From Our September 2017 Newsletter

Our September Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, September 10th at 12:30 pm in Conway Hall. We will participate in ongoing formation, have some social time with our fraternal family, and then recite the Franciscan Crown Rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours.

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 and Women’s Underwear
• Men’s Shoes
• Coffee
• Deodorant
• Travel size shampoo
• Sugar
• 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.

• Emily Maxlowe – surgery
• C.B. – spiritual guidance and growth
• T.L. – addiction and overall health issues
• J.W. – growth and direction
• Marilyn – divorce and guidance, mental healing
• Bayleigh – healing from epilepsy

Formation Information

It looks as if I’m going to be missing the September gathering but Brother Kip has been kind enough to offer to do the ongoing formation session. In order to prepare, please read the handout included with the newsletter. It is a  transcript of the third in a series of lectures Pope Benedict XVI gave about St. Bonaventure. Brother Kip’s talk will be on Renewing the Rule in Your Heart.

Food for thought

For those who are “called to follow Christ in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi” (Article #1), particularly through the Secular Franciscan Order, the rule of life becomes the central focus and basic font for setting forth the evangelical goals of life, for unraveling the meaning of the gospel commitment, and for detailing the means to be evangelized and to evangelize others with the supportive context of life in fraternity.

For this reason, the rule needs to be read, understood, digested, and absorbed into the personal and communal existence of every Secular Franciscan.

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

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Perhaps, you will not be required to pour out your blood as a martyr, but you will certainly be asked to give a coherent and steadfast witness in fulfilling the promises made at your Baptism and Confirmation, which you renewed and confirmed with your profession in the Franciscan Secular Order. By virtue of this profession, the Rule and the General Constitutions must represent for each of you the point of reference for daily living, based on your explicit vocation and special identity (cf. Promulgation of the General Constitutions of the SFO). If you are truly driven by the Spirit to reach the perfection of charity in your secular state, “it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity” (Novo Millennio ineunte, n. 31). You must be sincerely dedicated to that “high standard of ordinary Christian living” (ibid.), to which I invited all the faithful at the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

~ John Paul II , Address to the Secular Franciscan Order, Friday, 22 November 2002

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Living the spirit spelled out in the Rule and Constitutions is the criterion that proves the legitimacy of our calling. Our vocation expects us to give flesh, in daily life, to the words of our Franciscan profession. Love of people, conversion, reconciliation, forgiveness, contemplation, love for all of creation, prayerfulness, etc. become normal for us.

~ Lester Bach, OFM Cap, The Franciscan Journey: Embracing the Franciscan Vision