Beestill Calendar - June

by Cindi Sutter, Tastemaker in Residence

This calendar was created by Brother Mickey, a very accomplished artist. It began with his oil painting of the Visitation of Elizabeth to Mary when she learned Mary was pregnant with Jesus. 

The added thoughts are those of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of the Sisters of the Visitation in Minneapolis, MN. 

Imagine the excited anticipation we Oblates of St. Francis de Sales felt for a few brief moments on a particularly historic afternoon in 2013: The whole world had stopped to watch as white smoke filled the air above Rome and a new pope walked out on the balcony proclaiming a name never taken by any pope in history: FRANCIS! Maybe, just maybe, we hoped, it was OUR Francis, not the one from Assisi, nor the Jesuit Xavier. It wasn't long, of course, before it was confirmed that Pope Francis had chosen St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake and inspiration.

Undeterred, I got to work right away on an iPad drawing of "THE FOUR FRANCISES"－three great saints and a new pope, with Jesus in the center (which is exactly where Pope Francis said He should always be). St. Francis of Assisi is at the top flashing us the peace sign; on the right is St. Francis Xavier, who brought the Gospel to the farthest reaches of Asia, and reminds us that we now have the first Jesuit pope in history; and on the left is the gentleman saint from the French Alps, St. Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church and patron of writers and journalists.

by FR. MICHAEL DOYLE

Rejoice! Rejoice in the roses because the bloom of their beauty is the glory of God.

The blind can "see" them in the sweetness of their fragrance and the soft feel of their form. Ardent red ones draw the most attention, but bees still can't see red, and generally stay away. Maybe they refuse to tread on faces so lovely.

Poets marvel: "I see His blood upon the rose." The greater the goodness in human face or garden rose, the greater the need for thorns of protection in the fragile levels of our lives. 

"Be patient" and accept them!