From Our June 2017 Newsletter

Our June Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, June 11th 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.

Please do your best to arrive on time (or even a little early) so we can begin our gathering promptly at 12:30.

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.

• Walt – heal shoulder
• Frances – heart health
• Frank – dental health
• Larry – heal ribs
• KC – conversion of family
• Anne – left eye
• Cloud – mental health
• Jeannette and Bill – health
• McDonald Family – Grieving/healing
• Stefanie, Annabella and Ed – Recovery from sickness
• Carol and Joan – good health
• Vince – transplant/health
• Betty – Clean bill of health
• Arnold – leukemia
• Carol – mental and physical health
• Mike and Betty – conversion of family and healing from loss
• Julie and Gregg – divorce/healing
• Pat -Physical health deteriorating from botched surgery
• David – stage 4 cancer

St. Francis Inn Needs

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

Formation Information

At out June gathering, Brother Kip will be talking about expectations related to the role of a Fraternity’s Spiritual Assistant as well as what it means to be a Franciscan Penitent. In preparation for his talk, please review the material below.

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I speak to you, as best I can, about the state of your soul. You must consider as grace all that impedes you from loving the Lord God and whoever has become an impediment to you, whether brothers or others, even if they lay hands on you. And may you want it to be this way and not otherwise. And let this be for you the true obedience of the Lord God and my true obedience, for I know with certitude that it is true obedience. And love those who do those things to you and do not wish anything different from them, unless it is something the Lord God shall have given you. And love them in this and do not wish that they be better Christians. And let this be more than a hermitage for you.

~ St. Francis, A Letter to a Minister

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3  “Why do we fast, but you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, but you take no note?”
See, on your fast day you carry out your
own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.

4  See, you fast only to quarrel and fight
and to strike with a wicked fist!
Do not fast as you do today
to make your voice heard on high!

5  Is this the manner of fasting I would choose,
a day to afflict oneself?
To bow one’s head like a reed,
and lie upon sackcloth and ashes?
Is this what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

6  Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?

7  Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?

8  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

9  Then you shall call, and the LORD
will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here
I am!”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

10  If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday;

11  Then the LORD will guide you always
and satisfy your thirst in parched places,
will give strength to your bones
And you shall be like a watered garden,
like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.

12  Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins;
the foundations from ages past you shall
raise up;
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”

13  If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from following your own pursuits on my
holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
the LORD’s holy day glorious;
If you glorify it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs—

14  Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

~ Isaiah 58:3-14