Game Over

Franciscan Sisters T.O.R. of Penance In Toronto, Ohio

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Holiness Is A Spiritual Pilgrimage

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Holiness is the truth of who we are: one person, whole and entire, and not a dichotomy of body and soul, or worse, of body versus soul.


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La Maddalena

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Quite near the Basicilla of St. Mary of the Angels, on the road to the church of Rivo Torto, is the small, semi-abandoned chapel of La Maddalena (the Magdalen). Here, the lepers worshiped: here St. Francis of Assisi prayed along with them. Here, as we know from the very first sentence of his Last Testament, he found his true vocation: "When I was in sins, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure; but then God himself led me into their company, and I worked mercy with them. Once I got to know them, what had nauseated me became a source of spiritual and physical consolation for me. After that I did not wait long before I left the world."

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We Want Spiritual Fruit, Not Religious Nuts!

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The Heart Of Jesus' Teaching

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"We find out who we really are by letting go of what we think we are." 

John Michael Talbot



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The Pilgrim's Credo

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I am not in control.
I am not in a hurry.
I walk in faith and hope.
I greet everyone with peace.
I bring back only what God gives me.



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Andrea Bocelli - What Child Is This

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Crop Duster Spreads 100 Gallons Of Holy Water On Louisiana Town

A Louisiana church enlisted the aircraft to help spread the holy water.

By Ella Torres

Holiday blessings were spread throughout one Louisiana town thanks to some unlikely help.

The Diocese of Lafayette enlisted a crop duster to spray holy water on the city of Lafayette and nearby farms, according to a Facebook post from the church.

In all, about 100 gallons of holy water were used for the crop duster extravaganza.

The water was blessed by Father Matt Barzare.

"A happy and blessed Christmas to everyone from St. Anne Church and parishioners!" the church said in its Facebook post.

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Hodie natus est nobis Salvator, qui est Christus Dominus

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Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!

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Alleluia

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Alleluia, alleluia. Dies sanctificatus illuxit nobis: venite, gentes, et adorate Dominum: quia hodie descendit lux magna super terram.

Translation:

Alleluia, alleluia. The holy day has dawned upon us: Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth.


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Midnight Mass Communion Antiphon

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Exsulta filia Sion, lauda, Ierusalem: ecce Rex tuus veniet sanctus et salvator mundi

Translation:

Rejoice, O daughter Sion; lift up praise. Daughter Jerusalem: Behold, your King will come, the Holy One and Savior of the world.



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Merry Christmas From The Portiuncula

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Brother Francis would recall with an abundance of tears what great want surrounded the poor Virgin on that day. Once when he was sitting at dinner, a certain brother talked about the poverty of the Blessed Virgin and recalled the want of Christ, her Son. Francis immediately rose from the table and, with great sighs and many tears, ate the rest of the meal on the bare ground, telling the brothers, "Know, my sons, that poverty is the special way to salvation; its fruit is manifold, but it is really well known to only a few."

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, Second Life - 200

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Sister Briege McKenna, OSC, "The Healing Nun"

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Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta was the first person to call Sister Briege "The Healing Nun," and now she in known for this gift all over the world. 

Sister Briege was a guest on my radio talk show several years ago and it was perhaps the best interview we ever had on that program.

Chris

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Latin Mass At The Franciscan University Of Steubenville

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God Chose An Unborn Child To Announce The Coming Of His Son!

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As soon as Mary received the announcement from the angel, she went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth, who was with child. And the unborn child, John the Baptist, rejoiced in Elizabeth's womb. How wonderful it was...Almighty God chose an unborn child to announce the coming of His Son!

This was the first Eucharist: the gift of God's Son establishing Mary as the first altar, the first tabernacle. Mary is the only one able to confirm in complete sincerity, "This is my body!"

Merry Christmas from the Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage!

Pace e Bene!

Chris

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The Very First Christmas Creche

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The Creche on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville

adjacent to the Portiuncula Chapel

The good folk [of Greccio] 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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This Just About Sums It Up....

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Netflix Releases Christmas Special Depicting Jesus As Homosexual

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Netflix has released a highly-offensive and blasphemous “Christmas special” movie
that depicts Jesus as a homosexual and the Virgin Mary as an adulteress.

Bringing out this filth during Advent is obviously designed to antagonize and
provoke a response.

But, if Netflix wants to mock the things of God and spit in the face of every
Christian, just at Christmastime, they should expect a response.

That may sound pretty strong, but consider, for a moment, the kind of slurs they are
making against Our Lord and Savior, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Please CLICK HERE to SIGN this petition to Dump Netflix over indecent slurs against
Jesus and Mary!
(https://lifesitenews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3b519162c561a81f1ee4736a3&id=a4d7ff4482&e=9452ba7259)

Would Netflix have the courage to suggest anything similar against Islam? No way!
Because they know there would be heck to pay.

