|
|
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on March 3rd, 2023 March 2023
Our Father most holy: Our Creator, Redeemer, Consoler, and Savior…
You, Lord, are Supreme Good, the eternal Good, from Whom all good comes…
Holy be your Name…That You may rule in us through Your grace…
Your will be done…that we may love You…with our whole heart…soul…and mind…
Give us this day…Your own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Forgive us…through Your ineffable mercy…and make us, Lord, forgive completely.
And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
Amen
(Prayer Inspired by the Our Father – abbreviated)
(Tree of the Crucified)
Chapter Five
[The Angel of the Sixth Seal]
1
Let us return to the seraphic Francis, who received such authentication from the seraphic apparition of Jesus that we must regard him as “the angel of the sixth age.” For what John writes to the angel of Philadelphia, in the third chapter of the Apocalypse, befits him and his descendants. – Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.
2
Now, Philadelphia is interpreted as “preserving steady attachment to the Lord.” Oh, how accurately this holy Order and its most holy father match this Philadelphia and its angel! – God is faithful. Serve Him faithfully.
3
For here is preserved the heritage of the life of Christ and a complete attachment to His cross. All that is said to the angel is most fittingly applied to Francis, although there is no time to expound everything. – Better to suffer wrong than to do it.
4
However, let us take his triumphant victory. It is said: He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. – When a train goes through a tunnel and gets dark, you don’t throw away your ticket and get off. You sit still and trust the engineer.
5
When Jesus, here and elsewhere, speaks of “my God,” or says something similar, he is doing so on behalf of His humanity only, in which He is subject to the Father, to His own divine Person, and to the Holy Spirit, as to His God of whom He is the purest worshipper. – The one who trusts in himself gets lost.
6
It is in view of the prize given for the victory He speaks of, that He has in mind Francis as the one who proves victorious, for he is the celebrated victor of whom it is sung that “he overcomes the world and sin, having already conquered himself.” – Trust in God and you can do all things.
7
The text, therefore, refers to two things about that prize: the first is the victor, likened to a pillar, gaining access to the temple; the second is what is written on that pillar. – God is full of compassion and never fails to help those who trust in Him.
[The Mystical Temple of God]
8
The seraphic soul thus enters into God, after the manner of a pillar firm and straight that is brought in as one of the roof’s supports. Commonly it would be either round or quadrilateral, and is enclosed in the circular space around the inside of the temple. – It does not matter how long one lives, but how well.
9
If, however, temple was understood as a material church, then pillars would support and adorn the temple and stand in the middle of it. Francis, and any of his sons, too, stand in this manner in the holy Order and in the Church of God – The ultimate evil is to leave the company of the living before you die.
10
Just as they stand in their proper manner in the celestial court, where higher ranks are supportive of the lower, and their humble simplicity and simple spirituality relate to the lower, less united, more dispersed ranks, as the center to a circle’s circumference, or spirit to body. – Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.
11
And the character of the temple shows this, in occupying a greater amount of space than a pillar. As the foundation of the Church on the first Apostles was in faith, so in these [later apostles] is the Church built up and her final perfect state of high contemplation underpinned. – Life levels all men; death reveals the eminent.
12
For this reason is it said in Francis’s regard: Never shall he go out of it. Neither apostasy nor any earthly preoccupation would draw him away from this temple which embraces the love of poverty most high, something he would never want to go out of by any means. – Death is the great adventure before which all other experiences pale in insignificance.
13
Now, regarding what the text says is inscribed on him, know that in a soul like his, three things are written. The first is the most lucid vision and delightful contemplation of the three Persons of the Divinity and of the beatific glory they enjoy together. – Live in such a way so that when you die even the undertaker will be sorry.
14
This is indicated by: I will write on him the name of my God. For this is how the glory of God enters the soul and makes it supremely happy; it is rejoicing over the happiness of God. – True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile.
15
The second inscription is a perfect affinity with all in God’s City and the company of the saints, whether on life’s journey or hereafter . . . Now this city is said to come down from God out of heaven; for the full gladness of the saints springs from the immensity of God, signified by heaven, although this be inferior to God, who is infinite. – May the outward and inward person be as one.
16
In another sense, it comes down from heaven through humility, not only with respect to God, but even with respect to its special place in heaven, from which it comes down, regarding itself as unworthy. – Do not try to be a person of success but rather one of value.
17
As it is here that the sixth status reform occurs, the new Jerusalem signifies this stage’s peaceful contemplation of God and its renovation of the world through a thorough disdain for worldly things; hence it is called new, a fresh gift given by God. And this City’s name can especially be said to be inscribed on Francis and on men like him, since with them all the renewal is inaugurated, established and sustained. – To be biblically holy is to face up to the totality of life, in the power of the Cross.
18
The third inscription is the contemplation of Christ in His humanity and as Redeemer and Mediator. This is indicated by and my own new name; called new, because of the unique existence of His humanity in a divine Person, and also because in Him and through Him consists the complete renewal of the elect. – The more we discover ourselves the way we truly are, the more we feel the need of God, and the more He reveals himself.
19
And notice how his name is mentioned lastly: this is to show the complete circuit of contemplation, descending from God into the City of the saints and returning in Christ Jesus, to rest in Him in an embrace of delight. – The glory of God is man alive, supremely in Christ.
20
Thus, is completed a glorious circle, starting out from God, moving through the saints, into the God-Man, the Holy of holies. Observe now how to the sixth status is given an extraordinarily clear knowledge of God and of his entire City, and an extraordinary opening into and knowledge of the work of our redemption and of Christ Jesus. – To know God and to live are one and the same thing.
21
But it is upon this blessed man, Francis, that the name of God the Father is written, because he is being made the spiritual father of a worldwide religious Order. The name of the new Jerusalem is also inscribed on him, his soul being made worthy, by the sweetness of love, to be called Christ’s spouse and gracious mother, bringing forth Jesus as offspring. – With God we should feel like a child in its mother’s arms.
22
Christ Jesus’ new name is inscribed on him, when the figure of the Crucified is carved, not only into his soul, but on his body. Thus, of all Christ’s members, among whom he holds primacy, he, by antonamasia, is called “anointed.” Of such it is said, Do not touch those I have anointed. – The Eucharist is the silence of God, weakness of God.
23
Observe also the orderly manner in which our text treats of the endowments given the holy father on this sacred mountain. The first is a complete conquest of the world and of himself. The second is a foundational initiation into a contemplation that is joyous, deep, and stable. – A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.
24
The third is the promised expansion of flawless descendants. The fourth is that splendid engraving of the wounds and name of Christ crucified. The first is referred to by He who conquers: he fully overcame himself and the world, as he fasted and prayed in this bleak and lonely place. The second is indicated by, I will make him a pillar . . . the name of my God: – Invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and into your home.
25
Francis was placed upon the firmest of rocks, as a new pillar in the temple of God—even bodily and quite literally, here on this sacred mountain. And in that sublime apparition of Christ he was wonderfully enlightened with a knowledge of God and was confirmed for ever in the state of unifying grace and poverty. – None can be eternally united who have not died for each other.
26
For this reason, we read, he felt happy at the gracious way Christ, in the form of the Seraph, looked upon him. He himself added that the One who appeared to him told him things which he would never reveal to anyone as long as he lived. – Man cannot break the laws of God, he can only break himself against them.
27
To be sure, these concerned great things of a prophetic nature which are not for full hearing by human ears. The third of the endowments is referred to in and the name of the city, etc. It was then he was promised that his Order would endure to the end of the world, and then also was revealed to him the death and resurrection of his Rule. – Jesus was himself the one convincing and permanent miracle.
28
And one astonishing thing came to my own ears, which with no brashness I aver, but in all seriousness shall recount for those sincerely interested. What I heard from the holy man Brother Conrad, and from several others who are trustworthy, was that the blessed Francis, after his glorification in heaven, revealed to the holy brother Leo—and to some others as well, they say—that in the apparition Christ foretold to him the tribulations his foundation and the Church would face, the rejection and corruption of his Rule, and how greatly upset the minds of spiritual men, and of those who came after them, would be at this universal assault on the Rule. – God will do nothing without man. If God works a miracle, he works it through man.
29
And that therefore, for their comforting and enlightenment He, Jesus, out of his extreme goodness, would raise him up again, in a glorified body, and cause him to appear visibly to those aforesaid children of his. The outcome of this is something that may be awaited with devotion, so long as it is not avowed with indiscretion. – The person who cannot wonder is a person who will not see.
30
However, this is where devotion is strongly supported by reasoned argument. For Francis was so remarkably like Christ Jesus in respect of His passion, that he might also, more than others, resemble Him in an anticipated resurrection. – Let each day and night not pass without recognizing with gratitude what the Lord has done.
31
Above all, His being raised would strengthen the fidelity and sincerity required for the gospel life, which He wished to renew in Francis. That gospel life suffered under an unregenerate Church, as shall be shown further on, in the same ways that the Person of Christ suffered under the Synagogue; and therefore, it would revive if Francis were raised again. – The road to heaven is made up of resolution made, broken, and renewed.
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on March 3rd, 2023 St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis Renewal Center
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
March 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
May the Lord grant you peace!
Throughout his life, St. Francis regularly sought the solitude of forests, mountains, islands. His Canticle of the Creatures gives us an insight into his love and reverence for all creation as gift from the One Great Creator and Father. Nonetheless, often he would retire for weeks on end from this wonderful Theater of Redemption, away from ‘the world’, the people, and the circumstances that enveloped him each day. Why? If all is a gift and everything is so wonderful, why leave? If God is everywhere, why go as far away from ‘civilization’ as possible to be able to ‘touch God’?
Good, legitimate, enjoyable, and even necessary persons, places, and things – even religious things! – can ‘possess’ us so much that we can risk losing our God-centered perspective, and confuse our priorities. They become the end rather than the means to deepen a relationship with God Who is ‘the Other’. God is not His creation, yet God can be seen in all things, because He is My God and My All as St. Francis prayed.
The spirit immersed in God can often become distracted and even depleted of its inner strength by the constant barrages, cacophony, seductions, allurements of our society, and also from just frenetic running around ‘in four directions at once’ without taking time for healthy rest in the Lord. The various ‘lents’ that St. Francis practiced during the year responded to the canons of the Church for all Christians, or were devotional “Lents”, such “la Benedetta” from Epiphany for 40 days, and the “lent of St. Michael from the Assumption until the feast of St. Michael and all the angels. They were part of his own particular devotional life and spiritual needs. They afforded him the silence and solitude to ‘recharge’ his spirit, deepen his relationship with God, for Whom St. Francis believed himself to be the ‘Herald of the Great King’. They also helped to clarify his view of the world that surrounded him by viewing life from the perspective of God.
In solitude and silence our Seraphic Father sought to hear the voice of God Who spoke to him from the Cross of San Damiano more clearly. The voice from the Crucifix had entrusted him with a mission to rebuild My Church for as you can see it is falling into ruin. To fulfill this commission St. Francis understood he had to begin by ‘rebuilding’ himself. Like any edifice that needs revamping, remodeling, restoring, in order to be ultimately renewed, he had to check the structure, clean out the rubble, prop up and strengthen the tottering and fragile, fix the broken, discard the corroding that was affecting and infecting the rest of the healthy structure. Once this was done, he could begin the ‘job’ of rebuilding with quality updated strong material to make the structure solid and welcoming.
It is not always necessary to tear down to renew, particularly when the treasures of time and the human spirit are intimately involved and are vital components. When our faith foundation is solid and deep, the visible ‘structure’ of our lives will be strong and solid once revisions and repairs are completed. Thus, what others see after we have worked at ‘rebuilding’ the inner spiritual structure and ‘refinished and renewed’, the outer appearance will attract, welcome, and challenge others to do the same.
Initially, our Seraphic Father understood the voice from the Cross of San Damiano literally. He began rebuilding the physical structures of several of the churches of Assisi with stones and mortar. No doubt Francis’ merchant’s skills were able to eventually even get some of the townsfolk to help this affable eccentric in his ‘pro bono’ enterprise. Following this image, we too can speak of rebuilding the moral and spiritual structure of the Church. We begin with an evaluation and restructuring of our own personal church, the Temple of God each one of us has become through Baptism. St. Paul tells the Corinthians: Are you not aware that you are the Temple of God, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you? For the Temple of God is holy, and you are that Temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-23). The voice from the Cross of San Damiano and the forty days St. Francis spent on the island on Lake Trasimeno offer us some points of reflection as we enter the most solemn season of the Church Year, the Paschal Season (Lent-Easter-Pentecost). The ‘Penitents of Assisi’ as the first followers were called, were a prophetic presence among the people and within the Church calling the People of God to re-discover and uncover within themselves a new energy in God’s Spirit. They were encouraged to recognize a Presence that could transform their lives and restore harmony between them and all creation.
Ash Wednesday heralds the beginning of this sacred season, the “joyful” season of Lent. Lent encourages us through the imposition of ashes to remember that: You are dust and to dust you will return (look at everything in life from the perspective of eternity), and Repent and believe in the Gospel (give yourself over to God’s Will and live Jesus and His words). During these forty days we enter the Christian pilgrimage of faith and walk in the way of true conversion. We renew our commitment to rebuild and strengthen the Temple of God we are, making use of the ‘weapons’ our faith affords us.
Several days before the end of February, Ash Wednesday introduced us into the holy and joyful season of Lent. One of the opening prayers of the Eucharist for Ash Wednesday, we read these words: O God our Father, grant that your Christian people may begin this fast as a journey of true conversion, that the weapons of penance may make them victorious in the battle against the spirit of evil. (free translation) This prayer introduces the beginning of the Season of Lent, springtime of the Church Year. It offers a simple and effective process we can follow on the forty-day itinerary ahead of us. The prayer mentions: conversion, journey, battle, weapons, victory. We are also reminded of a constant ‘accusing’ presence on this journey through life, ‘the evil one’. The words are powerful and forceful. They speak of decisiveness and determination. Reflecting on them and acting on them can make Lent a spiritually beneficial time for all who acknowledge their value and seek to implement them.
The process applies to a person of reasonably good faith, who truly wants to do what is good and right, even when the human spirit seems to be weak, tired or even full of faults. Sincere awareness of our weaknesses leads to a desire and spirit of conversion, a ‘turning back’, to the intention of God in creating us and how we became when we were baptized – filled with sanctifying grace in God’s love. Acceptance of this basic need urges us to take the first step of a journey that lasts a lifetime. The journey is filled with pitfalls, detours, U-turns, and ‘full-steam-ahead’.
On this spiritual journey, just as in the experiences of everyday life, we encounter friend and foe, success and failure, joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, grace and sin. We are called to wage ‘war’ and do ‘battle’ against the enemies of our soul. We must first acknowledge and recognize them. Then we seek the “energy” of grace from God and the basic assistance God offers us through Sacred Scripture, the Church and Sacraments, Tradition, the Magisterium, the good and holy people we follow as our spiritual friends and guides, and one another. The weapons of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving keep our souls centered on the ultimate purpose of our existence – God! Thus, we are enlivened to confront the ‘evil one’ and the effects of his subtle and flagrant instigations in our daily lives
Prayer keeps our relationship with God strong, and makes us always aware that God is truly with us, and we with God.
Fasting places all things in right order and, so that our possessions, even the spiritual ones, do not possess us.
Almsgiving helps us to discern our wants from our needs, and helps us to be more aware of others and their gifts and needs. Thus, we realize our common bond as children of God.
The three suggestions help us to live the command: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart – (Prayer), with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind – (Fasting), and your neighbor as yourself – (Almsgiving) (Luke 10: 27).
St. Francis often experienced his bouts with the ‘evil one’, sometimes directly, and more often, as with most of us, intensely through the temptations and allurements of the world around him or the ‘demons’ that lurk in the recesses of the innermost part of even saintly people. It is a given fact that the holier a person seeks to become, the more he/she will be assailed by the ‘spirit of evil’. When we feel assailed and worried that we are unable overcome the enemy, remember that there is only one God, and no one and nothing can equal God in any way, no matter how strong. Let us not forget the great Defender of God’s People, St. Michael whose name means Who like God? Who is like God?! No one but God Alone! It is the Evangelist St. John who encourages us on our journey. When the early Church was experiencing so many persecutions and, St. John reminded our sisters and brothers, and us today: Greater is the One within you, than the one who is in the world (1 John 4: 4). If He is within me (us), why fear what surrounds us?!
Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly; gather the people, notify the congregation; assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast; let the bridegroom quit his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep, and say, ‘Spare, O Lord, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach…! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is there God?’ (Joel 2:16-17) To avoid the devastation that an infestation of locusts was causing Israel, Joel calls the people to prayer and penance. From the terrible reality of the devastation of Israel to the great promise of the outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord, the people experience the blessings God offers them. I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions … I will work wonders in the heavens and on the earth … Then everyone will be rescued who calls on the name of the Lord… (Joel 3:1-5) God is shown as both vindicator of His people and the source of all their blessings. Lent is the time for us to re-confirm our Covenant with God in the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus.
Our need and desire for personal conversion compel us to take the first of many steps on a journey on which we encounter friends and foes of our spiritual lives who must be embraced in love or fought in a spiritual battle with the weapons of faith (prayer), hope (letting go and trusting in providence to fulfill our needs), and charity/love (disarming our hearts to others as we seek to assist them however possible). Once we have embarked on this journey, guided by the Spirit of God, following in the footsteps of Jesus, there is nothing less to expect than Victory!
Yes! We are victors in the Victim! We walk the road of the Cross. Though there are many difficulties we must overcome, our victory is basically a victory over ourselves. We overcome that part of ourselves that hesitates or refuses to let the Holy Spirit work in and through us. The journey of Lent leads to a victory so often misunderstood. It is a victory whose trophy is a blood-stained Cross and a mangled, tortured, derided Person, executed as a common criminal Whose crime was truth, compassion, and love. The paradox of the Cross is the glory of the Christian. The sign of contradiction becomes our sign of commitment. We commit to Life through death to ourselves, so that it is no longer I who live but Christ Who lives in me (Galatians 2: 20). Jesus Himself said, when I am lifted up, I will call all people to myself (John 12: 32). Eventually, at the end of our Lenten journey we come to the foot of the Cross, not as vanquished victims, but as conquering victors who bear the brandmarks of Jesus in my body, therefore let no one bother me (Galatians 6:17).
Let us strive to do good and become better as we enter the Season of Renewal. To do what is good is to do what is of God. To do what is good is to strive to be good. To be good is to live in God’s grace. To live in God’s grace is to have begun our heaven on earth. Lent is the beginning of our journey from Ashes to Palms, leading us from Palms to Calvary. From Calvary we move on to the empty tomb. The empty tomb, reminds us that St. John arrived at the empty tomb and bear the brandmarks of Jesus in my body, therefore let no one bother me and ultimately rejoice in the Empty Tomb that introduces us to the fullness of Life. Lent is not a time for slackers. In the words of one of our Capuchin saints: You don’t go to heaven in a taxi! Let us be serious about our ‘return to the future’, a phrase taken from the title of a movie that reminds us we are called not to be someone else in the future but to be who we were created to be from all eternity. Thus, we must recapture and grow in the image of God and Christ in whom we were created, that the future prepared for us may be assured.
As Spiritual Children of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi, let us not forget that in the beginning we were called the ‘Penitents of Assisi’. Let the true spirit of penance take hold of us this Lent. We are called to reflect, reform, renew our lives that we may re-establish a deeper relationship with God and all creation. Like Advent, Lent is a Season of joy-filled expectations. We live in the reality of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Lent is not a sad time of regrets, and penitential practices for the past. It is a joyful season of ‘reconstruction’ and rebirth for all who seriously take advantage of the spiritual opportunities available. At the end of this brief yearly journey of renewal, the ‘edifice of the Spirit’, ‘the Temple of God’ we are ‘comes alive’ in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus.
