Our Black Friday deals won't last! Join us for our exclusive event celebrating the first live Nativity and Giving Tuesday, November 28!
Hello, John! You don't have to wait until Black Friday to get great savings and great gifts for Christmas! Give books that inspire love, peace and prayer this season. This week only, November 20–27. Use this promotion code to receive 40% off: BlackFriday40. (Use this code at checkout). Your purchase supports the mission to inspire a loving world that embraces the Franciscan spirit of harmony, joy, and simplicity. Click here to Shop the Sale: to browse new books, bestsellers, and more! |
Mark your calendar for Giving Tuesday November 28—a day when generosity takes center stage and where your gift and impact are doubled up to $25,000! Why Contribute to Franciscan Media?
Your generosity will touch the hearts and souls of millions of people needing a loving message of peace, joy, and God's love through Franciscan Media's online and print resources. To learn more: Giving Tuesday | Franciscan Media Join the Movement
Your support holds immeasurable value, and together, we can create a lasting effect. Donate Today and be part of transforming the world! |
800 years later, Franciscan Media, in collaboration with the Franciscan School of Theology and the Franciscan Federation, will be celebrating "The Grace of Greccio: 800 Years of Tradition." Join us for this live event, featuring Darleen Pryds, PhD, and Father Mike Lasky, OFM Conv, on November 28 at 8:00 EST for a discussion on the significance of this anniversary and its place in Franciscan history. |
St. Francis and the Gift of Greccio by: Murray Bodo, OFM A New Kind of Christmas Celebration But what makes Greccio unique in the life of St. Francis is what happened there at Christmastime in 1223, three years before he died. He came there wanting to celebrate Christmas in a new way, a midnight Mass with a real ox and donkey and with townspeople gathered around witnessing this live Christmas crèche. Christmas was the dearest of feasts because it revealed the profound humility of God in choosing to become a little baby, helpless and in need of us, just as we were when we were newborn babies. For St. Francis, Christmas was linked inseparably to the Passion as well, because to become a human being means suffering and death. And there is already suffering in the Incarnation in God’s becoming human, leaving behind the trappings of divinity, emptying himself, as St. Paul says in his Letter to the Philippians, “becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross ” (2:8). And all of this sprang from profound love. St. Francis’ first biographer, Brother Thomas of Celano, said of Francis, “Indeed, so thoroughly did the humility of the Incarnation and the charity of the Passion occupy his memory that he scarcely wanted to think of anything else. “ |
This Advent, let St. Clare of Assisi be your companion. Experience Clare each day conveniently on your phone, tablet, and computer. You will receive daily reflections, quotes from Clare and those who knew her, prayers as well as video segments from Franciscan scholars and authors. These enhanced daily offerings will help ensure a meaningful journey leading to Christmas. Please donate to enjoy this exclusive experience. Click here: Advent with St. Clare. “But with swift pace, light step and unswerving feet...go forward, the spirit of our God
has called you.”
—second letter to Agnes of Prague |
|
