#Church of St Francis

[blondebrainpowered]

Nasturtiums (fragment) in the Church of St. Francis in Krakow, 1895 - 1896

Artist: Stanisław Wyspiański

[sspacegodd]

Horribly beautiful.

[periodinteriors]

Thomas Hartley Cromek, The Interior of the Lower Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, 1839, watercolor.

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

yeah from people i follow who I KNOW are Americans they all reblog "POPE DOWN" infantile memes

I really don't want to get too far into it, because again I am not personally a practicing Catholic. So the meaning that it might have for me is different than it will for people who are mourning for religious reasons.

However, I do think there is a tendency among some people to performatively dunk on Catholicism based on a vague understanding of the structural problems of the Church. And I expect those people will do some sort of crab rave and "Pope Down!" thing.

And the frustrating part is that they won't understand that they are celebrating alongside the conservative Catholics and trad Caths who have wanted the "woke" reforming Pope gone. He spoke out on progressive issues and tried to reform the church, so yes we have lost someone who was trying to make the Church better. And if patterns hold, his successor will likely be more conservative.

I honestly can only speak for myself on this, but I do think that this is a sad thing for the Church and probably for the state of the world.

[queerprayers]

holding your gay lover ash wednesday afternoon is like. the myth of the ancient martyr wouldn't understand us but I'd die for love too, I would. and I will, we all will.

I'll take my pink eyeshadow off in a couple hours, to be replaced with a smeared cross, a bigger love, a love I'll die into. I'll wash it off when I get home so I won't break out (and so it won't get on my pillow) and it'll still be there when I look in the mirror out of the corner of my eye.

either life or death will separate my butch and I—whether God leads us diverging ways or Sister Death claims us one by one first, I only get this for now.

but God asks us to live for now, to love for however long we get to, and to remember the whole way how fragile it all is. I don't pretend to know the why, but I hope I never forget the way my hand is warmer in another's.

I understand the rib story now, y'know? not in a way that triumphs over the love for my sister or my friend or my grandfather, but in a side ache that means we're slowly becoming made out of each other. I would be complete without it (I have been all along)—and also: the more people I love, the more faces God lives in.

I don't presume to know how love exists after death, but I hope—I know—we all return to the same dust. till death do us part, to become something else that can love easier and forever.

[eastvillagetripster]

Life lesson in bronze

"Homeless Jesus" statue by artist Timothy Schmalz outside the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, 135-139 West 31st Street, off of 7th Avenue, Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

[momentsbeforemass]

The answer

Yesterday was a mess.

One thing after another after another. It was non-stop. Barely time for lunch. Didn’t get through half of it.

Which means that today? It’s going to be more of the same.

We all have days like that. Sometimes weeks. When it feels like it’s never going to let up.

How do we handle that?

How do we recharge our batteries? How do we keep ourselves in a good place mentally, so that we can respond well to everything that we’re dealing with?

How do we make sure that in the middle of that kind of busyness we don’t lose sight of God and God’s will for our lives?

How do we make sure that we don’t fall into the trap of trying handle things on our own?

The answer is in today’s Gospel.

Wait, what?

Today’s Gospel is Jesus healing people and driving out demons all day, until “after sunset.” Followed by another full day of Jesus healing people and driving out demons, but with preaching added on top.

That looks more like Jesus’ personal recipe for burnout.

It’s easy to miss. But it’s there. Tucked right between those two very busy days.

“Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”

How is that the answer? Adding one more thing to an already over-booked schedule?

Actually, it is the answer. If you’re going to do all of the things, then every part of you needs to be well-cared for. Or you won’t be able to do all the things.

And it starts with prayer, the most basic, most fundamental form of self-care. Because, as St. John Chrysostom explains, “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.”

Imagine doing all of the things with your worries safely in the hands of God. Not what-if-ing about it but trusting in God’s guidance and timing.

Imagine doing all of the things cheerfully. Accepting them, handling them, and then letting them go. Because you know that they can never get between you and God – unless you let them.

Imagine doing all of the things happily. Trusting God. Knowing that God will work them for your good, even if you can’t see how right now.

That is what prayer gets you.

That is what’s behind the example that Jesus is giving us.

And that’s why St. Francis de Sales tells us, “Every one of us needs a half hour of prayer a day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour.”

Today’s Readings

[thegirlintheblackdress]

St Carlo Acutis

[famousinuniverse]

St Francis Xavier Church is a parish Roman Catholic church in the 7th arrondissement of Paris dedicated to Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missions. Built in the late 19th century, It gave its name to the nearby Metro station Saint-François-Xavier.

[terriblesolomons]

Not 2 be a hater on here but can we please start discerning between Prot angst and that old Tumblr catchall of Catholic Guilt.....Eugene Sledge does not have Catholic guilt that boy has never done the sign of the cross in his life. He thinks communion is symbolic. He believes the Bible has 66 books. Come on now if faith is a source of contention for him it's because he's worried about whether the church elders are going to split over installing a water fountain in the fellowship hall or the scripture selection being used for VBS....if he's a hardline Calvinist maybe he's scared of damnation. Maybe a little bit. If he's feeling particularly mentally ill at a given moment. Probably he's already sure he's either part of the elect or (if he's feeling progressive) he's in the One True Church. But boy he certainly doesn't know what charism means and he never will

[postcard-from-the-past]

St. Francis church in Paris

French vintage postcard

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła, 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.

Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013.

Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II.

Upon his resignation, Benedict chose to be known as "Pope emeritus." He retained this title until his death in 2022.

Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death in 2025.

He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first Latin American, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

🤍🕯️🤍

[fathermulcahyofficial]

Okay brief serious moment though. Pope Francis dying isn’t surprising but it is worrisome because of how fucked up the world is rn. Like we all know how fucked up the Catholic Church is and he did do good work to make a ton of progress within it.

I am not religious but come from a culturally catholic background. My mom is number 9 of 11 kids from a pretty standard stereotypical catholic family, and has a lot of childhood trauma. Yes, part of it was probably because of the era, being born in the 60s and raised by parents born in the 20s, but it’s more so being raised by Catholic parents born in the 20s. My mom and her sisters were never encouraged to do anything but be docile faithful Catholic tradwives and to not question anything. Whilst my aunts talk about their childhood and mother with nostalgia and giddiness, I have heard horrific things from my mother’s childhood and my grandma seemed like an absolute nightmare tbh.

This is a big ol ramble that doesn’t make any sense but what I’m trying to get at is that the pope has a lot of power, and it seems like everywhere across the globe things are swinging right and right into fascism. There’s Protestants converting to Catholicism and coating it in evangelical paint. My mom despises the catholic church but adored Francis and saw him as the last good thing about it. The misogyny and trauma she faced was as a poor cishet white woman, which still has quite a lot of privilege. If the next pope is super conservative, and emphasis on patriarchal values is brought back into fashion, this will be catastrophic for so many marginalized groups of people. If the Catholic church hates women even if they’re cishet and white, things are going to be a hundred times worse for poc and queer folks! Duh. And on top of that, further bigotry towards other religions!

Idk why I’m writing this. You all already know this. It’s 4am and I’m tired.

[wannabehistorianandauthor]

Rewatching the New Pope and man I wish we could have seen more of Pope Francis II. Rip my man 😔✊

[vigilantkilliforniakatholixxx]

Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing is so gentle as real strength. - St. Francis de Sales

"Especially beware of bad books, and for nothing in the world let your soul be carried away by certain writings which weak brains admire, because of some vain subtleties which they find therein." - St. Francis de Sales

Do not become upset when difficulty comes your way. Laugh in its face and know that you are in the hands of God. - St. Francis de Sales

"And to say that the Church has failed - what else is it but to say that all our predecessors are damned. Yes, truly; for outside the Church there is no salvation, out of this Ark every one is lost." - St. Francis De Sales

"Fits of anger, vexation, and bitterness against ourselves tend to pride, and they spring from no other source than self-love, which is disturbed and upset at seeing that it is imperfect." - St. Francis de Sales

"God is served more by suffering for Him than by working for Him." - St. Francis de Sales

[momentsbeforemass]

Love one another

“This I command you: love one another.”

That’s how today’s Gospel ends, with this commandment from Jesus.

Think of all of the things that God has commanded throughout history. Things like building an ark, leaving everything and going somewhere you’ve never been, offering sacrifices, etc.

Next to them, “love one another” sounds pretty easy. Until you actually try to do it.

Because there are two people who are going to make this difficult, who are going to make it hard for us to love one another. The people we’re trying to love. And us.

The people we’re trying to love won’t make this easy. Because they’re people. And people do stupid, horrible, unloveable things. All. The Time.

And yet, we’re called to love them. Without exception. Not just when they make it easy, but without exception. Even when they’re at their most unloveable.

Which is something that you and I can never do (not for long) without God’s help. If we’re smart, we won’t even try to do it on our own.

But when it comes to loving one another, you and I are an even bigger problem. Mainly for two reasons.

First, because we don’t know where to start. It would be nice if Jesus gave us some details. Maybe even a plan. But no. We just get told to do it.  

That’s actually enough. Because we don’t need an elaborate program (“5 easy steps to loving one another”).

As St. Frances de Sales (today’s saint) tells us, “you learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”

And there’s the other reason. Knowing that it’s going to be trial and error, knowing that we’re going to make mistakes learning how to love? That sets us up to “what-if” ourselves, to second guess ourselves, to endlessly critique our first faltering steps. To the point that we just stop even trying.

The reason this happens? It happens when I trust the least reliable person in the world to give me advice on how I’m doing. It happens when I listen to me, the one person who can never give me an objective perspective on me.

This is absolutely the wrong perspective for me. Why?

Because I didn’t command me to do this. God did.

Which means that I have no business judging the quality of my performance. God alone determines whether it’s good enough. God sets the standard.

Which sounds even worse, until you find out what God’s standard really is.

“God takes pleasure in your smallest steps. And like a good Father who holds His child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?” – St. Francis de Sales

Today’s Readings