May God bless you; may Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi and our Holy Mother St. Clare, watch over each one of you with loving care.
Happy Lent!
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on February 1st, 2023 St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis of Assisi Friary
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
February 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you peace!
At the beginning of the month dedicated to the Hidden Life of Jesus we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary in the Temple. The spirit of this occurrence is capsulated in the words of Simeon to Mary and Joseph: This Child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed; and to Mary he says, and your soul also a sword shall pierce, so that the hearts of many may be laid bare (cfr. Luke 2: 22-40). Simeon “sees” the faith of Israel fulfilled in this infant. His words of prayerful praise and gratitude envelop the Mother and Child in a prophecy that has begun its course to involve all creation. His personal experience of God’s goodness to him urges Simeon to touch the lives of others in prophecy and praise. Anna also cannot contain within herself the joy she experienced when she beheld the Infant Jesus. She too shared her encounter with God with all whom she met.
The adoring parents are reminded that the humility of the Incarnation and Birth must eventually lead to the selfless Love of the Cross if this Child is to fulfill His purpose for entering our human history. The life of Jesus, from the hovel of Bethlehem to the hill of Calvary, always has the Cross as a constant and faithful companion. The wood of the Crib that enfolds Him securely foreshadows the wood of the Cross that will hold him up securely for the world to behold. So that when I am lifted up, then I will draw all people to Myself (John 12:32). The intimacy of the moment between the elderly “watchers” and the young parents inevitably leads Simeon and Anna to prophesy, Mary and Joseph to reflect and respond, and the Infant Jesus to continue to be the humble sublimity and the sublime humility (words of St. Francis of Assisi) of the God of Israel. He has already begun to change the course of time and fulfill the hopes of the faith-filled “watchers”.
Scripture says that He grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him (Luke, 2: 40). Jesus lived in eager anticipation of the fulfillment of the Father’s Will. Jesus’ ever-present intimacy and oneness with the immensity of God, His Father, did not keep Him in an ecstasy of a “glorious-do-nothing”. The years, months, weeks and days had begun to lead to that most solemn moment of His life, acceptance of the Cross. The instrument of our salvation, was also the altar of that profound and most Solemn Eucharist where Christ was and still is Priest and Victim. We are victors with the Victim when we accept to live in the revealing light of the shadow of His Cross.
We share in the saving effects of the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus, and accept the “gift” of the Cross with gratitude and availability. The Cross thus becomes a symbol of our life immersed in God, and in God with all humanity. The vertical beam reminds us of our relationship through faith and prayer with God. We raise our hearts and minds to the One from Whom all creation comes, and with Whom we are called to live eternally – Faith. The horizontal beam reminds us of our common bond with all who share life with us and with whom we have a particular relationship as children of the One great God and All-providing Creator – Hope. The point where the two meet and find balance forms the Cross on which Christ hung – Love. There He calls us to Himself and reminds us that There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13). Thus, unless our relationship with God spreads to encourage us to touch others with the love we have received from God, through Christ in the Spirit, our prayer is only partially effective, and bears little fruit.
God’s goodness bestowed on us encourages us to offer this gift to others. Here is where the balance of the two beams is found and there, in the middle, is Jesus. Gratitude and availability of this type do not come quickly or easily. Human nature seeks to evade and/or avoid anything that challenges us to go beyond the natural tendencies for survival and pleasure. Just think how people seek to beautify their bodies for a short span of years, and will undergo dangerous surgery, questionable drugs, or painful, lengthy, stressful aerobic programs, oftentimes engaging costly “qualified trainers”. The timeless competition between time and eternity are ever challenging us for undivided attention.
On the other hand, when it comes to our spiritual life, the health of our souls, and our growth in grace, we look for ways to cut corners. We even call the traditional centuries-old proven practices “old-fashioned”, “outdated”, “no longer of relevance to a modern and intellectually advanced society”, such as we deem ourselves to be. For a Christian, there seems to be something intrinsically wrong with this kind of reasoning. Since every person coming into this world is a totally new creation of God’s infinite love. No two persons are ever exactly alike. What a wonderful interchange and exchange of God-given gifts life could be! The Canticle of the Creatures of our Seraphic Father could be a wonderful prayer to reflect upon as it speaks of the beauty and harmony found in all creation. Special mention is the praise to God for those who forgive, and for Sister Death from whom no one can escape (from the Canticle of the Creatures of St. Francis of Assisi). Both forgiveness and relinquishment humbly offer the gift of oneself in loving acknowledgment of personal fault towards another and loving acceptance in all things “to let go and let God”. Everything and everyone tells of the wonders of God. We find the “message and messenger” at the juncture of the two beams of the Cross with the Crucified.
Life is full of experiences and encounters that ultimately are determining factors in a person’s disposition, character, direction in life, and, more often than not, the ultimate choice for eternity the person has decided to take. Every child born has: eyes to see, ears to hear, mouth to speak, hands to touch, feet to walk, mind to think, and heart to extend itself. What determines the course of that life is: On what do those eyes gaze? To what do those ears listen? What words emanate from the mouth as an expression of what the mind thinks and the heart desires? How and to whom do those hands reach out? Where do those feet go? What thoughts are harbored and fostered in the mind? And, whom, what and how does the heart love?
Children of the Poverello of Assisi, we continue to strive to grow into a holiness and integrity that only God’s grace can produce. How can we accomplish this task? It is a lifelong daily journey. We are similar to a piece of marble in the hands of the sculptor, or cloth in the hands of a tailor, or plant in the hands of the gardener. We allow ourselves to be chiseled into a work of art, cut, shaped and put together into the proper garment suited to us, and nurtured and nourished in order to grow into the new life we were created to be. It is through our senses that our life becomes truly a continual act of adoration. We adore the Source and Ultimate Goal of life, God! The experience transforms as it challenges. The Apostle Saint John tells us: This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched … What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you may share this life with us (1 John 1:1-3). You can note the excitement in his words, reliving, after many years, the freshness of his encounter with Jesus. Jesus was always here and now with John! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13: 8). What about us?
Through nature we “feel” God as we adore Him in all we do. We concretize our experience in our response to one another. Sharing with others we are always being “tweaked”, transformed. Here is the reason we must daily live our Franciscan lives, not just at meetings and special gatherings. We are a leaven! Our lives must be guided by the Gospel, the Magisterium of the Church, and the Rule and Constitutions we have promised to live. Be true apostles! We cannot be closed in on ourselves. The Franciscan fraternity is not a small closed orchard. It is not a little garden to be jealously protected. Give! Share the fruits the Lord has given you! Be generous with everybody. Extend the “vehemence” of love to all with the spiritual gifts and their fruits concretized in our corporal and spiritual acts of mercy. Love can never be diminished of itself. Spread it everywhere you go.
Prayer is the unique strength of all good souls, it moves the world, renews consciences, sustains the (sick and infirm), comforts the suffering, heals the sick, sanctifies labor, raises up, gives moral strength and Christian resignation to human suffering, it overflows with the smile and blessing of God on all sluggishness and weakness (Padre Pio 5 May 1966). Pray! But more, as was said of St. Francis, “become prayer” in all you are and do. Prayer is an action that can change the world itself!
Prayer is a strength and leaven that transforms those who pray with their heart and life. True prayer is never a personal static experience but one that of its very nature throws open the heart of the one who prays to allow all to enter into an embrace of universal brother/sisterhood. Pray with God’s Holy Word, particularly the Gospels where Jesus speaks to us with His life. Let the Word enflesh Himself, as it were, in your lives ever more deeply, so that it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20). Let the Word be the strength and source of your prayer and God’s transforming grace within you.
We will enter the holy and joyful season of Lent the end of this month. Prayer, penance and almsgiving are the recommended essential elements that make for a fruitful Lenten experience. When prayer is true, sincere, and complete, the other elements are never missing. Our Father’s love redeems us in Jesus through the Spirit. God’s love encourages us to work daily towards an ongoing change of mind and urges us to open our heart to others: prayer (God relationship), penance (metanoia ongoing change of heart), almsgiving (sharing God’s gifts received with others). Here is a workable and actually quite simple program for celebrating the forty day pilgrimage from ashes to the empty tomb.
May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi and our holy mother St. Clare intercede for you and your loved ones, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on January 31st, 2023 Dearest sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis.
As promised, we will start to discuss the transition to the Inquiry phase. But first I
would like to do a bit of a review and make sure we are all on the same page.
- As you will recall, in the first publication we discussed appropriate formation materials and the “Pathway to Profession” ( Fun Manual under the Profession Chapter. The FUN Manual is available on-line at the Saint Katherine Drexel Region web site: http://www.skdregion.org/ 2 FUN Manual Pages 51 thru 54) In all cases initial formation must follow those guidelines.
- It is also suggested that a person interested in the order be encouraged to
attend two or three regular gatherings before starting any initial formation.
This gives them an opportunity to get to know the fraternity and the
fraternity to get to know them before starting the process.
- The next step is the “Initial Interview and faith inventory” (Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order – Chapter One, pages 9 – 10)
- This includes General Personal information, name, birthday, marital
status and so on.
- It also includes documentation of sacramental information, religious
education, various other information and names and addresses for
their personal references including their pastor.
- This is an important step that should not be skipped. And the
individual should not be allowed to enter Inquiry without suppling
them or identifying any problems in getting them.
- Once the Interview is completed the interviewer will present that
information to the formation team and the council to discuss if there are
any impediments or other serious issues like irregular marriages, same
sex unions, Divorce and remarriage without an annulment.
- Once the council agrees there are no unmanageable impediments,
the individual is invited to enter the “Orientation Phase”.
- Orientation is at a minimum three months long. In that time, the individual
and the formation team (Director) will review the first three chapters in the
formation book “The Franciscan Journey” assigning the individual written
homework that will be collected and available for review by the council.
- The homework turned in can assist greatly in understanding the
individual’s spirituality and orthodoxy. This homework can be returned
after profession or departure from formation.
- During this time, the individual should have provided a copy of the
following records:
▪ Baptismal Record
▪ First Communion Record
▪ Confirmation Record
▪ All Marriage Records
▪ Any Holy Order Records (Priest and Deacons)
▪ All Divorce and Annulment records.
- The Formation Director should have also received responses from
the individuals’ references:
▪ Their Pastor
▪ A close friend (Catholic)
▪ A Spiritual Advisor other than their pastor, if they have one
There are times through no fault of their own, an individual has a hard time
getting some of these records. In such cases, the local council should work with the
individual and their pastor to overcome the issue if possible
At the end of Orientation, the Formation Team (Director) should sit down with the
individual and discuss their feelings, general direction and jointly decide if the person
should request to move on to the “Inquiry Phase” which is technically the beginning of
Initial Formation. In my fraternity, we actually ask the individual to write a formal letter
requesting entry into Inquiry and why they want that.
With all this done, the individual(s) go through the “Ceremony of Introduction and
Welcoming”3 which is not a liturgical rite and therefore should not be done during liturgy
or prayer. But should be conducted during the regular portion of the gathering. Once
completed, Inquiry Phase and formal initial formation begins!
Next time we will the Inquiry phase in much more detail
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on January 1st, 2023 Holy and Happy New Year 2023!
January 2023
The Tree of the Crucified Life of Jesus
Book 5, Chapter 3
[The Virtues of Austerity, Humility, and Obedience]
1
So now, let us return to the perfection of Francis, whose identification with the angel of the sixth seal is borne out not only by external witnesses but by the excellence of his own life. He did indeed come down from where the sun rises, as, ever rising from strength to strength, following the deeds of Christ as he grew in his humanity, he configured his holy way of living to the life of Christ. – As soon as we are in faith and in love, we are in prayer
2
And this reached the high point of his carrying the seal of the living God; he lived to become worthy to have on his body the imprints of the wounds of the Crucified. Now, as to Christ’s life itself, an attentive survey of the gospels will reveal its salient features, its most striking notes: the crucifixion, the profound humility, the extreme poverty, the fervor of charity shown by desiring our salvation in undergoing the torment of the cross, as well as by the sheer graciousness of His stooping to compassionate sinners and the afflicted. – He who does not praise God here on earth shall eternally be dumb.
3
Yet the crowning perfection of Christ’s life lay in His interior cultivation and consummation of divine charity. In one continuous act, on His own behalf and that of all His members, He duly paid the service of worship to the divinity, to which in His own person He was united. There, despite its rather moderate treatment, you have enough about his amazing austerities to weigh in your mind. The fact is that the Blessed Jesus, virginal Son born of virginity, saw fit to transfuse purity into him, since complete cleanness cannot live in tainted flesh without a continuous crucifixion of self. That is why the most pious Jesus, in order to help us come to an austere crucifixion of our corrupt flesh for the preservation of purity, afflicted His own sacred flesh with many a cross as long as He lived. Francis, his true son and imitator, taking this to heart, disciplined himself so rigidly in regard to food, clothing, lodgings, sleep, and other similar bodily demands, that he scarcely took the minimum required to sustain nature. – Begin the day with God and it is probable that you will end the day with Him and in goodness.
4
And although, after prolonged penance, his blameless body needed no chastising for any wrong, he continued to inflict hardships and burdens on it, keeping to harsher ways for the sake of others. So, he called his frail body an “ass,” gave it endless hard work to do, provided it with coarse coverings and a bed of straw, and fed it with small amounts of inferior fare. In order to achieve full purity of heart he completely abstained from all familiarities which might inwardly defile him and give bad example to others. – Pray that no crisis hour may find you unprepared.
5
This meant that he recognized the face of hardly any woman. He further ordered every effort made to avoid, as a plague to purity, intimate dealings with women. It was because he was aware of spending his days in a valley of tears, that he was habitually weeping. All of this meant that he had become so candid in mind, so clean in heart, that he seemed to have attained the state of innocence at that time. For, as we read in his Legend, he had practically all creatures, even the inanimate, at his command; a level of grace, indeed, in which he surpassed natural innocence. There were instances of fire tempering its heat, water changing taste, the night sky shining like day, and a dry rock yielding a delicious spring. Thus did the elements put themselves at the service of the unspoiled Francis. – To the one who waits all things reveal themselves. Patience.
6
In deep humility and in eradicating all mundane glamor, he so perfectly imitated Christ that his wish was to place himself and his Order at the feet of everybody. In order to be the least of all, he did not want to have any of the Church’s authority, except her authority for observing the holy Gospel. – When the Church (we) is different from the world, she (we) invariably attracts it.
7
He certainly wanted to promote the salvation of souls; but only through the virtue of humility, not with pompous power. And though it is very true that he had several Supreme Pontiffs at his beck and call—men who held him in the highest regard, sincerely convinced of his sanctity—even so, he would never ask for or accept any privilege that might diminish his being a humble subject. – Never be diffident and/or apologetic about the Gospel.
8
For he wished to be subject to all, and in this lowly subordination to be sacrificed for all in the charity of Christ. Well did he know humility to be pliant: it is like something soft yielding to something resistant while, in effect, enclosing it inside its own softness; unlike inflexibility confronting inflexibility and bringing to naught both itself and its rival. For this reason Francis, in his holy Testament, forbids all the brothers, prelates, and subjects, to ask for any letter from the Apostolic See either to facilitate the work of preaching or to avoid persecution. – The Christian must have the strength to see the good side of things.
9
The humble Francis used to say that when they meekly asked permission of bishops and priests, they were by their example edifying the very pastors of the Church. Then even if they refused permission, patience and humility will bring them to change their minds; meanwhile they themselves, by bearing the refusal patiently, will keep intact a virtuous and flawless way of acting. – If the Gospel really means “good news” then being a Christian means to be a happy person.
10
But if, on the strength of some privilege, the brothers presumptuously go against prelates’ wishes, they are not behaving humbly and they only tempt prelates of lofty heart to oppose and malign them. This results in a collision involving two tough courses of action, both of which cause scandal. And so, the word of truth is preached ineffectively, since no humility is shown by the one getting up to speak. – Gloomy faces are not made for the happy house of Paradise (St. Philip Neri)
11
If, on the other hand, prelates once or twice or even three times bar the brothers from preaching, and each time they react with humility and patience, then their conduct does the preaching to the people. Their holy example will soften the prelate’s heart, who will not only give them permission but will look for them, so eager will he be to hear the preaching of such saintly brothers. The preaching of one such sermon will have a more uplifting effect than a thousand preached in a mood of contention and diminished humility. – You cannot say anything is a failure until it has been tried. Christianity works. Try it!
12
The truth of this was shown by Francis himself in the incident, mentioned in the Legend, with the bishop of Imola. Oh, how abundantly plain it is that Francis’s approach was the more efficacious one! For there are so many around at the moment who are carried away with the “authority” they have and who brook no opposition; and yet one seldom is aware of any change of heart resulting from all their verbose sermons. – Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found hard and not tried.
13
To brothers who troubled him over their reluctance to be at this low level of submissiveness to everyone, he replied in deeply plaintive tones: “My brothers, my brothers, what you want of me is to give up overcoming the world. For Christ sent me to overcome the world by being really subject to everyone, so that by love I might draw souls to Him through the example of humility.” – Joy is the serious business of heaven.
14
And he went on: “My brothers, humble yourselves before others, and you will convert them all. Those who persecute you unjustly will turn to Christ, having seen your patience tried, and they will be anxious to kiss your footprints. But if I were to use the salvation of others as a pretext for wanting some prerogative, it would mean my forfeiting the humblest of positions which belongs to the condition I am in. And it is through this I advance in virtue, and the people advance in the mercy that saves them.” – Sour godliness is the devil’s religion.
15
Things like this he told his brothers, as he wanted to rule out for them all affectation of ecclesiastical dignity and maintain them in their lowly existence. For this reason he called them “lesser,” so that they would not presume to become “greater,” and in no way did he wish them to aspire to the rank of prelacy. – Happiness is a wonderful commodity, the more you give, the more you have.
16
He once said to his patron, the lord bishop of Ostia: “If your lordship wants them to be fruitful in the Church, keep them in the state to which they were called and give them no permission whatever to rise to ecclesiastical prelacy.” As to how productive those are who have risen to ecclesiastical state from this and other Orders dedicated to poverty, those that know of it tell how grieved they are at their extravagance. For everybody knows well enough that their ascent to rank spelled their descent from virtue. – Contentment consists not in great wealth, but in few wants.
17
Much of their behavior proves that what they sought in promotion was not so much an improvement of others’ conduct as a life of relaxation for themselves. For, self-denying once, they have turned into gluttons; poor men once, they have become grasping and greedy; thought nothing of once, they have ended up proud and arrogant. They left the world when they joined their Orders, and as soon as they got rank, they returned to it. – No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it.
18
While they grease the palms of the mighty, they give no thought to the poor. They used to be the preachers, zealous for the salvation of souls; now they are among the worst offenders in neglecting souls. With every breath they collect temporalities for themselves and the benefit of their families. From the time they were infants in their Orders, poverty left them with nothing; now they seem bent on compensating themselves for that. Oh, what a true prophet Francis was! – The most evident sign of wisdom is continued cheerfulness.
19
And what misfortunes this promotion business has brought on the Orders! For the intention of those striving seems to focus on this; in those that have some competence this ambition seems to boil up. So, they do the rounds of the curiae and make sure they lodge with dignitaries, on whom they fawn. Far from refusing favors, they procure them by all manner of contrivance, shrewdness, sham, and sophistry. – To get the full value of joy you must have somebody with whom to share it.
