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Job Opening: Peacemaker, no previous experience needed
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” ~ Traditional Franciscan Saying It’s a very old saying within Franciscan tradition, sometimes even attributed to St. Francis of Assisi himself. But what does it mean. “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace?” and why would someone ever ask for that? What is peace? It’s always…
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The Burden That Can Free You Forever
Jesus said:“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,for I am meek and humble of heart;and you will find rest for yourselves.For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Gospel of Matthew 11:28-30) I was fortunate to attend elementary…
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Podcast Episode: When You Can’t Consider Forgiveness, Consider God
Bob: Forgiveness — the thing everyone agrees is good for you, like vegetables or sleep, and that most of us find equally difficult to actually do. Mara: Today we’re looking at work from Tom Delaney (O.F.S.), a Franciscan educational psychologist exploring what to do when forgiveness feels genuinely impossible — the theology, the psychology, and…
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When You Can’t Consider Forgiveness, Consider God
“Praised be my Lord for those who forgive on account of your love, and endure weakness and trials. Blessed are those who shall endure in peace, for by you, most high, they shall be crowned.” ~ Canticle of the Sun, St. Francis of Assisi Scientific research has indicated that the benefits of forgiveness – e.g.…
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How to Worry Less and Connect More
Ever wonder how the big names in Catholic spirituality seem so calm and collected? They seem to have found and be connected with something that gives their view of the world, and the way they engage with the world, a deep abiding peacefulness. I can laugh and say, “It’s like they know something we don’t!…
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How to Make Your World More Forgiving for You (and Everybody Else)
If you could make the world a more forgiving place for you, would you? For as long as human beings have been around, they have looked for ways to arrange the world and its events so as to fulfill our needs, wishes, hopes, and desires. Over millennia, we have looked for these ways in science,…
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Forgiveness Means Seeing Our Part
One of the challenging pieces of forgiveness is to look not only at the person we feel wronged us, but also to take an honest look at ourselves and our part in what happened, and what we are experiencing. It could be that we helped create the circumstance that led to the wrongdoing. Whether through…
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Love & Forgiveness: Process is Everything and Everything is Process
Let me tell you something about being a Franciscan that you may find insightful about your own life, and your own efforts to unfold the best parts of yourself and live your life fully. What I have learned about being a Franciscan is that it’s more like a process than it is a status. Yes,…
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Your Wake-Up Call from Love Today
If you follow the daily biblical readings in the Liturgy of the Word for the Catholic Church, you will see that today’s reading from John’s first letter includes the most straightforward, and in some ways complete, explanation of God that there is: God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God…