November Meeting. The meeting will be at 8pm on Friday 27^th November at Marian Hall, Stutchbury Street, Page. Fraternity elections will be held. Fr Alban Mitchell and Jim Gaudry (on behalf of the new Regional Council) will be with us. Please be sure to attend. We need you novices too, to act as tellers/scrutineers.

We will have to defer discussion of our programme for Formation in 1999, the year of God the Father in preparation for the Great Jubilee 2000. Please give some thought the subject so that, in the New Year, we can develop a list of topics that is in harmony with Archdiocesan initiatives and also prepare a list of volunteers to lead us in consideration of the topics.

Day of Recollection. This will be held on Saturday 5^th December at Hélène's commencing at 9.20am. Fr Eddie will join us from 9.30am till 11.30am to hear Confessions and say Mass. The theme of the day will be prayer, especially the Daily Prayer of the Church. Fr John Rate msc has kindly agreed to give us some food for contemplation during the day by addressing us on The Liturgy of the Hours. The morning program will be:

• 9.20am:  Cec will introduce the canticle of the young men in the fiery furnace (Dan 3:57).
• 9.30am:  Reflection time. Fr Eddie will be available for Confessions.
• 10.30am:  Mass (Saturday of 1^st week of Advent).
• 11.00am:  Fr John : The Liturgy of the Hours.
• 11.30am:  Reflection time.
• 12.30pm:  Shared lunch and fraternity.

Tea and coffee will be available during quiet times.

Possible Social. Jack's friend Jeremy Turanec sfo from Slovakia is migrating to Australia, will arrive in Sydney on 7^th January, and hopes to visit Canberra about January 16^th or 23^rd. It would be wonderful if we could welcome him in some way. Jeremy's wife Maria is also an SFO as are Maria's mum and dad. Maria and their daughter Michaela will join Jeremy after he gets a job and finds a place for them to live.

Annual Retreat. Don't forget that our 1999 retreat has been booked for 19^th to 21^st March at St Joseph's House of Prayer in Goulburn. Fr Pat Colbourne has kindly agreed to lead us again in 1999.

Regional Chapter. The NSW/ACT Regional Chapter was held at Hartzer Park, Bowral from November 6^th to 8^th. Hèléne and Marty attended. Pam had a conflicting commitment. A report was prepared.

Social Function. On Saturday 21^st November at Weston Park, Cec, Jack and Rex, joined later by Loui, enjoyed the wonderful spring day. Beer was drunk, sausages grilled and many birds came to watch us at play including ducks, Indian mynas, Water Hens and Twelve Apostles birds. The conversation ranged widely through many subjects from the folk songs Rose Bay Ferry and Toorak Tram through primary flying training in Tiger Moths at Narrandera and Uranquinty to the spiritual richness of the Psalms!

77year-old mugged by youth. If you picked up that news report, you probably wouldn’t have known that it was our Pat. Hélène says Pat "looked a fright". Pat had a bruised body, purple eyes, a huge nose and quite a lot of pain. In the night, after X-rays at the hospital, Pat got up about 2am. She had no Panadol but made herself a cup of tea and the pain subsided. Next morning a friend told her on the phone that she had woken up at 2am having seen Pat’s face in a dream and just started to pray for her.

Apologies. Pat won’t be able to join us for the Elections. She will be with her sister who is very ill. Br Jim sends his apologies that he cannot come for our Day of Recollection due to continuing health problems.

Preparation for Day of Recollection. You might like to ponder:

Rule Section 8

As Jesus was the true worshipper of the Father, so let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do.

Let them participate in the sacramental life of the Church, above all the Eucharist. Let them join in liturgical prayer in one of the forms proposed by the Church, reliving the mysteries of the life of Christ.

‘Commentary’ on Section 8

The other precondition is to make worship of the Father as central in our own lives as it was in Christ's. The Secular Franciscan, then, communicates and unites with the Lord through the sacraments (again, especially the Eucharist), the liturgy of the hours, contemplation, and any other expression of prayer

Constitutions Article 14 Paragraph 4

The brothers and sisters as well as the Fraternities should adhere to the indications of the Ritual with respect to the different forms of participating in the liturgical prayer of the Church, giving priority to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours.⁶

Footnote to Constitutions 14:4

(6) Ritual SFO, Appendix 26, 27. "According to the Rule (Art. 8), the Secular Franciscans are to join in liturgical prayer in one of the forms proposed by the Church, reliving the mysteries of Christ."

These prayers may be:

Prayers. Please remember that we agreed to keep up our prayers for vocations to the SFO! Please pray that the Holy Spirit will be with the novices who are receiving instruction.

Available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jacksmth/canfran.htm