Franciscan Friday
Tapping into Potential at the Portiuncula
As the Feast of the Portiuncula approaches, I find myself reflecting on my own visit there this past May. It was my fourth day in Assisi, and I finally felt like I was through the worst of the jet lag and fogginess that comes with it. The day before had been mostly spent in silent…
Read MoreOFM Congress: Enzo Bianchi’s Three Elements for Evangelization
Communications Manager Bridget Higginbotham blogs about her experience last month at the Order of Friars Minor first international congress on mission and evangelization. What does “evangelization” mean and how do we do it? According to Enzo Bianchi, one of the first lecturers at the OFM Congresso, evangelization means to give witness and bear testimony, but not necessarily…
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Community 101: Learning to Love
For the next four weeks, we will feature a four part series on faith in community every Franciscan Friday: “Community 101: An Introduction to Intentional Living”! and would like weekly contributors to highlight specific features of intentional-living in faith communities: Prayer, Listening, Sharing, and Learning to Love. Today’s post is by Ryan Murphy, who lived…
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Community 101: Prayer
For the next four weeks, we will feature a four part series on faith in community every Franciscan Friday: “Community 101: An Introduction to Intentional Living”! It will feature weekly contributors highlighting specific features of intentional-living in faith communities: Prayer, Listening, Sharing, and Learning to Love. Today’s post about prayer is by Paola Piscitelli, President…
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Franciscan Friday: Welcome, Shenelle!
We extend a warm welcome to our summer intern: Shenelle Sanoir! After joining our office this week, Shenelle Sanoir will be working at Franciscan Mission Service throughout the summer and gaining first-hand experience in nonprofit leadership. A Maryland resident, Shenelle is a rising senior at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia where she studies International Business. A student…
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When My Story and Your Story Becomes Our Story
Lay missioner Annemarie Barrett reflects on what she’s learned about solidarity in the past few months of serving in Bolivia. I once heard solidarity defined as, “When my story and your story becomes our story.” That definition touched my very core. It resonated with my experiences of accompanying families in El Salvador and my time…
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Franciscan Friday: No Violencia – En Español!
Missioner Annemarie Barrett on the Onda Verde radio show with Bolivian friar Efrain in Cochabamba This week, Franciscan Mission Service missioners took to the airways to discuss nonviolence. The discussion between current missioner Annemarie Barrett and former missioner Nora Pfeiffer took place on Onda Verde, a Franciscans International – Bolivia radio show on which Nora…
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Franciscan Friday: Bridge Building at the Summer Confabulation
Photo by flikr user Conrad Kuiper – Creative Commons Bridge building is important. It creates avenues for mutual understanding, opens the lines for communication, paves the way for peacemaking, fosters community, and more. Bridge building is so important, in fact, that it’s the 2013 theme for the National Secular Franciscan Order USA. And this theme…
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Franciscan Friday: Praying for World Youth Day
Every two to three years since 1984, millions of teens and young adults from around the globe gather together for a week of celebrating their faith with the pope. This year’s World Youth Day festivities started on Tuesday and run until Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under the motto, “Go and make disciples of…
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Francsican Friday: Meet Our Newest Staff Member
Natalie Helfrick This week we welcomed the newest member of the Franciscan Mission Service team: Natalie Helfrick, program coordinator! With her passion and experience with the ministry of presence, we are confident in Natalie’s ability to journey with our long-term overseas missioners from discernment through formation, service abroad, and re-entry. She will also be a…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday: Part 2 of “Francis and the Foolishness of God” Podcast
This week we continue to our latest podcast series that focuses on the book, “St. Francis and the Foolishness of God,” by Marie Dennis, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Stuart Taylor and Fr. Joe Jangle, OFM. In this multi-part series, recorded during our fall 2012 formation class, Fr. Joe takes listeners through the thought process behind the book…
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Franciscan Friday: The Franciscan Family Tree
Explaining the Franciscan “family tree” is no easy feat. The simple man from Assisi inspired and attracted so many people to his Gospel-driven lifestyle over the centuries, and each person has found (or created) his or her own place in the vast movement. Whether male or female, religious or lay, professed or just interested in…
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Recommiting to a Life-Long Mission
Mission does not end with a flight back to the U.S. It does not end with the completion of a term of service or a year of volunteering. Every three years, our returned missioners from across the country gather in Colorado for three days to reflect on this fact. This weekend, our retreat centers around…
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Franciscan Friday: Prayers from South Africa
South Africa is on our hearts and in our minds as we lead seven college students on a Short-Term Mission and Global Awareness Trip this week. By engaging with locals, the students will learn about nation’s history of apartheid as well as current realities faced by some of its residents, including HIV/AIDS and poverty. Each…
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2013 Anselm Moons, OFM Award Recipient – Sr. Pat Farrell, OSF
Photo by Jerry Martineau Friday, April 5, we held our World Care Annual Benefit & Celebration where Sr. Pat Farrell, OSF, received the Anselm Moons, OFM Award as part of the evening’s program.We had an inspiring night with Sr. Pat’s stories of mission work abroad and her most recent work with the Leadership Conference of…
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Franciscan Friday: Coming Together to Be Good Stewards
We wrap up this week’s Walking in Solidarity theme of “Investing in Solidarity: Stewardship of Resources” with a reflection by Br. Hermann Borg, OFM, a German friar serving in Kenya with the Mother Earth Network. Some of Mother Earth Network’s ministries include planting trees, environmental conservation and restoration, community mobilization, education and raising awareness about…
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Franciscan Friday: Solidarity with Workers
