From Our July 2018 Newsletter

(So sorry for the delay in posting the newsletter to the site.)

Our July Gathering

We will hold our monthly gathering on Sunday, July 8th.

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PLEASE NOTE: Due to ongoing Conway Hall renovations, we will be meeting at a different venue in July and August:

St. Joseph Parish Hall
500 Woodlawn Ave.
Collingdale, PA 19023

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Thanks for making these arrangements for us Marie!

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.

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 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 F. – health issues, physical and mental, emotional and drug rehab
• Kathy – heart health -double bypass surgery in July
• John -homeless and destitute
• Carol – mental health
• Alice – Recovery from blood clot on brain for brother-in-law
• Loretta – healing of back
• Anne F. – physical healing
• Frank – physical and spiritual healing
• Dr. Tiangson – spread of PRO LIFE and NAPRO Technology (Creighton Model Fertility Care Instruction)
• Rita – special intentions
• Jamie – spiritual and mental health
• C – spiritual and mental health
• Mike – healing from paralysis and strength for his family
• Joyce R – wrist and facial injury after
  a fall

St. Francis Inn Needs

• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Paper Towels
• Toilet Paper
• Tissues
• Travel Size Toiletries (soap,
  shampoo, etc)
• Men’s (particularly boxers)
• Women’s Underwear
• Men’s Shoes
• Diapers (especially #3)
• Baby Wipes
• Powdered Lemonade
• Iced Tea
• Spray Cleaners (e.g. Formula 409)
• Bleach
• Prayers

Formation Information

June 24rd marked the 40th anniversary of the Secular Franciscan Rule of 1978; the so called “New Rule.”  To mark this special milestone, our Minister General, Tibor Kauser, has announced the celebration of a Jubilee Year from June 6, 2018, to June 6, 2019 (the rule was actually approved on June 24, 1978, with the apostolic letter Seraphicus Patriarcha).

CIOFS, our international fraternity, has prepared a special gift for us to help us celebrate. It is a 12-minute video, entitled, “Forty years of the ‘New’ Rule. A Treasure for the OFS.”  It provides an historical perspective on the Rule of 1978 and a beautiful summary.

If the audio-visual equipment cooperates, we will be watching this video and will use it as the starting point for a broad discussion about how the Rule has impacted our lives and the ways we have found to live the rule as we have professed we would.

Food for Thought

I, [your name], by the grace of God, renew my baptismal promises and consecrate myself to the service of his kingdom. Therefore, in my secular state I promise to live all the days of my life the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Secular Franciscan Order by observing its rule of life.

~ “Profession or Commitment to the Gospel Life” From the Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order

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To celebrate our Rule is to make it live, only this way will we be faithful to the proposal of Jesus, who invites us to love one another as brothers. Francis of Assisi has given us the example of the grace of conversion as a great gift, which commits us to continue to follow the Franciscan path with courage and love. Our Rule, a truly Franciscan one, helps us to discover, how shall we live our vocation on a daily basis, what should our everyday life be like. We are not ‘Sunday Franciscans’ or ‘afternoon Franciscans’. The Rule has to inspire each moment of our life, so that we get to a kind of behavior, a habit.

~ June 24, 2018 letter from Tibor Kauser, CIOFS Minister General, to all his sisters and brothers in the Secular Franciscan Order, all over the world, celebrating the 40th anniversary of our Rule of Life