Franciscan Lay Apostolate (F.L.A.)

 

The Franciscan Lay Apostolate  is currently under the direction of Fra Chris Dickson, F.L.A. Along with his staff, the F.L.A. works to foster the spread of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and helps to raise the dignity of people's lives in Appalachia. 

Apostolicam Actuositatem is the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity. It defines the mission of the lay Christian faithful to both "lead non-believers to the faith and to instruct, strengthen, and encourage the faithful to a more fervent life". The lay apostolate is made up from laypeople and consecrated religious who exercise a ministry in cooperation with the Catholic Church. These organizations cooperate with ecclesiastical authorities. They operate "under direction of her pastors" but are not members of the official Church hierarchy nor in Holy Orders. 

Mailing Address:

Portiuncula Hermitage

P.O. Box 34

Jerusalem, Ohio 43747

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Epiphany Blessing 20+C+M+B+26

 

Jesus has come to us: we must welcome Him. How could we refuse such a gracious guest? Jesus has come to our earth, our home, to live with us. He has blessed our earthly dwelling by his very presence. Our Christian identity demands that we “roll out the red carpet” for Christ and show him all due hospitality, as did the Magi (as well as the shepherds, in their own way). Because Epiphany celebrates in a special way our welcoming of the Christ child into our lives, this is traditionally a time of year for the blessing of homes. Having our homes blessed gives us the opportunity to welcome Christ into our homes and hearts, just as the Magi welcomed Christ into the world. Epiphany (and the weeks following) specifically provides, especially if you have never had your home blessed before, an excellent opportunity to have your home blessed by a priest. When was the last time you had a priest come to your home? This is one of the best ways to get to know your pastor: to share a meal and conversation with him in the context of your home, to allow the priest who acts in the person of Christ to bring Christ’s blessing to you.

Fr. Nick Ward

Key Elements of the Blessing

The Inscription (20+C+M+B+26) : 
20__+26: The first two and last two digits of the current year (e.g., 2026). 
C+M+B: Initials for the Three Kings (Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar) or the Latin phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat ("May Christ bless this house"). 
+ Signs: Represent the cross and the star of Bethlehem. 
Materials Needed: Blessed chalk (often from a church) and holy water. 

How to Perform the Blessing

Gather: Family members assemble at the front door. 
Sprinkle Holy Water: Sprinkle holy water in each room while saying prayers or singing hymns. 
Mark the Door: Write the inscription above the main door, saying a prayer like, "May Christ bless this house and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen". 
Say the Blessing Prayer: Recite prayers asking God to bless the home, fill it with His love, and guide the family. 
Leave the Marking: The chalk marking remains until the next year's blessing. 

Purpose & Significance

Invitation to Christ: It's a way to ask Jesus to be a daily presence and guest in the home. 
Symbol of Faith: Marks the home as a Christian dwelling. 
Connection to Baptism: Using holy water recalls baptismal graces. 
Protection & Blessing: Seeks God's protection and blessings for health, love, and obedience to His law for all who live or visit. 

 

The Blessed Virgin Mary Appears Over The Portiuncula Chapel's Altar In Ozark, Ohio

 

Last Summer, during our weekly Saturday Rosary, one of the ladies praying with us in the chapel asked, "Am I the only one here who sees the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing over the Altar?" When everyone inquired, she stood up, walked over to the right side orf the altar and with her finger traced the distinct outline that resembles Our Lady of Guadalupe. This photo does not do it justice. It really pops out when only the side door is open and the light hits it at just the right angle.

Her head is bowed and looking over the Altar.

Fra Chris Dickson, F.L.A. Portiuncula Chapel

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Let The Fire Fall!

 

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The Very First Christmas Creche 1223 A.D.

The good folk [of Greccio, Italy] came and were filled with joy as if for the first time over a whole new mystery. The woods rang with voices, the rocks echoed their festive chorus, the brothers sang their choice praises to the Lord, and the whole night seemed to leap rejoicing. The saint of God stood ecstatically before the manger, his spirit trembling with compassion and ineffable love. Then the priest celebrated the solemnity of the Eucharist over the manger and he too experienced a consolation he'd never tasted before.

Celano - First Life

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Come To The Quiet

 

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Seek To Humble Yourselves In All Things

 

In the love which God is I beseech all my brothers - speakers, workers, whether clerics or laics: Seek to humble yourselves in all things, and do not glory in yourselves or rejoice inwardly, or exalt yourselves for the good words and works or, indeed, of any good which God sometimes says or does or works in you or through you.