Continuing this week’s Walking in Solidarity theme of “Living Solidarity: Work, Family and Citizenship,” Secular Franciscan Susan Burke offers a reflection on what her work has taught her about solidarity. When I went to work for a union almost 18 years ago, I wasn’t as excited about it as I might have been. It didn’t…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday: The Fasting That I Wish
Today is only the third day of Lent, so chances are good that your fast is still going strong. Three days without whatever you “gave up” – be it sweets, television, alcohol, coffee, Facebook – probably has not been too bad. By fasting from temptations and distractions over these 40 days, we can purify ourselves…
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Franciscan Friday: Look At Our Reality From the Perspective of the Poor
Recently I found myself in a small upper room in a Franciscan Spirituality Center in Tarata, a town about an hour drive outside of Cochabamba, Bolivia. I was sitting in a plastic chair in a circle of Franciscan volunteers from around the world, some from Germany, others from Brazil, and me from the United States.…
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Franciscan Friday: Preparing for a Green Lent
As we approach the season of Lent, keep in mind these suggestions to add to your observance. It’s hard to believe that Lent is just a few weeks away. It feels like we just finished Christmas, a time of light and hope and new beginnings, and soon we’ll be immersed in a time we often…
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Francsican Friday: Humbleness of the Incarnation and the Goodness of God
In the last week of Advent the readings turn to the theme of the coming of the Lord. Readings from the Old Testament remind us of the promises of God that are being fulfilled, and the New Testament readings speak to us of the lives of those who took part in the drama of the…
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Franciscan Friday: Water and Advent
Kedem Waterfall, Judean Desert, Israel (Wikicommons). Those who live in the Middle East know the suffering associated with life in the desert. Their very existence depends on the oftentimes scarce supply of water. In the beginning of the second week of Advent Isaiah bases one of his lessons on this reality. In Chapter 35 he…
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Franciscan Friday: Nurturing The Gifts From God
1896 etching by William Strutt On Tuesday of the first week of Advent, Isaiah writes in chapter 11 about how God can foster life in situations where death seemingly reigns. He says that: “On that day a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” In this…
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Christmas without Consumerism: Unwrapping some Franciscan Thoughts
Just in time for the holidays, Fr. David B. Couturier, OFM Cap., helps us focus on the reason for the season with a two-part Franciscan Friday series on having a Christmas without consumerism. Christmas is a time for tradition and rituals. Unfortunately, many of the customs we have been developing lately are stressful and inordinately…
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Franciscan Friday: Insights on Interreligious Dialogue
At the recent United States Catholic Mission Association conference in Los Angeles on interreligious dialogue, Br. John Kiesler, OFM, presented a workshop on what insights we can draw from St. Francis’ encounter with the sultan. Today we share the first of two parts of Br. John’s workshop. Francis Before the Sultan by Giotto (image in…
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San Damiano Cross: Telling the History of Christ’s Passion
The San Damiano cross is the large Romanesque rood cross that hung in the abandoned chapel near Assisi. While still in his early 20’s and seeking his place in the world, Francis of Assisi was praying before this cross when he heard the voice of God commanding him to “rebuild my church.” It is because…
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The Face of Hunger : Who is my brother? Who is my sister?
We’re featuring guest posts from fellow Franciscan organizations dealing with hunger in the U.S. as part of Hunger Action Month. Today’s post comes from a St. Francis Inn Ministries in Pennsylvania. On July 19, 393 people came to the doors of St. Francis Inn, a soup kitchen in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, for a…
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Hunger Action Month: Welcoming the Nameless is Welcoming Change
As part of Hunger Action Month, we’re featuring guest posts from fellow Franciscan organizations dealing with hunger in the U.S. Today’s post comes from a Franciscan Outreach Volunteer serving at a soup kitchen in Chicago. Franciscan Outreach Association’s Marquard Center serves dinner to roughly 100 guests every night of the year. In addition to that,…
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Ramadan: “My Lord, forgive me”
Today is the last post in our special Franciscan Friday series on Ramadan by guest blogger Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM. “Asking forgiveness for one’s sins is an essential aspect of Islamic prayer and Ramadan.” The last couple of weeks seem to have been particularly violent in the world and in the U.S. In Egypt, tensions…
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Franciscan Friday’s on Ramadan: Preparing for the Light
To celebrate interfaith friendship and St. Francis’ history with Islam, Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM is guest blogging about Ramadan every Friday though August 17. A shop in Cairo displaying Ramadan lanterns for sale. Dates – the sugary sweet fruit of the palm tree. They are the first food traditionally eaten after a day of fasting…
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Franciscan Friday’s on Ramadan: Fasting to Reorient
To celebrate interfaith friendship and St. Francis’ history with Islam, Franciscan Fridays is starting a series on Ramadan. Check back every Friday though August 17 for posts by Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM. A late-medieval Qur’an from Spain, opened to Sura (Chapter) 40 which begins: “The revelation of the Book is from God, the Mighty and…
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Franciscan Friday: Friar in South Africa Receives Awards
Fr. Stan Brennan, OFM [EDITOR’ NOTE, JULY 6, 2012: We have learned that Fr. Stan passed away today. Last Sunday he joined Tim, Cecilia and other members of St. Francis Care for prayer, and he received communion in his wheelchair from Tim. “It was wonderful to be together in his company with the group,” Cecilia…
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Franciscan Friday: Prayer for Missioners
Michael Redell Kitzi Hendricks Susan Slavin Missioners Michael Redell and Kitzi Hendricks arrived in Bolivia today while Susan Slavin makes her final preparations for Kenya. As they begin their two-year mission journey abroad, please join us in praying the Franciscan Prayer for Missioners: Lord, make our sisters and brothers serving in other countries instruments of your peace. .…
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