The most beautiful music you've never heard. — Second Sunday of Advent Gregorian Chant

 

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"Come to the Quiet" Retreat Means Living For God

 

Portiuncula Hermitage Jerusalem, Ohio

The desert is a place of spiritual revolution, not of personal retreat. It is a place of inner protest, not outward peace. It is a place of deep encounter, not of superficial escape. It is a place of repentance, not recuperation. Living in the desert does not mean living without people; it means living for God. Antony and the other desert dwellers never forgot this. They never sought to cut off their connections to other people instantly. They sought rather to refine these relationships increasingly.

Of course, the desert was, on a deeper level, always more than simply a place. It was a way. And it was not the desert that made the Desert Fathers and Mothers, any more than it was the lion that made the martyrs.

In the Heart of the Desert

Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis

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The Miracle Of The Vineyard In Rieti

 

Tiers Vino outside Assisi, Italy

Blessed Francis was staying near the church of St. Fabian in Rieti. A number of cardinals, accompanied by clerics, almost daily visited the saint out of respect and devotion.The church had a small vineyard and since the church had but one door, all those who came to visit passed through that one door, trampling the vineyard under foot. The priest was scandalized and disturbed: "This year," he said, "my vintage is lost. The vineyard is small but every year I harvest enough grapes for my needs."

St. Francis said to the priest: "Stop being disturbed and scandalized: nothing can be done about it. Place your trust in the Lord, because through me, his poor servant, he can repair the damage..."

The priest usually harvested thirteen loads of wine, but that year he harvested twenty from his destroyed vineyard.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 25

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If You Truly Love Your Roman Catholic Faith Then You Absolutely Must Watch This Video!

 

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

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By Your Holy Cross You Redeemed The World

 

With his companions Francis now went to live in an abandoned hut near Assisi, where they lived from hand to mouth according to the rule of poverty, in toil and penury, drawing their strength rather from tears of compunction than from any bodily food. They spent the time praying continuously, devoting themselves especially to fervent mental prayer; they had not yet got any of the liturgical books, so that they could not chant the Divine Office. Christ's cross was their book and they studied it day and night, at the exhortation and after the example of their father who never stopped talking to them about the cross. When the friars asked him to teach them how to pray, he said, "When you pray, say the Our Father, and We adore you, O Christ, in all your churches in the whole world and we thank you, because by your holy cross you redeemed the world."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Bonaventure, Major Life
CHAPTER IV

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Monroe County, Ohio - Begging For Stones

 

Monroe County, Ohio Catholics are being asked to collect all their cut sand stones and drop them off at the Portiuncula Chapel next to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery on Ozark-Eddy Bridge Road. They will be used along a walk way of the Stations of the Cross. 

Francis set to begging for stones with which to restore the church of San Damiano. He called to the passers-by: "Whoever gives me one stone will have one reward; two stones, two rewards; three stones, a treble reward!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER VII

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Prayer For The Portiuncula (In Latin)

 

Domine Deus, sacellum Portiunculae congregationi populi tui destinavimus. In nomine Iesu omnibus spiritibus discordiae vel malitiae cuiuscumque generis discedere iubemus, et rogamus, Deus, ut angelos tuos mittas ad Portiunculam et omnes qui in eventibus hic habitis participant custodiendum et protegendum. Amen.

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Willingly Enduring Suffering, Insults, Humiliations, and Hardships

 

"Above all the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ gives to His friends is that of conquering oneself and willingly enduring suffering, insults, humiliations, and hardships for the love of Christ. For as they are not ours but God's, as the Apostle says: 'What have you that you have not received?'"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 8

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A Fool And A Madman

 

When St. Francis' relatives saw him, they covered him with insults, calling him a fool and a madman, and hurling stones and mud at him. Seeing him so changed, they thought he was out of his mind.

But God's servant paid no heed to all this; unmoved by insults, he thanked almighty God for everything.

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE LEGEND OF ST. FRANCIS
CHAPTER VI

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The Blessed Virgin Mary Appears Over The Portiuncula Chapel's Altar In Ozark, Ohio

Last Summer, during our weekly Saturday Rosary, one of the ladies praying with us in the chapel asked, "Am I the only one here who sees the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing over the Altar?" When everyone inquired, she stood up, walked over to the right side orf the altar and with her finger traced the distinct outline that resembles Our Lady of Guadalupe. This photo does not do it justice. It really pops out when only the side door is open and the light hits it at just the right angle.

Her head is bowed and looking over the Altar.

Fra Chris Dickson, F.L.A. Portiuncula Chapel

Ozark, Ohio

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Our Sisters The Flowers

 

Francis told the brother gardener not to plant vegetables everywhere, but to leave a part of the ground for hardy plants which in time would produce our sisters the flowers. He even said that the brother gardener ought to reserve a place in a corner for a beautiful small garden where he would put all kinds of aromatic herbs and flowering plants so that in their season they might invite all men who looked at them to praise God; for every creature says and proclaims: "God has created me for you, O man!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 51

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When We Are the Bride, Brother, And Mother Of Christ

 

A person is the bride of Christ when their faithful soul is united with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit; we are His brothers we do the will of His Father who is in Heaven (Matthew 12.50), and we are mothers to Him when we enthrone Him in our hearts and souls by love with a pure heart and sincere conscience, and give Him birth by doing good.