Rule of 1221 A.D. - Chapter XVII

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Do Not Look Down Upon Or Judge Ill

 

All the Lesser Brothers are to wear poor clothes and, with God's blessing, let them mend them with pieces of sackcloth or some other materiel. I admonish and encourage them not to look down upon or judge ill of those people they see wearing soft and colorful clothes and enjoying the choicest food and drink. Instead, let each brother criticize and judge himself.

Rule 1223 - Chapter II

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Franciscus Christificatus by FRANCIS THOMPSON

 

Franciscus Christificatus

by

FRANCIS THOMPSON

Thief that has leaped Heaven's star-spiked wall!
Christ's exultant bacchanal!
Wine-smears on thy hand and foot
Of the Vine that struck its root
Deep in Virgin soul, and was
Trained against the reared Cross:
Nay, thy very side its stain
Hath, to make it redly plain
How in the wassail quaffed full part
That flown vintager, thy heart.
Christ in blood stamps Himself afresh
On thy Veronical-veil of flesh.

Lovers, looking with amaze on
Each other, would be that they gaze on:
So for man's love God would be
Man, and man for His love He:
What God in Christ, man has in thee.
God gazed on man and grew embodied,
Thou, on Him gazing, turn'st engodded!
But though he held thy brow-spread tent
His little Heaven above Him bent,
Thy scept'ring reed suffices thee,
Which smote Him into sovereignty.

Thou who thoughtest thee too low
Fir His priest, thou shalt not so
'Scape Him and unpriested go!
In thy hand thou wouldst not hold Him,
In thy flesh thou shalt enfold Him;
Bread wouldst not change into Him...ah see!
How He doth change Himself to thee!

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December 14th: Feast Day of St. John of the Cross

 

December 14, 2025

Feast Day of St. John of the Cross

"Suffering is more fruitful than pleasure. It is in suffering and in stillness that God strengthens the soul. When she is active and satisfied, she practices nothing more than her own inclinations and weaknesses. In suffering, the soul evolves in virtue and purity. She wakes up and grows wiser."

St. John of the Cross - Dark Night of the Soul

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Cum Grande Humilitate!

 

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Blessed Francis had a deeper veneration for the Nativity of our Lord than for other festivals, and he said, 'Since our Lord has been born for us, it is for us to accept salvation.' He wanted every Christian to rejoice in the Lord on that day, for love of Him Who gave Himself for us, he wished everyone generously provide not on for the poor, but for the beasts and birds as well.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Mirror of Perfection - 114

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Portiuncula Indulgence

 

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The most beautiful music you've never heard. — Second Sunday of Advent Gregorian Chant

 

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"Come to the Quiet" Retreat Means Living For God

 

Portiuncula Hermitage Jerusalem, Ohio

The desert is a place of spiritual revolution, not of personal retreat. It is a place of inner protest, not outward peace. It is a place of deep encounter, not of superficial escape. It is a place of repentance, not recuperation. Living in the desert does not mean living without people; it means living for God. Antony and the other desert dwellers never forgot this. They never sought to cut off their connections to other people instantly. They sought rather to refine these relationships increasingly.

Of course, the desert was, on a deeper level, always more than simply a place. It was a way. And it was not the desert that made the Desert Fathers and Mothers, any more than it was the lion that made the martyrs.

In the Heart of the Desert

Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis

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The Miracle Of The Vineyard In Rieti

 

Tiers Vino outside Assisi, Italy

Blessed Francis was staying near the church of St. Fabian in Rieti. A number of cardinals, accompanied by clerics, almost daily visited the saint out of respect and devotion.The church had a small vineyard and since the church had but one door, all those who came to visit passed through that one door, trampling the vineyard under foot. The priest was scandalized and disturbed: "This year," he said, "my vintage is lost. The vineyard is small but every year I harvest enough grapes for my needs."

St. Francis said to the priest: "Stop being disturbed and scandalized: nothing can be done about it. Place your trust in the Lord, because through me, his poor servant, he can repair the damage..."

The priest usually harvested thirteen loads of wine, but that year he harvested twenty from his destroyed vineyard.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 25

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If You Truly Love Your Roman Catholic Faith Then You Absolutely Must Watch This Video!

 

Concerning the Conversion of a Soldier

 

There was a certain strong soldier who had won many victories and later became a Friar Minor. And when soldiers laughed at him because he had joined such an Order rather than the Templars or a similar Order where he could do much good and still fight battles, he replied: "I tell you that when I feel thirst, hunger, cold, and such things, the impulse of pride and concupiscence and such stll attacks me. How much worse would it be if I saw my feet shod in armor and I was on a hadsome horse and so on!"

And he added: "So far I was strong in fighting others-from now on I want to be strong in fighting myself!"

