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.
My journey into my family of grandmas
What will I be when I grow up? It’s a familiar question. As a happy and energetic farm girl in Iowa, I frequently imagined what…
Franciscan Bookshelf: “Following Francis”
By day, K.P.–a good friend of Sister Julia’s–reads, writes, and has conversations about literature for a living. By night, she devours theology, sits silently with…
On Earth, Heaven
Gospel living is messy. It takes a lot of work, prayer, devotion and love to be God’s instrument and to build God’s reign of peace…
Things I think about because I watch Chopped
If you were to ask the Sisters I live with what my favorite TV show is, they would probably say Chopped. It’s true. I really…
Heaven and Earth: Lessons learned in Assisi
This past summer I had a profound experience that helped me to remember that heaven and earth are one. I was in Assisi, Italy, on…
Snuggle in
I hate it when my children are sick: when their normally endless energy is replaced by a whimpering lethargy. When their bleary eyes can muster…
Equal worth, unequal living
It’s Blog Action Day! The topic this year is inequality. I have a lot of passion about this. My experiences and awareness have formed a…
Hope during death and decay
An Ebola epidemic. Beheadings. Bombings. War. Violence. Obituaries. We don’t have to go deep into the headlines to know that death and despair surround us. Our…