Fr. David Convertino, OFM
Executive Director of Development
Dear Friend,
As we enter the great season of Advent and hear the wonderful stories of Christmas, my thoughts are drawn to one place—the fields and hills outside of Bethlehem.
Not to the city.
Not to the inns, or the markets, or the comfortable, warm homes.
But to the hills outside the city—the quiet, rugged places where the shepherds kept watch.
We often imagine shepherds as rustic, peaceful figures, walking and maybe carrying a lamb through meadows and hills. But in the world of Jesus, shepherds were far from respected and liked but rather were feared and hated.
They were considered ritually unclean, uneducated, unreliable, and often were thieves. They slept outdoors, wandered with their flocks, and lived on the very edges of society.
Yet these were the people to whom the angels appeared.
These were the first to hear the Good News of the Messiah.
These were the first to kneel beside the manger and worship the newborn Savior.
These societal outcasts were the first believers!
God did not go to the palaces—God went to the margins of society—to the outcasts and unwanted.
How Franciscan that is that!
St. Francis himself was often considered a “shepherd of the outcasts, gathering the poor, the lepers, the forgotten to himself. He believed deeply that God often speaks most clearly in the places the world overlooks or excludes.
And so do those with a Franciscan heart.
This time of year, the Franciscan friars find ourselves near many “modern shepherds”—the ones society often avoids or ignores: the unhoused and hungry, the forgotten elderly, the struggling parent, the young person seeking direction, the immigrant trying to build a life, the addict fighting for another chance, the sick and dying, and the lonely who have no one who cares.
We see them.
We love them.
We walk with them.
And because of you, we can continue to be present in those “fields” where God is already announcing hope.
Your generosity helps us reach the places where Christ chooses to be born again—quietly, unexpectedly, among those who most need to hear that they are loved, remembered, and never alone.
As we approach Christmas, I ask you to carry one thought with you:
If God trusted shepherds, the outcasts of society, with the Good News of Christ’s birth, then no one is too small, too poor, too wounded, or too forgotten to be held in God’s unconditional love.
May that truth fill your home with peace this season.
May it bring hope to your loved ones.
And may it strengthen our mission of Franciscan compassion and acceptance.
From all the friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, thank you for walking with us.
You help us bring the Good News to the fields of society where it is needed most.
Wishing you a blessed Advent and a joyful Christmas—
filled with angels, peace, and the quiet surprise of God’s love around every corner.
Many Blessings,
Fr. David, OFM