WELCOME!

Hi, there! Peace and all good! My name is Fr. Tom and I am a Franciscan from the Cincinnati Province of Friars Minor. I just want to take a few minutes to tell you why I get so excited talking about St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi and what they can do for you.

It started when I began sharing retreats and directing people – other Franciscans, laity, priests, parishioners, Poor Clares. I was literally stunned to find out how many of them never had the exciting experience of hearing God say to them, “I love you!” Why was that? I searched for a way to help them open themselves that experience.

I found it right under my nose in the lives of two Franciscan saints – Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi. Francis was a playboy from the wrong side of the tracks who wanted to be a knight. He had a millionaire father but left it all to live with lepers. On the other hand, Clare was from a family of nobles, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, who abandoned it all to join Francis and his bunch of ragtag beggars. Why did they do this? Because they heard Christ say those enchanting words: “I love you. Follow me.”

But it wasn’t that easy for them to hear the Lord speak those words. I found out that Francis and Clare were no different than you and me. There were definite turning points and critical moments on their journeys that corresponded to mine and yours. What was different were their responses to those moments. Francis and Clare showed me how to respond to those turning points and how to help others do the same. That became the basis for a direction, a spiritual direction in life. Out of that grew my retreat formats and a training program for spiritual directors. And that led me to develop workshops, renewals and programs that took me all over the country, and to other countries.

Why travel? Because Francis and Clare excite me and they excite the people at the parish I serve. Just as they excite our college students and women and men religious of all ages with whom I have shared the message of Francis and Clare. They all want to hear the Lord whisper to them those heart-warming words: “I love you.”

If you want to know more about the different ways I can share this Franciscan/Clarian message of Incarnational or horizontal spirituality with you, click on the other buttons here that interest you.

Contact me at:

tspeierofm@juno.com

Fr. Tom Speier, ofm

Franciscan Spiritual Directions

1615 Vine Street

Cincinnati, OH 45202

(513) 721-4700   Ext.3303