Diane M. Houdek

We have so much in our lives that we feel we need to defend. It can lead us to live in constant fear.

Forgiveness is quite possibly the most difficult and yet essential action necessary for anyone living in community. Unless we’re hermits, that includes all of us.

We often find it difficult to recognize the true prophets in our midst. We dismiss them as crackpots and extremists because they make us uncomfortable.

Francis was not the first saint to have encountered God during an illness. There’s something about serious illness that forces us to confront our mortality and then to question our priorities.

Those who worry about whether there will be enough find it difficult to give freely. Those accustomed to giving it all away find it easier to accept God’s grace.

In spite of his radical commitment to live the Gospel, apart from many of the cultural institutions that had influenced the Church by the thirteenth century, Francis still remained a faithful, obedient son of the Church.