From the Heart of the Minister – October, 2018

October 1.  Wasn’t it just September 1?………..August 1?  The days are going by at warp speed any more. If you don’t like the season, wait a minute and it will change. But not everything changes that quickly.  Think back to when we were growing up.  Women in the work force? Laughable!  Men changing diapers??? Not on your life!  Here’s a confession I’ve never made before…………when I was 17, a girlfriend and I having just gotten off a long flight from Europe, went into a bar at JFK International Airport.  (We had several hours to wait for our connection back to Philly.)  She and I were “asked” to leave in a voice that demanded no argument.  Not because we were underage, but because we were not accompanied by a man. What makes it ironic is that I didn’t drink as a teenager and still don’t to this day.  Now if you had to have a man accompany you to buy fine chocolates, my life would have been so much different!

It is NOT my intention to get into a political conversation.  It has been difficult enough to watch the hearings and/or news this past week.  There is no gray area in this situation.  You are decidedly one side or the other. Sometimes vehemently one side or the other.  I haven’t heard one person say “Oh, I don’t care how it turns out”. Or “It’s none of my business what he/she did.”  We have all made it our business. Because to some degree, we all have a story to tell.  There is no six degrees of separation here.  We are only one degree away from being involved.  Our daughters, granddaughters, our neighbors,…….ourselves.  The $64,000 question is how do we deal with all this as a Franciscan??

We are supposed to be peacemakers. We have promised to follow St. Francis’ footsteps to Christ.  If we take a closer look, those footsteps are not leading into one camp or the other. They are leading directly to God. And that’s where we should head in these types of situations.  It’s hard to be a peacemaker when you are angry and riled up. But here’s a thought,……how many times have you sung Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace?  No, I can’t count the number of times either.  Just the title takes us right where we need to be.  Just what we need to ask for.  Make me a channel of your peace.  We aren’t asking for peace, we ask to be a channel.  And before anybody says it…………I know there is no proof St. Francis wrote the hymn!!  There is a huge difference between asking for peace and asking to be a channel.  That is where the Franciscan meets the road.  Even though I am angry, even though I don’t know what to do with all the feelings that have been stirred up, let me be the channel.  Let that conduit go right through my anger and even though it is still there, don’t let me hand it on to someone else. Or fire up their feelings with more hatred and hostile words. Let me only hand the other person God’s perfect peace.  Not easy! Here are some words written by St. Francis, from The Later Rule:  I counsel, admonish, and exhort my brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ not to quarrel or argue or judge others when they go about in the world; but let them be meek, peaceful, modest, gentle, and humble, speaking courteously to everyone, as is becoming.

We even have the wisdom of our beloved Pope Francis who said: The peace of Saint Francis is the peace of Christ, and it is found by those who “take up” their “yoke”, namely, Christ’s commandment: Love one another as I have loved you (cf. Jn 13:34; 15:12). This yoke cannot be borne with arrogance, presumption or pride, but only with meekness and humbleness of heart.

~Pope Francis, VISITA PASTORALE DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCESCO AD ASSISI

In my own case, I can still feel that “BUT” sitting on the tip of my tongue, wanting to justify why I feel the way I do.  We have no business being right (= righteous).  Our job, our mission, our request from God Himself is to be a peacemaker.  In our humanness, the only way we can be a peacemaker in the middle of this explosive topic is to be a channel.

While you are spending a little extra time in church this week for the Transitus and the very special feast day of our Seraphic Father, ask to be the channel.  Visualize that channel plowing right through your anger and serving up God’s peace.  Just how much do you think Jesus felt like extending peace to his Apostles at the last supper?  Surely, if Jesus was able to do it on that night in particular, we can give it try now. God is not extending our hand to our fellow man, we are extending His hand, but only if we can be a channel. Amen?

Thanks, Lee, for the help with the references!

Peace, much love, and happy feast day,

kate

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