Christians have also got to send a strong message, not with violence, but by
stopping our financial support of companies like Netflix!

I cancelled Netflix when Barack and Michelle Obama got their own station on there. This is simply the next stage of the Obamas's disgusting Anti-Christian bias.

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Magnificat - A Virgin Mary Hymn

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Franciscan University Of Steubenville Schola Cantorum For Advent

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Peter's Pence Is Anathema To Our Catholic Faith

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NEW YORK, December 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Only about 10 percent of donations made to the Holy See’s “Peter’s Pence” actually goes to the poor while the majority of the annual collection, worth about $55 million USD, goes to plug Vatican budget deficits, a top U.S. financial newspaper is claiming. 

Catholics from all over the world donate to a special papal fund called Peter’s Pence every year. The money is ostensibly used to support charitable enterprises dear to the pontiff’s heart. Today the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) alleged in a piece titled “Vatican Uses Donations for the Poor to Plug Its Budget Deficit” that most of the over $55 million collected by the fund annually “goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget.” 

According to the WSJ’s unnamed sources, only 10% is “spent on charitable works." 

“The little-publicized breakdown of how the Holy See spends Peter’s Pence, known only among senior Vatican officials, is raising concern among some Catholic Church leaders that the faithful are being misled about the use of their donations, which could further hurt the credibility of the Vatican’s financial management under Pope Francis,” wrote Francis X. Rocca for the WSJ.  

According to the Vatican’s own webpage, Peter’s Pence is “the name given to the financial support offered by the faithful to the Holy Father as a sign of their sharing in the concern of the Successor of Peter for the many different needs of the Universal Church and for the relief of those most in need.” 

The custom of sending money to the pontiff is believed to have begun with the Anglo-Saxons in the 11th century, when every household in England gave one penny towards the papal fund. The modern Peter’s Pence, international in scope, was established in 1871 by Pope Pius XI. The collection is taken up from church-attending Catholics on the Sunday closest to June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. 

As the WSJ reported, the official Peter’s Pence website gives little indication that much of the funds may actually be going to support the Vatican’s administrative budget.  

“The Peter’s Pence collection is a gesture of solidarity. Through it, every member of the faithful can participate in the Pope’s activity. It is an activity that supports the most needy and ecclesial communities in difficulty who approach the Apostolic See for help,” the site reads.

In its “Works Realized” section, readers can find a gallery of recent donations made by Pope Francis to various communities around the world, which range from 100,000 € ($110,794 US) sent to Albania in the wake of this November’s earthquake to undisclosed sums given to a boys’ school in Syria.      

However, the WSJ notes that under church law, the pope may use Peter’s Pence fund in “any way that serves his ministry, including the support of his administration.” There is also an allusion on the Peter’s Pence webpage to funding ecclesial structures, but in a way that suggests these are predominantly in mission territories.

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The Miracle Of The Hay

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The Altar in Greccio, Italy upon the very sport where St. Francis of Assisi built the very first Christmas Creche.
Greccio still has live Nativities there every Christmas.

The hay that had been placed in the manger at Greccio was kept, so that the Lord might save beasts of burden and other animals through it. And in truth it happened that many animals throughout that region, beasts of burden and others with various illnesses, were freed from their ailments after eating of this hay. Indeed, some women who had been laboring for a long time in a difficult birth delivered their children easily when some of this hay was placed upon them; and a large number of persons of both sexes, suffering from various illnesses, obtained the health sought in the same way.

Today, the place on which the manger stood is consecrated to the Lord by a church, and over the manger there is an altar dedicated to St. Francis, so that where once the animals ate the hay, now people eat to health of soul and body the flesh of the Lamb without blemish and without spot, our Lord Jesus Christ, who in highest and ineffable love gave himself to us, and lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God eternally glorious, forever and ever. Amen, Alleluia, Alleluia.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano - First Life

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Scatter Wheat And Grain On Christmas Day

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All mayors and lords of castles and towns are required each year on Christmas Day to order their subjects to scatter wheat and other grain on the roads outside the walls so that our sisters the larks and other birds might have something to eat on so festive a day.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Mirror of Perfection - 114

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In Favor Of Preaching

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Fr. Sengole Gnanaraj, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Richmond, Indiana

"In prayer we walk with God and listen to him, and we walk with the angels. But in preaching, we have to descend to the human and live among others as one of them, thinking and seeing and hearing and speaking only on the human level. But, in favor of preaching, there is one argument which seems to count more than all the rest in God's eyes and that is this: the only-begotten Son of God, who is Infinite Wisdom, descended from the Father's embrace to save souls"...

