Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all from the School Sisters of St. Francis!

The missalette at church said something like this before today's liturgy,

"If we can thank God in all circumstances, that is a kind of conversion."

This is so true. Thank God in good times and in bad. Thank Him because He is doing something in every situation. His Providence is always at work. Jesus, we trust in You!!!

God bless you all! We really do pray for you every day!

Growing in holiness???

Dear Friends,

First up -- here's our latest "paper" newsletter!

Secondly -- the topic of this blog post -- Growing in Holiness???

We usually use this blog to tell everyone what we're doing and to post pictures and things. We hope you enjoy it!

This time we will talk about something that we usually take for granted in our own lives. We have time to pray, we take time for spiritual reading every day, and we get to go to Mass every day (we usually get quality time in front of the Blessed Sacrament too!). We hope that some of these practices can help you grow in holiness as well.

Daily Mass: If you can, go to Daily Mass as often as possible. There's nothing greater than receiving Jesus in His Body and His Word to feed our souls!

Spiritual Reading: Try to take at least 10-15 min. a day to read from the Bible, the lives of the saints, or another religious book to help feed your soul. It's amazing to us how often the spiritual reading that we have is "just what we needed" that day to inspire us or to help us.

Daily Prayer: Take time every day to commune with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:

"The grace of the Kingdom is 'the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity . . . with the whole human spirit.' This, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him." CCC #2565

God thirsts for us! We thirst for Him too, we just have to take the blinders off to see it. . . or should we say, we need to open our hearts.

Practice Mortification: In this crazy world where everything is easy to get and we think we're too busy to do the things that are really important, we many times leave mortification in the dust. This is really the key to happiness. Learning to control ourselves is so critical. If we do not control our passions, our passions will control us. So, we can practice mortification in little things -- don't add salt to a meal, for example. Little things like this will help us control ourselves in much bigger temptations. We know, it's an oxymoron. "I'm supposed to give up stuff and be happy?" Yes, it's true -- try it.

The Catechism says, "...they [the virtues] dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love." CCC #1804

Wow -- practicing the virtues DISPOSES us to COMMUNION with DIVINE LOVE! God is so awesome!

Bottom line: Make God #1 in your life. That's it. Make God a priority . . . and watch your life turn around. You give yourself to Him, and He will give you Himself!!!

Texas Tour was Great!

The top picture is with a family in Port Lavaca that we used to teach! The young man in the red shirt was Sr. Mary Michael's 3rd grader (a few years ago)! He's now in college!

The second picture from top is from a gathering at Texas A&M for Discernment of Vocations. It was a great experience. Every place we went was a great experience. For more pictures, check out our website (photo albums are on the bottom right): http://www.panhandlefranciscans.org/

The bottom picture is taken from our "Community Day" a couple weeks ago! We LOVE it when all the Sisters are home and we can be together.

God bless you all! United in Prayer!

Great Community Weekend . . . and the Texas Tour!

Okay, we just had another great "Community Weekend" (we usually have them about once a month). We always have some kind of "ongoing formation", then we get to watch a movie, eat snacks, and just enjoy being together.

Our TEXAS TOUR begins this week -- we'll be at:

• the Catholic Student Center at the University of Texas (Wednesday).
• Victoria, Texas (Thurs. and Friday).
• College Station and the Catholic Student Center at Texas A&M (Saturday and Sunday)
• Tarleton University (Sunday evening)
• Irving and the Catholic Student Center at the University of Dallas (Tuesday)

Pray for us to spread the New Evangelization and for us to meet whoever God wants us to meet! May the Holy Trinity be in the middle of all of it! God bless you all!

Receive Love - Be Love

We had the most AWESOME retreat this past weekend! "Receive Love - Be Love!" We explored how deeply God loves us and how we in turn overflow God's Love to others. We discussed Religious Life and all vocations. We also talked about the awesome plans that God has for our Community with an awesome future. It was a very fruitful retreat -- continue praying for us as we pray for all of you!

We are God's Powerful Instruments

We do not usually do "personal" blogs from a specific Sister, but this time it is. I have been given the task of teaching Religion Class to our local Catholic Middle School 7th and 8th Graders at Holy Cross Catholic Academy. It has been a challenge in some ways, as this is my first time to teach middle schooler's on a daily basis. However, it has awed me how God is using me in this assignment. Every day I clarify things for the students -- misconceptions they had about God, about how God works, or the Catholic Church. I get to talk to them about God's Love. They are learning things, such as, that God can bring good out of evil situations. They are learning that God is in control and that they can trust Him. (The text we're using integrates quite a bit of the Theology of the Body that I love so much too!) They've been learning a lot.

So have I. I'm learning that it is fun to watch the light bulb go on in their heads and hearts as they have the daily opportunity in school to get closer to God. They have become a highlight of my day and a joy to teach! Help me pray for them and all those we minister to in our apostolates! God bless you all!

Temporary Goodbye to a Great Mentor

Have you heard of Fr. Thomas Dubay? Maybe you've seen him on EWTN TV. Maybe you've read a book or two of his on prayer or Religious Life.

He went on to his eternal reward the other day, so we temporarily say good-bye to him. He was our retreat master two times, and we use many of his books and talks in our initial and on-going formation. He has made a huge difference in the Religious Life, especially in this country.

Fr. Dubay, thank you for all of your inspiring talks and insights! Thank you for teaching us about contemplative prayer and the wonders of Communion with the Holy Trinity (from Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross mostly). We will miss you!

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2010/09/father-thomas-dubay-sm-rip.html