News From Home

October 2026

By Sister M. Anselma

Dear Family and Friends,

The 800th anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi is in just a few days!! I love Francis dearly and I feel at a loss for words to acknowledge this moment appropriately. What story to tell? What aspect of his journey to honor? There is too much to share… and my words are not enough! So I will resort to that form of communication that transcends words… art. I hope this visual experience speaks to your heart of the wonders God did in the heart of Francis and what He longs to do today in our hearts!

The heart of Francis can be intimated in his stance before God:

This statue stands outside the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. It depicts a young, defeated Francis returning from battle. His lofty aspirations had been slashed with bitter defeat, and the Lord had given him a dream asking him who he was serving… the master or the servant? Plagued with questions, and recovering from injury and illness, Francis began to grapple with the question God put before him. Was his bowed head simply a result of defeat and dejection, or was he taking the first steps in humility, submitting to Another who is greater than he?

Here, we see a lost Francis at a time when his dissatisfaction with his former life led him away from family, friends, and previous activities. He spent days wandering the country-side looking for places to pray. He had no particular direction, but in his wandering, he one day found himself in a dilapidated country church with a Byzantine crucifix. As he knelt to pray, he heard Jesus from the crucifix say to him, “Francis, go repair my house, which as you see is falling completely into ruin.” This encounter with the Lord deeply struck his heart and he immediately went into motion to fulfill the command from God. While he started by collecting stones to repair ruined churches, the Lord had another type of rebuilding in mind for Francis! Throughout the rest of his life, Francis was known to often pray with his arms extended before a cross or crucifix. The Sisters of our community pray in this fashion at least a couple times a day.

This is one of my favorite images of Francis. It shows his humility. He was known to pray, “Who are you, my Lord and God, and who am I? I fear everything from my badness, but from Your goodness, I also hope for all.”

Finally, as Francis knew his hour drew near, he insisted on being placed on the cold, hard ground, and told the brothers that he would soon return to the dust. He prayed the words of the psalms until his breath stopped and his song was borne into eternity.

“May the power of your love, O Lord, fiery and sweet as honey, wean my heart from all that is under heaven, so that I may die for love of your love, you who were so good as to die for love of my love.” – St. Francis of Assisi

May St. Francis help us to love God in our current state in life and be faithful to the mission God gives each of us for the building up of his Church!

In His Merciful Heart,

Sister M. Anselma
Administrator

By Fr. Nick Muenks

I was recently playing a board game with some friends (this is going to take some explaining, so please bear with me). These modern board games are often heavy on theme, and this one had a story which advanced as you played. And it’s important to know that the story takes place in a fictional, non-Christian world. At times, the game asked you to roll dice, and if you rolled a 5 or a 6, something good happened. Now, one of my friends drew a card that informed him that he had been blessed. That meant that, when he was asked to roll the dice, something good happened, not only on a 5 or a 6, but even on a 4. There was a catch, though. If ever he rolled the dice and got only a 1, 2, or 3, not only would nothing good happen, he would lose his blessing! As, in fact, he did.

I said aloud to my friend, “this is how an atheist imagines God. God will bless you, as long as you don’t mess up!” Make a mistake, and God is through with you. That is absolutely not a Christian understanding of God, but, sadly, that is how many Christians imagine Him. Many people who believe in God feel certain that God wants nothing to do with them. I have heard people—baptized Catholics—say things like “if I go into a church, the walls will fall in.” People say things like that, not because they do not believe, nor because they do not care, but because something has convinced them that their actions have made them unacceptable to God. They have messed up; therefore, God no longer wants them.

But that is not how God behaves. All of those ideas are lies, invented by the father of lies, to discourage us (John 8:44). The truth is in the Bible. St. Paul reminds us that “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. … Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Romans 5: 8, 10).

Of course, a person who is very discouraged might say to themselves, “I was reconciled to God, but since then, I have sinned; I have fallen off the wagon; I have messed everything up. So, see, I am once again God’s enemy!” For that person, Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep. “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray” (Matthew 18:12-13). We have heard this scripture so many times, that we may have forgotten what it means. Jesus is not talking about the salvation of non-believers; he is talking about the forgiveness of sins committed by those who already believe. He says, “if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray…” the stray is one of the man’s own sheep. It is not a wild ram, like the one Abraham found (Genesis 22:13). It is one of his own sheep, which has gone astray. Jesus says, “my sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me” (John 10:27). Except, sometimes, they don’t. But, if they don’t, the Lord Himself will seek those sheep out to bring them back.

This is important to remember. A person who is very lost might despair of ever finding their way back to the life of holiness, or of ever feeling that they belong in the Church. But, in the parable, the sheep does not figure out how to be better, and it does not find its way home. It is the shepherd—Jesus—who finds it and brings it back. Too often, when we are considering sin, we forget the power of grace. God has the power to do what we cannot do ourselves. He can find the lost sheep; he can forgive it; he can heal it. He not only can do these things; he wants to do them. Jesus ends the parable with something that approaches a promise. He says, “In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost” (Matthew 18:14).

As Catholics, we do not believe in ‘once saved, always saved.’ The sheep is able to resist the shepherd if it truly wants to. Yet, we must not discount God’s great desire to save everyone who has ever been part of His Son’s flock, and His persistence in seeking and, yes, blessing, sinners. Let us allow our knowledge of God’s persistent love to shape our approach to our own sins—and our approach to people who seem to us to be lost sheep.

Fr. Nick Muenks

Chaplain

Thank you!

By Sister M. Luka

Thank you all so much for your support of our 2026 Golf Tournament! It was a tremendous success! The proceeds of the Tournament are directed to our Open Arms Program and we are sooooooo grateful for your help to care for our residents!

If you have questions about other ways to support our Mission, contact me and we can chat!

God bless you!

Sister M. Luka

Mission Support Coordinator