"CUM GRANDE HUMILITATE!"

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words."

A special "Thank you!"
Goes out to
John Michael Talbot
for giving us permission
to use his song on our
"Come to the Quiet"
You Tube Video
T
T
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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Those Who Only Point The Way Of Salvation To Others

Those who have cared for nothing except to know and point out the way of salvation to others, and have made no effort to follow it themselves, will stand naked and empty-handed before the judgement-seat of Christ, bearing only the sheaves of confusion, shame and grief.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 72

The Devil Made Me Do It!

Many people blame the devil or their neighbor when they fall into sin or are offended. But that is not right. Everyone has his own enemy in his power and this enemy is his lower nature which leads him into sin. Blessed the religious who keeps this enemy a prisoner under his control and protects himself against it. As long as he does this no other enemy, visible or invisible, can harm him.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions
Admonition X

Friday, January 30, 2009

Sister Briege McKenna Concerning Priests

Q What is your message for priests?

Sister Briege: I talk about personal holiness. The crisis in the priesthood is not celibacy; it is faith in Jesus Christ. People who have a relationship with Jesus Christ can't live with sin in their lives. So I pray that they have a living faith in Jesus Christ with the Eucharist in the centre of their lives. The tragedy in Ireland is that there is so much negativity and they get so discouraged.

The greatest need is to be a personal witness to Jesus Christ. If their message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will bear fruit. The people are hungry. If you look at any list of retreats, sometimes the person of Jesus isn't even mentioned, but there is nothing like spending time with the Eucharist. It is so easy to be attracted by good things, but leave out the most important thing, which is our prayer life.


Read entire article:
http://www.sisterbriege.com/Irish%20Catholic/irishcatholic.htm

Mysitic Monk Coffee: Order Through Portiuncula And Donate To Birthright

The Carmelite Monks of Wyoming

Mystic Monk Coffee is roasted by the Carmelite Monks, a Roman Catholic monastery in the silence and solitude of the Rocky Mountains of northern Wyoming. The monks live a hidden life of prayer and contemplation in the pursuit of God. The monastery is inundated with young men who seek to leave everything to pray for the world, in a tradition at least a thousand years old. It is the monks’ great joy and privilege to share the fruit of their life with you in every cup of Mystic Monk Coffee.


The Monk Master Roaster

Br. Java is the master roaster who meticoulosly roasts beans in small batches. His philosophy is that each roast must be not only the labor of his hands, but a master roast of the highest quality. Br. Java is passionate about obtaining the perfect roasts for you. He carefully roasts only the finest gourmet beans under conditions that will make each roast consistent and smooth with a taste that will make your taste buds tingle. With experience and perfection, Mystic Monk Coffee is a coffee to savor and enjoy – with or without cream.


The Legend of the First Mystic Monk

Coffee is a product perfected and loved by monks from its beginning. When a monk of old heard the anguished tale of a shepherd who had sleepless goats, he himself discovered growing on shrubs the berries, which had such a wonderful affect. Delighted at his find, the ingenious monk boiled the beans in water and drank the resulting coffee. He found in his discovery a hot drink that could keep his eyes awake even amidst the midnight vigils and unceasing prayers of the monastic life.


The secret of coffee continues to keep monks ever alert and vigilant for their prayers, but now Mystic Monk Coffee shares the hidden, master roasts of monks with all who seek a delightful cup of coffee.


Monks are passionate Perfectionists

The monastic life is one of ordered perfection, which you will taste in every bag of Mystic Monk Coffee. Passionate about perfection, no challenge is too great for Br. Java and the monks, if it will result in a Mystic Monk brew suited for the most discriminating coffee drinker. The Carmelite monks have mastered the ancient art of roasting coffee, laboring with steadfast determination to make each cup of coffee simply superb. Taste the monastic perfection in each brew, which makes all the difference.


Please remember that when you buy Mystic Monk Coffee through the Portiuncula Hermitage, ten percent of all their commission sales is donated to Birthright (a loving alternative to abortion.)

Please remember to keep our pre-born in your daily prayers!

To order direct, simply click on the Mystic Monk Coffee Icon on the Left Side of this page:

Seeking Solitude

The blessed and venerable Francis wanted only to be taken up with God and to purify his spirit of the dust of the world which eventually clings to us in our daily association with others. So he periodically withdrew to a place of solitude and silence...He would take with him a very few companions from among those more intimately associated with his inner life, so that they might keep people from visiting or disturbing him, and might lovingly and faithfully keep guard over his quiet.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life - 91

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Vatican Prelate: U.S. Bishops Abandoned Pro-Life Teachings

Exclusive Interview: Leading Vatican Prelate Says Document of US Bishops Partly to Blame for Election of “Most Pro-Abortion President”

Also says Bishops’ Catholic News Service needs to be given "some new direction"

By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent

ROME, January 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.

The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position.

Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.”

But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population.

“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.”
Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analysed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenceless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’

“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenceless human life.”

Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedalled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality.

“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgement,” he said.

Wear Nothing But The Habit Next To The Skin

The first friars, and those who followed them for a long while, afflicted their bodies beyond measure by abstinence from food and drink, by vigils, by cold, by coarse clothing, and by manual labour. They wore iron bands and breast-plates, and the roughest of hair shirts. So the holy father, considering that the friars might fall ill as a result of this - as had already happened in a short time - gave orders in Chapter that no friar should wear anything but the habit next to his skin.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 27

Speak No Honeyed Words of Flattery Or Blandishment

St. Francis was a genuine preacher confirmed by apostolic authority; therefore he spoke no honeyed words of flattery or blandishment; what he preached to others he had already put into practice himself and his teaching of the truth was full of assurance.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER XIII

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Chapter Of Mats

Once the faithful servant of Christ, St. Francis, held a General Chapter on the plain of St. Mary of the Angels, where more than five thousand friars gathered together.

And in that camp each group had made tents covered on top and round about with rushes and mats; accordingly this Chapter was called the Chapter of Mats. They slept on the bare ground or on some straw, and their pillows were stones or pieces of wood.

As a result, everyone who saw or heard them had such devotion for them, and the fame of their holiness was so great, that many people came to see them from the Pope's Court, which was then nearby Perugia, and from other parts of the Valley of Spoleto. Many counts and barons and knights and other noblemen and many plain people, and cardinals and bishops and abbots with other members of the clergy, flocked to see this very holy and large and humble gathering of so saintly men, such as the world had never seen.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 18

Praying Alone And At Peace

When he was alone and at peace, Francis would make the groves re-echo with his sighs and bedew the ground with his tears, as he beat his breast and conversed intimately with his Lord in hidden secrecy. Here he defended himself before his Judge; here he spoke with his Lover. Here, too, the friars were watching occassionally heard him cry aloud, imploring God's mercy for sinners, and weeping for the passion of Christ, as if he saw it before his eyes.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER X

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Build Small, Humble Houses

Saint Francis told the friars to build their houses small and their cells of wood, not of stone, and he wanted them built in a humble style. He abhorred pretentious buildings, and disliked superfluous or elaborate appointments. He wished nothing about their tables or appointments to appear worldly or to remind them of the world, so that everything should proclaim their poverty and remind them that they were pilgrims and exiles.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 6

Holy Humility

St. Francis, seeing the charity of the brothers and Brother Masseo's humility, gave them a wonderful sermon on holy humility, teaching them that the greater gifts and graces which God gives us, the greater is our obligation to be more humble, because without humility no virtue is acceptable to God.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 13

Monday, January 26, 2009

It Is I Who Continue To Crucify Jesus

Even the devils were not solely responsible for crucifying Jesus; it was you who crucified him with them and you continue to crucify him by taking pleasure in your vices andd sins.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions
Admonition V

How To Conduct Ourselves Among Unbelievers

The brothers can conduct themselves among unbelievers spiritually in two ways. One way is to avoid quarrels or disputes and be subject to every human creature for God's sake (1 Peter 2:13), so bearing witness in the fact that they are Christians. Another way is to proclaim the word of God openly, when they see that is God's will, calling on their hearers to believe in God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creator of all, and in the Son, the Redeemer and Savior, that they may be baptized and become Christians, bucause unlesws a man be born again of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Rule of 1221
Chapter 16

