Franciscan Life
Franciscan life is a love story — with God, with the poor, with the earth, with the stranger. Rooted in the spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, these posts explore what it means to embrace simplicity, kinship, and courageous countercultural choices in a world that constantly pushes the other direction. From returning land to Indigenous communities to the spirituality of dumpster diving to what the feast of St. Francis has to teach us today, this is a space for anyone drawn to the Franciscan way — whether you’ve taken vows or are just beginning to feel its pull.
Trains in heaven: Embracing the mystery
About a week before I professed my final vows, in the summer of 2015, I had a crisis of faith. During a private retreat in…
A sacred reminder
I love Christmas. The rhythm of Advent, the hopeful anticipation, the clarifying cold, the scent of evergreen, the congealed wax at the base of the…
In God’s Image: Finding Jesus in the Mundane Mess of Motherhood
“Your loving doesn’t know its majesty, until it knows its helplessness.” – Rumi “Pretty bad day here – I think if parenting was something one…
A “woke” Joseph and the great Christmas challenge
Merry Christmas! With the birth of Christ, we’ve entered into the season of the Incarnation. The arrival of the Incarnation is God-made-flesh and dwelling among…
The joy of receiving
Jesus observed, “Without me you can do nothing.” Yet we act, for the most part, as though without us God can do nothing …“ ~…
Fear, darkness, and Advent
Lately a certain Gospel instruction is has been grinding challenge into my life, really giving my heart a doozy of a talking to. Jesus says it…
Porters, Posadas and our Advent invitation
“Welcome!” My Capuchin Franciscan postulant friend greeted me as he opened the large wooden door, inviting me inside from the Midwestern early-winter chill. There was…
This complicated, imperfect world: a poem
This is a complicated world, but not for the sake of trying. How do we respond? What is it that I have…