"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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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wounded In The Most Exquisite Way

Bernini's Saint Teresa of Avila


"And as clearly as it hears a thunderclap, even though no sound is heard, the soul understands that it was called by God...It feels that it is wounded in the most exquisite way...It knows clearly that the wound is something precious, and it would never want to be cured...The wound satisfies it much more than the delightful and painless absorption of the prayer of quiet...a whisper so penetrating that the sould cannot help but hear it."

Saint Teresa of Avila

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

In The Dark Recesses Of Our Own Hearts



"My friend, the fire often burns, but the flame does not ascend without the smoke. So, too, some people have a burning desire for heavenly things, but they are not yet free from feelings rooted deeply in the dark recesses of their own hearts." 

Thomas A Kempis
The Immitation of Christ

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Thursday, October 06, 2011

How Secret Wisdom Is A Ladder

St. Francis of Assisi seen climbing the Monk's Ladder

"This secret wisdom can also be called a ladder because the same steps are used to ascend and descend. The transmissions that come through secret contemplation both raise he soul up to God and humble her to herself. On the path to God, to rise up is to drop down. She who humbles herself is exalted while she who exalts herself is humbled. God draws the soul high so that it can be submerged, and He lowers her so that she can be lifted back up to Him."

St. John of the Cross
Dark Night of the Soul

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Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Saint Francis of Assisi, 'giant of holiness,' honored October 4th


On Oct. 4, Roman Catholics celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian deacon who brought renewal to the Church through his decision to follow Jesus' words as literally as possible.


In a January 2010 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI recalled this "giant of holiness" as a "great saint and a joyful man," who taught the Church that "the secret of true happiness" is "to become saints, close to God."
The future Saint Francis was born on an uncertain date in the early 1180s, one of the several children born to the wealthy merchant Pietro Bernardone and his wife Pica. He originally received the name Giovanni (or John), but became known as Francesco (or Francis) by his father's choice.
Unlike many medieval saints, St. Francis was neither studious nor pious in his youth. His father's wealth gave him access to a lively social life among the upper classes, where he was known for his flashy clothes and his readiness to burst into song. Later a patron of peacemakers, he aspired to great military feats in his youth and fought in a war with a rival Italian city-state.
A period of imprisonment during that conflict turned his mind toward more serious thoughts, as did a recurring dream that suggested his true "army" was not of this world. He returned to Assisi due to illness in 1205, and there began consider a life of voluntary poverty.

Three major incidents confirmed Francis in this path. In Assisi, he overcame his fear of disease to kiss the hand of a leper. Afterward, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he deposited his money at Saint Peter's tomb and exchanged clothes with a beggar. Soon after he returned home, Francis heard Christ tell him in a vision: "Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin."

Francis began to use his father's wealth to restore churches. This led to a public quarrel in which the cloth-merchant's son removed his clothing and declared that he had no father except God. He regarded himself as the husband of "Lady Poverty," and resolved to serve Christ as "a herald of the Great King."

During the year 1208, the "herald" received the inspiration that would give rise to the Franciscan movement. At Mass one morning, he heard the Gospel reading in which Christ instructed the apostles to go forth without money, shoes, or extra clothing. This way of life soon became a papally-approved rule, which would attract huge number of followers within Francis' own lifetime.

Through his imitation of Christ, Francis also shared in the Lord's sufferings. He miraculously received Christ's wounds, the stigmata, in his own flesh during September of 1224. His health collapsed over the next two years, a "living sacrifice" made during two decades of missionary preaching and penance.

St. Francis of Assisi died on Oct. 3, 1226. Pope Gregory IX, his friend and devotee, canonized him in 1228.

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Monday, October 03, 2011

When The Time OF Death Was At Hand



When therefore St. Francis had rested for a few days in a place he greatly longed to be in and realized the time of death was at hand, he called to him two brothers and spiritual sons and commanded them to sing in a loud voice with joy of spirit the Praises of the Lord over his approaching death, or rather, over the life that was so near.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Celano, First Life
CHAPTER VIII


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Sunday, October 02, 2011

October 3rd - the "Transitus" (Death) of St. Francis of Assisi



Francis began THE CANTICLE OF BROTHER SUN in the summer of 1225, at a time indeed when he was deep in suffering, but when he had already attained the mystical heights in his experience on Mount La Verna. But the joy he had experienced in that great privilege was tempered by the thought of how many men were greatly offending their Creator by misusing the creature world God had given them. "For His praise," he said, "I want to compose a new hymn about the Lord's creatures, of which we make daily use, without which we cannot live, and with which the human race greatly offends its Creator."

The first part of the Canticle, up to the verses about pardon and peace, he composed in the garden of the Poor Clare's convent at San Damiano, where he lay sick and in intense suffering for six or seven weeks. He then composed a melody for it and frequently urged his brothers to sing it when they were out preaching. The second part, consisting of the next two verses about pardon and peace, he composed a short time later in an effort to restore peace between the quarreling parties in a dispute between the civil and religious authorities of Assisi. The final verses about Sister Death Francis added shortly before his own death, after Brother Leo and Brother Angelo had sung the Canticle at his request. Celano adds that his last words were: "Welcome, my Sister Death."

St. Francis of Assisi
Omnibus of Sources
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October 3 - The "Transitus" (Death) of St. Francis of Assisi






Saturday, October 01, 2011

The Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis of Assisi

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il Cantico delle Creature

by
Angelo Branduardi


Lyrics:
A te solo Buon Signore
Si confanno gloria e onore
A Te ogni laude et benedizione
A Te solo si confanno
Che laltissimo Tu sei
E nullomo degno e
Te mentovare.
Si laudato Mio Signore
Con le Tue creature
Specialmente Frate Sole
E la sua luce.
Tu ci illumini di lui
Che e bellezza e splendore
Di Te Altissimo Signore
Porta il segno.
Si laudato Mio Signore
Per sorelle Luna e Stelle
Che Tu in cielo le hai formate
Chiare e belle.
Si laudato per Frate Vento
Aria, nuvole e maltempo
Che alle Tue creature dan sostentamento.
Si laudato Mio Signore
Per sorella nostra Acqua
Ella e casta, molto utile
E preziosa.
Si laudato per Frate Foco
Che ci illumina la notte
Ed e bello, giocondo
E robusto e forte.
Si laudato Mio Signore
Per la nostra Madre Terra
Ella e che ci sostenta
E ci governa
Si laudato Mio Signore
Vari frutti lei produce
Molti fiori coloriti
E verde lerba.
Si laudato per coloro
Che perdonano per il Tuo amore
Sopportando infermite
E tribolazione
E beati sian coloro
Che cammineranno in pace
Che da Te Buon Signore
Avran corona.
Si laudato Mio Signore
Per la Morte Corporale
Che da lei nesun che vive
Pue scappare
E beati saran quelli
nella Tua volonte
che Sorella Morte
non gli fare male

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Feast Day of St. Theresa of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church

"Draw me, we will run..." 

To ask to be drawn is to will intimate union with the object which holds the heart captive. If fire and iron were gifted with reason, and that the latter said to the fire: "Draw me," would not this prove that it desired to become identified with the fire even so far as to share its substance? Well, that is exactly my prayer. I beg of Jesus to draw me into the flames of His Love, to unite me so closely to Himself that He may live and act in me. I feel that the more the fire of love inflames my heart, the more I shall say: "Draw me," the more also will the souls who draw near to mine run swiftly in the fragrant odors of the Well-Beloved.

Saint Theresa
(the "Little Flower")
Story of A Soul
Chapter XI

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Vividly Wounded By The Flaming Blade Of Divine Love!

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The soul is singing about the fire of love. In this night of painful contemplation, the soul is ignited! Although the burning in some ways resembles what unfolded in the sensory part of the soul, in other ways it is as different as the soul is from the body. This is the love that blazes in the spirit! In the middle of her dark predicament, the soul feels herself vividly wounded by the flaming blade of divine love!

St. John of the Cross
Dark Night of the Soul

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Don't Look Back! God's Time Is Only In The Present...



"St. Antony himself gave no thought to the bygone time, but each day, as though then beginning his religious life, he made greater effort to advance, constantly repeating to himself St. Paul's saying: Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching out to the things that are before (Phil. 3:13)"...

Saint Antony of the Desert
(251-356)
By St. Athanasius

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Honor St. Francis of Assisi - Order Your Very Own Franciscan Cincture from Monastery Greetings!


