Minute Meditations
Strive to Be a Joyful Christian
Like his namesake St. Francis, Pope Francis has made joy one of the hallmarks of his papacy. It’s a joy in the simple things in life and a focus on sharing God’s love with everyone he meets. It’s a way of looking at the world that sees hope and possibility, that emphasizes real connections over the distance that can accompany formality. Joy is deeper than mere happiness. It’s less influenced by external circumstances. Events and people and material things can make us happy.
The Mercy of God Is Our Greatest Blessing
And now here they were together again at La Verna, their sacred mountain, preparing for the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, and Leo was praying the Mass of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, his feet planted firmly on ...
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Work as Prayer
While proofreading a manuscript, I better keep my mind on the text, not on God. If my mind is torn between the two, the typos will slip through like little fish through a torn net. God will be present precisely ...
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Live as Saint Francis Lived
The three vows that Saint Francis took—poverty, chastity, and obedience—were the same as those that monks had taken for centuries. However, he lived without the safety net that most monks had in their monasteries. If working with his hands did ...
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Turn to God
Pope Francis reminds us that we must turn not to worldly responses in the face of fear—to consumerism, violence, self-centeredness—but instead turn to a strong personal experience of Christ in the Spirit. Like the disciples on a boat during the ...
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A Sign of Peace
Peace is a work of justice; it does not come about by a display of superior strength or military might. In fact, it can be argued that those who “live among social outcasts, among the poor and helpless, the sick ...
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Mary, the First and Greatest Disciple
Mary remains an ever-present figure as we journey through the Gospels with the women who meet Jesus. These stories are the tales of very different women, yet the common thread is the one most powerfully illustrated by his own Mother: ...
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