The General Delegate for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), Friar Michael J. LASKY, invites all of the Conventual Franciscan Federations to pray together for peace, especially for our confreres living in Ukraine and in the countries that are taking in refugees.
While our brothers in Ukraine remain with their people, and our brothers in different countries are taking in and caring for refugees, we, as sons of St. Francis of Assisi, want to cry out to the Lord with one voice! Let our voice cry out to the Lord in the recitation of Psalm 17: “Hear, Lord, my plea for justice; pay heed to my cry!”
The General Delegate, Friar Michael, proposes that each Federation “adopt” a specific friary in prayer.
– We ask the friars in the African Federation of Conventual Franciscans (AFCOF) to pray in a special way for our confreres at the Friary of St. Francis of Assisi in LEOPOLI: Friar Sławomir Marek BYSTRY, Friar Paweł ODÓJ, Friar Mykola ORACH, Friar Stanisław KAWA, Friar Stanisław PĘKALA and Bishop Edward KAWA.
– We ask our friars in the Federatio Europae Mediae et Orientalis (FEMO) to pray in a special way for our confreres at the Friary of Blessed James of Strepar in BILSHIVTSI: Friar Michał STASZAK, Friar Stanisław NUCKOWSKI and Friar Sławomir ZIELIŃSKI.
– We ask the friars in the Federazione Inter-mediterranea Ministri Provinciali (FIMP) to pray in a special way for our confreres at the Friary of St. Bonaventure in BORYSPIL: Friar Andrzej WANAT, Friar Grzegorz CYMBAŁA and Friar Oleksandr LYTVYNYUK.
– We ask the friars in the Federación América Latina Conventuales (FALC) to pray in a special way for our confreres at the Friary of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe in KREMENCHUK: Friar Petro FRANKIV, Friar Maryan MELNYCHUK and Friar Ryszard SKRZYPEK.
– We ask the friars in the Centralis Europae Foederatio (CEF) to pray in a special way for our confreres at the Friary of St. Mary of the Angels in MATS’KIVTSI: Friar Janusz NOWAK, Friar Artur SPODAR and Friar Krzysztof PELC.
– We ask the friars in the Federation of Asian Minors Conventual (FAMC) to pray in a special way for our Ukrainian confreres in formation living in Poland: Friar Anatolij BRYNZHALA, Friar Serhiy HOROVYY, Friar Vladyslav PASHAYEV, Friar Demyan MYSAKOVEC and Friar Vasyl PALAMUKARCH.
– We ask the friars in the Conventual Franciscan Federation (CFF) to pray in a special way for our confreres in the countries that are taking in and assisting refugees, such as Romania and Poland.
Psalm 17 – A Cry for Justice
LORD, hear my just plea! Pay attention to my cry!
Listen to my prayer, since it does not come from lying lips.
Justice for me will come from your presence;
your eyes see what is right.
When you probe my heart, and examine me at night;
when you refine me,
you will find nothing wrong,
for I have determined that I will not transgress with my mouth.
As for the ways of humanity,
I have, according to the words of your lips, avoided the ways of the violent.
Because my steps have held fast to your paths,
my footsteps have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, God.
Listen closely to me and hear my prayer.
Show forth your gracious love, save those who take refuge in you
from those who rebel against your sovereign power.
Protect me as the most precious part of the eye;
hide me under the shadow of your wings
from the wicked who have afflicted me,
from my enemies who have surrounded me.
They are imprisoned by their own prosperity,
they have boasted proudly with their mouth.
Now they have encircled our paths
and are determined to cast us down to the ground.
But as for me, justified, I will behold your face;
when I awake, your presence will satisfy me.
Friar Michael J. LASKY,
General Delegate for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation
