Layna and Francine led this session on Clare, and her powerful method of prayer which she shared in her letter to St. Agnes. Layna quoted: “Most Nobel Queen, gaze, consider, contemplate, desiring to imitate Your Spouse.”
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to the desert. Let us simply ask the Holy Spirit to lead us, too, during this Lenten season. I know God will give each of us a very personal answer.
As followers of Francis and Clare, their prayer life inspires us to a deeper relationship with God. But how did they open their hearts and souls? How did they converse with the Almighty, All powerful Lord of all?
Well, it is that glorious time of year again! Our Seraphic Father Francis said that for us, Lent is all year round.. And for these six weeks, Holy Mother Church will share it with us!
Matthew (13:54-58) recounts how, when Jesus came to his hometown and began to teach in the synagogue, people were as- tounded, and even took offense. They knew him as the carpenter’s son; not this new Jesus. “This image of him in the synagogue did not fit the Jesus they had in their heads,”
Up to 18 boxes at a time were delivered for days to the home of Patsy Cueva Philipps, OFS, in Corpus Christi.
New on our Home Page: Fraternity Life - Secular Franciscans live the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in fraternal communion. With a link to Formation resources on "Fraternity Life"
Let’s not point fingers at the church. Let’s get in there and help them as Francis and Clare would have done. Never be a part of the difficulty; be a part of the solution.” He added: “We are in the desert. It’s not an easy task. But with the body of Christ (Corpus Christi), many parts and one head…we can become a powerhouse of spiritual strength that will renew the Church.”
“They seemed to have it all,” noted one attendee as she was leaving the OFS National Chapter in Corpus Christi, Texas.
We’ve been on this journey of renewal for some time now. In the last 40 years the essential structures were set in place – and now we see the progression – the trajectory. What a gift it is to recognize this trajectory as God’s direction for our Order, even as we await its fulfillment.