The San Damiano Crucifix
Should we talk about Christ Crucified as we enter the Easter Season? Absolutely!
Prepare The Way of The Lord!
Don't you think John the Baptist (pointing the way to the Lord in this painting by Leonardo da Vinci) would have made a great Franciscan?
Taking, Blessing, Breaking, Giving
Of course I'm biased, but when I was growing up, my Mom spread the best Thanksgiving dinner anywhere!
One Possible Answer to the Mystery of Perfect Joy
This past November found me on several different days for sometimes longer than an hour sitting in front of, praying before and meditating upon the original San Damiano Cross that once spoke to St. Francis
Miserando atque Eligendo
I welcomed everyone to our National Chapter at the Savior Pastoral Center outside of Kansas City, Kansas, with the words: “Miserando atque Eligendo.”
Praying The Rosary for Our Four Fraternities
Please permit me to request every Secular Franciscan in the United States to pray the Third Decade of the Rosary for our One Secular Franciscan Order and our Four Fraternities to which each of us belongs!
Conversion Times Three–Five Point Plan Pages 29-33
By Dear Brothers and Sisters of Penance,
May the Lord bring us Peace! By our very definition as “Brothers and Sisters of Penance,” any day is a good day for repentance or conversion. After all, our Secular Franciscan Rule 7 states: “United by […]
“Fraternity and Francis” In Following the Franciscan Way
At every step in following the Franciscan Way, from Inquiry to Ongoing Formation, in prayer, one should journey with Sacred Scriptures in one hand and the Secular Franciscan Rule and General Constitutions in the other hand, and with both eyes, as clearly as possible, focused on Christ and Francis.
For All The Saints: St. Francis’s Five-Point Plan for Salvation
By Deacon Tom Bello, OFS As I have said many times, we are wasting each other’s time in fraternity if we are not, as good Secular Franciscans, trying to bring each other to salvation. Please permit me to do my part and share with you Saint Francis’s Five-Point Plan for Salvation, found in the very first words of the Prologue in our Secular Franciscan Rule: