"CUM GRANDE HUMILITATE!"

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words."

A special "Thank you!"
Goes out to
John Michael Talbot
for giving us permission
to use his song on our
"Come to the Quiet"
You Tube Video
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Showing posts with label Healing Mass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healing Mass. Show all posts

Saturday, May 08, 2010

"Come To The Quiet" Men's Retreats At Portiuncula Hermitage



Dr. Tom Ringenberg during personal prayer time at the
Portiuncula Hermitage in Jerusalem, Ohio


Dear Christian Brothers,

Having just experienced one of the most peaceful and fulfilling weekends of my Christian life, I feel led to write you and encourage you to take a fresh breath of the clean air at the Portiuncula Retreat in Jerusalem Ohio. Surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation in the hills of Appalachia, I was refreshed in God’s peace.

The initial reaction to a weekend of silence, fasting and prayer was mixed as I revel in the world’s flash of media and the madness of twenty-four hour news. I feared boredom and the lack of external stimulus. But God is good, and He provided plenty for me. Walks in the woods and fields, silent prayer and meditation, communal prayer with my Brothers in Christ, prayers of intercession, and theological discussion on the travel to and from Jerusalem, stimulated my spirit far more than my flesh has ever been stimulated.

It is my hope that Portiuncula will become a haven for those who need a fresh touch of God. I will return soon to restore my soul with peace. Join me in supporting the Portiuncula project by attending a retreat weekend of fasting, prayer, brotherhood and silence in the Franciscan Tradition.

Yours In Christ,

Dr. Tom Ringenberg
Centerville, IN

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Monday, April 05, 2010

Finding Time To Be Alone At The Portiuncula

The woods above Eremo, Italy

If you wish to grow in your spiritual life, you must not allow yourself to be caught up in the workings of the world; you must find time alone, away from the noise and confusion, away from the allure of power and wealth.

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
THOMAS A KEMPIS

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Peace And Tranquility At The Portiuncula


Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage and Retreat Center
Jerusalem, Ohio


"If the body takes its food in quiet, which, along with itself, will become the food of worms, with what great peace and tranquility should not the soul take its food, which is God himself."


Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER LXIII

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Shelter Under A Rock Of The Mountain

la Sanctuario il Poverello d'Assisi

Francis said: "When the Lord withdrew into solitude to pray and fast for forty days and nights, he did not have a cell or a house built for himself but he took shelter under a rock of the mountain." That is why, following his example, he refused to have either a house or a cell on this earth and forbade that one be built for him.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 13

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Escape


Francis learned how to distribute the time in which he could gain merit wisely, devoting part of it to his neighbor by doing good, and part to the restful ecstasy of contemplation. According to the demands of time and circumstances he would devote himself fully to the salvation of his neighbor, but when he was finished, he would escape from the distracting crowds and go into solitude and peace. There he was free to attend exclusively to God and he would cleanse any stain he had contracted while living in the midst of the world.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER XIII

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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Heirs And Queens Of The Kingdom Of Heaven

Sister Briege McKenna, OSC

The summit of Most High Poverty has made you, my dearest sisters, heirs and queens of the kingdom of heaven. It has made you poor in material things, but rich in virtue.

Saint Clare
The Rule of St. Clare
CHAPTER VIII

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St. Clare Instructs Her Sisters

St. Clare Sisters Palm Harbor, FL

For the Lord Himself has not only placed us as examples and mirrors for others, but also for our own sisters whom the Lord has called to our way of life, so that they in their turn will be mirrors and examples for those living in the world.

Saint Clare of Assisi
The Testament of St. Clare - 6

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Friday, December 25, 2009

Fasting On Christmas


When the question arose about eating meat that day, since Christmas day fell on a Friday, Brother Francis replied, saying to Brother Morico, "You sin, Brother, calling the day on which the Child was born to us a day of fast. It is my wish," he said, "that even the walls should eat meat on such a day, and if they cannot, they should be smeared with meat on the outside!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
Chapter CLI

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St. Francis of Assisi Built The Very First Nativity Scene in Greccio


