Franciscan Spirit Blog

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Carlo Acutis and the Gift of Presence

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Often attributed to John Lennon, this quote from American journalist Allen Saunders speaks to me especially this week of April 21, 2025, as I write this piece...
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The Inbreaking of the Word: Week 4 of Advent

From Father Jim: "While we celebrate the birth of Christ as this great memorial, as this great celebration, as this great solemnity. We are a people with feet in two worlds, the world to come and the world that is ...
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A Sacred Invitation: Laying Down our Power Before the Manger

It was mid-November when I began unpacking holiday crates and adorning our home with Christmas decorations. Perhaps it was the ongoing surge of dizzying news that made decorating for Christmas so early sound so enticing—a small bit of joy I ...
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The Inbreaking of the Word: Week 3 of Advent

Father Jim Sabak, OFM, invites us into the hope of the Advent season and helps us to meditate upon and contemplate this past Sunday’s readings as we carry the Word with us into our weeks. In the spirit of St. ...
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empty desert road on Route 66

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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The Inbreaking of the Word: Week 2 of Advent

Father Jim Sabak, OFM, invites us into the hope of the Advent season and helps us to meditate upon and contemplate this past Sunday’s readings as we carry the Word with us into our weeks.
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The Inbreaking of the Word: Week 1 of Advent

Fr. Jim Sabak, OFM, invites us into the hope of the Advent season and helps us to meditate upon and contemplate this past Sunday’s readings as we carry the Word with us into our weeks. In the spirit of St. ...
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