The Examples of

St. Francis of Assisi and St. Therese of the Little Flower

Francis

St. Therese of Lisieux

Dear Lord, if I cannot meet the perfection of your only Son while practicing for heaven on this earthly plain, I would be pleased to achieve half the standards of St. Francis and St. Therese of the Little Flower and hope and have faith you will find it enough to take me home when the time comes. Your Love overwhelms me!

Anonymous

View of God the Father

Don’t let your view of God the Father be shaped by culture or negative examples.

So many people today—even within the Church—struggle to see God as He truly is.

For some, it’s because of wounds left by their earthly fathers. For others, it’s the culture’s distortion of fatherhood altogether. The result? A quiet but devastating lie takes hold: God is distant. He doesn’t care. I’m on my own.

Anonymous

And Yet…

"This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven
while we were with him on the holy mountain.
Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable.
You will do well to be attentive to it,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Second letter of Peter

In joining what is now called the Secular Order of the Franciscans with Gretchen, we have found a community of like minds, kind and compassionate people. One recent re-discovery, I’ve known it all along, is that every task, no matter how difficult can be done for the glory of God, cheerfully, even the ones you ‘don’t like’ even the painful ones causeing physical discomfort. Maybe these offer Him the most gratitude.

My parents were both ‘Third Order’ Franciscans, as the Secular Order was called back then. Both my Dad’s brothers were Franciscan Priests, so I guess I am a cradle to grave Irish Franciscan Catholic.

My parents about a month before my Dad made the Great Leap. He was already becoming translucent.

I don’t want it any other way. While back in Michigan, I hooked up with Mary and began my discernment with the Discalced Carmelites. I find awesome similarities between St. Francis and St. Therese and the Secular order of the Franciscans.

In the chaos of the ‘new world’, dominated by people who’ve been led astray…. We pray.

Often, it’s been said the most powerful weapon in the world is prayer.

I shoot for a daylong conversation with my Lord, asking Him to take my tribulations, my refinement by fire, the world’s vast problems into His loving hands. Even though I don’t see or hear the answers to many prayers, I know they are heard by Him…

And answered though I may not understand the remedy He offers. To stay faithful, to hope, to believe and most of all to love, I do not stop. After all, said many times…

1. Love God with everything you have.

2. Love your neighbor, all humans, even strangers.

Perhaps the strangers need it most. Pray for them! Let us all be lights shining in the darkness.

Clement

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