The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – 08 March 2017

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 13 February 2017 to 5 March 2017.

Angelus

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

General Audiences

Homilies

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Do not underestimate the value of example, for it is more powerful than a thousand words, a thousand “likes”, retweets or YouTube videos.” @Pontifex 23 February 2017
  • “The Christian heart is always full of joy. Always. Joy received as a gift and kept in order to be shared with everyone.” @Pontifex 24 February 2017
  • “Proclaiming to all the love and tenderness of Jesus, we become apostles of the joy of the Gospel. And joy is contagious!” @Pontifex 25 February 2017
  • “I invite you to persevere in prayer, so that Jesus’ wish may be fulfilled: “that they may all be one”.” @Pontifex 26 February 2017
  • “When the journey is uncertain and you fall, God, rich in mercy, will extend his hand to pick you up.” @Pontifex 27 February 2017
  • “Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death.” @Pontifex 1 March 2017
  • “God is always faithful and never stops for a moment loving us, following our steps, and running after us when we have strayed from him.” @Pontifex 2 March 2017
  • “Fasting is not only about abstaining from food. It also means sharing food with those who are hungry.” @Pontifex 3 March 2017
  • “Lent urgently calls us to conversion. We are called to return to God with all our heart.” @Pontifex 4 March 2017
  • “Jesus is the faithful friend who never abandons us. Even when we sin, he patiently awaits our return.” @Pontifex 5 March 2017
  • “I ask, please, for your prayers for me and my collaborators, who until Friday will be on retreat.” @Pontifex 5 March 2017

Papal Instagram

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Other

Memento mori

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Some years ago I came across a story about Trappist Caskets where the monks of New Melleray Abbey in Iowa build hand-crafter caskets. This appealed to me in several ways. That they are hand-crafted, affordable, and that the effort supports Trappist monks. So I had told my wife this is what I wanted to buried in.

When we were staying at the hospice they gave us various materials including for funeral planning. Up to that point I really had not given any thought to this. Really I didn’t want to think about this at all. Still I realized that I had to deal with this. So I remembered the story about Trappist Caskets and called them to order one. I felt pretty creepy calling them about this since my wife was still alive at the time. When my wife died two days later, they were able to ship it to the funeral home in two days.

At her funeral Mass when I saw this casket I was pleased about the quality of the woodwork. Talk about mixed-feelings though. It is hard to appreciate the craftsmanship of something holding your wife’s body.

Still I did appreciate their customer service and how easy the process was. So I plan on setting up an ordering of one for myself. Just thinking about this is just so Lenten – Memento mori.

I was thinking about all this when I saw this recent post at Crux Loving Memory: Handcrafted Caskets Memorialize with Meaning. This was actually labeled as SPONSORED CONTENT so is a case of an advertisement disguised as an article. Still it does give some idea about them.

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LiturgyOther

Some Random Sunday Thoughts

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

If during the TLM you setup a projector to show a video of the Bishop’s Annual Stewardship Appeal, you should at least use a film projector for the correct ambiance. Perhaps some grainy black and white footage.

Oh and why do parishes think a video is a substitute for the homily? Seems like every year they treat it as such. I realize they do this because of time, but that doesn’t make it right. A shortened homily would at least make sense, no homily at all makes no sense.

Plus the Liturgy of Filling out the Form with more detail than the GIRM has got to go. Especially handing out forms and no writing implements. It always makes me feel like being in a captured audience and being guilt into contributing. I have no problem contributing, just with the clumsy attempts to make me do so.

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Theology

Scripture and the Sacraments

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I heard about the following on Al Kresta’s show.

The St. Paul Center is offering limited-time access to its video Bible study series, The Bible and the Sacraments. Over the course of 11 lessons, beginning on March 1, this study presents the participant an opportunity for growth in knowledge of Scripture and the Sacraments.

As part of St. Paul Center’s mission, we want to share this study with as many people as possible. Please tell your friends and share this resource. You can also post comments to the page with your Facebook account, sharing your thoughts in a truly Catholic (universal) way.

Two new lessons will be posted each week and will be available for two weeks after the post date. Keep an eye out for a new email each week announcing that the new lessons are available.

You can sign up here.

FULL SCHEDULE

March 1: Lessons 1–2 posted

March 8: Lessons 3–4 posted (Lessons 1–2 still available)

March 15: Lessons 5–6 posted (Lessons 3–4 still available)

March 22: Lessons 7–8 posted (Lessons 5–6 still available)

March 29: Lessons 9–10 posted (Lessons 7–8 still available)

April 5: Lesson 11 posted (Lessons 9–10 still available)

April 12: (Lesson 11 still available)

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Pro-life

Demagoguery Dies in Darkness

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

People are having fun mocking the WaPo’s new slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness”, as if they knew anything about light. Good thing we live in a Republic.

This is how they ended their article when Norma McCorvey died.

“I don’t require that much in my life,” Ms. McCorvey told the Times in 1994. “. . . I just never had the privilege to go into an abortion clinic, lay down and have an abortion. That’s the only thing I never had.”

Hardly any mention in the article regarding here last 20 years working in the pro-life movement with a commitment that never wavered. Mention is made of her conversion under evangelical minister Flip Benham, but nothing regarding her becoming Catholic. Her disillusionment with the abortion cause was partly due to how she saw the various clinics she worked in how they treated women.

That the article ending with the above quote says everything about the Washington Post where narrative thrives in the darkness.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 168 – 22 February 2017

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 28 January 2017 to 22 February 2017.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

General Audiences

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “I invite you to join in the fight against poverty, both material and spiritual. Together let’s build peace and bridges of friendship.” @Pontifex 16 February 2017
  • “A youthful heart does not tolerate injustice and cannot bow to a “throw-away culture” nor give in to the globalization of indifference.” @Pontifex 17 February 2017
  • “How often in the Bible the Lord asks us to welcome migrants and foreigners, reminding us that we too are foreigners!” @Pontifex 18 February 2017
  • “Let us be moved by the Holy Spirit in order to be courageous in finding new ways to proclaim the Gospel.” @Pontifex 19 February 2017
  • “If evil is contagious, so is goodness. Let us be infected by goodness and let us spread goodness!” @Pontifex 20 February 2017
  • “God knows better than we do about what we need. We must have faith, because his ways are different from ours.” @Pontifex 21 February 2017
  • “Jesus entrusted to Peter the keys to open the entrance to the kingdom of heaven, and not to close it.
    ” @Pontifex 22 February 2017

Papal Instagram

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Other

Good and Faithful Servant

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

On Jan 29th my wife, Socorro Miller, passed away due to complications from cancer.

Socorro Miller

I can hardly write how devastated I am from losing her. After over 36 years of marriage I am certainly struggling day-to-day. I thank God for my faith and that she was the instrumental cause God used in my conversion. She was a women of prayer day in and day out despite all those years when I held her faith in little regard. In my then atheistic pride her faith was something I had to put up with. To the end she never wavered in her faith or her prayers. In those final days when she could hardly communicate – she was still making the sign of the cross.

Towards the end she was taken into a hospice to help to manage the pain. Our two children and myself basically lived in the same room at the hospice with her. This was extremely difficult for us to watch her rapid decline, but still we had to be there for her – who had always been there for us. I have often heard how compassion means to “suffer with” and this lesson was drilled into us.

By whatever confluence of events my children and I were awake and in conversation when she passed not long after 3:00 AM on a Sunday.

Socorro and I in 1980

She was first diagnosed a little over three years ago. Not long after that we made a visit to the Philippines to see her family.

Here she us with her two surviving sisters Rosario and Digna along with her brother Rudy – who died not long after this.

For myself I have some head-knowledge about the faith. An intellectual assent to the Church’s teachings. Still this has actualized some of that into a more lived experience. The Glorious Mysteries now have more depth for me. The Communion of Saints is becoming more real to me. I know she is praying for me as I pray for her.

I was super thankful that at her funeral Mass that the priest preached the faith of the Church. That our prayers for her must continue on. In the turmoil in the aftermath of this, I pray that I will live a life worthy of her.

So dear readers I ask that you pray for her and for my family.

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 167 – 15 February 2017

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 2 February 2016 to 15 February 2017.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “Let us never forget to pray for each another. Prayer is our greatest strength.” @Pontifex 3 February 2017
  • “Take action! Live life to the full! And when others see the witness you give, they may ask: why do you live this way?” @Pontifex 4 February 2017
  • “Those who do not believe in or search for God have perhaps never been challenged by a testimony of faith.” @Pontifex 5 February 2017
  • “Being a believer means learning how to see with eyes of faith.” @Pontifex 6 February 2017
  • “Let us hear the cry of the many children who are enslaved. No one must remain indifferent to their sorrow. @M_RSection” @Pontifex 7 February 2017
  • “Those who traffic human beings are ultimately accountable to God. Let us pray for the conversion of hearts. @M_RSection” @Pontifex 8 February 2017
  • “Hope opens new horizons and enables us to dream of what is not even imaginable.” @Pontifex 9 February 2017
  • “Let us be close to our brothers and sisters who are going through illness and also their families.” @Pontifex 10 February 2017
  • “I encourage all of you to see in Mary, Health of the Infirm, the sure sign of God’s love for every human being.” @Pontifex 11 February 2017
  • “The dignity of children must be respected: we pray that the scandal of child-soldiers may be eliminated the world over.” @Pontifex 12 February 2017
  • “Let us never place conditions on God! Entrusting ourselves to the Lord means entering into his plans without demanding anything.” @Pontifex 13 February 2017
  • “It is good to know the Lord takes on the burden of our fragilities and patiently gets us back on our feet with the strength to start over.” @Pontifex 14 February 2017
  • “The throwaway culture is not of Jesus. The other is my brother, beyond every barrier of nationality, social extraction or religion.” @Pontifex 15 February 2017

Papal Instagram

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The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 166 – 02 February 2017

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

pope-francis2-300x187

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 18 October 2016 to 2 February 2017.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

Daily Homilies (fervorinos)

General Audiences

Homilies

Messages

Motu Proprio

Speeches

Papal Tweets

Papal Instagram

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