling into ruin. What could be said about the Church today during this state of world-wide apostasy?

    More than ever, the Church needs men and women in all states of life who pray,
    sacrifice, and practice heroic virtue. Franciscan Tertiaries consecrate their secular state and enter a nobler company of the Church Militant. They promise to observe a rule, compatible to their state in life, which helps them to detach from the spirit of the world, renounce vice, and acquire virtue, leading many souls towards salvation by their good example. It is truly a religious life within the reach of all faithful Catholics. If you are not a member of the Third Order and wish to learn more, we would be very happy to
    provide you with more information.

    Finally, we once again appeal to your charity. We are finally settled in our temporary convent in Colorado. While it has been very generously loaned to us indefinitely, it is necessary that we purchase something permanent. God willing, we will have as many as three young ladies visiting us this Fall in order to discern their vocations. Since Franciscans are mendicants, we rely solely upon Divine Providence and the generosity of benefactors for our daily bread and sustenance. At present, our need for a house is pressing. If you or anyone you know may be able to help us with a tax free donation, we will be eternally grateful. Directions for donations may be on our website donate link. Prayers are the most important form of charity, and we continue to beg those in abundance. We trust that Almighty God, Who is never outdone in generosity, may bless you with the promised hundred-fold now and in eternity.


    In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

    Your Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph