Today's Minute Meditations asks: 🐶 Will I see my pet in heaven? 🐱
November 19, 2024
Dear John,
Peace and good to you! I want to always start by saying: We are so appreciative of our donors. There is no Franciscan Media without you. This is the seventh day of our $125K match campaign today and it will run through Easter of next year. We have 148 days left! Click here to make a donation..
This match is in support of our Rebuilding God’s Church (RGC) initiative. It represents an online evangelization pathway—a pilgrimage of sorts. It includes four themes: Rediscovering God, Healing Our Relationships with God and Others, Listening to God, and Following God. These are the key themes (or moments) in any adult conversion-to-faith.
We hope that RGC will provide engaging, digital resources—both on our website (e.g., webinars, online retreats, podcasts, online courses) and hopefully on a future app—that can meet people’s pain points, answer their questions, and provide a level of Franciscan-inspired spiritual companionship that leads people into deeper communion with Jesus Christ.
More information about this pivot will be shared in future e-newsletters and on our social media channels and website. For more information, check out our Rebuilding God’s Church page.
If you would like to speak to me directly to find out more about this campaign and how to become a major supporter, please contact me at mhalbach@franciscanmedia.org
May God bless you and continue to help you rebuild your faith upon the foundation of his great love for you!
With profound gratitude,
Deacon Matthew Halbach, PhD President & Publisher,
Born Caterina Offreducia, Agnes was the younger sister of Saint Clare, and her first follower. When Caterina left home two weeks after Clare’s departure, their family attempted to bring her back by force. They tried to drag her out of the monastery, but her body suddenly became so heavy that several knights could not budge it. Her uncle Monaldo tried to strike her but was temporarily paralyzed. The knights then left Caterina and Clare in peace. Saint Francis himself gave Clare’s sister the name Agnes, because she was gentle like a young lamb.
Agnes matched her sister in devotion to prayer and in willingness to endure the strict penances that characterized the Poor Ladies’ lives at San Damiano. In 1221, a group of Benedictine nuns in Monticelli near Florence asked to become Poor Ladies. Saint Clare sent Agnes to become abbess of that monastery. Agnes soon wrote a rather sad letter about how much she missed Clare and the other nuns at San Damiano. After establishing other monasteries of Poor Ladies in northern Italy, Agnes was recalled to San Damiano in 1253, as Clare lay dying.
Three months later Agnes followed Clare in death, and was canonized in 1753.
Reflection
God must love irony; the world is so full of it. In 1212, many in Assisi surely felt that Clare and Agnes were wasting their lives and were turning their backs on the world. In reality, their lives were tremendously life-giving, and the world has been enriched by the example of these poor contemplatives.
Looking for a simple way to have a more meaningful Advent season with your family, youth group, or friends? Look no further!
Join author, Susan Hines-Brigger, and mom, Patty Crawford, on this daily Advent journey.
Will I see my dog heaven? The question may sometimes sound a bit naïve and simplistic. I believe we can make a good case for the hope embedded deep in each human heart, namely, that the whole family of creation will someday share in the fullness of salvation won by Jesus Christ. The more we see the full implications of our belief in the resurrection of the body and understand the biblical vision of God’s inclusive love, the easier it is for us to give a hopeful answer to our children’s question.
In the final analysis, how many of us are truly satisfied with a vision of heaven that does not include the whole family of creation? We take comfort, therefore, in St. Paul’s words that “all creation is groaning” for its freedom and redemption (Romans 8:22). More than that, we embrace the great apostle’s “hope that creation itself would… share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
One of the most powerful examples Jesus taught his followers was how to forgive—for Jesus forgave his very executioners from the wood of the cross. When it comes to the work of forgiveness, Jesus never asks anything of you and I that he first did not model to us. Two important ingredients for forgiveness are grace and desire.
Pray
Merciful God, I cannot forgive anyone just with my efforts or striving. I need your help. Fill me with your grace and give me the desire to forgive, especially the most painful situations. Amen.
Act
Spend some time with one of the Gospel accounts of Jesus forgiving his executioners. How does this particular story both challenge and speak to you?
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Patricia Breen. Learn more here!
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