What Francis did on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ near the little town called Greccio in the third year before his glorious death should be especially noted and recalled with reverent memory. In that place there was a certain man named John, of good reputation and an even better life, whom blessed Francis loved with a special love, for in the place where he lived he held a noble and honorable position in as much as he had trampled upon the nobility of his birth and pursued nobility of soul. Blessed Francis sent for this man, as he often did, about fifteen days before the birth of the Lord, and he said to him: "If you want us to celebrate the present feast of our Lord at Greccio, go with haste and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I wish to do something that will recall to memory the little Child who was born in Bethlehem and set before our bodily eyes in some way the inconveniences of his infant needs, how he lay in a manger, how, with an ox and an ass standing by, he lay upon the hay where he had been placed." When the good and faithful man heard these things, he ran with haste and prepared in that place all the things the saint had told him.

...The manger was prepared, the hay had been brought, the ox and the ass were led in. There simplicity was honored, poverty was exalted, humility was commended, and Greccio was made, as it were, a new Bethlehem.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life
CHAPTER XXX

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Please Help Build The Portiuncula Chapel

Please help us duplicate this Franciscan University of Steubenville
Chapel at the the Portiuncula Hermitage in Jerusalem, Ohio


What if the Portiuncula Hermitage earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or what if a percentage of every purchase you made on-line went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half of its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

Although this may not sound like a lot of money, if only 1000 of our supporters use GoodSearch.com just 5 times per day for the year, the Portiuncula Hermitage would receive over $18,000 towards its mission of spreading God's love!

It's easy. Just download the GoodSearch – Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage and Retreat Center toolbar at:



Website owners can also help by adding a customizable badge to their homepage or blog.

So please, make a commitment to browsing the Internet with GoodSearch.com with the Portiuncula Hermitage as your designated charity. Set it as your homepage, or bookmark it so using it becomes a habit.

As well, you can earn money for the Portiuncula Hermitage by doing your online shopping through GoodShop.com. It is a new online shopping mall which will donate up to 37 percent of each purchase to the Portiuncula Hermitage. Hundreds of popular stores, including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop.com and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting our valuable mission.

By simply surfing the web with GoodSearch.com and shopping with GoodShop.com you can raise much-needed funds for the Portiuncula Hermitage!

PLEASE FORWARD THIS PRAYER REQUEST TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

Pax Et Bonum!

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Living As Strangers And Pilgrims

Francis gave orders that the houses the brothers built should be small, like those of the poor. The brothers should not live as if the house belonged to them, but as strangers and pilgrims in a house which was not their own. It was part of a pilgrim's life, he said, to shelter under another's roof and pass on peacefully, longing for home. On a number of occasions, Francis ordered the brothers to leave a house, or even had it pulled down, if he thought it offended Gospel poverty, either because the brothers claimed the building as their own or because it was too sumptuous.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
Chapter VII

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From A Hovel


"From a hovel one ascends more quickly to heaven than from a palace."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life

CHAPTER XVI

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Welcome To The Portiuncula Healing Ministry



"Only say the word Lord, and I shall be healed"



We are a

Franciscan Prayer Ministry

located in Jerusalem, Ohio.

Through prayer and Adoration before our Eucharistic Lord, we seek His awesome power, grace, and mercy, to bring His divine healing and peace into your life.

To receive prayer simply e-mail your Prayer Requests to:


We encourage you to participate in our

Healing Services

and

Retreats


Thank you for visiting.

Pax Et Bonum!


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"Come To The Quiet" - Become A Monastic Without Having To Leave Your Day Job!


Dr. Tom Ringenberg during personal prayer time at the
Portiuncula Hermitage in Jerusalem, Ohio


Dear Christian Brothers and Sisters,

Having just experienced one of the most peaceful and fulfilling weekends of my Christian life, I feel led to write you and encourage you to take a fresh breath of the clean air at the Portiuncula Retreat in Jerusalem Ohio. Surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation in the hills of Appalachia, I was refreshed in God’s peace.

The initial reaction to a weekend of silence, fasting and prayer was mixed as I revel in the world’s flash of media and the madness of twenty-four hour news. I feared boredom and the lack of external stimulus. But God is good, and He provided plenty for me. Walks in the woods and fields, silent prayer and meditation, communal prayer with my Brothers in Christ, prayers of intercession, and theological discussion on the travel to and from Jerusalem, stimulated my spirit far more than my flesh has ever been stimulated.

