Franciscan Focus

Just a simple blog of a Secular Franciscan trying to live life with a Franciscan focus.

01 November 2009

The Sacred and the Silly 

In honor of All Saint's Day today, I'm resharing one of my fave sung renditions of the Litany of Saints:

Our Litany


And in celebration of yesterday's Halloween fun, a comical critter family portrait (the looks of exasperated resignation on their faces sez it all):

Halloween Kitties

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10 March 2009

Everyone Against Abortion Please Raise Your Hand 

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23 December 2008

Spiffy: Friars setting up the creche 

Check out this neato time-lapse video of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate as they set up their creche at Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel. The friars reposted this from when AirMaria was just getting started.

Fi News #1

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29 October 2008

Watch this before you vote 

... and if you still insist on voting for Obama, know that you've played your part in making this even more -- not less -- common. Bravo for you!

Oh, and btw? I was born at 28 week's gestation.

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25 September 2008

Abortion hurts men, too 

It's not just women who suffer. The fathers of aborted children do, too. Friar Augustine of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate shares his abortion experience during a Silent No More rally held on 07 September at the Connecticut State House.

"I REGRET MY ABORTION."-friar Augustine


H/T to Leticia of Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.

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10 September 2008

It's not a "single issue", it's a foundational one 

Thanks to my pal, Deacon John, for the heads-up on this splendid web site, CatholicVote.com, which features the following powerful and hitting-the-nail-on-the-head video:

Catholic Vote 2008


Along these lines, I've never been interested in buying campaign paraphernalia, but this one is darn good:

Unborn Babies for Mcain/Palin T-shirt; click for more info

For a more in-depth explanation of Church teaching and non-negotiable issues when voting, check out the Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics.

(And no, Husband Mike and I are not Democrats nor Republicans. We're Catholic, and as such, are Politically Homeless.)

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10 May 2008

Franciscan Friars of the Rewal rock, literally 

Check out this Most Excellent video on the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who are truly a shining example of what it means to be Franciscan.

HDNet World Report - The Funky Friars segment


(H/T to Roman Catholic Vocations.)

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20 April 2008

Hilarious: An Engineer's Guide to Cats 

My mom-in-law, sister-and-law, and I laughed so hard over this that we were crying. (Husband Mike chuckled.) Hope you enjoy this clever and funny "how-to" guide to cats, too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to try "cat yodeling" with The B. :-P

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

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12 December 2007

Our Lady of Guadalupe 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn"God of power and mercy, you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. May her prayers help all men and women to accept each other as brothers and sisters. Through your justice present in our hearts may your peace reign in the world.

"We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
~ Closing Prayer for 12 December, Liturgy of the Hours

As today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I did a little searching on the subject and came across several fine finds. (An aside: Another bit to add to the "Everywhere You Go, Franciscans!" file: It was a Franciscan friar, Bishop Juan Zumárraga, OFM, to whom St. Juan Diego displayed his tilma.)

For a quick overview on Our Lady of Guadalupe, see The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, helpfully provided by the ever-awesome Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (who have placed themselves under the protection and guidance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, btw).

The splendid and wonderful Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have posted this great homily on Our Lady of Guadalupe and her patronage of the pro-life movement.

Check out this a super-short clip (25 seconds) of the interior of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico City) on YouTube:

basilica guadalupe



And for All Things Guadalupe, check out Our Lady of Guadalupe, which provides extensive information about Our Lady of Guadalupe along with other aspects of Marian devotion. I especially like the picture gallery; there's an awesome St. Michael statue shown there! Seriously, anyone know how we can order a (small) replica of that sucker?!

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29 November 2007

I'm a sucker for cuteness 

And even more so when the subject is cats. =^..^= Alas, I'm waaay too easily entertained by these silly/cute cat videos on YouTube. (Yeah, you can thank NaBloPoMo for this post.)

It's oh so Cute! Cats of YouTube Music Video

Overall, pretty cute. Many of the clips here have been floating around the Internets for awhile, but still fun to see. And really, watching sleepy kittens never gets old. :-D

Funny cute cats

This kind o' Japanese pop music always makes me smile (and makes me feel like popping in some Gundam Wing episodes), though here it doesn't sync too well with the clips. And are they making meowing sounds at the end? If so, extra bonus cuteness.

