On 11th April a Wednesday morning dawned with a promise of a sunny day as if the elements knew that we had just celebrated Easter. It was a get together for the three Franciscan Orders: the Franciscan Friars of the First Order, the Poor Clares of the Second Order and the Franciscan Sisters of the Third Order Regular. The idea for such an encounter goes back to when three Franciscans from each order, who are still receiving formation within the order, took the hassle to organize this half-day of Franciscan gathering in an environment of prayer and joy.
At 9.30am, all the friars and sister had arrived at the monastery of the Poor Clares and preparations started to adjust the sound system and all the necessary equipment that were to be used. The rehearsals of the hymns that were to be sung during the initial adoration of the ‘Blessed Sacrament’ took place. After some time, the Minister Provincial Father Paul Galea OFM brought the sacrament and the adoration began with songs of praise and worship. During the adoration, the minister provincial of the three orders read from the life of St. Francis from Franciscan Sources.
When the time of prayer was over, the young friars, who had planned the day, took over and opened the section of entertainment with a song of praise and some dancing! It was then the time for the Poor Clares. They had prepared a sketch which dealt with the call of Brother Bernard by St. Francis; and how Brother Bernard had accepted the call and went on following Christ on the footsteps of St. Francis.
After the sketch it was our turn! With a new band named ‘Trial by Fire’ the Franciscans and the young people who form the GIFRA group, performed two cover versions by The Queen, ‘The Show must go on’, and parts from the group U2 with the song: ‘Crumbs from your table’. Afterwards, it was the turn of the Capuchins friars who performed another sketch made up of four radio stations that seemed to have gone mad with their transmission. This was followed by a duet between a Franciscan friar and a Franciscan sister. For the final act, the entertainment group performed a song and a dance with all participants from all the orders taken from the musical ‘Chiara di Dio’. In between each item, a fun game was organized to involve more friars and sisters. The show was presented by our Postulant Aaron Abdilla and a Franciscan sister.
As we were still celebrating Easter, we ended up with refreshments while wishing all the best to each other. It was a wonderful day which saw all the orders having fun and performing all that had been prepared for all the friars and sisters who had come to attend a half day of prayer and fun. We hope that days like this will become more frequent to know each other more and to have more fun in a Franciscan environment.
Trial by Fire:
Trail by Fire is a new band that became a reality after several attempts to make this dream come through. The name ‘Trail by Fire’ is taken from: 1 James in the New Testament. We know that we too need to pass from ‘fire’ to perform well. This is our message to create good entertainment during social gatherings; and in the near future to organize such an event at the Franciscan Church in Rabat (Malta). Trial by Fire is formed up of Joseph Ciappara OFM on the lead guitar, Walter Vassalo OFM on the synth, Joseph Magro OFM on the Bass guitar and from the Rabat GIFRA group, the two vocalists are: Michela and Roberta together with Dominic as the drummer. Today’s performance was the first official appearance of the group who spent hours rehearsing. We hope that what has began today will continue in the future. Below one will find some photos and two movies of the songs performed.
Movies below:
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