Saint Francis of Assisi
Saint Bonaventure - Major Life

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The Very First Christmas Crib - Greccio, Italy

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Pace e bene! Peace and all good!

May the peace and love and joy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you this Christmas and every day of your lives. We offer this little story about St. Francis at Greccio—from the Major Legend of St. Francis-- for your reflection and meditation. The tradition of the crèche (or crib) originates with St. Francis and is uniquely Franciscan contribution to the celebration of Christmas. Know that we, your Franciscan brothers, are keeping you in our prayers at this most sacred time as you continue to discern God’s will for you in your hearts and in your lives. Merry Christmas!

“It happened, three years prior to his death, that he (Francis) decided to celebrate at the town of Greccio the memory of the birth of the Child Jesus with the greatest possible solemnity, in order to arouse devotion. So that this would not be considered a type of novelty, he petitioned for and obtained permission from the Supreme Pontiff.

"He had a manger prepared, hay carried in and an ox and an ass led to the spot. The brethren are summoned, the people arrive, the forest amplifies with their cries, and that venerable night is rendered brilliant and solemn by a multitude of bright lights and by resonant and harmonious hymns of praise. The man of God stands before the manger, filled with piety, bathed in tears, and overcome with joy.

"A solemn Mass is celebrated over the manger, with Francis, a levite of Christ, chanting the holy Gospel. Then he preaches to the people standing around him about the birth of the poor King, whom, whenever he means to call him, he called in his tender love, the Babe from Bethlehem.

"A certain virtuous and truthful knight, Sir John of Greccio, who had abandoned worldly military activity out of love of Christ and had become an intimate friend of the man of God, claimed that he saw a beautiful little child asleep in that manger whom the blessed father Francis embraced in both of his arms and seemed to wake it from sleep.

"Not only does the holiness of the witness make credible the vision of the devout knight, but also the truth it expresses proves its validity and the subsequent miracles confirm it. For Francis's example, when considered by the world, is capable of arousing the hearts of those who are sluggish in the faith of Christ.

The hay from the crib was kept by the people and miraculously cured sick animals and drove away different kinds of pestilence. Thus God glorified his servant in every way and demonstrated the efficacy of his holy prayer by the evident signs of wonderful miracles.”

St. Francis of Assisi

Celano, First Life

Chapter XXX

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Things Jesus Never Said...

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The Walls Should Be Smeared With Meat!

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When the question arose about eating meat on Christmas Day, because it fell on a Friday.  St. Francis replied 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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Christmas - The Feast Of Feasts

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The Christmas Creche at the 

Franciscan University of Steubenville 

(adjacent to the Port)

Francis observed the birthday of the Child Jesus with inexpressible eagerness over all other feasts, saying that it was the feast of feasts, on which God, having become a tiny infant, clung to human breasts. Pictures of those infant members he kissed with thoughts filled with yearning, and his compassion for the Child flooded his heart and made him stammer words of sweetness after the manner of infants.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, Second Life - 199

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Hallmark Movies

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My wife and I have always enjoyed watching Hallmark Christmas Movies. That is until they announced yesterday that they are now going to be placing LGBTQ ads inside their movies.

I just emailed their Corporate Offices and informed them that as Judeo/Christians, we can no longer support their entertainment venue and have decided to kick the dust from our sandals and move on.

Won't you join us by contacting them and voicing your opinion?

Chris


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The Daily Nativity Of The Lord

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Every day he humbles himself just as he did when he came from his heavenly throne (Wis. 18:15) into the Virgin's womb; every day he comes to us and lets us see him in abjection, when he descends from the bosom of the Father into the hands of the priest at the altar.

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonitions

Admonition 1

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Strip The Altar Bare For The Poor And Needy!

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Once the Saint's vicar, Brother Peter Catani, seeing that St. Mary of the Portiuncula was crowded with friars from other Places and that there were not enough alms to provide them with what they needed, said to St. Francis: "Father, I don't know what to do with so many friars arriving from everywhere! I haven't supplies enough to provide for them. Please allow some of the property of the novices entering the Order to be set aside for our expenses when necessary."

But Francis answered: "Dear Brother, put away that kind of piety which impiously goes against the Rule for the sake of anyone whatsoever!"

And Peter said: "What shall we do?"

St. Francis replied: "Strip the altar of the Virgin and take away its various ornaments, since you canot provide for the needy in any other way. Believe me, the Mother of God would rather have the Gospel of her Son observed and he altar stripped than have the altar adorned and her Son scorned. The Lord will send someone who will restore to His Mother what He has loaned us."

Saint Francis of Assisi

Little Flowers of St. Francis

Part Three - 13

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