It is my hope that the Portiuncula will become a haven for those who need a fresh touch of God. I will return soon to restore my soul with peace.

Please prayerfully consider joining me in supporting the Portiuncula Retreat Center by simply contributing $5.00 $10.00 $15.00 or more a month.


Simply Click On The
Parish Pay
Icon



Or mail payments to:

"Portiuncula Hermitage"

% 508 South 16th Street
Richmond, IN 47374.



Thank you and God bless!

Yours In Christ,


Dr. Tom Ringenberg

Centerville, IN

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Monday, December 14, 2009

Welcome To The Portiuncula Healing Ministry



"Only say the word Lord, and I shall be healed"



We are a

Franciscan Prayer Ministry

located in Jerusalem, Ohio.


Through prayer and Adoration before our Eucharistic Lord, we seek His awesome power, grace, and mercy, to bring His divine healing and peace into your life.


To receive prayer simply e-mail your Prayer Requests to:


We encourage you to participate in our

Healing Services

and

Retreats


Thank you for visiting.

Pax Et Bonum!


T


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

Dark Night of the Soul
by
Saint John of the Cross

On a darkened night,
Anxious, by love inflamed,
-- O happy chance! --
Unnoticed, I took flight,
My house at last at peace and quiet.

Safe, disguised by the night,
By the secret ladder I took flight,
-- O happy chance! --
Cloaked by darkness, I scaled the height,
My house at last at peace and quiet.

On that blessed night,
In secret, and seen by none,
None in sight,
I saw with no other guide or light,
But the one burning in my heart bright.

This guide, this light,
Brighter than the midday sun,
Led me to the waiting One
I knew so well -- my delight!
To a place with none in sight.

O night! O guide!
O night more loving than the dawn!
O night that joined
The lover with the Beloved;
Transformed, the lover into the Beloved drawn!

Upon my flowered breast,
For him alone kept fair,
There he slept
There I caressed,
There the cedars gave us air.

I drank the turret's cool air
Spreading playfully his hair.
And his hand, so serene,
Cut my throat. Drained
Of senses, I dropped unaware.

Lost to myself and yet remaining,
Inclined so only the Beloved I spy.
All has ceased, all rests,
Even my cares, even I;
Lost among the lilies, there I die.

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A Just Retribution From God

The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet

We lose everything which we leave behind us in this world; we can bring with us only the right to a reward for our charity and the alms we have given. For these we shall receive a reward, a just retribution from God.

Saint Francis of Assisi
LETTER TO ALL THE FAITHFUL

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Evangelical Perfection

Until the work of restoring the church of Saint Damian was completed, blessed Francis still wore the garments of a hermit with a strap to serve as a belt, and he carried a staff and had sandals on his feet. Then, one day during the celebration of Mass he heard the words in which Christ bade his disciples go out and preach, carrying neither gold nor silver, nor haversack for the journey, without staff, bread, or shoes, and having no second garment. After listening to the priest's explanation of these words of the Gospel, full of unspeakable joy, he exclaimed, "This is what my whole heart desires to accomplish."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER VIII

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Treat The Portiuncula With Reverence And Devotion

Altar inside the Portiuncula Chapel at
the Franciscan University of Steubenville,
which we pray we will be able to duplicate at
the Portiuncula Hermitage in Jerusalem, Ohio


And so that the memory of the Portiuncula would remain engraved in the hearts of the brothers, he wished, as his death was drawing near, to have it written down in his testament that the brothers should do likewise. In fact, when he was near death, he said before the minister general and the other brothers:

"I wish to make arrangements regarding the friary of the Portiuncula and leave them as a testament to my brothers that this place will always be treated by them with great reverence and devotion."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 9

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The Portiuncula (the Little Portion)

The original Portiuncula in Assisi, Italy. It is home to all Franciscans.

St. Francis was very happy that this place had been given to the brothers because the church bore the name of the Mother of Christ, because it was very poor, and also because of its name Portiuncula. The fact that it was called the church of the Portiuncula was indeed a presage that it would become the mother and head of the Order of the poor lesser brothers. The church had been given the name Portiuncula because the aforesaid place where the church had been built had already been called the Portiuncula for a very long time.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 8

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