From Our March 2016 Newsletter

Our March Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday,  March 13th at 1:00 pm in Conway Hall. Please note that due to the regional council’s fraternal/pastorial visit, we will be starting a half hour later than usual.

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.

• Mary – Lou Hips: Arthritis
• Edward – Liver/Lungs
• Frank – UTI (Bladder)
• Joe – Return: Catholic Faith
• Paul – Heart Condition
• Pat – Operation: Pelvis
• Chris – Find Nursing Home
• Melody – Liver Transplant
• Frank (86) – Hospice
• Jamie – Heroin Addiction
• Jeremy – Alcohol Problem
• Peggy – Fractured Hip
• Mark – Bone Cancer
• Anna – Safe Delivery
• Joseph – Discern: Vocation
• Betty – Pain: Shingles

2016 Fairshare

Please remember that this year’s Fairshare contribution of $30 is due by our March meeting.

St. Francis Inn Needs

• Coffee
• Oatmeal
• Laundry Soap
• Sugar
• Big Bars of Soap
• Size 4 Baby Diapers
• Paper Towels
• Toilet Paper
• Prayers

Ongoing Formation

There will be no ongoing formation during our March gathering.

Food for Thought

Jesus has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial. He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting. All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him. Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion. Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the cross. Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him. But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection.Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks. What power there is in pure love for Jesus—love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!

~Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter XI.

•  •  •  •

Of course, unless we understand our own sinfulness, unless we understand the urgency of repentance and reconciliation, the Cross makes no sense; the Resurrection makes no sense. Easter joy is the joy of deliverance and new life. If we don’t believe in our bones that we really do desperately need these things, Easter is just another excuse for a holiday sale; and the Sacrament of Penance, and our fasting and almsgiving, are a waste of time.

But in the silence of our own hearts, if we’re honest, we know we hunger for something more than our own selfishness and mistakes. We were made for glory, and we’re empty of that glory until God fills us with his presence. All things are made new in the victory of Jesus Christ – even sinners like you and me. The blood of the Cross washes away death. It purifies us as vessels for God’s new life. The Resurrection fills us with God’s own life.

~ Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, “Three simple questions on the threshold of Lent – Catholic Philly”