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Outward Displays Of Sadness And Gloom

It is not fitting that a servant of God appear before the brothers or other men with a sad and gloomy face.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 97

The Revenues Of Torments

Do you think that evangelical poverty has nothing about it to be envied? It has Christ and through him it has all things in all. Why do you pant over revenues, modern cleric? Tomorrow you will know that Francis was rich, when you will find in your hand the revenues of torments.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
CHAPTER LI

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Erect Simple Huts Of Clay And Wood

When the friars have received the blessing of the Bishop, let them go and mark out the boundaries of the land which they have accepted for their house, and as a sign of holy poverty and humility, let them plant a hedge instead of building a wall. Afterwards, let them erect simple little huts of clay and wood, and a number of cells where the friars can pray or work from time to time in order to increase their merit and avoid idleness. Their churches are to be small; they are not to build great churches in order to preach to the people, or for any other reason, for they show greater humility and a better example when they visit other churches to preach. And should prelates or clergy, whether Religious or secular, visit their houses, their humble dwellings, cells, and tiny churches will speak for themselves, and these things will edify them more than any words.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 10

Our Body Is Our Cell

Wherever we are, wherever we go, we bring our cell with us. Our brother body is our cell and our soul is the hermit living in that cell in order to pray to God and meditate. If our soul does not live in peace and solitude within this cell, of what avail is it to live in a man-made cell?

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 80

Friday, January 23, 2009

Mystic Monk Coffee - Helping the Portiuncula Hermitage and Birthright

The Portiuncula Hermitage is committed to tithing ten percent of their Mystic Monk Coffee Sales Commissions to Birthright (a loving alternative to abortion)!

Mystic Monk Coffee is roasted by the Carmelite Monks, a Roman Catholic monastery in the silence and solitude of the Rocky Mountains of northern Wyoming. The monks live a hidden life of prayer and contemplation in the pursuit of God. The monastery is inundated with young men who seek to leave everything to pray for the world, in a tradition at least a thousand years old. It is the monks’ great joy and privilege to share the fruit of their life with you in every cup of Mystic Monk Coffee.

What is the Carmelite Monks' goals in roasting Mystic Monk Coffee? They hope that this new monastic industry will help them to establish their Catholic monastery in the mountains of Wyoming. Catholics everywhere love coffee and why not buy their coffee from Catholic monks who are laboring to take vocations?

Every Catholic monastery has its own manual labor, a way to support itself by its own hands. Then it usually sells what it makes as its monastery gift item. Coffee is unique in that Catholics everywhere drink coffee daily. So this is a monastery gift for every day of the year. Catholics should find this as another way to integrate the church into their daily lives, through Catholic coffee. Every morning as they sip their coffee, why not think of the church and say a morning offering to Christ?

Mystic Monk Coffee is pleased to offer the socially conscious consumer a coffee that respects the value of every human life and the right and dignity of every person, especially the unborn. Fair Trade Organic is a decision to act with social justice.

The monastic life is one of ordered perfection, which you will taste in every bag of Mystic Monk Coffee. Passionate about perfection, no challenge is too great for Br. Java and the monks, if it will result in a Mystic Monk brew suited for the most discriminating coffee drinker. The Carmelite monks have mastered the ancient art of roasting coffee, laboring with steadfast determination to make each cup of coffee simply superb. Taste the monastic perfection in each brew, which makes all the difference.


The Portiuncula Hermitage is committed to tithing ten percent of their Mystic Monk Coffee Sales Commissions to Birthright (a loving alternative to abortion)!

Please remember to keep the pre-born in your prayers!

To order direct, simply click on the Mystic Monk Coffee Icon on the left side of this page:

Concerning the Conversion of a Soldier

There was a certain strong soldier who had won many victories and later became a Friar Minor. And when soldiers laughed at him because he had joined such an Order rather than the Templars or a similar Order where he could do much good and still fight battles, he replied: "I tell you that when I feel thirst, hunger, cold, and such things, the impulse of pride and concupiscence and such stll attacks me. How much worse would it be if I saw my feet shod in armor and I was on a hadsome horse and so on!"

