Immigrants fleeing from poverty and oppression and in search of a welcome find it in the warmth of a small shed glowing with the divine light of the Christ Child and his parents. An encounter of joy. Jesus and his new friends all seek a welcome into our hearts.

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Considered the 'Second Founder' of the Franciscan Order and 'Father of Franciscan Theology'. His approach to God was through the heart - teaching that God's love is primarily mediated through The Creation - The First Book of Revelation.

'Christ is the image of the unseen God, the first born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth ... all things were created through him and for him. Christ exists before all things and in him all things hold together ... Christ is the beginning, the first born from the dead, .. and through him all things are reconciled ... everything in heaven and on Earth, making peace through the blood of his Cross.' Colossians 1:15-20

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'Led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was driven into the wilderness where he fasted and prayed for forty days and afterwards was ministered to'. Matthew 4:1,ff

Icon of +Berta Caseres del Rio Gualcarque. After many years of successful organizing, Berta was able to stop the construction of a large dam that would have stifled the flow of the Gualcarque River. This would have negatively impacted the members of her community who depend uupon the river for food, medicines and meaning. Wife and mother of four, she helped lead COPINH in resisting the exploitation of her country by large multi-nationals. After innumerable death threats and acts of intimidation by landowners and the military she was finally gunned down in her home. Growing up in a Catholic home she was taught at a young age to care for the disenfranchised. She lived this out by hearing both 'the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth'. In this image Berta gestures toward the freely flowing and life-giving waters of the river. She bids us to be immersed into a new baptism of environmental awareness and activism.

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Peace and social justice advocate, journalist, pacifist and co-Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. She insisted that action for the cause of justice is a constituent part of the Gospel. In this contemporary image she is depicted serving a trinity of homeless people while just outside the walls marches a street protest. 'The road to salvation passes through the land of activism".

For prints and prayer cards go to: www.postaldispatch.com (952)345-1879

Francisco 'Chico' Alves Mendes Filhot was a Catholic layman who worked to defend the rights of the rubber workers and the environment in the Amazon. He was martyred outside his home on Christmas, 1988 by men hired by wealthy ranchers and loggers. His death brought about the protection of over 8 million acres of rain forest. In this image Chico is embracing and protecting a large tree from destruction which contains within it a microcosm of all that he lived his life for.

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Sr. Dorothy was shot and killed by illegal loggers hired by wealthy land owners in Brazil on February 12, 2005. She along with her sisters in religion worked to defend both the small local farmers and rubber workers who depended upon the survival of the rain forest for their livelihood. In this image Sr. Dorothy is gesturing upwards to the tall forest whicle using the same words with whcih she confronted her assassins. "Blessed are they". Although tall and majestic, the trees were humble and vulnerable. She often wore a t-shirt with the Portugese words, 'The death of the forest is the end of our lives'.

For prints and prayer cards go to: www.postaldispatch.com or (952)345-1879

Zbigniew Strazalkowski and Michal Tomaszek were Conventual Franciscan Friars from Poland working with the poor in the mountains of Peru. They were both martyred for giving witness for their faith by Shining Path terrorists in 1989. They are shown here embracing the Franciscan Tau Cross. Earlier in the day they were quoted as saying that they "were ready to give witness".

For prints and prayer cards go to: www.postaldispatch.com or (952)345-1879