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Feast of the Portiuncula at Mayslake

Cricket and Jerry Aull, members of the OFS Saint Francis, joined the Cabrini Region in today’s feast of La Portiuncula. The theme, Following Francis:
Being the Merciful and Joyful Presence of God.

What follows are notes on the presentations led by Cricket Aull with a little music (amazing voice!) by Jerry Aull. Unfortunately, he had to leave to another engagement:

We are all called to live a life of simplicity, purity, and obedience in the footsteps of Saint Francis.

Simplicity is key. How much do things get in the way of living the merciful presence of God?

Purity. How are we to practice purity, especially interiorly? Detaching ourselves of earthly things to make us more aware of God’s presence.

Obedience. Do we try not to avoid burdensome things? Things that will help us stay humble? Francis and his brothers embraced them with joy because they knew it would draw them closer to Christ.

We make promises to live simply (clearing the path so that God can dwell in us). We make promises to live purely (clearing the path for God’s presence in us). We make promises to live in obedience (so that we embrace that which brings us closer to God).

Jerry–A challenge to cyberfast (advice from Ilia Delio. I, of course, was taking notes and tweeting)! Are we accustomed to doing all the talking when we are in the presence of God? Are we learning to discern the still small voice yearning to guide us?

Cricket continued: The three loves: Love to be emptied of self, love of purity, love of service. What gets in the way of us having a merciful heart? Think of the word “stop”:
S: surrender to God in all He is doing.
T: Trust in God and Turn everything into a reflection of God’s presence in us.
O: Obey? Observe? Offer? Openness? Omnipotence? Outpouring? Other?
P: Prayer with Thanksgiving. Peace. Praise. Presence. Perseverance.

Part II

What gets in the way of our joy? What do we need to do differently? Strive towards the beauty of God. Sufferings, sisters, called them Francis. He bore them joyfully and thanked God for everything. What are three characteristics of Francis that are most appealing and effective in the world? Which ones do we need to work on as followers of Francis? If Francis came to visit your family, what would he appreciate the most?

The story of the small piece of the Eucharist and hearing in her prayer, Am I not fully present in the smallest piece of the Eucharist? Yes. Then be fully present in the smallest things that you do.

Check their website for more details: The Aull’s

“I became the prayer he could not say”….

 

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Simply Bonaventure: Simply Insightful

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“We are all on a journey of some sort, and while most of us are aware of being in a spiritual journey, it is a question of how many of us consider the goal of our journey.”

 

It took me many months to read this text but this is not Ilia Delio’s fault. The book is profound and clear. It offers a comprehensive overview of Bonaventure’s writings, thoughts, and life in addition to excerpts from his works. I found the reflection questions at the end of each chapter very helpful. A quick look at Amazon shows that a second edition is available (2013) with a much needed updated bibliography. 

 

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Brother John

We mourn the loss of our confrére Deacon John Farrell. Here is the obituary from the Tribune. We will miss him terribly. 

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Mother Cabrini Region

Mother Cabrini Region

So there was a tornado…cell phone emergency alarms were going off…but we were not scared by it!

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Next Spiritual Journeys Meeting!!!

Spiritual Journeys

Saturday, September 14th

10-11:30 am

 Reflecting on Yom Kippur

    Lessons for all!

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Spiritual Journeys and Fraternity Meeting 7/13

On Saturday, July 13th at 10 am, Wellspring will be hosting our monthly Spiritual Journeys and Fraternity Meeting. For the Spiritual Journeys portion of our day, we will be viewing the first part of the DVD “In the Footprints of Francis and the Sultan: A Model for Peacemaking.” It is the perfect discussion as our Muslim brothers and sisters begin the month of Ramadan this week. If you are interested in attending, simply email doctoranalisa@gmail.com or reply to this post with an email. I will send you the address. Image

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Sometimes I snore

I decided to trike my way to our meeting yesterday. It was a gorgeous morning and ever since Bike the Drive, I pretty much feel like I can take some physical challenges on. The trip was an hour long to Portage Park. I had my coffee and led the Spiritual Journeys portion of the day with a meditation on summer, asking us to think about midyear accomplishments and the ways in which we would take care of ourselves during this season. 

Our conversation meandered in the way that I always appreciate. The spirit, I am convinced, is leading the way in spite of me. I wasn’t sure I had presented my thoughts well. I started them off with a poem by Derek Walcott, “A Lesson on a Sunday,” which may not have been an expected inspirational piece for the occasion. Nevertheless, it worked. It works the way it always does. 

Our afternoon formation was dedicated to watching Ilia Delio’s remarks at the Q conference. I was starting to feel the aches and pains on my back. I thought lying on the floor would calm it down. And it did. A little too much.

I started fighting the weight of my eyelids and the heaviness of my breathing. I was concentrating on repeating the key phrases of her talk that said something meaningful to me. Then I felt myself snoring, unable to move from the blissful position of rest I had managed to achieve. Active contemplatives. Contemplative actives. Active. Action. Contemplation. ZZZzzzzzZZZ…

I have sleep apnea. So my snores are a thing of wonder. My wellspring confreres somehow managed to listen to Ilia Delio and discuss and disagree and discuss, ignoring my snores. They are so kind. B said she figured I had an hour to get back home so better get all the rest I could. I protested saying I had heard some of it. D said, SURE, did you see the dog jumping over you back and forth. AWWWW, PD!!!

Now, I have to get my own copy of the Q conference and watch it with my eyes open.

 

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HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

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HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

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Francis in a college classroom

Several years ago, I was inspired by a colleague to think about a service/learning course that would link the classroom to my faith community. Why could I not do the same? I thought we could read Franciscan literature and history and theology and then see how Franciscan spirituality was manifested in the real world. I finally got to launch this course in the Fall on 2012. 

 

I assigned the following readings: Dante’s Paradiso, Bonaventure’s Life of Francis, Leonardo Boff’s Francis a Model of Human Liberation, and the various Rules and Admonitions found in the Western Classics Anthology. I would love to review all of these at a later date. I think our students enjoyed the readings but Dante proved to be a little bit, I don’t know, not so exciting for them. HAHAHHAH!

 

The projects we undertook were visits to our Wellspring Fraternity, Brookfield Zoo (our roving naturalist Mary H was absolutely fantastic and transformative!), the Transitus, the McQuard Center, and the Good Mourning Program hosted by Rainbow Hospice.  I believe they enjoyed all of these tremendously. 

 

All in all, I think I learned a lot. Teaching a subject I thought I knew has been a revelatory experience. I have been transformed deeply by this experience. I learned a lot about Francis, about how our students can be still idealistic, devout and dedicated to a life of faith and the practice of love, about my own shortcomings and how much I have taken for granted. I am very grateful for the opportunity I was given to teach this course.