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September and October Events
Welcome back to the Franciscan Spiritual Center. Our hearts are eager to reconnect with you and to share our lives with you again. It has been a long time. Our last live program was March 2019 and our last virtual program was April 2021. This is an inaugural...
A Mystery to Ponder
Trinity Sunday has gone and passed and I still ponder the mystery. Mysteries are perhaps something we live into more than ever understand. Two elements in Richard Rohr and Mike Morell’s book entitled The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation touched my...
Some May Surprises
I Celebrations are a part of May: Mother’s Day, First Communions, May processions, Confirmations, Weddings, and Graduations! How wonderful it is that we celebrate such important people or occasions that touch our hearts so dearly. Of all the celebrations, Mother’s...
Holy Week Awakening
We begin Holy Week with a fickle crowd who are all gung ho on welcoming Jesus as their King and Messiah. We all know what happens to this same crowd a few days later when they’re screaming at the top of their lungs “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.” Holy Week challenges us...
Ash Wednesday – Lenten Hobo Honeymoon
As we begin Lent this year we’re faced with the devastating effects of the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia on the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters. On all our television screens and social media feeds are images of brave Ukrainians holding their own...
Valentine Blessings
The American Heart Association tells us February is heart month. With Valentine’s Day, hearts of all sizes and colors can be seen at every turn. No matter how you view it, February is about hearts and the many “I love you’s” that express what the symbol heart might...
Epiphany Blessings
So, all the official celebrations have been completed and we’re working our way to the end of the Christmas season where there has been so much to ponder and so much to cherish. Today, January 6 has traditionally been Epiphany. Many call it “Little Christmas or Three...
Advent: Waiting in Hope
As the days get shorter and the nights get longer we find ourselves once again in Advent. Advent brings a fresh start to the Church year and an invitation to enter into the silence and mystery of whatever is waiting to be born or reborn within us. It begins...
A Deeply Engaging Month
November is such an engaging month. Autumn is at its peak, crunching leaves underfoot and bright colors everywhere we look, letting us know that even dying has this profound beauty opening up before us. So, it isn’t surprising to see All Saints, All Souls, The...
St. Francis in the Autumn Season
Happy St. Francis Day to all of you! It is a very special day here in Aston and across the world as we celebrate the saint whose heart was transformed and whose spirit lives on through all of his followers. I always think it is no accident that we celebrate Francis...
September 2021: Leaning Into Mary in Times of Sorrow
This month we again have two beautiful feasts of Mary. On September 8th we celebrate Mary’s birthday and on the 15th we recognize Mary under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows. This is an age-old devotion to Mary which has somewhat fallen by the wayside in recent...
Franciscan Feasts in August
Even though the Feast of Francis doesn’t come until October, August is a month to celebrate our Franciscan Heritage. We write today (August 2) on the Franciscan Feast of Portiuncula which recalls a small chapel in Assisi, a foundational home for the Franciscan family...
Celebrating Our Nation
2021 has been an uncertain time for many things but clearly for our nation. As we celebrate July 4th this year we celebrate the 244th birthday of our nation. The opening words of the Declaration of Independence gives us a clear challenge as a nation:: “We hold...
June Greetings
In our Catholic tradition May was always focused on Mary and June was dedicated to the Sacred Heart. From our childhood many of us may have seen pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus around our homes as a symbol of God’s abundant and selfless love through the heart...
May Greetings
I had the privilege of time in our hermitage. As you would expect everything was still and peaceful and I found myself being overwhelmed with this awesome sense of gratitude. I am convinced that gratitude in many ways is a doorway to wonderful surprises. At that...
Boy Scouts 225 clears path at Hermitages
On Saturday, August 22, Boy Scout Troop 225 from the church of St. Joseph in Aston, Pennsylvania, restored the walking path (blue trail) that leads from Red Hill Farm to the Hermitages. Eagle Scout Peter Rigotti and approximately 20 scouts, parents, and friends...
Racism: The Need to Educate Ourselves
Sojourners has a wonderful article on how White Liberals Perpetuate Racism. It is a powerful statement that can help to educate us all on the system wide reality of Racism and the role we have had in its existence. Here is a link to the article:...
Feast of Corpus Christi
The Eucharist, among other things, is a memorial of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, of his great act of “being broken”, of giving himself over in love. Properly understood, the Eucharist, as a ritual, gives us another kind of “real presence”. It makes present for us the...