Franciscan Spirit

Franciscan Inspirations: Seed Planted Comes to Life

The Gospels are full of moments in which people met Jesus, often in very difficult circumstances, and years later, the significance of their meeting produced marvelous fruit.

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Statue of St. Peter

Franciscan Inspirations: Peter’s Failures

Far be it from me to put words into Jesus’ mouth, but I can easily imagine someone asking Jesus, near the end of his ministry, just what he thought about Peter. Peter was the first chosen by Jesus and the ...
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man on a beach | Photo by Patrick Robert Doyle on Unsplash

Franciscan Inspirations: Revelations at the Beach

It was an idyllic scene. It could have been an Impressionist’s painting of families vacationing at the beach: August sun, white sand, gentle surf of the Gulf, blue sky, fathers building sand castles with their daughters, mothers lathering their sons ...
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statue of jesus | Photo by Ilona Frey on Unsplash

Through the Eyes of Jesus

Was Jesus’ public ministry prompted solely by his desire to get all of us into heaven—or did he have something more in mind for his followers?
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Strong women are cool!

Hear Them Roar: In Awe of Strong Women

We should encourage youth, especially girls, to focus on true role models. Let’s embolden them to retweet human-rights trailblazer Malala Yousafzai (1.6m followers) over reality television’s Kim Kardashian (64.8 million followers).
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Statue of the Virgin Mary

Kids, Meet Mary

Last May, as my family sat in church, I noticed my then-five-year-old son, Alex, carefully eyeing the statue of Mary in the front of church. It had been decorated in honor of the month of May—the month of Mary. When ...
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man in a tree | Photo by Lukas Rodriguez

Meet Zacchaeus, the Man with No Friends

One of the most endearing Gospel moments is when Zacchaeus, a tax collector for the Romans, spotted Jesus entering Jericho from his perch in a tree (Lk 19:1-10). If sinners were ranked by the Jews, tax collectors would be right ...
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