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Greater Than a Mother's Love: Kinship in the Spirituality of Francis and Clare of Assisi

Pars Disserttationis

Pontificium Atheneum Antonianum Facultas Theologiae -- Sectio Spiritualitas

Thesis ad Lauream N. 383 Romae, 2021

At the Antonianum, the pars dissertationis is the formally approved portion of a doctoral dissertation submitted for the discussio or for archiving. It can be requested through the Segreteria Generale

Pontificia Università Antonianum...

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Greater Than a Mother's Love

The Spirituality of Francis and Clare of Assisi

Although there are several studies dedicated to the lives of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Gilberto Cavazos-González's Greater Than a Mother's Love is the first to investigate their spirituality in the context of family relationships. He delves into the writings of Francis and Clare and illustrates how both used observations of their various...

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Beyond Piety: The Christian Spiritual Life, Justice, and Liberation

Who doesn’t want a liberated life? Jesus offers us liberation as we grow in a Christian spiritual life. But first we need to liberate our concept of Christian Spirituality from ideas that relegate it to Church on Sunday, new age self help, devotional or ascetical practices, or fundamentalist aggression. Traditionally, Christian spirituality...

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I typed the last word.

After years of research and writing, Santa María: Priestly Mother of Mercy is complete—now it just has to get past the series editors. The book explores...

Blog Reflections

Peanuts on the Altarcito:   Día de los Muertos and the Communion of Saints

The other day, I saw Sugar Skulls and Catrinas mixed in with Halloween stuff in a store in Chicago. I was taken aback and disturbed. Let me insist that Día de los Muertos is not Mexican Halloween. It is quite the contrary.

Día de los Muertos begins in the last days of October with the preparation of the altarcitos, our little altars of remembrance. In many communities, each day is dedicated to particular loved ones, with special offerings added daily until November 2. Most begin setting up on...

Gospel Joy and Minority: Reflections for the 8th Centenary of Francis's

Transitus means crossing over, a passing through. It is the word the earliest Christian community used for Mary’s Dormition, the Transitus Mariae, when her soul was set free into the arms of her Son, three days before her Assumption. When Franciscans looked for a way to narrate the death of our founder, we reached for that same word and shape, fittingly, since Francis had always looked to Santa Maria as a model of our spiritual life. Friars, townspeople, and his friend, Jacoba, gathered...

The Invention of the Stigmata Four days after the Franciscan Family marked

Four days after the Franciscan Family marked the 8th Centenary of Francis's Stigmata in 2024, I found myself still turning the image over in prayer. Like the nails that pierced our Savior's body, the wounds of our brother and founder have penetrated the spirituality of all three Orders that claim him. Carrying that legacy forward means keeping the love of the Crucified Lord at the center of who we are.

My reflection on the Stigmata owes a great debt to my teacher Chiara Frugoni and her...

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