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June 10, 2010
At the very threshold of death, rescue me, Lord!
Dear Hand of Help Community,
Blessings and greetings from Brother Fred Buerman ob. OSB
to all of you. I have been out of touch with you for a few months. I write to resume our dialogue and sharing. The antiphon
I just quoted at the beginning of this page, I have experienced in God’s mercy. This beautiful phrase introduces the
Canticle of Isaiah in the Office for the Dead (Is.38:10-14, 17-20). The words of Isaiah tell of a man in trouble and woe who
begs God for mercy. Mercy flows in abundance as Isaiah places all his trust in God.
 Friends, on May 11, I was in Kansas City for a
mission trip. I had been nursing a winter cold and cough for about three months. I was having trouble sleeping and my energy
was diminished. Finally, that Tuesday evening unseen, gentle hands moved me to go to Urgent Care. I asked them for a pill
for my cold. Instead, there in Independence, Missouri they said, “You need to go to Counterpointe Hospital just a mile
away.” I did not know at the time that this is the best heart hospital in Kansas City. Once again, I asked for a pill
and instead they admitted me for congestive heart failure.
Friends, through all this I felt the gentle, unseen hands guiding and directing me. I heard again
and again from the Lord, “Do not be afraid.” For three days they took care of me, looking over my heart, and draining
the fluids that I had been living with all winter. To my joy, they said, “You have a sound heart but some irregular
rhythms, this is very treatable, your heart is sound and free of heart disease.”
I was discharged on May 15 after three days of lifesaving care. I came back
to San Francisco saw my primary care doctor and he put me in touch with a fine cardiologist, Dr. Mailhot, of Golden Gate Cardiology
Clinic. Again Dr. Mailhot is treating my rhythm patterns. He also affirmed the health of my heart and the plan of treatment.
Along with this, he is a Christian Brothers alumnus from Rhode Island, one more gift for me as I began my vocation almost
fifty years ago as a Christian Brother.
Friends, this experience is a profound and healing one for me. Again and again, I thank God for all his goodness
and care. I very much want to share God’s goodness with all I meet. I come to preaching with a new kind of compassion
that I cannot quite find the words to describe. I also come to Hand of Help as a community of collaboration and service called
together in Jesus’ Spirit.
Friends,
you can now expect these spiritual emails every two weeks. I am looking forward to being in touch and hearing from you. One
of the gifts of this experience is to realize what unites us rather then what divides us. The same canticle of Isaiah ends
with these words of hope, “The Lord is our savior; we shall sing to stringed instruments in the house of the Lord,
all the days of our life.”
In joy and gratitude, Brother Fred Buerman ob. OSB
March 9, 2010 Jesus, the Cave of God Dear Hand of
Help friends and supporters, Greetings and blessings from Holy Trinity Monastery our spiritual
home base at St. David, Arizona. We have the honor and joy this week of hosting a monastery spring
break trip from the Campus and Young Adult Ministry Office of the Diocese of Palm Beach, FL. Terence McCorry, Director and
Hand of Help board member, is here with eight young adults. Terence and the young adults have graced Holy Trinity and I hope
we have welcomed and nurtured them. Along with prayer, work, community, and spiritual formation we have taken time as the
psalmist says to, play before the Lord. One of our little trips last Sunday was to Kartchner Caverns State Park about ten miles from Holy Trinity. In the midst of
a cold and windy day, we descended into the earth to spend two marvelous hours.
