From Our July 2017 Newsletter

Our July Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, July 9th 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

St. Francis Inn Needs

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

Prayer Petitions

Please contact 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.

• Mary – pain relief
• Tom- surgery
• Sue – neck surgery
• Pereira family – healing
• Ken – repose of his soul
• Raven – repose of her soul
• Scotting family – peace and healing
• Kathy – special intention
• R – conversion of his family
• Amanda – addiction
• Psych Choices – mental health of patients
• John and Diane – family healing
• John Gallagher – repose of his soul
• David – stage 4 cancer

Formation Information

During our July ongoing formation session, we will continue looking at the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order with a discussion of Article 15. Please ponder these passages, we well as the rule itself, in preparation for our gathering.

The ministry of promoting justice and peace must, therefore, touch the attitudes and actions of every Secular Franciscan. As important as it is, it is not enough merely to pray for social justice to happen. We have to make it happen! “Individually and collectively” the Secular Franciscans are called to be in the front lines in securing rights for the common good.

~  Benet A. Fonck, OFM, Called to Proclaim Christ: Short reflections on the SFO Rule

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A vast field for the apostolate has opened up on the national and international levels where most of all the laity are called upon to be stewards of Christian wisdom. In loyalty to their country and in faithful fulfillment of their civic obligations, Catholics should feel themselves obliged to promote the true common good. Thus, they should make the weight of their opinion felt, so that civil authority may act with justice, and laws may conform to moral precepts and the common good. Catholics skilled in public affairs and adequately enlightened in faith and Christian doctrine should not refuse to administer public affairs, since by performing this office in a worthy manner they can simultaneously advance the common good and prepare the way for the gospel.

~ Vatican II, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity

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Above all, we must be informed. Our fraternities should be studying questions of peace and justice and deciding what Franciscan positions must be. If those positions seem to encroach on our comfortable way of life, nag at our prejudices, perhaps it is only a sign that the positions are good and true-Christlike. We have to be prepared to sacrifice. When decisions and their carrying-out seem hard, perhaps we can be buoyed up as Francis often must have been-by contemplation of the cross carried on the aching shoulder of a great King crowned with thorns. Then our sacrifices in the name of peace and justice may come to seem small indeed.

~  Adelaide N. Sabath, OFS, Called to Make Present the Charism: Ongoing Formation for Secular Franciscans Based on the Footnotes of the SFO Rule

Scripture: Isaiah 58:6-14 (this is part of the passage in last month’s newsletter that Br. Kip used to talk about what it means to be a Franciscan penitent.