Summer Reading List

 

With the temperature spike of 90 degrees yesterday, the  lazy, hazy summer days are officially upon us.  What books will you be throwing in your bag as you head out to the beach?   Here are a few of our favorite titles from the last year:

 

Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization by Christopher West

Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves by Helen M. Alvare

The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living by Timothy M. Gallagher

Let the Fire Fall by Michael Scanlan

My Life with the Saints by James Martin

Saints Behaving Badly: The Cutthroats, Crooks, Trollops, Con Men, and Devil-Worshippers Who Became Saints by Thomas J. Craughwell

The Temperament God Gave You: The Classic Key to Knowing Yourself, Getting Along with Others, and Growing Closer to the Lord by Art and Laraine Bennett (we will have a blog post about this book in the future)

Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion

 

Fiction

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Exiles: A Novel  by Ron Hansen

What are some of your favorite reads?

More Wisdom from Pope Francis

“God accompanies us, God calls us by name, God promises a line of heirs. This is something of ‘the surety of the Christian. It is not a coincidence, it is a call – a call that keeps us going. Being a Christian is a call of love, friendship, a call to become a child of God, brother of Jesus, to become fruitful in the transmission of this call to others, to become instruments of this call. There are so many problems, so many problems, there are difficult times, Jesus had many of His own! But always with that confidence: ‘The Lord has called me. The Lord is like me. The Lord has promised me. The Lord is faithful, for He can never deny Himself: He is faithfulness.” Thinking of the passage in which Abram, “is anointed father, for the first time, the father of peoples,” we also think of ourselves – we, who have been anointed in Baptism, and we think of our Christian life. Someone will say, ‘Father, I am a sinner’, but we all are, as everyone knows. The problem is: sinners, go forward with the Lord, go forward with that promise that He has made us, with the promise of fruitfulness, and tell others, recount to others others that the Lord is with us, that the Lord has chosen us and that He does not leave us alone, not ever! That certainty of the Christian will do us good. May the Lord give us, all of us, this desire to move forward, which Abram had, in the midst of all his problems: to go forward with the confidence that He who called me, who promised me so many beautiful things, is with me.” Pope Francis, June 25th, 2013

Fiat House Attends Ordination

The women of Fiat House were blessed to attend the ordination of four men to the Transitional Diaconate  on Saturday, June 22 at the Cathedral of Saint Mary.    Let us continue to keep  Dcn. Mitchell Bechtold, Dcn. Tim Gapinski, Dcn. Aaron Nett and Dcn. Jeremy Theis in prayer as they enter into this ministry of service.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain. ~Jn 15:16

The four deacon candidates lie prostrate before the altar during the Litany of Saints

Bishop John Kinney lays hands on transitional deacon candidate Mitchell Bechtold

Ordained Deacons gave the newly ordained the fraternal sign of peace, welcoming them into the Order of Deacon.

More Running Priests and Early Registration Winners!

Last week the women of Fiat House gave a special 5k registration offer to their friends at bible study.  The Fiat House offered to make a scrumptious dinner for the first person to register for the 5k.   We ended up with a total of THREE lucky winners!  They are……

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• Fr. Scott Pogatchnik (Vocations Director for the Diocese of St. Cloud)
• Laura Suhr
• Eric Reiger

The lucky winners can redeem their dinner coupons at any time!

It’s exciting to have another priest running the 5k!  Do you think Fr. Scott is training as hard as Fr. Aaron?   Reports say Fr. Scott was seen with multiple scones in hand at the Pastoral Center yesterday…  Uh, oh Fr. Scott!  We only have less than two months to train!

Any bets on which priest will have the faster time?  Stay tuned for a “priest poll” in the near future!

Fiat Piano Recital

Were you wondering where the sound of lovely piano music was coming from earlier this week?   No, it wasn’t Summertime by George; it was the first piano recital hosted by the Fiat House!  A total of six young musicians performed piano pieces they had worked diligently on throughout the year under the expert direction of Maestra April.

Apirl and Kristin even whipped out a surprise duet at the end of the recital!

Everyone did a great job!

The program of the evening

Because it’s funny:

A note left for a pianist from his wife: “Gone Chopin, (have Liszt), Bach in a Minuet.”

A tune for your workout playlist

Need to jump start your workout playlist?  This fun “remix” from our beloved Blessed John Paul II will surely put a smile on your face and a spring in your step 🙂

The original speech was delivered in 1979 in Washington, DC to the students of the Catholic University of America.

Only a life of love, a life for Christ, is worth living!

 

Running Priests and Ice Cream

Hey Y’all!

Have you checked out Fr. Aaron Kuhn’s website lately?  He has been vlogging about his Fiat 5k training.  We noticed that Fr. Aaron’s last two training videos were about eating ice cream!  Now the Fiat House wholeheartedly supports the dairy industry, but we are a bit concerned Father is slacking in his training.  Do you also think he’s petering out?  I guess we’ll have to keep checking his site to see if he pulls it back together…

Wisdom From Pope Francis

I saw this image on the Imagine Sisters Facebook Page  and I wanted to share it with all of you.

As we seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother, let us always be mindful of her perfect surrender to the will of the Father.

Blessed Mother, increase our faith in your Son, Jesus.  Help us remember that with God nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37) .

 

Wednesday Women’s Worship and Study

(Since we are all about alliterations…)

This summer we have started a women’s bible study group that meets Wednesday evenings at the Fiat House.   Lots prayer, singing and laughs can be heard outside the windows of 1309.

We choose to use the “inverted food pyramid” when making food choices at the Fiat House.

5k Motivation

Getting discouraged in your 5k training?  Get some inspiration from this little guy: