From Our February 2018 Newsletter

Our February Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, February 11th 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

Annual Fair Share

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

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.

Clothing Drive

Dear Brothers and sisters:

Consistent with our mission to spread love to all, I have committed our Fraternity to a clothing drive for the homeless.

Beginning with the February 2018 meeting, please bring any old, discarded or unused clothing which you have or may secure. I will have the clothing sorted and bagged. My daughter, her friend and I will then take the clothing to the Kensington homeless area for distribution.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and assistance.

Pax et bonum,
Frank

St. Francis Inn Needs

• Sugar
• Diapers
• Large Cans of Coffee
• Men’s & Women’s Underwear
• Men’s Shoes
• Toilet Paper
• Deodorant
• Travel and Regular Sized Shampoo
• 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.

• Terri – conversion of family, healing and diagnostics for Marybeth
• Sue – Teresa’s recovery from surgery and Carols’s return to sacraments
• Marie – special intention to do God’s will for your family
• Ray J. – breathing problems
• Maryann S. – healing for liver cancer, healing of breast cancer
• Sean – healing

Formation Information

Since we’re about to start the season of Lent, let’s have an open discussion about what special, personal devotions, practices and observances you have to help you prepare for Easter.

Food for thought

Despite all of this trouble, this overthinking, the potential for scrupulosity, I must confess: I love Lent. I love the sense of possibility the season implies. I love the symbolism that comes along with it. I love that it compels me to act, to change, to rethink how I am living, in a way that is more purposeful than at any other time of year.

~   Kerry Weber, Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job

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Every year God offers us this great season of humility as a chance to remember who we are as believers, reflect soberly on our actions and refocus ourselves on the source of our hope, the only real hope of a bloody and despairing world:  Jesus Christ.  We do this through prayer, silence, the sacrament of penance, seeking out and reconciling with those whom we’ve hurt, forgiving those who’ve hurt us, generosity to the poor, and fasting, not just from food, but from all those many things that distract us from the God who made and loves us.

~  Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M.Cap., Preparing for the journey of Lent, 2013 via Catholic Philly