From our February 2015 Newsletter

Our February Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, February 8th at 12:30 pm in Conway Hall. We will participate in ongoing formation, recite the Franciscan Crown Rosary and, after our regular meeting and prayers, we will proceed to St. Francis Church for Benediction.

If you are unable to fulfill your obligation to attend the monthly meeting, please call Pat Simon at 610-352-5390
“And we will be involved in the monthly meeting as an act of worship and a building of community.”
–from The Lay Franciscan Monthly Pledge

Prayer Petitions

Please contact Antoinette if you would like to include a petition in the newsletter. A new list will be generated each month.

• Cynthia – Knee Surgery
• Fran – Strength: Family Needs
• Mike – Find New Job
• Stella – Pain: Right shoulder & Left Hip.
• Lisa – Strength: Husband Died
• Jaine – Serious Illness
• Jack – Mental Breakdown
• Fred – Parkinson Disease
• Sue – Vertebrate Surgery
• Bill – Another Spot: Cancer

St. Francis Inn Needs

• 4,5,6 Diapers
• Sugar
• Toilette Paper
• Prayers

Mothers’ Home Mornings Apostolate

Our next visit will be Saturday the 13th. Please plan on meeting there at 9:00 am sharp. If you can’t be there in person, we ask that you be there spritually by devot­ing some of the morning to holding the staff and residents of the Home in prayer.

Formation Information

In February we will continue our journey through the Secular Franciscan Rule with a discussion of Article 8. Readings and questions for comtemplation are included with this newsletter and are available on our website. Please be sure to take time to prayerfully review this material in preparation. Special thanks to Marie Gilligan for leading the January session.

Food for Thought

A serious life of contemplative prayer is very important for the times in which we live. The traditional structures of support that have made our lives comfortable and easy are presently engulfed in confusion, but transformation is slowly taking place.

God is moving us away from clinging to things, people and institutions. He is calling us to detachment, to the desert, to the journey into the night of naked faith. He is calling us to cling to him, and only him. This journey is difficult, frightening at times, and even risky. But, those who embark upon the journey will be trans-formed into living witnesses of the God *of love.

. . . . .

~ Fr. James Farfaglia, Prayer Is the Only Way

As Francis indicated in his Admonitions, the heart must not turn away from God under “pretexts” of occupations. Too often today in our busy world we hear complaints of “I do not have enough time” to pray, or “I am too busy to pray.” We are burdened by appointments, commitments, respon-sibilities or simply overloaded with the demands of daily life, journeying through life in the fast lane of a complex culture. When we arrive at “burnout” and wonder why life is so empty, we may recall Francis’ admonition that our hearts may turn from God under the disguise of being “too busy.”

. . . . .

~ Ilia Delio, Franciscan Prayer

We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: “I will pray, and then I will understand.” This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.

~ Saint Charles Borromeo