And he added: "So far I was strong in fighting others-from now on I want to be strong in fighting myself!"

Little Flowers of St. Francis - 17

The Friars Are To Call Nothing Their Own

While Francis was passing through Balogna, he heard that a house had recently been built there for the friars. Directly he learned that it was known as 'the house of the friars,' he turned on his heel and left the city, giving strict orders that all the friars were to leave it at once and live in it no longer.

So they all abandoned it, even the sick were not allowed to remain, but were turned out with the rest, until the Lord Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia and Legate in Lombardy, publicly proclaimed that the house belonged to him.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 6

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Declining From The Highest Ideals Of Our Profession

Because of the boundless zeal that he had at all times for the perfection of the Order, St. Francis was naturally distressed whenever he heard or saw any imperfection in it. And beginning to realize that some of the friars were setting a bad example in the Order, and had begun to decline from the highest ideals of their profession, his heart was moved to the deepest grief...

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 81

Concentrate On Gaining Holiness And Not On Worldy Events

None of the friars assembled at the chapter ever dared to recount any worldly events: they spoke together of the lives of the holy fathers of old, and how they might best live in God's grace. If by chance anyone among those present was troubled or tempted, the very sight of blessed Francis and his fervent and gentle exhortations were sufficient to drive away all temptation and trouble.

Saint Francisw of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions - 59

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Simple And Unlearned

Many simple words fell from St. Francis's lips and he spoke from the fervor of his heart for he had been chosen by God to be simple and unlearned, using none of the erudite words of human wisdon; and in all things he bore himself with simplicity.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER VII

Honor Is To Be Rebuked

For often, when Francis was honored by all, he suffered the deepest sorrow; and rejecting the favor of men, he would see to it that he would be rebuked by some one. He would call some brother to him, saying to him: "In obedience, I say to you, revile me harshly and speak the truth against the lies of others."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life - 52

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Becoming Like The Angels On Jacob's Ladder

St. Francis never failed to keep himself occupied doing good; like the angels Jacob saw on the ladder (Genesis 28, 12) he was always busy, either raising his heart to God in prayer, or descending to his neighbor. He had learned how to distribute the time in which he could gain merit wisely, devoting part of it to his neighbor by doing good, and part in restful ecstacy of contemplation.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER XIII

No Friar May Preach Contrary To Church Law

No friar may preach contrary to Church law or without the permission of his minister. The minister, for his part, must be careful not to grant permission indiscriminately. Allthe friars, however, should preach by their example.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Rule of 1221
Chapter 17. Preachers

Monday, January 19, 2009

Remember Your Dignity, My Friar Priests

Remember your dignity, then, my friar priests. You shall make and keep yourselves holy, because God is holy (Leviticus 11:44). In this mystery God has honoured you above all other human beings, and so you must love, revere, and honour him more than all others. Surely this is a great pity, a pitiable weakness, to have him present with you like this and be distracted by anything else in the whole world. Our whole being should be seized with fear, the whole world should tremble and heaven rejoice, when Christ the Son of the living God is present on the altar in the hands of the priest. O wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity!

Saint Francis of Assisi
Letter to a General Chapter

How Holy, And Virtuous, And Worthy Should A Priest Be

Listen to this, my brothers: If it is right to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary because she bore him in her most holy womb; if St. John the Baptist trembled and was afraid to touch Christ's sacred head; if the tomb where he lay for only a short time is so venerated; how holy, and virtuous, and worthy should not a priest be; he touches Christ with his own hands, Christ who is to die now no more but enjoy eternal life and glory, upon whom the angels desire to look (1 Peter 1:12). A priest receives him into his heart and mouth and offers him to others to be received.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Letter To A General Chapter

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Correction Of Ministers And Friars Who Have Fallen Into Sin

If the friars see that any of the ministers is leading a worldly and not a religious life, as the perfection of our life demands, they should warn him three times.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Rule of 1221
Chapter 5