From Our March 2017 Newsletter

Our March Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, March 12th 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.”

~ The Lay Franciscan Monthly Pledge

Prayer Petitions

Please contact Mrs. Fran Urso at francesurs@aol.com or 610-202-8965 if you would like to include a petition in the newsletter. A new list will be generated each month.

• Patty – cure for cancer
• Walt – rotary cuff operation
• Claire Quinn – repose of her soul
• Jack- healing
• Rose – healing
• Mary Lou – healing/rehab
• Kathy – special intention
• Walt – better job
• Jamie – continued sobriety and healing
• CC- spiritual strength

St. Francis Inn Needs

• Men’s & Women’s Underwear
• Men’s Shoes
• Dinner-size Forks
• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Paper Towels
• Prayers

Annual Fair Share

Please remember that this year’s Fairshare contribution of $30 is due this month.

The Fair Share is not meant to be a hardship on anyone. If your financial circumstances makes it difficult to contribute please let a council member know.

Formation Information

During our March ongoing formation session, we will continue looking at the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order with a discussion of Article 14. Please ponder these passages, we well as the rule itself, in preparation for our gathering.

Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness. Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show their capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good. Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one. Here we have an initial act of evangelization. The above questions when asked, will discover whether they are people to whom Christ has never been proclaimed, or baptized people who do not practice, or people who live as nominal Christians but according to principles that are in no way Christian, or people who are seeking, and not without suffering, something or someone whom they sense but cannot name. Other questions will arise, deeper and more demanding ones, questions evoked by this witness which involves presence, sharing, solidarity, and which is an essential element, and generally the first one, in evangelization.”

All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers.

~  Evangelii Nuntiandi, Apostolic Exhortation of His Holiness Pope Paul VI

Before the San Damiano cross, the Lord called Francis to “rebuild my Church.” So, for Francis this rebuilding through service was the external manifestation of his interior conversion. But just as his interior conversion developed and deepened only gradually, so his service to his brothers and sisters and his understanding of it grew slowly. it began with the impersonal restoration of a country church. It grew into his continual, personal, loving care of lepers, the outcasts of society. It found expression as opportunities presented themselves-the arbitration of a dispute between a mayor and a bishop, the taming of the wolf at Gubbio, eating with a starving brother. It even extended to the social issues of his day: the oath of fealty and the bearing of arms-the cause of much civil unrest at the time. These he opposed vehemently but not negatively; he emphasized the positive aspects of fraternal service and the peace that results therefrom.

Our opportunities for building the kingdom may not be so spectacular. To build a more fraternal and evangelical world does not necessarily require that we do profound things to reach others; yet we are called to exercise a responsible, daily effort.

~  Called to Follow Christ, Benet A. Fonck, OFM