 Kartchner Caverns is a breathtaking underground cave discovered by two explorers in 1967. You can Google the
cave online and see the wonders yourself. The explorers found a little "sinkhole" in 1967 that took them into sights
beyond their dreams. Two vast rooms hold an array of nature's bounty. Kartchner caverns are alive and developing caves carefully
protected and monitored. Our special two-hour tour to the "throne room" (one of two massive cave) is only possible
a few months of the year because bats faithfully come to give birth during the other months. We walked the trail into the
cave as a faith community in awe of the Lord's creation. At the end of our journey, we were given an insight we continue to
share and discuss, A small sinkhole opened for the two explorers into a world of mystery and majesty
that changed their lives forever. Their care of this treasure has made Kartchner Caverns a gift to all of us and the many
generations to come. Our community talked of Jesus as taking us through Word and Eucharist into Jesus the Cave of God. Jesus
is the divine sinkhole calling us to come, explore, and surrender. Like the explorers at the caverns, our lives are forever
changing as Jesus takes us into God's world. May this Lent find you and me saying yes to Jesus-the Cave of God, the Divine
Sinkhole. Hand of Help News: Friends, I am very grateful to Helena Moniz, mission
coordinator for the Diocese of Charleston and Hand of help board member. Helena, just returned from the Diocese of Salina,
Kansas, where she spent a week in the grade school sharing and inviting young people into mission. Pictures of Helena's blessed
trip will be posted on our website this week with a little explanation from Helena. Friends, we
have the joy to congratulate Father Bill Brown, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy in Daly City, California, on his new appointment
effective July 1 to pastor St. Hilary's Parish in Tiburon, CA near the Golden Gate. Father Bill is a dear friend and supporter
of Hand of Help. His parish has been our pastoral base in the bay area for eight years. Father
Brown is now assisting me in a discernment process to see if we remain at Our Lady of Mercy or move Hand of Help and me to
another pastoral base in the Bay Area. We will keep you posted. The words of St. Paul to the Galatians on life in the Spirit
guide our process, In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. Against these there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) Finally
friends, please pray for Mary McCarthy ob.OSB, our administrator and dear spiritual sister to me, as Mary has some surgery
this week to further give her good health. Mary is the soul of Hand of Help, one of the finest women I have ever met. Blessings and farewell for now, I am feeling deeply the call and energy of the Spirit to write these spiritual emails
and updates every two weeks. Pray for Hand of Help as we pray for all of you. Please let us hear from you, share your wisdom,
requests for prayers, and the spiritual adventures of your lives. May Jesus and Mary bless and guide all of us. In St. Benedict and St. Therese, Brother Fred Buerman ob.OSB http://www.handofhelp.info/ http://www.holytrinitymonastery.org/ ___________________________________
January 18, 2010
Dear Friends,
Blessings and peace in this New
Year of Our Lord 2010 from Brother Fred Buerman, executive director of Hand of Help, to all of you our dear friends and supporters.
I write at the urging and request of many of you. Your interest and care give me the energy in the Spirit to resume our spiritual
emails. I also asked many of you, what is a good schedule for these reflections in the Spirit to all of you. “Send one
out about every two weeks, but we also understand if that is not always possible.” Friends, thank you for your words
and prayers of encouragement. My hope is to offer you all spiritual email every two weeks.
Our Dear Brothers and Sisters in Haiti
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| Pictures tell a tale of massive destruction following the January earthquakes in Haiti. |
Two people who have touched my life and that of Hand of Help come from Haiti.
Their names are Cassey Alexandre and Father Souvenir John Paul SM. Cassey
is a student I met through Terence McCorry, Director of Campus and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Palm Beach, FL.
Terence is also a board member of Hand of Help. Cassey was in the first group of students I visited with and reflected with
on how Hand of Help might be a hand of help to young adults seeking to live life in the Lord Jesus. We had a spirited two-hour
sharing about young adults and their hunger to know and preach the Lord Jesus. I came to the evening with a mentoring program developing and ready to be offered. I
left the evening minus the program but with the peace that the Spirit is guiding and sharing our mission to and with young
adults. Cassey’s hospitality and warmth touches my life after four years. Cassey’s mission spirit gives me energy
to write this email. I also know that Cassey has family in Haiti and is deeply touched and tried by the events of one week
ago. Thanks Cassey for your presence and welcome in my life and that of Hand of Help. Our prayers and support go with you. Father Souvenir John Paul S.M. is a Marist priest from Haiti
ministering at a parish in Brooklyn at this time. I met Souvenir John Paul when I was a Marist novice studying and reflecting
on the Marist way of life. My journey led me in different paths but the vision and care of the Marist mission still impacts
my life and that of Hand of Help. Souvenir is the first native Haitian vocation for the then Marist, Boston Province. Father
Souvenir was living at Our Lady of Pity Parish in Cambridge, MA. Our
novitiate was in the old convent on the same property. I delighted in Father Souvenir’s joy, hope, and care for all.