Kitten and his box

Kittens. In a box. 'Nuff said.

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26 November 2007

CFotD: Population Research Institute on YouTube 

Cool Find of the Day: The Population Research Institute (PRI) is making excellent use of YouTube to extend the pro-life message to a larger audience, especially about China's "one child" policy. Check out their two cool introductory videos:

Population Research Institute: Part I


Population Research Institute: Part II

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20 November 2007

Stravinstastical! 

Holy crap! I was perusing various performances of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite on YouTube when I came across one of Stravinsky Hisself conducting "Lullaby and Final Hymn" (1945 version*)!

Awesometasticalrific! I'm Seriously Sniffly over this.

And hmmm, interesting that Stravinsky conducts sans baton. I asked Husband Mike what he made o' that, and he said it's not a big deal; were he conducting with a more open hand, it wouldn't look as odd. Whilst I've never seen anyone conduct without a baton, Husband Mike has and says the open-hand way is usually how they do it.

Anyhoo, share and enjoy! :-)

Stravinsky Conducts Firebird



* There are actually a few different versions o' the Firebird Suite; I'm kinda' partial to the 1919 one.

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08 November 2007

A completely worthless post 

Aww, geez, I was hoping to have something useful to say since I'm trying to do the whole NaBloPoMo thing, but alas, it's been A Long Day and I'm feeling under the weather. So, I'm thinkin' of callin' it a day and turning in early.

In lieu of anything worthwhile, here's a humorous video on what FOX's TV show 24 might've been like had it been set in 1994, in the days of 3.5-inch floppies, slow modem connections, and pagers. (Been there, done that, still have the floppies sitting on my desk.)

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot
What if Jack Bauer used AOL 3.0?

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06 November 2007

Spiffy: Classical music abounding on YouTube 

When thinking of YouTube, it never occurred to me that it'd be a nifty source of orchestral music performances. I was searching for Dvořák's Slavonic Dances in the iLike app for Facebook, and lo, it returned video results! What an absolute delight!

So, here are just a few of my fave orchestral/classical music videos I've found on YouTube. Share and enjoy!

Smetana Ma Vlast Moldau Kubelik Czech 1990 (2)

Such an achingly beautiful, soaring piece. :::happy sigh:::

Pilsner Urquell - Bedřich Smetana -Má vlast Vlatava (Moldau)

OK, it's a commercial, but it's one of the most clever ones I've ever seen! Freakin' hilarious!

The Great Gate of Kiev - Modest Mussorgsky

This movement is part of Pictures at an Exhibition, and it's my fave out of the entire piece. Moves me to tears every time I hear it. Such beauty!

Smetana "Prodaná nevěsta (The bartered bride)" Overture

There's a reason why this piece has become a Czech national institution.

Sakari Oramo conducts "Finlandia"

You just can't listen to this and remain unmoved. Awesome-tastical.

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13 July 2007

CFotD: Pope-a-liciousness, spiffy blog 

Two way Cool Finds of the Day to share:

CFotD #1: A huuuuuuge thanks to Fr. Jay Toborowsky for finding the following cool video, "A Day in the Life of Pope Benedict"! (It's in German, but really, who cares? It's the Papa!)

:::swoons:::



CFotD #2: The spiffy blog, Literary Compass, by Nick Senger. Pauline Cooperator Rae Staboz blogged about it, so I checked it out and it's a dandy read. (Thanks, Rae!)

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22 September 2006

Reality check: Video of an actual abortion 

See it here.

I'm with Arthur -- I think I'm gonna hurl.

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23 August 2006

Cutest. Kitten Video. Ever! 

Talk about CUTE! Check out this kitten video!

Husband Mike an' I were grinnin' like goofballs while watchin' it, especially near the end where you can hear Fenno, the kitty, "peeping" and yawning. :::swooning:::

(Via Cute Overload.)

An' our Dell is still dead -- yay for libraries with Internet-accessified 'puters!

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