Franciscan Spirit

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 …

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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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peace-flag-waving

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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Five Truths to Remember as Political Tensions Intensify

Franciscans believe that God’s trajectory in the world is a humble one. God poured God’s very self into the universe, setting it into motion, and also became human through the person of Jesus Christ. So, what are the implications of ...
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Study & Theology: A Franciscan Feast

When I was young, Thanksgiving dinners were never held in anyone’s house. My grandmother and her sisters decided that no one’s Philadelphia row house was big enough for the entire clan. Smart women that they were, we always took over ...
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Road with arrow pointing north

Study & Theology: ‘Where You Lead, I Will Follow’

If I were to leave behind an epitaph, it would most certainly read, “Follow St. Francis!”
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