 

The Cincture, or White Cord, is a sign of chastity, and has been since the Church's beginning -- and before. Old Testament priests wore cinctures, Consecrated Virgins and religious wear cinctures, and the wearing of cinctures in honor of a particular saint is ancient, first spoken of in the life of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, and carried on by St. Dominic, who wore the cincture in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Certain Confraternities and Archconfraternities (groups of faithful to a religious cause) also wear cinctures as signs of their affiliation and chastity. Franciscans wear a White Cincture called a 'Cintura Bianca' (pronounced Chin-Torah-Bee-Anka) which translated means 'White Rope.' The three knots on the Franciscan Cincture represent Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, the three Conerstones of the Franciscan Order.


To order your very own
White Cord of St. Francis
From
The Portiuncula Hermitage 
simply go to
Monastery Greetings 
At:
http://www.monasterygreetings.com/prod_detail_list/Franciscan_Cincture





St. Dominic once asked St. Francis of Assisi for his White Cord he wore over his tunic. Dominic, the Founder of the Dominican Order,  wore this White Cord under his habit for the remainder of his life in honor of St. Francis, whom he so greatly admired and respected. This White Cord can be worn inside trousers or under a dress without anyone having knowledge that you are doing so.

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The Devil Exults!



St. Francis said, "The Devil exults when he can extinguish or impede the devotion and joy brought about by pure prayer or other good works in the heart of God's servant. If the Devil takes hold of a servant of God, and if the latter is not wise enough to eliminate this bond as soon as possible by confession, contrition, and satisfaction, it would be very easy for the Devil to take the slightest thing and turn it into a very heavy burden."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 96

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Deep Union



In the inner wine cellar
I drank of my Beloved, when I went abroad
Through all this valley
I no longer know anything,
And lost the herd that I was following.

Now I occupy my soul
And all my energy in his service;
I no longer tend to the herd,
Nor have I any work
Now that my every act is LOVE.


Saint John of the Cross
Spiritual Canticle


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Sunday, September 25, 2011

How We Are To Preach



All my brothers, whenever they wish, may proclaim to anyone and everyone, with the blessing of God, the following or a similar exhortation and prayer of praise:

Fear and honor, praise and bless,
give thanks and adore
the Lord God All-Powerful,
Triune and One,
Father and Son and Holy Spirit,
Creator of all things.
Repent! (Matthew 3:2)
Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance,
for you know how soon we die!
"Give, and there will be gifts for you" (Luke 6:38).
"Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6:37).
And "if you do not forgive others, your Father will
not forgive your failings either" (Matthew 6:15).
"Confess your sins to another" (John 5:16).
Blessed are you who die in repentance,
for you will be in the kingdom of heaven.
Woe to those who do not die in repentance,
for you will be children of the devil
whose co-workers you are,
and you will go into fire everlasthing.
Guard yourselves and abstain
from every evil and persevere
in good unto the end.

St. Francis
Rule 1221
Chapter XXII

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Fire of Divine Love




"No human tongue could describe the passionate love with which Francis burned for Christ, his Spouce; he seemed to be completely absorbed by the fire of divine love like a glowing coal. The moment he heard the love of God being mentioned, he was aroused immediately and so deply moved and inflamed that it seemed as if the deepest chord in his heart had been plucked by the words."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
Chapter IX

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Jacob's Ladder



St. Francis never failed to keep himself occupied doing good; like the angels Jacob saw on the ladder (Genesis 28:12), he was always busy, either raising his heart to God in prayer, or descending to his neighbor. He had 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 ecstacy of contemplation.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER XIII

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Fasting and Abstinence for Lay Penitents



"For Penitents, all Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays are days of abstinence (that is, meatless days) unless directed otherwise by a physician. Meat is allowed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. At all times, Penitents should be temperate in eating and drinking."

Saint Francis of Assisi
First Rule of the Third Order of 1221
Chapter II: Abstinence

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

September 17 - Feast Day of St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata (The Wounds of Christ)




From the Legenda Minor of St. Bonaventure
(de Stigmatibus sacris, 1-4; ed. Quaracchi, 1941; pgg. 202-204)


