Permit me to offer in this article the "flip side" of the article "Miserando atque Eligendo.” In that article, I focused on Christ’s “looking with mercy” (miserando) on Levi, a tax collector, on our Holy Father Pope Francis and on all of us in “choosing” (eligendo) us to follow Him. In this article, I will focus on our response to our Lord's merciful choice or election of us to "Follow me."
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!
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 […]
Regardless of provenance, the Franciscan Peace Prayer offers a wonderful Lenten source of meditation.
When St. Francis called us into an Order in the very beginning and wrote our Rule, he considered and named us, "Brothers and Sisters of Penance." Let us spend a few moments in this Lenten Season unpacking our name.
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.
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:
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,”
“Let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do . . . going from gospel to life and life to the gospel” (O.F.S. Rule, articles #8 and #4). How are Secular Franciscans called to pray communally, privately and liturgically? Consider these reflections in a digest article by Teresa Baker, OFS.
Francis, like all Medieval Christians, had a special devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus. As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, here is an article that discusses the importance of Mary in Franciscan life.