Prayers Please!

 

Please join us in prayer that we can begin building our little Portiuncula Chapel this year in Jerusalem, Ohio, (just like the one seen above.) 

God bless you and Pace e' Bene!

Fra Chris

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Modesty

 

by

Fr. Timothy Davison

During the warm months of the year I want to remind everyone again that modesty in dress needs to be observed. Our Lady of Fatima warned us that “certain fashions would be introduced that would offend Our Lord very much” I take this to mean that Jesus, Our Savior is calling us to dress and act with modesty. This should always be observed as Catholics but especially when we come to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are meeting the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. We are accustomed to follow the fashions of the society in which we live but in case of modesty we should follow a different standard. Our standard should take its inspiration from the Holy Scriptures and from our Catholic Tradition which is a different standard from the society in which we live. Modesty can assist us and others in avoiding of the flesh which Our Lady at Fatima said is the cause of many souls being lost forever. We certainly wouldn't want to play a part in such a tragedy, at least I hope we wouldn't. Come to Mass then dressed to meet God who is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Fr. Timothy Davison

Diocese of Steubenville

Pastor of:

 St. John the Baptist in Miltonsburg, Ohio, St. Sylvester of Woodsfield, Ohio and the Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage and Retreat Center in Jerusalem, Ohio

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Contemplative Prayer

 

Far from lulling the reasoning mind into some dull blankness, Contemplative Prayer sharpens our reasoning and engenders all manner of creativity.

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God Has Already Found Us

 

We burn with a desire to visit spiritual places. We think we need to enter a monastery to realize our true selves. We think our true selves are something that can be "acquired" and we burn with zealous desires to acquire it. But as our gaze into the vast silence deepens, our prayers grow silent, and external spiritual practices fall away, as do our need to pray in monasteries, cathedrals, canyons, mountains, forests, the "perfect place." Once we come to the realization that God has already found us, no matter where we are, then we can concentrate our attention on God and not our environmental surroundings.

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Covering Ourelves With Disguises

 

The free children of God must be saved from the conformist slave of fantasy, passion and convention. The creative and mysterious inner self must be delivered from the wasteful hedonistic and destructive ego that seeks only to cover itself with disguises.

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Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone Speaks Out About Nancy Pelosi

 

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God Does What God Wants To Do

 

We need to recognize that God does what God wants to do. God's power is not at our command. Sometimes He does work through us or in us if we simply allow ourselves to become open vessels in which He can use us.

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Pride Makes Us Hate Others

 

"Pride makes us hate our equals because they are our equals; our inferiors for fear they may equal us; our superiors because they are above us." ~ Saint John Vianney

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The Garden Of Solitude

We should never run from silence. Most of us fill our days with cell phones, noise and soap operas and our nights with cell phones, football, basketball or sit coms. As Franciscans we step into the garden of solitude where the cool, clear water of silence refreshes our spiritual lives.

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I Miss My Dear Friend, Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR. Rest In Peace Dear Friend

 

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St. Francis Is Not Some Fun-Impaired Fanatic

 

Not all wants are bad or destructive. St. Francis is not some fun-impaired fanatic who would punch us in the nose every time we grab onto some pleasure. However, a life consumed by fulfilling all our wants is a recipe for frustration and unhappiness.

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Finally! A True Roman Catholic Archbishop!

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God First Loved Us

Love comes to those who already have love. God first loved us and that gift is ours even before we set out to find it.

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Shout Out, "I Love You!" With Your eyes

 

In the silence of our hearts we should shout out with our eyes, "I love you!" to every person we pass on the street.

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The Gesture Of A Beggar

 

It is marvelous how people become who they really are once you reach out your hand to them in a gesture of the beggar. It is an experience only beggars understand.

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Ralph Martin: The World Is In Danger

 

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Franciscan Tunics

 Poor sackcloth tunics and a poor white cord tightened around the waist serves only one purpose; to identify followers of St. Francis of Assisi. We pray that our dress will never become like other clothes and become more important than the people who wear them.

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Fast And Pray The Rosary On Friday, May 13th, 2022 For An End To Abortion

 

The Franciscan Charism

 

Our mission as Franciscans is simply to be who we are and to allow the light of our peace and mutual love to radiate to everyone we come into contact with.

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God's Infinite Fire

 

We enter into possession of God when He invades all our faculties with His light and His infinite Fire.

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Contemplation Is A Way Out Of Self-Centeredness

 

Once we discover interior silence, compassion flows. The deeper we enter into inner silence, the deeper becomes our compassion for others. It is impossible to enter through the doorway into silence without becoming a part of God's embrace of al humanity in its suffering and joy.

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Paradox Of the Mystical Life

 

One of the paradoxes of the mystical life is this: that a man cannot enter into the deepest center of himself and pass through that center to God unless he is first able to pass entirely out of himself and empty himself and give himself to other people in the purity of selfless love.

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Loving The Creator Through His Creation

 

Instead of worshiping God through His creation we are always trying to worship ourselves by means of creatures.

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Tradismatic Trentacostalism

by Clement J. Harrold 

Steubenville, Ohio, home to Franciscan University, is a small city on the banks of the Ohio River linking the Buckeye State with Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Like much of the Rust Belt, Steubenville has seen better days. But coinciding with economic downturn has been a spiritual renewal that offers hope to the American Church: a unique blend of the “traditional” and “charismatic” liturgical-spiritual elements that in many other places are pitted against each other. It is a synthesis that appeals to head and heart alike, suggesting what the Church might become in the twenty-first century.

Read entire article:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/03/tradismatic-trentecostalism

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Hidden In The Wounds Of The Savior

 

"I confess to my Creator that my life has been spent wholly in darkness. But I will hide myself in the wounds of Christ crucified and bathe in His blood, and so my wickedness will be consumed and I will rejoice with desire in my Creator."

Catherine of Siena

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Lukewarm Preaching

A preacher must first grow hot within rather than utter cold words outwardly.

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What Does God Want Me To Do?

 

Who among us is brave enough to ask ourselves, "Is this what I should be doing, what I really want to do with my life? Is this what God wants me to be in this life?"

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No More Long Winded Sermons!

 

St. Francis was convinced that conversion of sinners was a work of mercy that was more acceptable to the Father than any sacrifice, particularly if it was done in the spirit of perfect charity, more by example than by preaching, more by fervent prayer than by long-winded sermons!

Saint Francis of Assisi

Bonaventure - Major Life

Chapter VIII

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Catholics Need To Wake Up Against The Woke!

 

Imitating Christ

 

The open palms of his hands, especially released St. Francis from the knotted tangle deep within. The open palms. The imitating  of Christ on the cross. Vulnerable, Open. Christ pouring Himself out to us. The cross! God's final victory over forces deep in our hearts.

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