Celebrating Sister Mother Earth
In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.
As We Look to Our Own Wellbeing, Think of Others
As part of our Franciscan charism, we have the idea that not only do we need to look to our own wellbeing, but we must also consider the welfare of others who surround us, even if our own life is not going the way we want it. For this, we have the example of St. Francis and his encounter with the leper. Francis was going through a major conversion point in his life (as he would for most of his life).
A Culture of Contempt
This Prayer of the Church and the Profession of the OFS Rule direct our witness and mission to build a more fraternal and Gospel-centered world. In St Francis’ day, and in our own day, the members of the Franciscan Family are in a continuous struggle to build an alternative society.
REMEMBERING FATHER LESTER BACH, OFM CAP.
With the death of Fr. Lester Bach, OFM Cap, Secular Franciscans lost a friend, mentor, author, spiritual assistant, and beloved friar on Feb. 2, 2020.
2018-2021 National Priority: Fraternity Life–Living Fraternal Communion
During the Easter season, we read at Mass about the growth of the early Christian community as described in the Acts of the Apostles. “These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers."
Paraclete Press Online Retreat – Prayer, Our Deepest Hunger
How is prayer experienced as a hunger? How does the Spirit pray through us “in groans that are too deep for words?” How do we “pray always?”
Animator Notes: Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Newsletter Special Edition
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this. Once again, we are at a moment in time when yet another unarmed person of color is brutally and viciously murdered at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve. And yet, this time something is different.
Statement on Racism from the National Commission of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of the U.S. Secular Franciscan
How long, O LORD, must I cry for help and you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” and you do not intervene? Why do you let me see iniquity? Why do you simply gaze at evil?
Minister’s Message
Each of us, as we follow God's path for us, find ourselves in places we never dreamed we would be, doing things we never thought we would do.
We need to Be More Welcoming to Build Our Church & Our Fraternities!
He (Jesus) makes them (his disciples) see that the Christian journey is about changing hearts. It is about learning to live differently, under a different law, with different rules. It is about turning from the path of selfishness, conflict, division and superiority, and taking instead the path of life, generosity and love. It is about passing from a mentality which domineers, stifles and manipulates to a mentality which welcomes, accepts and cares.