Two years before Francis, the faithful servant of Christ, gave his soul back to God, he was alone on the top of Mt. Alverna. There he had begun a fast of forty days in honor of the archangel Michael and was immersed more deeply than usual in the delights of heavenly contemplation. His soul became aglow with the ardor of fervent longing for heaven as he experienced within himself the operations of grace.
As he was drawn aloft through ardent longing for God one morning near the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and was praying on the mountainside, he saw what appeared as a seraph with six bright wings gleaming like a fire descending from the heights of heaven. As this figure approached in swift flight and came near the man of God it appeared not only winged but also crucified. The sight of it amazed Francis and his soul experienced joy mingled with pain. He was delighted with the sight of Christ appearing to him so graciously and intimately and yet the awe-inspiring vision of Christ nailed to the cross aroused in his soul a joy of compassionate love.
When the vision vanished after a mysterious and intimate conversation it left Francis aglow with seraphic love in his soul. Externally, however, it left marks on his body like those of the Crucified as if the impression of a seal had been left on heated wag. The figures of the nails appeared immediately on his hands and feet. The heads of the nails were inside his hands but on top of his feet with their points extending through to the opposite side. His right side too showed a blood-red wound as if it had been pierced by a lance, and blood flowed frequently from it.
Because of this new and astounding miracle unheard of in times past, Francis came down from the mountain a new man adorned with the sacred stigmata, bearing in his body the image of the Crucified not made by a craftsman in wood or stone , but fashioned in his members by the hand of the living God.

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Monthly Gathering of Franciscans



"All the brothers and sisters of every city and place are to foregather every month at the time the ministers see fit, in a church which the ministers will make known, and there assist at Divine Services."

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Rule of Life of the Confraternity of Penitents
Chapter VI

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Friday, September 16, 2011

We Are To Prefer Nothing To Saving Souls


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Temptation of the Flesh


Sanctuario Rivitorto 

The bed upon which St. Francis of Assisi slept while at Rivo Torto

Blessed Francis betook himself with the rest of his brothers to a place near Assisi called Rivo Torto...were if, as happens, a temptation of the flesh at times assailed him, he would hurl himself into a ditch full of ice, when it was winter, and remain in it until all vestige of anything carnal had departed.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life
Chapter XVI

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

As Franciscans, We Are To Love One Another

High School Youth Conference at the Franciscan University of Steubenville

Let the brothers love one another, as the Lord says, "This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12).

And let them show by their deeds the love they have for one another, as the Apostle says, "Our love must not be just words or mere talk, but something active and genuine" (1 John 3:18).

And they are "not to go slandering other people" (Titus 3:2); nor are they to grumble or speak evil, for it is written, "Libelers and slanderers are enemies of God" (Romans 1:30). And they are "to be peacable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds" (Titus 3:2).

St. Francis of Assisi
Rule 1221
Chapter XI

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Monday, September 12, 2011

The Bridegroom's Touch



St. Francis always sought a hidden place where he could adapt not only his soul but also his members to God. When he suddenly felt himself visited by the Lord in public, lest he be without a cell he made a cell of his mantle. At times, when he did not have a mantle, he would cover his face with his sleeve so that he would not disclose the hidden manna. Always, he put something between himself and the bystander, lest they should become aware of the bridegroom's touch.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER LXI

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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Make My Heart A Dwelling Place!

A cave overlooking Assisi, Italy


In that love which is God (1 John 4:16), I entreat all my friars, ministers and subjects, to put away every attachment, all care and solicitude, and serve, love, honour, and adore our Lord and God with a pure heart and mind; this is what he seeks above all else. We should make a dwelling-place within ourselves where He can stay.

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE RULE OF 1221
Chapter 21

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Friday, September 09, 2011

Parresia: A Quality To Perform Miracles

Sister Briege McKenna, OSC, a nun with the gift of healing
Athanasius comments: "For Antony (St. Antony of the Desert) did not heal by issuing commands, but by praying and calling upon the name of Christ, so that it was evident to everyone that it was not he who did this, but the Lord manifesting his compassion to men and, through Anthony, was healing those who suffered." (Matthew 17:19 and John 16:23-24)

Vita Antonii 83-84

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Thursday, September 01, 2011

How Do I Treat Poor Strangers?



At length, coming to a certain cloister of monks, St. Francis spent several days there as a scullion, wearing a ragged shirt and being satisfied to be filled only with broth. But, when all pity was withdrawn from him and he could not get even an old garment, he left the place, not moved by anger, but forced by necessity; and he went to the city of Gubbio, where he obtained a small tunic from a certain man who once had been his friend. Then, after some time had elapsed, when the fame of the man of God was beginning to grow and his name was spread abroad among the people, the prior of the aforementioned monastery recalled and realized how the man of God had been treated and he came to him and begged pardon for himself and his monks out of reverence for the Savior.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life - 16

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