20
They have reached the point where the saying is verified in them, “Like people, like priest”; indeed, like cleric, like ambitious and wandering religious. Is it any wonder that those who enter into this have no morally uplifting effect on people, but only cause them distress? All this is to say but little; words fail me to describe the malice of the times we live in. – Those who bring sunshine to the lives others cannot keep it from themselves.
21
In contrast, the humble Francis, in order to keep himself on the lowest possible level and to confound the ambitions of the future, had no desire to be promoted to the priesthood. As he saw it, up to the manifestation of the Church’s sixth status, the guidance of souls was not to be conducted through prelacy, if it were to be beneficial, but rather to be committed to the spirit of poverty. It is then that those who are like new apostles will be described as the pillars of the future status, as Christ expressly promised the angel of Philadelphia, in which there is doubtless a figurative reference to this status. – Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
22
Therefore it was said to him, that “he has little power,” that is to say, he has glorious humility. For the status of poverty first had to be tried in humility, so that afterward in a prelacy it might not be judged as a thing of high standing. Because there are many who cloak their pride and, unsupported by privileges, cannot put up with clerical harassment, we can give a twofold reply based on sayings of the blessed Francis. – The sweet mark of a Christian is not faith, or even love, but joy.
23
One is that to men of perfection, which these are supposed to be, nothing should be a source of bother except what would drive them to sin, to which, of course, no one is forced against his will. And if you speak of the many tribulations the clergy often inflict upon them and to which they are unequal, we must respond that such people simply should not embark on the way of perfection and, with their immaturity, wreck a state of perfection. – Joy is the awareness of God’s loving presence within you.
24
Another rejoinder might be that these are the people who from the outset stood up to the clergy, while commandeering revenue—even though in a less obviously greedy way—by means of questing for alms and devotional stipends for Masses. For these reasons the clergy came down even harder on them. But if they had kept their humility and poverty intact, harassment would have been sweetly borne; besides, they couldn’t have had much to suffer, since they wouldn’t have had anything to lose! – Every act formed by charity is a revelation of God.
25
Francis wanted them to flee to another place and do penance, if they were persecuted in one place instead of standing on privileges. He used to teach, according to the Gospel which we have promised to observe, that Jesus himself says: If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next. The most sacred Testament of the holy father Francis repeats this. But how will this sound to those who, in the style of magnates build splendid residences, can scarcely be pulled away from where they grew up, even by order of those over them, and cannot tolerate holy brothers of other regions living in the same place? – When we have learned to do the Father’s will, we shall have realized our vocation on earth.
26
Those types have nothing in common with Francis; their portion, it is to be feared, must be in the devil’s hands. But when they gladly hear that Francis and his state is the Church’s reformation and the nourishment of the world, if he wanted others to be subject, how will they reform in pride? What we just said is true; for it is a fact that, apart from the blessed Jesus, his most humble Mother, and the college of the Apostles, never should the world have in it such a profound expression of lowliness as that of this status of poor lesser ones, nor indeed such a gross deformation of it as that of those who fall away. – Our vocation is to live in the Spirit.
27
And because Francis crushed pride underfoot with his humility, he held off the proud demons with authority. Therefore he was showing that his status was blasting away pride from the world—something that will happen to these conceited corrupters of the status, much as they will dislike it. For whoever, like Francis, keeps the humility of Jesus continually before his eyes and is delighted to resemble Him in meekness of heart, will subject himself to everyone and loathe issuing commands and prohibitions. – The vocation of each person merges up to a certain point with his very being.
28
The blessed Francis did commend humble obedience in the strongest terms, and observed it to the extent of always wanting to obey his brother companion. Still, he foresaw that there were sure to be those unprincipled enough to make the road of obedience a difficult one, issuing orders that contravened the poverty of the Rule while imposing absolute obedience on those under them. That is why he put in place a restraining clause to protect subjects, as well as those over them, when he told ministers not to be commanding them anything that is against their souls and our Rule, and subjects to obey in all things which they have promised the Lord to observe and are not against their souls and our Rule. – Not the “job” but our faithfulness to God will ultimately be what leads us to the fullness of life.
29
This form of obedience, which the Rule contains, flows from the heart of him who said of himself, I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me; and to the Pharisees, who were imposing their traditions on the disciples: You have made God’s word ineffective by means of your tradition. For the obedience of Francis cannot contain a greater purity, integrity, or depth, since it obeys in all things and refuses to obey false traditions that destroy the Rule, for to obey them is to apostatize. Because it follows from the fact a prelate derives his authority from the Rule, that to command or obey something contrary to it is to apostatize from the Rule. But do we want to go on further with Francis’s idea of obedience? – The service that counts is the service that costs.
30
He himself, after all, was in everything the least of all the lesser ones. Well might we compare him to the tiniest of infants, Joash, who was rescued from the slaughter of Athalia; or to the smallest of all the seeds, the grain of mustard seed which grew into a great tree; or to the least of all the saints, as Paul calls himself in Ephesians, entrusted though he was with announcing hidden mysteries. “To me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: and to enlighten all people, that they may see what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been hidden from eternity in God.” – God forces no one, for love cannot compel. God’s service is a thing of complete freedom.
31
He might also be compared to Benjamin, the smallest of his brothers, who in many ways was a type of Francis: Benjamin, in his birth, killed his mother; Francis, born in the midst of the fifth age, in the fullness of his birth through his reformed Rule, killed its self-indulgence. Benjamin, in his sojourn, dwelt with his father in the land of Canaan, and his father’s life depended upon his life; Francis fully observed always, by the will of the eternal Father in heaven, a life of fervent Christ-like love, and what pleased the will of the Father was his adornment and repose. – We find freedom when we find God.
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on January 1st, 2023 St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis of Assisi Friary
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
January 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The prophet Isaiah, speaking in the name of God, says, My Word will not return without fulfilling the purpose for which It was sent (Isaiah 55: 11). From the very beginning of time, when the Almighty Creator and Father of all life brought out of nothing all that is and all that ever will be, there has been a yearning in creation for something, or better “Someone”. This “hope” that groans until now (Romans 8: 22) is our constant companion on life’s journey that urges us to move forward into God’s Providence. We journey without knowing what the next moment will bring. We journey, and we trust. We trust because we believe. We believe because our hearts have been touched at birth by the Spirit of God Who enables us to see signs of The One greater than all Who encourages us to know Him more deeply as we see Him in and through the many gifts of His Creation. We are the epitome of His creating love. And Jesus is the excellent and flawless example of His magnificent creation.
Jesus is the Word that the Father sent. He is also the One Who returned to the Father having fulfilled the purpose for His becoming one with humanity. We continue that ministry of fulfillment each time we re-present the Mystery and miracle of the Eucharist. It is the same Holy Spirit of God that overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary giving flesh to the almighty-eternal God within her immaculate womb (cfr. Luke 1: 35) that overshadows the bread and wine at the celebration of the Eucharist. The “overshadowing” by the hands of the priest and power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Consecration make Jesus the Christ real for us, not just in His Word, but in His Sacrament. This “Real Presence”, through the power of the Holy Spirit, urges us to enter the mystery more deeply and personally. We are called to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior in Whose Name there is salvation (cfr. Romans 10:9). We courageously and unconditionally accept the mission to be sent, as Jesus did, to be a living message of peace and blessings to all. (cfr. Isaiah 52: 7; Nahum 1: 15)
“In Persona Christi” the priest presiding celebrant of the Eucharist is both Jesus the Master Who celebrates by virtue of his ordination, but also a disciple and apostle – as are all the faithful. He also must listen to what he himself preaches and teaches. He also must live the message he conveys in harmony with God’s Word, Church teaching and Tradition. He is commissioned also to go among the People of God inviting all to receive the Good News in the Name of Jesus. The words in the ordination rite, preach what you believe, believe what you preach, and live what you believe, are a powerful reminder for all of us to be committed to what we profess. The Word must be alive in, with, and through us.
The Eucharist is not just a prayer but an experience of ‘at-one-ment’ with God through Jesus in the Spirit. It is that Holy Action of the people – liturgy – into which we enter, often oblivious to the awesomeness of the moment and even to the Divine Presence before Whom we confect with the priest the Sacrifice and Sacrament of our Salvation in Jesus. The Eucharist re-presents for us – subtly, succinctly, and soundly – all of Salvation History. The Father’s Spirit and Word, present at the beginning of time and down through the millennia, are in the liturgy breathing life for all, but more effectively for those who are participants, and not merely spectators.
In the Eucharist, celebrant and people acknowledge their personal and collective sinfulness and need for a Savior. Together they hear the words of ancient Israel in the Old Testament passages, the teachings of the Early Church in the New Testament readings, and the words and life of Jesus in the Gospels. All this preparation (Liturgy of the Word) takes time. This is valuable time needed to make us realize as we hear and witness the awesome experience that will draw us in to become active participants in the greatest moment on earth (Liturgy of the Eucharist). In this celebration the Spirit encourages us to consume the Victim – consummatum est (John 19: 30). We become intimately one with the One Who Is. When our union with God through Jesus is totally fulfilled in the worthy reception of the Eucharist we share in the fruits of the “mission accomplished” of the Lord.
Of His own free will and to its fullest extent the divine Word descended to our level. Jesus hid His divine nature in the substance of human flesh. In this way, says St. Paul, the Word of God humbled Himself to the point of emptying Himself: He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7). The well known words of our Seraphic Father tell us of his deep reverence and love for the mystery of Jesus’ physical (bodily) Incarnation and His sacramental “incarnation”: O sublime humility; O humble sublimity! As a human being, Jesus was pleased to hide His divine nature fully and take on the likeness of a man in everything, even exposing Himself to hunger, thirst and weariness and, to use the very words of the apostle of the nations: in every respect as we are, yet without sinning (Hebrews 4:1).