One day I asked him, “how did you get the name Souvenir?” Replying in the joy of life, Father Souvenir recounted
how his mother prayed to the Lord for one more child. Then he proclaimed, “I came along.” My mother thanked God
and proclaimed my name to be “Souvenir” (in the Creole, GIFT). Mother counseled, “You are Souvenir John
Paul, gift of God.” Father Souvenir gifts me to this day. Souvenir’s welcome and hospitality
gave me the strength to follow the Spirit into my vocation as a Benedictine oblate brother.
Thanks Souvenir for your presence and welcome in my life and that of Hand of Help. Our
prayers and support in these trying and difficult times go with you. We hold your family and friends in Haiti in our prayers. Friends, these are two simple
stories of wonderful and caring people. Both Cassey and Souvenir touch my life and that of Hand of Help in ways only God knows.
May you and I touch one another’s lives through the Holy Spirit in ways only known to God. Friends, since I have last written
you, Hand of Help has lost some wonderful members of our family called home to God: Bishop Pat Ziemann, Ms. Janet Laursen,
Bill Winter, Margaret Kemner, and Father Norbert Lickteig. My joy and honor is to share a little of their graced lives
with you in two weeks. Thanks to all for your support and grace in helping me to begin again these spiritual emails. Please
feel free to be in touch, request prayers, share life, and journey with us! Our websites follow along with my cell and email.
May Jesus and Mary bless and guide our lives. In St. Therese and St. Benedict,
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| Holy Trinity Monastery, St. David, AZ, spiritual base of Hand of Help. |
AUGUST 15, 2009 Dear friends, Blessings and peace to
all of you in this time of midsummer. I hope that you all are having a summer of peace and rest. I have not been in touch for a couple months. However, you all are in my prayers each day. I ask Mary
McCarthy ob.OSB, adminstrative coordinator of Hand of Help, to bring you all to prayer at Holy Trinity Monastery. I am delighted
to once again resume this spiritual email. I offer a few reflections on the majestic feast of Mary's assumption into heaven:
All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus
as well as his brothers. (Acts 1:14) As a
child growing up in St. Louis, Mary, Mother of Jesus, seemed to me as the perfect person, completely open to God's will, from
giving birth to Jesus to holding his dead and broken body in her arms and finally being assumed into heaven. As a young brother,
in the novitiate we were counseled to pray two full rosaries daily; one in community and one in private. We celebrated every
feast of Mary. Often, we raised our young voices
in music to praise her name. Then some storm clouds came to my life of 18 years on this day 8/14/62. On this day, my novice
master Brother Emery Hogan F.S.C. (God rest his soul) called me into his office. Looking at me with kindness and compassion,
Brother said: "Fred, I am sorry to tell you that your father died suddenly this morning." Assuring me of his care and support and that of my brothers, Brother Emery advised: "Go to chapel,
spend some time with Jesus and especially his mother Mary."
Trying to pray left me cold. The shock of my father's death, mother a widow, and losing my father, penetrated my whole being
like a cold, fall drizzle. Mary's perfection, grace under pressure, and constant Yes to God starkly contrasted with my weakness,
fear, anger, and the NO that I experienced in God's presence.
Over the next few days of going home, visiting my mother and other family members the same feeling of my world turned upside
down plagued my spirit. In the midst of this somber time, the Spirit sent me a gift, a nudge, an insight I treasure today.
