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I recently interviewed Jon about the prayer book.
Sister Julia: Does Franciscan spirituality influence you personally?<\/strong>
Jon: I sure hope so. I’ve been inspired by Francis and Clare since I was a teenager and first discovered their way of living the Gospel. That Way is also very much like living the Gospel of Jesus in the Beatitudes. Most of all, I try to be a help to those who are crushed by the world’s cruelties, and I try to turn away from the shiny things that distract us too easily, in favor of the simple way that Francis taught his first followers.<\/em>
Sister Julia : What inspired you to create this prayer book?<\/strong>
Jon: This book is a 17-year labor of love. It was in 2003 that I wrote “The St. Francis Prayer Book,” and it was a result of my own prayer life, and my own attempt to pray in the Way of Francis. Then came “The St. Clare Prayer Book” four years later, and then a decade later I spent a lot of time praying in and through the holy fool themes in early Franciscans like Juniper and Giles, and much of that comprises part three of this book.<\/em>
Sister Julia: What are your hopes for this book?<\/strong>
Jon: I want people to pray with this book. I’ve written other books about the lives of Francis and Clare and about the history of the early Franciscan movement, and there is a lot about those things in here, too. But this is all in the context, and for the purpose, of praying. And then I hope that this Way of Francis, and these ways of praying, will change how people live. If we do prayer right, it can’t help but change how we live.<\/em>
Sister Julia: What new insight did you discover about the Franciscan saints, yourself or prayer while writing this book?<\/strong>
Jon: I found in Francis and Clare a great deal of silence and solitude. We normally associate them easily with preaching, dance, song, juggling, and charming stories of lives interestingly lived; but when you really get into their prayer habits, you find that silence and solitude were essential to them on a daily basis. We can learn from that, too.<\/em><\/p>\n
The book was released in February 2020. More information is available here.\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What does it meant to pray like a Franciscan? This question is one that I reflect on regularly. It’s part of my tendency to informally self-evaluate, to ask myself how I am doing at living my vocation. Typically, the question leads me right to Jesus on the cross. As modeled centuries ago by Saints Francis...","protected":false},"author":4071079,"featured_media":9420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[553705,698755375,14526,214,698755381,106887,401,525076,7742088,853,18214,178304,524277,5193455],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-9327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-author-interview","tag-book-review","tag-change","tag-christianity","tag-contemplation","tag-conversion","tag-faith","tag-franciscan","tag-franciscan-saints","tag-prayer","tag-saints","tag-simple-living","tag-st-francis-of-assisi","tag-st-clare-of-assisi","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/9781640601468.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"Franciscan prayer for all of us: a conversation with Jon Sweeney<\/a><\/blockquote>