From Our August 2018 Newsletter

Our Next Gathering

We will hold our next monthly gathering on Sunday, August 12th.

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

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.

• Br. Kips new group of postulants
• Kathy C. – healing from bypass operation
• Gordon – lung problem
• Paul – employment
• Sue – health
• Jacqueline – brain tumor
• Carol – mental health
• Steve – finances
• Rose B.  – health
• Betty S. – health
• Anne – health
• Jaime – spiritual and mental health
• C – mental health
• John M. – cancer and family healing
• Mike – healing from paralysis due to spinal infection

Regional Annual Meeting

This year’s Saint Katharine Drexel Region Annual meeting will be held on November 17, 2018. All are welcome. Details to follow in upcoming newsletters.

St. Francis Inn Needs

• Deodorant
• Toothpaste
• Travel Size Toiletries (soap, shampoo, etc.)
• Men’s & Women’s Underwear
• Men’s Shoes
• Diapers (especially 3T-4T & 4T-5T)
• Baby Formula & Baby Food
• Powdered Lemonade & Iced Tea
• Spray Cleaners (e.g. Formula 409)
• Bleach
• Prayers

Formation Information

(Quick note: if you would be interested in helping with our fraternity’s formation activities, please let Lee, Frank, or any of the other council members know.)

For our August formation session we will be  reflecting on St. Francis’ Prayer Before the Crucifix. In preparation for this, please read and consider the following:

– – – – –

The Prayer before the Crucifix
(1205/06)

While Thomas of Celano and Saint Bonaventure characterize the early years of Francis’s life as a struggle to discern God’s will, the author of The Legend of the Three Companions, according to two manuscripts, summarizes Francis’s yearnings in this simple prayer and places it on his lips as he kneels before the Crucifix of the crumbling church of San Damiano in Assisi. The prayer may have been influenced by the liturgical opening prayer of the Eucharistic liturgy. This version of the prayer is based on the simple text found in the majority of Latin manuscripts. As it became more popular, the prayer was embellished and lost some of its simplicity.

Most High,

glorious God,

enlighten the darkness of my heart

and give me

true faith,

certain hope,

and perfect charity,

sense and knowledge,

Lord,

that I may carry out

Your holy and true command.

~  Francis of Assisi: Early Documents,
vol. 1, p. 40