Franciscan Footprints

Part I of the Novena

 

Tomorrow evening we begin our Christmas Novena. It is prayed following Night Prayer in the chapel at OSF St. Francis. (at 6:30pm) Here is a short video of us taken last Advent.(Taken in short sections) Also you could click here to download a copy of it. May this advent and Christmas be one that is filled with the blessings of our Lord and the fellowship of friends and family. May God bless all who read & watch this! 

Part II of the Novena

Part III of the Novena

Part IV of the Novena

Today is the Memorial of Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska, the apostle of the Divine Mercy. To me she stands out because of her simplicity & humility. She had only three years of education & was given the most lowliest assignments in the convent; as cook, gardener and porter. Here is a short biography of her by Pope John Paul II. A good in-depth biography is entitled “The Life of Faustina Kowalska: The Authorized Biography” by Sister Sophia Michalenko. Also her Diary is available which great to use for meditation.

Today is also our Sister, Sister Mary Faustina’s feast day. Please join us in praying for Sister and her intentions today. Below is a picture of Sister Faustina.

 

  **Image courtesy of Wikipedia.**

Saint Lawrence( 225 – 258) lived in Rome and was a deacon under Pope Saint Sixtus II. He was quite daring and had a lively sense of humor. For more information on St. Lawrence, click here.

 This is the Final Prayer as prayed in the Divine Office for his feast:

Father,
You called Saint Lawrence to serve you by love
and crowned his life with glorious martyrdom.
Help us to be like him in loving you and doing
your work.  Grant this through our Lord Jesus
Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with
You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 **Image courtesy of The CrossRoads Initiative.**

 

Today is the optional memorial of Saint Bonaventure: Franciscan, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church. He is one of our community’s Patron Saints. He and Saint Thomas Aquinas taught at the same university. How neat is that! To read up on him, take a look at this page from New Advent.

 

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Here is a prayer written by Saint Bonaventure:

 

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee. Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste. May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God; may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever

fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

  

Saint Bonaventure, pray for us!

Sister Rose Therese and I spent several hours today at the Motherhouse as today is First Friday & our monthly Retreat day. What a wonderful way to spend this day– with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!

 

Adoration

 

I hope that you all have a blessed New Year full of the peace and consolation of Christ.

Tonight we all will be making a Holy Hour in the Convent Chapel after supper. What a wonderful way to welcome the new year. Won’t you consider spending time with our Eucharistic Lord this evening?

God Bless and be safe.

Sister Veronica

December 18th:
O Adonai
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come to redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As a community we prayed a Novena from Nov. 29th to Dec. 7th in honor of the Immaculate Conception after Evening Prayer. It is so meaningful:

Novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception

You are all fair, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in you.  Through the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, O Lord, You prepared a worthy dwelling place for Your Son.  You preserved the Virgin from all stain by letting her benefit in advance from the sacrifice of the Cross.  We entreat You, may her intercession purify our souls and help us to come into Your presence.  This we ask of You through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord and Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever. Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin,
Pray for us who have recourse to you.

What a special day the Chrurch in Her wisdom gives us to reflect on Our Lady. Have a blessed day!

Sister Veronica, OSF

Happy Founders’ Day, Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis!

 On this day in 1877 we were founded by Mother M. Frances Krasse and Archbishop John Lancaster Spalding for the purpose of nursing the sick and poor in Peoria.

Sister Mary John, Sister Agnes Joseph, Sister Magdalen, Sister Rose Therese, and myself made a visit to the temporal resting place of our founders and pioneer Sisters. The first picture above is when we visited the mausoleum of Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, and the first early Bishops of Peoria. The picture below it was taken as we prayed the Rosary at the graves of our pioneer Sisters. Several were called home at an early age. I couldn’t help but reflect on the lives of our early Sisters and the love, faith, and courage they had. I hope that I may one day be with our Lord’s help as loving, faithful, and courageous as they were in their care of the sick and the poor.  

 Mother M. Frances Krasse and Archbishop John Lancaster Spalding pray for us!

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.

May they rest in peace. Amen.