The climax of His humiliation was in His Passion and Death. He submitted His human will to the will of His Father, endured great moments and suffered the most infamous death, the death of the cross. (Although we are still celebrating His birth, we cannot separate the Crib from the Cross!) The Eternal Father bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (Philippians2:9). It is by virtue of that Name alone that we may hope to be saved. The most holy Name of Jesus that we venerate and repeat so often is a source of graces. As Jesus reminds us, we ask in His Name and the Father hears and answers. The Name of Jesus is terror to the demons, but salvation to those who invoke His Name with faith, hope, and loving trust. If His Name is so powerful, how much more must His very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity be that we receive in the Eucharist?!
The Person of Jesus the Christ is present throughout the entire liturgy. The priest leads, encourages, instructs, feeds, and commissions the People of God. The humility of forgiveness given and accepted, teachings offered and received, nourishment prepared and shared, communion extended and embraced, empowerment instilled and undertaken, are all beautifully expressed in the Eucharist. The Will of Christ is re-presented each time the words of Consecration are pronounced. Jesus is the Eternal ‘Yes’ Who accepts for all humanity the office of Victim so that we can become victors with Him through the ‘at-one-ment’ that is reserved for all who journey with Him in Word, Sacrament and life.
The Power of the Name repeated and responded to with ‘Amen’ so often throughout the liturgy, gives all who call on the Name of Jesus power to live in His Name. In the Name we recognize His presence every moment. In the Name we become a powerhouse of grace and blessings for those whom we encounter. In the Name we trustingly advance in God’s Providence, His Holy Will, the innumerable graces, and the strength we receive from Jesus the Christ in the Eucharist we celebrate, share, and become.
As Spiritual Children of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi we remember the power and promise of the One Whose Name brings peace and Whose words encourage us to trust. We cannot afford to begin a new year regretting the past or worrying about the future. We all look for opportunities to ‘clean the slate’ and ‘re-write’ our decisions to avoid past mistakes. One thing we can do as we enter the New Year of Grace 2023 is to learn from the past that we might grow in all that is good, in all that is God. We re-evaluate and correct what is less than good by reconciling ourselves with God and one another, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In God’s Word and in His Name we are assured of the salvation offered all who follow the prompting of His Spirit!
Where the future is concerned, Jesus Himself reminds us that Jesus is Lord and Savior in Whose Name there is salvation. All the worry in the world cannot add or subtract one moment of the life entrusted to each one of us. Thus, for a greater serenity and joy in 2023, it might benefit us to remember the words of a great Capuchin Franciscan saint of the twentieth century, St. Pio of Pietrelcina: Pray, hope, and don’t worry. All this can so easily be accomplished by remembering that in Jesus the Christ we find the trust and courage to live in the Will of the Father and are empowered in His Name to be an instrument of God’s life-giving Love. The Eucharist reminds us, renews us within, and repeats for us the wonderful outpouring of His Spirit that will guide us throughout the New Year and for all our life.
Be happy! God loves you! Let your face tell others what your words say! Tell the whole world of His Love! Don’t be afraid to be Christian and a Catholic Christian! Help others see in the Eucharist the treasure that must still be discovered in all its richness by so many. May we all share in the priesthood – ministerial priesthood and that of the laity baptized in His Name – by “celebrating- our ‘extension of the Mass’ in our daily lives. Make the Jesus you receive in Holy Communion be the Jesus others see in you – the Person in your compassion and understanding, the Will in your humility and acceptance of others, and the Power of the Name in your living without compromise the Catholic-Christian values we profess in a society that seeks to challenge ‘Christ’ in us and in the Church.
The Word was so essential to the life of our Seraphic Father. St. Francis desired to be a man of the Gospel, that the Gospel be the guide of his life, and that the Gospel be the marrow of the Rule for those who sought to follow him. In the first Rule St. Francis writes: I want my friars to be ministers of the Gospel. Let us follow the words, life, teaching and the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Rule was the “Gospel Host”. A dream/vision of our Seraphic Father instructed him to gather the crumbs and form a host to share with the friars so that no crumbs would be lost: Francis make a host of all the crumbs and give this to eat to any who wish to eat it. The dream was also explained when he was told again in a vision/dream: The crumbs of last night are the words of the Gospel and the host is the Rule. May the words of our Rule become our life that we become “hosts” alive in Christ who manifest the presence of the living Jesus to all.
Following the example of our Seraphic Father, let us disarm our hearts to one another. Like the leper that St. Francis embraced, the one we deem unworthy of love (though that is making a judgment that is only God’s right to make and not ours) or whom we fear because unapproachable or perhaps even worse, is the one who needs love the most. When Jesus nourishes and nurtures us with Himself, we, like our Seraphic Father, are released from what has bound us and can move freely to embrace creation in the liturgy of life. Every day thus becomes a day of rejoicing and growth.
May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi and our holy Mother St. Clare watch over all of us, their Spiritual Children, with loving care. This is a wonderful year the Lord has granted us. May the Prince of Peace reign in our hearts and homes! May we be Heralds of the Great King!
As we greet others with the well-known Franciscan greeting “Peace and Blessings”, may we, the messengers, become the message. May the serenity of our belief that God lives within us, be manifest in our external actions and demeanor. Let us never forget that God Who made Himself a “Gift” to us at Bethlehem and in the Eucharist, created us as a gift to Himself and us to be a gift to one another. Let us remember the words of our Father St. Francis: And the Lord gave me brothers (Testament). We are given by the Lord to one another to live with and for one another in the Lord’s Name. May our Franciscan Fraternal vocation be strengthened to embrace all as sisters and brothers in the Name of Jesus.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord show His face to you and be merciful to you.
May the Lord look on you with kindness and grant you His peace.
May the Lord live in you.
And may you always live in Him.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on December 28th, 2022 We have been contacted by Chloe Pedersen, a youth services librarian and educator. The group has been using the information on our JPIC area of our website to study how to be kinder to our earth. In return, one of the members of the group, a young woman named Amelia, came across this article on shopping green. She and her father are ‘paying it forward’ and sharing the article with us. The original article can be found at www.jomashop.com There are some good tips on shopping green so invest the 5 minutes to read the article and learn something new! Thanks Chloe, Amelia and Dad!!
https://www.jomashop.com/blog/articles/guide-to-green-shopping
What does shopping have to do with the environment? A lot, actually! When people shop, the choices that they make have a profound effect on the world around them. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the energy used to produce, transport, process, and even dispose of the things that people purchase makes up approximately 42 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Much of what people buy also ends up as trash. EPA statistics show that as much as 10 million tons of clothing end up in landfills annually. To help protect the environment, people have to make intelligent and thoughtful decisions about what they buy and how they go about shopping.
Buying Green
When a person buys green, they are thinking about how their purchases will affect the environment. This means making the choice to buy things that won’t lead to additional waste and are energy efficient. People should also consider things like materials and the amount of energy that goes into the actual manufacturing of things that they intend to buy. Green choices can be made about almost anything that one buys, even cars.
There are some companies or manufacturers that will make claims about what makes them eco-friendly. These claims must be truthful under the law. It’s important, however, that people understand exactly what these claims mean. A product, for example, may have a “Made with Recycled Content” label on its packaging. One shouldn’t assume that this is referring to the product itself, as it could mean that either the packaging is made of recycled materials or both the packaging and the product are. The key when reading any claim is to read the label carefully for clarification.
Sustainable shopping is shopping for goods that are made and distributed in a way that will not harm the environment or deplete natural resources. By buying sustainably, people are meeting their needs while ensuring future generations will be able to meet theirs.
When shopping, consider buying second-hand goods before purchasing something that’s new. Previously owned items can be almost anything, from clothing to gaming consoles and more. They can be found at thrift stores, garage sales, and online resale sites. By buying things that are second-hand, people can help save resources, prevent waste, and reduce carbon emissions. If buying new, try shopping at stores that sell things that have slight imperfections or defects, like fruit that’s irregular in shape.
Choosing things that are organic or made using sustainable materials is also important. When buying clothes, for example, look for items that are made from renewable natural fibers, such as cotton, bamboo, wool, or flax. Avoid clothing made of synthetic fabrics like spandex, nylon, and polyester as they are made using fossil fuels, which are nonrenewable.
Buying Local
Buying local does more than put money back into the community. It’s a great way to reduce the carbon footprint of food and other goods. Normally, food travels from the farm to packing houses to grocery stores. The number of miles that food travels is called food miles. It causes a significant amount of greenhouse gases that pollute the air and contributes to global warming. These foods also use up energy in other ways, such as refrigeration.
By buying from local farms and markets, people are skipping the middleman and vastly reducing food miles. Because they travel less, there is also less bruising or spoilage. Locally grown food also uses less packaging than shipped foods. Less plastic packaging means less discarded plastic ends up in landfills or the ocean waters.
Food isn’t the only thing that one can buy locally. Buying any item that’s made and sold in one’s city, town, or neighborhood will help reduce fuel consumption and waste in much the same way as food. Goods that are made locally often use locally sourced materials and don’t need to travel as far to get to the consumer. Because they don’t require extra packaging for shipping, there is also less waste.
Reducing and Reusing
A large part of being a responsible and sustainable shopper is knowing how to shop less. When a person shops less, they are ultimately reducing the amount of waste that they create and aren’t contributing to the depletion of natural resources. They make thoughtful decisions about what they buy, only buy what they need, and make less frequent shopping trips.
Reducing goes hand in hand with reusing. Often, one can easily reduce the amount of shopping that they do by reusing what they already own. For example, a person might reuse their umbrella instead of buying a new one. A single purchase, like buying a reusable water bottle, can also be a form of reducing and reusing. Besides buying quality goods that are reusable, one should also buy things that serve multiple purposes.
There are some items that a person can reuse, but in a way that differs from their original purpose. This is called repurposing. Sometimes thinking outside of the box and repurposing something that’s old can be an alternative to buying something that’s new.
Even if one can’t reuse or repurpose an item themselves, they can donate or give it away to someone who can. By reducing and reusing, people help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and create less waste.
Fair Trade
Fair Trade ensures that farmers and laborers from developing countries receive fair trade terms and that products are being produced under ethical conditions. They must provide safe working conditions, opportunities for disadvantaged people, gender equality, and fair wages. Fair Trade is also good for the environment as it requires the use of sustainable processes.
