The missioners, DCSC volunteers, and FMS staff got together at Executive Director Liz Hughes' house for fellowship and quality time with Flurry!

Welcome to the FMS e-newsletter! Each week, our newsletter will be highlighting what our missioners are learning through their mission preparation at Casa San Salvador, the FMS missioner house. Enjoy these stories from the missioners' seventh week!

After months of mutual discernment, the FMS staff and missioners recently gathered for the Country Invitation Prayer Service, where the missioners received an invitation by the FMS staff to go to one of the countries where FMS serves. These invitations were joyfully received, with three quick and resounding "yeses" from the missioners.

Kim Wagner will be serving at the US-Mexico border.

Susan Sarkissian will be serving in Jamaica

Ralph Anderson will be serving in Bolivia.

Please join us in praying for our missioners, in thanksgiving for their willingness to embrace the Gospel according to the Franciscan tradition and in support of their ministries to come.

Save the date for our missioners' Commissioning Mass and Reception in Washington, DC, on Saturday, November 11! More details to come.

On Tuesday, October 3rd, Franciscans around the world gathered to celebrate the Transitus of St. Francis, the commemoration of his passing from this life to life eternal. There is no universal ritual for Transitus, so Franciscan communities across the world have developed different traditions to mark this momentous occasion. In DC, Franciscans from every branch of the family gather at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land for an evening service of readings, hymns, and procession.

Before they left for the Monastery, the missioners and FMS staff gathered at Casa San Salvador for a feast, enjoying a meal of fish and shrimp pie prepared by missioner-in-training Ralph Anderson, a meal which tradition tells us was Francis's favorite. For dessert, they enjoyed some ice cream and almond cookies, a treat that we are told Francis requested in his final hours. The noblewoman Jacoba of Settesoli, a longtime supporter of Francis, prepared the almond pastries but was almost forbidden to deliver them to the saint, since the friary was off limits to women. In gratitude to the noblewoman, Francis made an exception, referring to her as "Brother" Jacoba and permitting her to stay by his side until his death.

Blessed "Brother" Jacoba of Settesoli

 St. Francis’ Almond Cookies



            1 3/4 Cups whole almonds

            1 cup sugar

            2 Tablespoons Flour

            1/8 teaspoon salt

            4 large egg whites

            1 teaspoon almond extract

            1/4 Cup sliced almonds

Toast whole almonds in 300° oven 5 minutes. Cool. Place in food processor with sugar, flour, and salt. Process until finely ground. Add and process egg whites and extract.

Drop by teaspoonfuls on parchment covered baking sheet 1" apart. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Bake at 300° for 25 minutes.

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Recipe sourced from St. Anthony Shrine in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jen (DC Service Corps), Bo (DC Service Corps), Susan (Overseas Lay Mission), and Kim (Overseas Lay Mission) were the evening's bier-bearers. On the bier was a Franciscan habit, representing Francis himself. At the end of the service, all those gathered together processed to the Portiuncula Chapel near the main church for a final candlelit hymn and blessing.

Each week the missioners will learn about different styles of prayer as part of their faith formation. We encourage you to enter into this journey; hopefully it can assist in your own spiritual life as well.

This week, the missioners were asked to pray and reflect on the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:1-15) and share their reflections with one another during morning prayer.

"My takeaway from the Scripture is that there is hope for all of us to harbor deep faith in God. Even if our seeds of faith get uprooted, the memory of the faith is still there and can be enough for us to start our faith life anew. God will be there with us to help nurture and grow our seeds of faith throughout our lives."

-Kim Wagner

"The beginning of Luke 8 contains a description of the group accompanying Jesus in his ministry. Interestingly, there was mention of several women in his company. For that period of time, this was quite a radical scene being painted for the readers and thus relayed a specific message that women have an important role to play in our Christian faith. 1300 years later, women still had a submissive role in society, yet St. Francis and St. Clare demonstrated a new vision for how women and men could work together to serve God. In modern times, as many fall away, this vision should be welcomed as we seek to unify and rebuild the Christian church."

-Susan Sarkissian

Sower at Sunset, 1888 Van Gogh

The Franciscan tradition is brimming with Saints, Blesseds, and Venerables included in the Roman Canon. Each week, we will highlight a different Franciscan who lived a notable life of holiness.

In the fifteenth century, a boy named James frequented his local church to give the statue of Mary a crown of flowers. He carefully weaved each one himself and took great joy in placing the crown on her head. It was his favorite form of prayer to his Blessed Mother and he took great pride in his flower crown creations.

A few years later, James entered a monastery of Franciscan Friars and was dismayed to find that he no longer had the freedom to make his flower crowns for Mary. He was so distressed at this prospect that he considered leaving the Friars, but before he had the chance to do so, Mary appeared to him in a dream. She assured him that it was still possible to crown her, but she urged him to replace the short-lived and fragile flowers with prayers. This way, James could present her a "crown" of prayers at any moment, and they would be treasured by his heavenly mother.

These prayers became known as the Franciscan Crown, or the seven-decade rosary. The seven decades focus on the Seven Joys of Mary. You can read more about the Franciscan Crown rosary here.

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