St. Anthony of Padua Secular Franciscan Fraternity

Make frequent, even countless acts of thanksgiving,
rejoicing in God’s power and goodness!
St. Pascal Babylon, Order of Friars Minor

It never pays to become discouraged at the faults of others
or at our own.
Blessed Solanus Casey, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin.

When we have been enlightened, and in that same light behold the light of heaven, rightly may the apostle Paul say to us:
“Once you were in darkness but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of the light”.
St Bernadine of Siena, Order of Friars Minor

I beg you to love the cradle of the Child of Bethlehem and to love the
Calvary of God crucified in the darkness.
Stay close to Him and be quite sure that Jesus is in the center of your hearts more than you can believe or imagine.
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin.

Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God, grant us in our misery the grace to do for You alone what we know You want us to do,
and always to desire what pleases You.
St. Francis of Assisi

Since man is not satisfied with the things of this world and always longs for others, it is clear that he was not made primarily for them, but for others.
For the body was made for the sake of the soul and this world for the sake of the other world.
Blessed Giles of Assisi, Order of Friars Minor

We may be sure that Almighty God has not permitted such things
to take such a course without some good design of His own…
to turn evil into good.
Blessed Solanus Casey, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin

Mary, Mother of God, ever Virgin. You were chosen by the Most High Father in heaven, consecrated by Him, with His most Holy Beloved Son and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. On you descended and still remains all the fullness of grace and every good.
St. Francis of Assisi
For the feast of the Annunciation.

My only concern is to carry out whatGod wants of me.
In a word, I desire to be as perfect a likeness of my Lord Jesus Christ
as I possibly can.
Blessed Didicus Joseph of Cadiz, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin

Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the Stars.
You have hung them in heaven shining and precious and fair.
St. Francis of Assisi

How marvelous is divine wisdom, for it brought salvation through the cinders of humility. St.Bonaventure, Order of Friars Minor

Viewed superficially, the cross appears as the tree of death, but to one who views it in depth, the mystery of the cross shines forth as the tree of life because of Him who hung on it.
St. Bonaventure, Order of Friars Minor

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the Gospel.
Our heart is the parchment; the Holy Spirit is the writer.
St. Joseph of Leonissa, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin.

Prayer is the key which opens God’s heart.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin

What a laudable exchange:
to leave the things of time for those of eternity,
to choose the things of heaven for the goods of the earth,
to receive the hundred-fold, in place of one,
and to possess a blessed nd eternal life.
St. Clare of Assisi

My God, make me worthy to grasp your ardent and ineffable love overflowing from the Blessed Trinity and effecting the profound mystery of the Ho,y Incarnation, the source of our salvation.
St.Angela of Foligno, Order of Secular Franciscans

When our hands have touched spices,
they give fragrance to all they handle.
Let us make our prayers pass through the hands of the Blessed Virgin.
She will make them fragrant.

St. John Vianney, Order of Secular Franciscans

Vatican Unveils Nativity Scene Honoring St. Francis of Assisi and Devotion’s 800-Year-Old Origin
The scene in St. Peter’s Square depicts not only Mary and Joseph standing beside the manger, but also St. Francis of Assisi, who organized the first Nativity scene in a cave in the Italian village of Greccio on Christmas Eve in 1223.

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Let them pay attention to what they must desire above all else:
to have the Spirit of the Lord and it’s holy activity,
to pray always to Him with a pure heart, to have humility and patience
in persecution and infirmity.
St. Francis of Assisi

The name of Jesus is a standard in battle,
that is to say, in the fight against evil.

St. Bernadine of Siena, Order of Friars Minor

God and only God is infinite, most wise, most holy, a most loving Lord,
our Father and Creator, our beginning and end, our Wisdom, Power and Love……God is our all.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, Order of Friars Minor, Conventual

Not only “see in his hands the print of the nails”, with the apostle Thomas,
not only put your finger into the place of the nails,
not only put your hand into His side,
but enter with your whole being through the door of His side into
Jesus’s heart itself.
St. Bonaventure, Order of Friars Minor

My only concern is to carry out what God wants of me.
In a word, Father of my heart and soul, I desire to be as perfect a likeness of my Lord Jesus Christ as I possibly can.
Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin.

Let us submit to the wishes of our Lord and resign ourselves always to His will and all the operations of the Heavenly Father.
This way everything will be easy in this land of exile!
St. Pio of Pietrelcina, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin

When a man trains himself to acts of virtue,
it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this.
The will is what a man has as his unique possession.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Order of Friars Minor Conventual.

When a crystal is touched or struck by the rays of the sun, it gives forth
brilliant sparks of light.
When the man of faith is touched by the light of God’s grace, he too must give forth sparks of light in his good works and deeds, and so bring God’s light to others.

St. Anthony of Padua. Order of Friars Minor

O praise and bless my Lord, thank Him and serve Him humbly
but grandly!
St. Francis of Assisi

The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus,
so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.
Blessed Carlos Acutis, entombed in St. Mary Major, Assisi, Italy.

Let everyone exhort one another on every occasion to be
grateful to God for the uncountable graces
by which we are surrounded.
Venerable Solanus Casey, Order of Friars Minor, Capuchin

Dear Friends, whoever wishes to find the Lord finds him on the cross.
He who longs ardently, and desires the cross and the Lord finds the Lord there, not empty-handed but laden with abundant graces.
St. Bonaventure, Order of Friars Minor

God bless all of you on the Feast of the Exhalation of the Cross! 🙏✝️