There are several third-party certifications that farmers and producers can apply for from organizations such as Fair Trade USA and Fairtrade America. These organizations have standards, including environmental guidelines, that farmers and producers must meet in order to become certified as Fair Trade.
When buying Fair Trade, it’s important to look for certification labels or symbols. When shopping online, a Fair Trade company should have an easy-to-locate certification label on their website, while goods sold in stores should have symbols that are displayed on the product itself. These labels show that items meet the environmental criteria set by the specific certifying organization. To know what these criteria are, people should research the standards set by the specific organization that the label or mark is from.
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on December 1st, 2022 December 2022
O admirable heights and sublime lowliness!
O sublime humility! O humble sublimity!
That the Lord of the universe,
God and the Son of God,
so humbles Himself
that for our salvation
He hides Himself
under the little form of bread!
Look, brothers, at the humility of God
and pour out your hearts before Him!
Humble yourselves, as well,
that you may be exalted by Him.
Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves
so that He Who gives Himself totally to you
may receive you totally.
The Tree of the Crucified Life of Jesus
Book Five
Chapter Three
JESUS WHO BRINGS FORTH FRANCIS
1
At the close of the fifth status of the Church’s pilgrimage, the self-indulgent were teeming like oxen, the avaricious crawling like reptiles, the arrogant as fierce as beasts, bringing an all-out defiling influence upon her life and causing her to be gnawed by a deceptive, ungodly, and heretical horde. – Conscience is God’s presence within us.
2
It was out of jealous love for His Bride that Jesus was angry at her maliciousness, for great numbers of her children had gone the way of adulterers. Nevertheless, His anger did not diminish His mercy, and to the Church of the fifth age He directed a final call.- When beauty overwhelms us we are close to worship.
3
Within her He raised up men of the loftiest integrity to root out greed and drive away indulgence. These men hated duplicity and stood up for the truth; they lit the fires of charity and restored the meaning of honor. – Lay hold of the Bible until the Bible lays hold of you.
4
They surpassed others in a remarkable imitation of Christ Himself, and by the example of their life showed up a Church that was blemished. The word they preached stirred the people to penance, while the subject of their discourses confounded the distortions of heresy, and their praying was the shield that appeased the divine anger.- Endurance is the ability to bear a hard thing and to turn it into glory.
5
Among these, the ones that shone brightest were Francis and Dominic, whose prototypes were Elijah and Henoch. The one was touched by the purifying coal of the Seraph and aflame with a heaven-sent ardor, so that he seemed to set the whole world alight. – God calls where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep hunger.
6
The other, like the Cherub with protecting wings outstretched, bright with the light of wisdom, prolific through his preaching, had a most radiant effect on a darkened world. Those are the features they initially transmitted to their sons; although the resplendence and ardor of both these individuals must be linked to an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit. – Repentance is sorrow converted into action toward a new and better life.
7
The evil of the fifth age as a whole, however, lay in a perverse and widespread vainglory; the kind that is fed by greed and temporal affluence. Therefore, the man who thoroughly ruled out temporal possessions for himself and his status may be regarded as the principal reformer of that age. – Lord, shine through me and be so in me.
8
And since in him the Church’s sixth status begins, and the “life of Christ” was to take shape anew in him, we may say he is prefigured by that first man God created by His own deliberate counsel after the work of the five days in the image of his own likeness, that he might be master of all times.- Lord, may every soul I meet feel your presence in my spirit.
9
Take note that this does not mean that the saints of the sixth age are greater than the Apostles. For the latter, by reason of their unique following of Christ, must be excepted from comparison with all others. – Reverence for life offers us a spiritual relationship with the world.
10
Yet from among these others Dominic takes his place in the spiritual reform, with his all-embracing, thorough, and complete spurning of earthly things. Each one of these saints fully and perfectly trampled mundane interests and commanded their descendants to do likewise.- People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them away!
11
We have decided, however, to treat here and now of that man whose status is singled out for attack at present by those who are spoiling the evangelical life, just as from the outset it was under attack, only more forcefully, from crafty masters who reviled the most exalted poverty. – Faith knows the way; Hope points the way; Love is the way.
12
So, let us turn our discussion directly on the man who, we can say, conspicuously represented the life of Christ, not only in the pattern of his behavior, but in the loftiness of his contemplation; not only by the extraordinary admiration he drew, but by that privilege that was his when marked with the wounds of the most holy passion of Jesus Christ. – Confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.
[Imitator of Christ]
13
For if we are to talk of the way he lived, who is capable of telling in full how he sought to imitate the closest likeness to the life of Christ? His whole aim, in public and in private, was to reproduce in himself and in others those footprints of Christ which had been covered over and forgotten. – I do believe; help my unbelief.
14
And the unique privilege granted the blessed Francis was this: to be the first entitled to transmit to holy Church the life of Jesus, scrupulously in all its aspects, in a communal and durable state through his Order. – The greatest truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest people.
15
In point of fact the holy Apostles were the peerless foundations upon which this life was laid, that is, after the most important and principal cornerstone, Christ Jesus, in whom the whole ecclesial edifice is built up, grows, and is completed. – Imitating Mary, you will not go astray.
16
Nevertheless, as has been pointed out elsewhere, since the Synagogue was to be excluded for its sin of faithlessness and the Gentile world was not yet ready to take on such lofty standards, the Holy Spirit revealed to the Apostles that the actual status of Gospel perfection was not for passing on to all and sundry in those times. – Praying to Mary, you will not despair.
17
That is why they did not impose on the churches they governed the observance of that state of life which for themselves was prescribed by Christ and which they had adopted and observed to the full. – Thinking of Mary, you will not err.
18
For this was reserved for the third general status of the whole world’s history, when the Holy Spirit is manifested in a special manner, the time of the opening of the sixth seal, the sixth age of the Church, when she is to be presented with the life of Christ. – Supported by Mary, you will not fail.
19
Then is the life of Jesus returned to, as to the principle of perfection; it is as if a new circular journey were begun, a fresh beginning for the Church, as she returns to her first days. – Embraced by Mary, you will be saved.
20
And that is why I told you earlier that this sixth age refers especially to the time of Christ. John speaks of this symbolically as the opening of the sixth seal I saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God. – If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
21
Now, the abbot Joachim, in his commentary on the Apocalypse, has this to say: “This angel is the one whom Christ looks upon as His like who is to come at the beginning of the third status of the world’s history.” – Kindness is the music of life.
22
Therefore, from the insight granted to Joachim, it is plain that at the beginning of the sixth status the world would be given an “angelic man” whom Christ regards as resembling Himself, since he is to appear as the one great restorer of the life of Christ. – Seek always to discover the child asleep in the most severe and obstinate people.
23
I myself heard from a doctor of distinction belonging to this Order that he was present when Brother Bonaventure, general minister at the time and himself a distinguished teacher, solemnly declared at a Paris Chapter that he was fully convinced that the blessed Francis was the angel of the sixth seal. – The recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation.
24
He said that John the Evangelist actually had Francis, his form of life, and his Order in mind; that when he was writing, he saw Francis in spirit; that, in all the verses he was writing about the sixth opening in the Apocalypse, he beheld the fraternity of his sons, who were perfect imitators of Christ. – Christmas begins in God’s heart and is complete only when it enters my heart.
25
Also at that Paris Chapter the same Brother Bonaventure stated, with a good deal of passion, as I heard from my source, unless my memory fails me, that he was fully satisfied no doubts could be entertained about all this, on account of significant and unequivocal revelations made to persons of serious caliber. – Jesus is the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.
26
I who write this am convinced, by the many testimonies of holy brothers of the past, that clear revelations were made to the blessed Francis and to many companions of his—whose apostolic life is beyond suspicion to the mind that is not dishonest, envious, or twisted—concerning the Order from its foundation, through its growth, dreadful decline and fall, to its glorious resurgence; rather like the sun’s course, which in turn portrays the life of Christ. – When the soul lays down its faults before God, it feels as though it had wings.
27
These things were revealed not to one person only but to many, and so explicitly that they recounted them with absolute assurance. – Whom shall I send? Here I am. Send me.
[Witness of John of Parma]
28
Nor are we to omit the testimony of a holy man of God, one of the greatest men of perfection of our times, to judge by all visible proofs: I speak of that most holy brother, John of Parma. He was General of this Order, a teacher of the highest renown, an excellent preacher; there were no bounds to his austerity, humility and charity, nor to his attaining contemplative heights and his pursuit of solitude. – If you want an increase in Jesus there must be a decrease in self.
29
Distancing himself from all worldliness, he was devoured by a godly zeal over the debasement he saw in this institution and in the Church. Unflagging as he was in declaring the truth about this, he received the direst harassment and vilification, which he bore with the greatest patience. – The world is round, and the place which seems like the end may be the beginning.
30
This did not deter him from passionately adducing the same realities before several popes and many cardinals. He most certainly deserves to be numbered, by those who sincerely love and imitate Jesus, among the seraphic heroes and with the celestial Church’s great holy men.- Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
31
For the same man in fervor of spirit at an advanced age was bracing up his energies for activity, with the aid of grace, not nature; as though he were a disciple of John the Evangelist, he was willing to go and win back wayward Asia for Christ. He had obtained permission for this from the pope of the time, but while he was on his way and had reached Camerino, a town in the Marches, he was called to heavenly glory by Jesus, to whom he had been utterly devoted through observance of the Gospel and the Rule and Testament of the blessed father Francis. – You may not have been responsible for your heritage, but you are responsible for your future.
Blessed and Happy New Year 2023
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on December 1st, 2022 St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis of Assisi Friary
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
December 2022
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
May the Infant Jesus grant your heart the Peace you desire.
May His Star enlighten your mind with the splendor of His Truth.
May His Love consume your heart so that it beats solely for Him.
