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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A statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be canonized, is seen at Our Lady of the Island Shrine in Manorville, N.Y., March 25, 2021. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

In the Footsteps of Saint Kateri

Kateri Tekakwitha repeats the example of the saints: Holiness thrives on the cross, anywhere. Yet she did have what Christians—all people—need: the support of a community.
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Angel carries Jesus

The Loneliness of Gethsemane

Truth finds us in different ways. Sometimes we learn what something means not in a classroom, but in a hospital. Several years ago, I was visiting a man dying of cancer in a hospital room. He was dying well, though ...
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Pregnant woman holding a picture | Photo by Bethany Beck on Unsplash

Franciscan Inspirations: Size Doesn’t Matter, Really

In our society, it seems that everything has to be bigger or the greatest. “More is more,” as they say. But the truth is this: size is not really that important.
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Walking through a tunnel | Photo by Chris Buckwald on Unsplash

Franciscan Inspirations: Reincarnation and Judgment

In recent years, we’ve heard references to the concept of reincarnation. This is the theory that the soul or spirit, after death, begins a new life in a new body depending on the moral quality of the person’s previous life.
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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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