Saint Francis of Assisi
LETTER TO ALL THE FAITHFUL

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Portiuncula Chapel In Ozark, Ohio (Adjacent To The Immaculate Conception Cemetery)

 UPDATED VIDEO

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The Portiuncula Hermitage and Retreat Center "Come to the Quiet"

 

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Woe To Those Who Insult You And Refuse You Alms

 

If people insult you and refuse to give you alms, you should thank God for it, because you will be honored before the judgment-seat of our Lord Jesus Christ for these insults. The shame will be imputed to those who cause it, not to those who suffer it.

Saint Francis of Assisi
THE RULE OF 1221
Chapter 9

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Saint Mary of the Portiuncula Chapel (Adjacent to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery in Ozark, Ohio)

 

As a sign of holy poverty and humility, blessed Francis decreed that the churches of the friars were to be small and their houses to be built with only wood and clay. For he wanted the friary of St. Mary of the Portiuncula to be a pattern especially for buildings constructed of wood and clay, so that it might be a permanent memorial for all friars, present and to come, since it was the first and chief house of the whole Order. 

Saint Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection - 11

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Shelter Under A Rock Of The Mountain

(Photo taken at the Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage and Retreat Center in Ozark, Ohio)

Francis said: "When the Lord withdrew into solitude to pray and fast for forty days and nights, he did not have a cell or a house built for himself but he took shelter under a rock of the mountain." That is why, following his example, he refused to have either a house or a cell on this earth and forbade that one be built for him.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 13

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Rise Immediately To Pray

 

"If the servant of God, as may happen, is disturbed in any way, he should rise immediately to pray and he should remain in the presence of the heavenly Father until he restores unto him the joy of salvation."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
Chapter LXXXIX

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"Son" Bathing

 

Exposition of the Holy Eucharist: 

“It is like sitting out in the sun. You may not feel the effect at
the moment, but a little while later, you know you were singed.”
  
Sr. Briege McKenna, OSC

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My God And My All!

 

"Looking up to heaven and raising his hands, he prayed with intense fervor and devotion, saying: 'My God and my all!' And he sobbed out those words with so many tears and kept repeating them with such devout persistence that until matins he said nothing but 'My God and my all!' " ~ Little Flowers of St. Francis - 2

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Virtue And Vice

 

Where there is Love and Wisdom,
there is neither Fear not Ignorance.
Where there is Patience and Humility,
there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.
Where there is Poverty and Joy,
there is neither Cupidity or Avarice.
Where there is Peace and Contemplation,
there is neither Care nor Restlessness.
Where there is Fear of God to guard the dwelling,
there no enemy can enter.
Where there is Mercy and Prudence,
there is neither Excess nor Harshness.

Saint Francis of Assisi
The Admonitions
Admonition XXVII




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Prone To Evil

 

Tomb of the Unborn Child
Franciscan University of Steubenville

Take care lest, when the dung of worthlessness has been placed at your roots, you be found sterile, for then there will remain nothing but that the axe be put to you. Do not trust entirely the spirit that is in now in you, for man's senses are more prone to evil than to good, even though it may have been considerably separated from it.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Sacrum Commercium - 54

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The Seraphic Order

 

"The prophecies say that the day will come when the religious will throw off their habits and move from their poor hermitages in the woods into large houses in the cities, and that seculars will pick up their habits and move away from the materialism of the city back into the gospel poverty of the hermitages in the country. There is no doubt that this is again happening today. Let us be open to the Spirit's calling of all people into the Seraphic Order of a monasticism of the future!"

John Michael Talbot

HERMITAGE

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Penetrating The Dwelling Places Of Heaven

Francis tried to keep his spirit always in the presence of God, by praying to him without intermission, so that he might not be without some comfort from his Beloved. Prayer was his chief comfort in this life of contemplation in which he became a fellow-citizen of the angels, as he penetrated the dwelling places of heaven in his eager search for his Beloved, from whom he was separated only by a partition of flesh.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Bonaventure, Major Life

CHAPTER X

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Everyone Should Have A Prayer Room Inside Their Home!

 

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You Are Invited To Pray The Rosary On November 5th At The Portiuncula Chapel Adjacent To The Immaculate Conception Cemetery In Ozark, Ohio At Noon

Photo or the Portiuncula Chapel adjacent to the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Ozark, Ohio

I look forward to praying the rosary with you at noon on November 5th, at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Ozark, Ohio for the repose of those who have gone before us. May God, the just judge of the living and the dead, look with mercy upon them, and upon us. God bless you all, 

In Christ, Fr. Nick Ward

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Refer All Good To God

 

Blessed those who refer all good they have to their Lord and God. Those who attribute anything to themselves hides the master's money (Matthew 25:18) in themselves, and even what they think they have shall be taken away (Luke 8:18).

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonitions

Admonition XIX

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The Talkative Religious

 

Woe to the religious who does not keep the favors God has given him to himself; people should see them only through his good works, but he wants to tell everybody about them, hoping he will get something out of it.

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonitions

Admonition XXII

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True Correction

 

Blessed the religious who is in no hurry to make excuses, but accepts embarrassment and blame for some fault they did not commit.

Saint Francis of Assisi

The Admonition

Admonition XXIII

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