Brother Nicholas Spano Takes Nothing for Granted

(from left to right) Friar Justin Biase, Brother Nicholas Spano, Friar Matt Foley, and Friar Michael Kolodziej

Last autumn Brother Nicholas Spano moved upstate from the Franciscan friars’ provincial house in Rensselaer, New York to Assumption Parish in Syracuse where he works at the Franciscan Collaborative Ministries (FCM).  The FCM is an effort in which Franciscan friars and sisters as well as lay people run various services in the Northside of Syracuse to help that neighborhood’s impoverished population. Brother Nicholas being a Franciscan comes from a tradition of service that spans eight centuries.

In Syracuse Nicholas has been working at the food pantry and soup kitchen. While cleaning the food pantry one day soon after arriving in Syracuse he found a pin of a little friar carrying a basket full of fresh crusty bread.  The words “Don’t take the bread for granted” were also on the pin.  Taking the expression to heart, Brother Nicholas has kept the pin on his desk to remind him that nothing in life should be taken for granted.

The FCM food pantry and soup kitchen are open every day of the week between 11 am and 1 pm. Every person who visits the pantry and kitchen receives a sandwich and soup.  Brother Nicholas meets many of the people who come to the pantry and kitchen. He sees how much they suffer, but also knows that hope does exist. He notices it in the many acts of love and kindness around him.

(Source of all related images on webpage and homepage: Conventual Franciscans.)