The people of Israel, centuries before the birth of Jesus, heard the prophet Isaiah promise: Many peoples shall come. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again (Isaiah 2: 1-5).
These wonderful words of hope and joy seem only empty promises and false illusions when we see what happens around us. Violence, war, collective anger, religious intolerance, and so much more bombard our eyes and ears from the media, and our lives with our own experiences. Where are the gifts of dialogue, compromise, tolerance, acceptance, patience, love among children of the same Life Giver, God? This God was not ashamed of His creation, even though His creation easily forgets its Origin, without Whom we would never exist. The new liturgical year has begun. We celebrate the humility of God Who became a creature so that the creature could share eternal life with the Creator
This “oneness” between God and humanity silently exploded into time when a young virgin, Mary, responded “yes” to an impossible offer, but not impossible for God! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John1: 14) He was born an infant in a refuge for animals somewhere in Bethlehem of Judea. This “One Solitary Life” caused people to marvel from the very beginning. After Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds looked up from where they were and There was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in high heaven, peace on earth to those on whom His favor rests (Luke 2: 1-14). Non-Hebrew Wise Men followed a celestial sign, a brilliant star by night and day, and journeyed great distances to Judea to find and worship the new king of the Jews. Where is the new born King of the Jews. We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage (Matthew 2: 1-12).
The Incarnation and Birth of Jesus filled our Seraphic Father with awe. His ecstatic love for Jesus urged him to cry out: O humble sublimity! O sublime humility! These words summarize what it means to have God become one with us. The simple profoundness of the Poverello reminds us that Jesus preached what he believed, believed what he preached and lived what he believed. Those secure of their true greatness do not fear humbling themselves or being humbled for the sake of truth.
(Saint Francis’) highest aim, foremost desire, and greatest intention was to pay heed to the holy gospel in all things and through all things, to follow the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and to retrace His footsteps completely … We should note then … what he did … at the town of Greccio, on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ … There was a certain man … named John who had a good reputation but an even better manner of life. Blessed Francis (said to him) ‘If you desire to celebrate the coming feast of the Lord together at Greccio, hurry before me and carefully make ready the things I tell you. For I wish to re-enact the memory of that babe who was born in Bethlehem: to see as much as is possible with my own bodily eyes the discomfort of his infant needs, how he lay in a manger, and how, with ox and ass standing by, he rested on hay’ … Finally, the holy man of God comes and, finding all things prepared, he saw them and was glad … There simplicity is given a place of honor, poverty is exalted, humility is commended, and out of Greccio is made a new Bethlehem … Over the manger the solemnities of the Mass are celebrated. (1Celano, bk.1, chpt. 30)
St. Francis’ simplicity and desire for ‘concreteness’ in touching with his senses the great Mystery of the Incarnation gave rise to the tradition of the Nativity Scenes most Christian Families set up over the Christmas Season. St. Francis was not seeking to be innovative, or create something curious that would attract people. He sought to make the Birth of the Savior come alive once again. He sought to rekindle the spark of the Spirit’s fire and enthusiasm in the hearts of the faithful. Through the senses, St. Francis sought to arrive more incisively at the soul. Our “incarnational approach” of our relationship with God as Franciscans, seeks understanding of the divine through the humanity the Divine One gifted us with to know, love, and serve Him.
We must not let our hearts be overwhelmed by actions of hatred and violence that often occur, or by the tragedies that affect our lives. Where there is life there is hope. Where there is hope there is peace, even in the midst of confusion and pain. Life is still the journey worth living and it is beautiful. Why?… because God so loved the world that he sent us his only Son so that whoever believes in Him would have life and have it in abundance. (John 3: 16) Thus, What can separate us from the love of God. In Him we are more than conquerors (Romans 8: 35-37).
The world into which the God of creation chose to enflesh Himself is still the stage of the greatest act of His Eternal Love. Life to be and become, freedom in responsibility, and redemption to eternal life in Jesus, are still God’s loving and impartial gifts to all. Stewards of creation, we are invested with the awesome trust of that Father. We make His presence and providence a reality in our world grown cold and indifferent to what really matters – Love!
Just as at Bethlehem on that first Christmas night, and re-enacted twelve hundred years later at Greccio by St. Francis of Assisi, we, like Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, experience the promise fulfilled and our hope rekindled. We become His earthly messengers – angels (the word means messenger) – of the eternal love that not even human tragedy can destroy. Goodness is still alive in the hearts of God’s children. This love is celebrated each year at Christmas when Love made Himself visible by becoming one with us.
For the spirit of this season of love, life and light to take hold of our lives we are asked to discover once again the child within us. This “child”, hidden through years of compromising values, cautious acceptance rather than total trust in God’s will, confusion rather than faith in eternal truths, and all-around carelessness regarding the sacredness of every moment of life, seeks to break through to live in the wonder and joy of the light of God’s love.
Christmas is a time for us to look with the eyes of wonder at the mystery fulfilled. The Birth of the Savior invites us to enjoy the love made present in the poverty of Bethlehem. This is a time for all Christians to bask in the light of the Son, the Incarnate Son of God, a treasure greater than any we could imagine.
We gaze upon the Infant Jesus and recognize the God of Creation, Savior of humanity, King of kings and Lord of lords. Tepidity, and even the coldness of life’s demands and burdens, seems to be enlightened in faith rekindled in hope by the birth of the One Whom we celebrate. Life with all its uncertainties and challenges becomes a joyful expectation in time for His return in glory.
We celebrate the Lord hidden in Word and Sacrament. Jesus becomes almost physically tangible for those who open the eyes of their hearts. The Lord of mystery, hidden in Word and Sacrament, is revealed in so many ways in the sisters and brothers we encounter on our daily journey. The Child Jesus challenges us to keep Him always alive in our hearts. His presence offers a newness and joy to life. Our Seraphic Father, celebrated this wonderful re-discovery and joy. The Eucharist was the prime manner for St. Francis to discover this hidden treasure. The Eucharist is a reminder of Bethlehem – House of Bread – where God humbles Himself for us that we may be sublimated in Him.
Centuries, and probably eons, still lay before humanity. Each day is a new experience of the eternal unfolding love prepared for us by the prophets and made visible at Bethlehem and Calvary. This magnificent mystery, gift of the Father in Jesus through the Spirit, will continue until history’s time becomes God’s eternity.
Each day we re-present the mysteries of salvation in the Eucharist. Each year we celebrate the unfolding of that One Solitary Life that is the focal point of human history – Jesus. Our Faith is strengthened, our hope renewed, and our hearts filled with childlike wonder and joy in Christ. Nothing and no one, even death itself, cannot destroy this gift of the Christ Child. Let us never forget: (You) are from God and have overcome them (the false christs – the antichrists), because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4: 4)
Each year, at Advent, we begin a renewed journey with Christ as we celebrate His birth. Life is our journey. We set out in the zest and vigor of childhood and youth. We are tested through middle age. We lose our spring as time progresses. Nevertheless, our faith – like that of Mary and Joseph who believed the mystery and so experienced the miracle of his birth – allows us to see each moment as a wonderful endowment that makes the journey itself the gift, and the destination that much more desirable.
The life of every person who ever lived and ever will live finds meaning even through, life’s anomalies and heartbreaks because of the One Who loves us. His birth in Bethlehem led to a total surrender of Himself for us on the crowded solitude of Calvary. The wood of the manger was the prelude to the wood of the Cross to follow years later. The wood of the manger that enveloped Him at His birth to protect His infant body from the elements, prepared Him for the rough wood of the Cross that held Him above others to reign from a throne misunderstood but necessary.
Because of Jesus, we begin each new day confident that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are loved by Him.(Romans 8: 28)
The Family of St. Francis of Assisi has blessed the Church and been blessed by the Church for over eight centuries. We are enriched by God’s love and blessings, and our own faith-filled response to God’s call to follow in the footsteps of the Poverello of Assisi.
As spiritual children of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi and our Holy Mother St. Clare of Assisi, may we rejoice in the Peace, Joy, Love, and the Fulfillment of our heart’s desires in the Lord at this Christmas Season. May the Child of Bethlehem help us all find the simplicity, wonder, and childlike trust of the soul present within each one of us. Joyfully celebrate the birth of the One Who is our Light and Salvation. May we be Heralds of the Great King, born at Bethlehem, and bear His light, joy and hope to all whom we meet on our journey.
Have a Happy and Blessed Christmas, and a New Year 2023 filled with Love, Life, Happiness, Good Humor, Health…and an ever-growing Longing for God.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Blessed and Merry Christmas 2022
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on November 28th, 2022 How will you feather His bed?
Here it is the first Sunday of Advent…already! Although this day begins the Liturgical year and the start of Advent, it is also a reminder that Christmas is a scant 4 weeks away. That thought always made me cringe BF (before Francis!) How would I get all the shopping done, write all the cards, bake, wrap presents, decorate the house after a thorough cleaning. Whew! Makes me tired even writing all those tasks.
AF (after Francis!) I have an entirely different perspective on Advent. It is not the switch that starts the countdown to Christmas day, but a beautiful reminder that we are preparing for the birth of a precious Child.
This is a joyful time given to us to prepare for the birth. Lent is so very different. That time is sorrowful knowing that it will culminate in the death of Our Lord. But, of course, there is the glory of Easter that follows. We spend Lent making sacrifices, giving up things that bring us pleasure, offering up whatever is difficult about the journey and feeling empty from 3:00 p.m. on Good Friday until we take part in an Easter Mass.
Advent is a much happier time. I believe instead of giving things up we should add things to our daily living. Be nice to someone! Hold the door for the person behind you. Allow someone to pull in ahead of you in traffic. Call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Help an older person get their groceries into the car. Cut yourself a break trying to finish the long list of tasks. Follow the reverse Advent Calendar that was sent out a few weeks ago. Do something positive!! Each thing we do will add some comfort to the bed of the Baby Jesus. How will you feather His bed this year? I pray that you find a way that pleases you both!
|
|
Comments are closed 
