Daily Reflection – Ask Him to Develop You Spiritually
Daily Reflection – Trusting God is Everything
Daily Reflection – He’s Waiting for You to Say Yes to Him
Daily Reflection – Honesty With God Demands Courage
Minute Meditation – Change is Good News
The Good News of Jesus Christ is precisely that things have changed and that they are going to change even more. He came to a world that was stuck, to a people that could not find a way out of their sinfulness, to announce that there was another way. Better yet, he came not simply to announce this path and carry us there as passive recipients of grace, but empowered his followers to bring about the kingdom of which he spoke. The kingdom of God is at hand. It is not simply a far distant reality, but something that is inbreaking here and now, something that can be felt and brought about by those who live in communion with him. In the way we love one another, work for justice, and offer sacrifice—doing as Jesus did—we can actually make a difference in our world because it is in these moments that Christ dwells in us and the Holy Spirit is sent forth from us. What is it that we always pray? “Send down your Spirit and renew the face of the earth!” If we want to follow after Jesus, we must let go of our cynicism and bleak outlook on the world, and instead believe with all our hearts that Christ is in control of this mission. We must look beyond what is not yet redeemed and open our eyes to the overflowing torrent that is God’s love in our world, transforming and renewing the face of the earth. We must realize it is through us, those whom Jesus has called as his disciples, that this work is being accomplished.
— from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship by Casey Cole, OFM, page 34
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – They Only Self We Bring to Christ 
Despite being a finite creature in the midst of an all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present Being—an absolute nothing next to God, in every way dependent and with no reason to boast—I never feel insignificant or unwanted. I am God’s child, chosen and adopted out of love, called to love and serve in his kingdom. What could ever matter more than knowing this? Truly, everything else is straw. Everything else is the working of a false self, an ego that knows nothing of reality. It is why in his admonitions St. Francis writes, “As much as [one] is before God, that much he is and nothing more.” Nothing in all of existence matters at all except what God thinks of us. What we say about ourselves, what others think of us, who we wish were are—these are all useless questions, false selves that keep us from who we truly are before God, and prevent us from following after Christ with our whole hearts. If we want to be his disciples, the only self we can bring is the one that he created and redeemed. Everything else, we must let go.
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Disciples Have Passion
We can walk with Jesus, whose mission will be accomplished whether we like it or not, or we can grasp at our fleeting comforts, getting in his way. It doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me. If we want to follow after Jesus, we need to let go of our apathy and laziness, the comfort that comes from being disconnected from others, and begin to truly care. Discipleship is about a life of passion, about giving our lives completely over to the mission that Christ is calling us to. Either we’re fully in, or we’re not in at all.
— from the book Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship by Casey Cole, OFM, page 74
//Franciscan Media//
Minute Meditation – Herald of Christ’s Dream
Some faces seemed to fix upon him the searching, expectant look of those whose journey had no end, of those who wandered aimlessly through life because they did not know what else to do, or because they were fleeing from something rather than toward something. For these Francis had the most compassion because they had no dream and because the dream would have to come from within themselves where all was barren desert. Or could someone else find the dream for them? He began to wonder if everyone heard an inner Voice as he had, or whether some heard only human voices.
If his Dream were something very special, then perhaps he would have to become a voice from Christ for others to hear. He would have to become the Herald of Christ, singing aloud the glory of the Dream that God had made for everyone. As he walked about the countrysides and through the streets of all the world, he would imagine that he was taking each face from the anonymous crowds and breathing hope and love into it. He would share the Dream.
—from the book Francis: The Journey and the Dream
by Murray Bodo, OFM, pages 26-27
//Franciscan Media//
The Disciples Doubted the Eucharist. Do You?
You may have heard that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, but have you really heard those words? You may have been in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but have you really seen him in the Eucharist?
Today, Fr. Mike challenges us to take Jesus at His word (John 6:6) and to grow in our faith in His real presence, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist!
Contemplative Monk – The Friendships that Never Die
