1 Franciscan Way

While Southwest airlines allows you to “select your own seat,” I am confident that it was not I who selected my seat on a recent return to Alton.  As the flight began, the woman next to me inquired about the book I was reading.  I explained the title and summarized the contents saying, “It deals with what it means to receive God’s love and from that receptivity, learning to love one’s neighbor.”  She followed with hard questions about suffering, death, grief, and forgiveness, sharing her story about her son’s tragic death with honesty and vulnerability.  It was clear that there was a great deal of hurt, resentment, anger, and a dire need to forgive and experience forgiveness.  Thanks to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the providence of the recent lectionary cycle at daily Mass, we carried on this conversation for almost the entirety of the two-and-a-half-hour flight during which I was able to share the Gospel (literally) and some insights on forgiveness t...

Blessed Easter! May the joy of our Risen Lord fill your heart with His joy and peace!          Mary Magdalene and her story of encounter with the Risen Lord has often been a favorite meditation of mine. Throughout the time of our Lord’s Passion, Mary’s deep love for Our Lord compels her to walk with Him experiencing His Passion and Death. Her grief was so deep because she loved much. She knew Jesus, she knew Love. Mary Magdalene walks with Our Lady, who must have also taught her love by receiving Mary Magdalen into her heart. What were those encounters like for Mary Magdalen, between her and the Mother of God. She must have known Mary well to remain with Our Lady during Christ’s Passion. She must have known the deep love, mercy and kindness Mary had towards Mary Magdalene after her conversion from her previous sinful life. She knew Christ through His Mother. When Mary Magdalen goes to the tomb and finds the tomb empty, her heart sinks once again with g...

      Lent is a time for all of us to look to Jesus Christ crucified and receive His mercy which is DRAWN OUT of the wellsprings of His Sacred Heart.  This year I believe is especially graced as Pope Francis has declared this an extraordinary jubilee of mercy.  Each of us is invited to stand with Mary, the mother of mercy, at the foot of the Cross as she gazed upon her Son Jesus with tenderness and open ourselves to all the graces that have overflowed from His pierced side: the source of mercy.  As Catholics, we have the incredible gift of the Holy Eucharist in which we receive His Precious Body and Blood, which was shed for our sins at Calvary.  During the consecration, we should call to mind this reality and place ourselves with Mary at the foot of the cross as the Eucharist is elevated.  St. John Marie Vianney proposed a question that goes perfectly with this idea, he asked: “are you there at Mass with the same dispositions as Our Lady on Calv...

Through our Spirituality “Looking on Him Whom We have Pierced.” (Jn 19:27) Sister Maria Teresita, a second year novice, shares about her experience being on mission.                “Give Me a drink... If you only knew the gift of God and Who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink’, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” Jesus repeats His longing on the Cross, “I thirst.”  This is what Jesus kept telling me during my 5 months on Mission. What is He thirsty for? He thirsts to love, forgive, strengthen, and fill us – Jesus thirsts to satisfy our thirst, for that is what we thirst for too. But how do we let Him do that? Jesus said “If any man is thirsty, let Him come to Me”, so that is exactly what I did; I went to the foot of the Cross, and “looked upon Him, whom I have pierced.” I fixed my gaze on Him, whom I’ve wounded, and I was filled with hope, for as I looked into His merciful eyes, I only saw ...

Overwhelmed by Mercy as You reach out, reveal the Door.   Lord, You never stop reaching for us You never stop longing for us. Looking back, I recall the Great Jubilee. I walked through those doors in Rome but my heart wasn't there for You. Then, much more a tourist than a pilgrim. This time, I awaited eagerly on our own campus for the Door of Mercy to open here grateful for the wonders You've worked in my heart and those of many others in the intervening years. You call us still, You love us still. Nothing we earned. Total Gift. Pouring from Your side. After the Mass we awaited to process out to the chapel with the Door of Mercy. As one row after another emptied my heart realized with awe and joy that this is what could be happening in purgatory this year... purgatory emptying souls who long for You finally arriving home the fruit of Your blood, Your love and the graces for which You ask us to beg. Lord, I...

Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. ~St Francis of Assisi As we drove to Mass the other morning, I could not help but notice the amazing, beautiful sunrise. As someone who loves the color purple, it is always my favorite part. This particular morning I noticed something I had never noticed before. The purple was most vivid at a particular point, when the light of the Sun first touched the darkness of night. As lent was fast approaching, it got me thinking. We clothe the season in purple, a symbol of penance and sacrifice, but for me on this particular morning it took on a new meaning. This season is about allowing the light of Christ to touch the places in me, in my life, that have become darkened by sin and negligence. More than just clearing out, it is also a letting in, a gradual encounter.   Eventually we will be completely consumed by the light, ready to celebrate the joyful brilliance of the Easer Resurrection. - Sister Mary Francis, FSGM

This Lent the Lord has put on my heart the awareness of gazing upon Christ.  In our Franciscan congregation, our spirituality flows from John 19:37 “they will look on the one whom they have pierced.”  With this spirituality, we gaze upon the pierced side of Christ and receive from His pierced heart His love and mercy. Then we may go forth to give what we have received.  Throughout this Lent, this action of gazing has been foremost in both my spiritual reading and in prayer.  It also brought to mind a graced trip to Assisi in 2014, by which this “gazing” became so real to me.            While in Assisi, there are many things to see and let soak into one’s soul. The first place where I was moved to gaze was in the side chapel in the Basilica of St. Clare in Assisi, where the Crucifix from which Our Lord spoke to St. Francis is now housed.  What an awe-filled moment it was to kneel before this Crucifix and to gaze into the e...