Franciscan Spirit
Lent with Padre Pio: First Monday
In the face of adversity, it can seem impossible to find any levity or something to smile about.
Maternal Wisdom on the Mother Road
Perhaps the most iconic emblem of Americana is the nostalgic and, at one time, singularly essential stretch of highway known as Route 66. Known universally as the “Mother Road,” I often wondered how this namesake came to be. In bucket-list ...
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Elizabeth of Hungary: Beloved Sister in a Troubled World
May I tell you the story of a woman who was married at 14 and dead at 24? Does that sound like the making of a tragedy? What if I told you she left home and family not once but ...
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Being and Making Peace Today
It may be my personality; it may be my mistrust of “righteous causes,” but I’ve never been one to join protest groups or to “work for peace,” as Franciscans are supposed to do. Yet, at the same time, my whole life ...
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All Souls’ Day: The Beauty of Each Life
On my first visit to Rome, I rushed to see St. Peter’s. It was a church I had drawn when I was in third grade after I read This is Rome by Miroslav Šašek. Of all the pictures in that ...
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The Unfolding of Peace
Often, I am haunted and healed by the words of the Spanish mystic Unamuno: “May God deny you peace but give you glory.” Unamuno’s tragic sense of life suggests that what too often passes for peace in our world is ...
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Includes Saint of the Day, Minute Meditations, and Pause + Pray.
A Sacred Invitation: Laying Down our Power Before the Manger