Little Flowers of St. Francis - 17

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By Your Holy Cross You Redeemed The World

 

With his companions Francis now went to live in an abandoned hut near Assisi, where they lived from hand to mouth according to the rule of poverty, in toil and penury, drawing their strength rather from tears of compunction than from any bodily food. They spent the time praying continuously, devoting themselves especially to fervent mental prayer; they had not yet got any of the liturgical books, so that they could not chant the Divine Office. Christ's cross was their book and they studied it day and night, at the exhortation and after the example of their father who never stopped talking to them about the cross. When the friars asked him to teach them how to pray, he said, "When you pray, say the Our Father, and We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches in the whole world and we thank you, because by your holy cross you redeemed the world."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER IV

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Monroe County, Ohio - Begging For Stones

 

Monroe County, Ohio Catholics are being asked to collect all their cut sand stones and drop them off at the Portiuncula Chapel next to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery on Ozark-Eddy Bridge Road. They will be used along a walk way of the Stations of the Cross. 

Francis set to begging for stones with which to restore the church of San Damiano. He called to the passers-by: "Whoever gives me one stone will have one reward; two stones, two rewards; three stones, a treble reward!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER VII

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Prayer For The Portiuncula (In Latin)

 

Domine Deus, sacellum Portiunculae congregationi populi tui destinavimus. In nomine Iesu omnibus spiritibus discordiae vel malitiae cuiuscumque generis discedere iubemus, et rogamus, Deus, ut angelos tuos mittas ad Portiunculam et omnes qui in eventibus hic habitis participant custodiendum et protegendum. Amen.

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Willingly Enduring Suffering, Insults, Humiliations, and Hardships

 

"Above all the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ gives to His friends is that of conquering oneself and willingly enduring suffering, insults, humiliations, and hardships for the love of Christ. For as they are not ours but God's, as the Apostle says: 'What have you that you have not received?'"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 8

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A Fool And A Madman

 

When St. Francis' relatives saw him, they covered him with insults, calling him a fool and a madman, and hurling stones and mud at him. Seeing him so changed, they thought he was out of his mind.

But God's servant paid no heed to all this; unmoved by insults, he thanked almighty God for everything.

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE LEGEND OF ST. FRANCIS
CHAPTER VI

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The Blessed Virgin Mary Appears Over The Portiuncula Chapel's Altar In Ozark, Ohio

Last Summer, during our weekly Saturday Rosary, one of the ladies praying with us in the chapel asked, "Am I the only one here who sees the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing over the Altar?" When everyone inquired, she stood up, walked over to the right side orf the altar and with her finger traced the distinct outline that resembles Our Lady of Guadalupe. This photo does not do it justice. It really pops out when only the side door is open and the light hits it at just the right angle.

Her head is bowed and looking over the Altar.

Fra Chris Dickson, F.L.A. Portiuncula Chapel

Ozark, Ohio

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Our Sisters The Flowers

 

Francis told the brother gardener not to plant vegetables everywhere, but to leave a part of the ground for hardy plants which in time would produce our sisters the flowers. He even said that the brother gardener ought to reserve a place in a corner for a beautiful small garden where he would put all kinds of aromatic herbs and flowering plants so that in their season they might invite all men who looked at them to praise God; for every creature says and proclaims: "God has created me for you, O man!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 51

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When We Are the Bride, Brother, And Mother Of Christ

 

A person is the bride of Christ when their faithful soul is united with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit; we are His brothers we do the will of His Father who is in Heaven (Matthew 12.50), and we are mothers to Him when we enthrone Him in our hearts and souls by love with a pure heart and sincere conscience, and give Him birth by doing good.

Saint Francis of Assisi
LETTER TO ALL THE FAITHFUL

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Portiuncula Chapel In Ozark, Ohio (Adjacent To The Immaculate Conception Cemetery)

 UPDATED VIDEO

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The Portiuncula Hermitage and Retreat Center "Come to the Quiet"

 

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Woe To Those Who Insult You And Refuse You Alms

 

If people insult you and refuse to give you alms, you should thank God for it, because you will be honored before the judgment-seat of our Lord Jesus Christ for these insults. The shame will be imputed to those who cause it, not to those who suffer it.

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE RULE OF 1221
Chapter 9

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Saint Mary of the Portiuncula Chapel (Adjacent to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery in Ozark, Ohio)

 

As a sign of holy poverty and humility, blessed Francis decreed that the churches of the friars were to be small and their houses to be built with only wood and clay. For he wanted the friary of St. Mary of the Portiuncula to be a pattern especially for buildings constructed of wood and clay, so that it might be a permanent memorial for all friars, present and to come, since it was the first and chief house of the whole Order. 

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 11

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