 My dear Aunt Margaret, a second mother to me,
reached out to my tears and sad spirit: "Fred, remember how your dad loved Mary, especially as Mother of Perpetual Help."
A light shined on in my soul with her words. My father especially loved the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Mary holds
the young Jesus in this picture while angels on either side hold crosses and instruments of Jesus' coming torment and passion.
Mary appears worried and concerned for Jesus, not perfect and above all pain. I embraced this Mary, cried and prayed to Mary,
Mother of Perpetual Help. This is the Mary, I
believe, who prays and supports the new Church in the last time we see Mary in the Acts of the Apostles 1:14. This Mary cries
and rejoices with me, holds us in her arms, and lets us know on this feast of her Assumption that God and Mary love us just
as we are: striving, weak, challenged, and imperfect. Mary, Mother of God guide me and welcome me into the home of your Son
on earth and in eternity. A blessed and grace
filled Assumption to all of you. In St. Therese and St. Benedict,
Brother Fred Buerman, ob.OSB
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality,”
St. Peter. (Acts 10:34)
Greetings dear friends and supporters
of Hand of Help, I am very blessed to be in touch with you all once again. These words from St. Peter shared in the Acts of
the Apostles are compelling and dramatic in their power and simplicity. This statement coming from Peter who was raised in
a time and culture based on God’s partiality for Israel continues to amaze me each time I read and hear these words
proclaimed.
This Easter time is no different. Peter
embraced, confronted, and loved by the Risen Lord, lives a new life in Jesus’ Spirit. The exact context of his words
is Peter’s visit to the house of the gentile, Cornelius. St. Luke records: “The circumcised believers who had
accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they
could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.”
The Acts of the Apostles vibrate and pulsate with new life in Jesus’ Spirit. Apostles and
disciples, men and woman of this first Post-Resurrection community are taken beyond their comfort zones, called to love and
be loved by people and in places beyond their wildest dreams. 
Friends, you and I are also called in the Jesus’ Spirit beyond our frontiers
and comfort zones meeting the Lord in people, places, and situations that may astound, amaze, and transform us. A few weeks
ago in the midst of an ordinary day of reading and research for my doctorate in preaching, the Spirit called me.
Father Bill Brown, pastor of Our
Lady of Mercy, in Daly City, CA, one of my bases of mission and community, asked if I might take communion to a parishioner,
Raymond Tyler, gravely ill and perhaps near death at Kaiser Hospital. Coming to Raymond’s room, I was welcomed by Raymond,
his wife, and family. Ray asked me: “Brother Fred, have you brought the Eucharist?”
I answered yes and I saw a peace come over Raymond.
For the next few minutes, we prayed together. Ray’s faith and love for God filled the sick room touching all of us.
Completing our prayers, I asked Ray if he was ready to receive the Lord. He replied: “I can’t digest very well
and I am unable to take in much water right now, but I want to receive Jesus.”
Guided by the Spirit, I offered to give Ray the Lord and then place a little water on my finger for Ray to absorb in
for the digestion. In the Spirit, Ray responded, receiving the Lord and gently taking a little water from my finger. A quiet
joy and peace came from Ray and embraced all of us.
Leaving Ray and his family, I realized that I had brought the Lord, but in truth had
received the Lord from Raymond. The Lord called Raymond home a few days later. Now, I am praying to Raymond.
The Spirit of Jesus moved me beyond my comfort zones and frontiers.
Friends, the Spirit offers all of us this adventure of life in the Lord Jesus. May you and I continue to be open to the Spirit’s
dreams, hopes, plans, and challenges for us this week! In St. Benedict and St. Therese, Brother Fred Buerman, ob. OSB www.handofhelp.info www.holytrinitymonastery.org P.S. Please let us know any prayers,
hopes, and dreams that you have. We love you all and pray for you, the friends, community, and supporters of Hand of Help.
Next week, I will share an update on our mission. I pray in the Spirit that I
may be faithful to these weekly spiritual emails. Thanks for all of your encouragement and patience. Brother Fred.
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