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Posted By Teresa Redder, on March 3rd, 2024 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
March 2024
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord grant us the gift of His peace.
A prayer card honoring the Holy Family portrayed St. Joseph at his work bench, our Blessed Mother Mary preparing something in the background, and the Boy Jesus in the doorway of the house. Jesus was standing with His arms wide open and smiling at Joseph and Mary. Mary and Joseph looked at Jesus with subtle joy. There seemed also to be a meditative glance they both had as they looked at Jesus. The brightness of the sun caused a shadow to be formed in the house. The shadow was in the form of a cross that started at the feet of Jesus and extended toward Joseph and Mary. From the beginning of His earthly life the shadow of the cross followed Jesus, it was “fastened” to His Person. In fact it was at the very “root” of the Incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1: 14) with the mission to preach the Gospel of God’s love and mercy and to show the extent of His love even to death and death on a cross (Philippians 2: 8).
The fact is that the Word is one of us in all things but sin (Hebrews 4: 15). He began His public ministry preaching, teaching and openly preparing His disciples that the Son of Man must first suffer and be put to death, and then be raised on the third day (Luke 9: 22-27). People search for meaning and purpose to their lives: why am I here? Why was I born? What am I expected to do” Who am I? It sounds like psychotherapy. These questions come from the depths of a searching heart.
Our objective in life is to become one with the One in Whose image and likeness we are created. The Incarnation speaks to us of the humility of God willing to become an integral member of humanity as a human so that humanity, through-with-in Him might become one with God more intimately. Collaborating with God’s grace we are “conformed” to Christ – more deeply. As St. Paul states: It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2: 20). Some, more privileged are given a share in the life of grace through the “Mystical Union” we read so often about in the spiritual writings of many saints. The mystical union, a unique divine gift of God alone, transforms the person in various ways. For St. Francis of Assisi, the reception of the Stigmata of Jesus was the ultimate sign of his “one-ness” with Christ. The fullness of this union, begun years before, took a lifetime of willingly surrendering to God’s will.
The conformity of St. Francis with Jesus the Christ was made visible only two years before his death. What began in his heart at San Damiano (Go Francis rebuild my Church, for as you can see it is falling into ruin) was visibly imprinted on his body for the world to see and reflect upon years later on Mount La Verna.
The stages of this process/journey are traditionally referred to as the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. Terminology may differ, but the gradual transformation follows the same order. St. Augustine reminds us, when speaking to God in his Confessions: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. The “restlessness” initiates a dialogue with God that leads to a more profound awareness of our relationship with Him. God’s word penetrates more deeply than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4: 12). A difficulty often encountered is recognizing and understanding God Who speaks to our hearts. Our response is vital. It determines whether we continue along the road offered or seek another path. God breathed us into life and created us to the image and likeness (cfr.Genesis 1: 26) of Himself. The image remains alive and develops as we cooperate with grace.
Thus: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step. Immeasurably more than a thousand miles is life’s journey from time to eternity. We must set priorities, overcome obstacles, and trust enough to let go of fear. Fear is useless. What is needed is faith (Mark 5: 36). Do we understand the gift of being alive as God’s gift to Himself and to us? Have we ever considered the fact that if we are that “gift”, we must share our gifts with others who themselves are “gifts”. Even the height of “conformity” to Jesus, is not solely for the gifted one, but intended to encourage others on the road to divine intimacy.
The Cross, always seen as a symbol of hatred and death, is also a sign of love, hope and challenging transformation. The cross indicates, embraces, determines, explains, challenges, nourishes, fills, fulfills, calls, distances, and much more.The cross elevates and presents to the whole world the depth of God’s love in Jesus, His Incarnate Son. Viewing and accepting the events and encounters of our lives, from the perspective of the cross of Christ, leads us to a greater conformity with Christ. The “one-ness” we desire, according to our collaboration with grace, conditions us to be prepared for God to enter a mystical union with us, should God so will. This is for anyone, but definitely for the one blessed with the charism (gift) to live as a witness for everyone.
The early years of St. Francis’ life journey spoke to him so candidly of the power riches wield over others. He experienced how easily we are possessed and controlled by our wealth and possessions. He saw how often society distances and rejects its own who have fallen into dire straits of any kind. He was paralyzed by his own fear of lepers, a fear that haunted him until he embraced the leper on the road and overcame the last hurdle he needed to overcome in order to let go and let God form him into the new man the old having passed away (cfr. Corinthians, Romans, 1 John, and others). Realizing, understanding, accepting and responding to the challenge of “being Jesus” – being a “living Gospel” – St. Francis took the road of conformity to Christ more deliberately.
The Little Poor Man became the “Universal Brother”. He embodied the image of a Christ Whose cross as a symbol of total giving for the sake of the other, was the support of his life. The cross of the naked crucified Jesus was a vivid reminder to him of those “crucified” each day by the distorted values of society. Like the image of the Byzantine Christ of San Damiano the poor are nailed to their crosses yet they are fully alive to the demands of a world that fails to acknowledge their value as equals. It is the contradiction of the cross: image of hatred indicates love, image of death indicates life. It is a love that overcomes hatred and violence (Pope Francis).
Francis, whom is it better to serve the master or the servant? The Master, Lord. Then why do you run after the servant. Return home. The “dialogue” with the God within his very soul encouraged him to face humiliation, criticism, parental punishment and public ridicule of being a coward so that he might surrender to God rather than his dreams of a confused greatness. Until we break with what keeps us bound, we are still a slave. The Seraphic Mother, St. Theresa of Avila, tells us that whether it be with a cord or a thread as long as a bird does not break the bond that keeps it from flying away, the bird is still bound.
Unless we break with what keeps us from letting go, we are still a “prisoner”. The “old self” is not necessarily evil. We often become prisoners of complacency, and that keeps us from becoming better or even the best we can be. That is what “perfection” is all about. Faith reminds us that perfection is achieving the purpose for which we were created. You are who you are before God and nothing more (St. Francis), The acceptance of this truth is a most liberating awareness. Thus, with St. Clare, we can gratefully say: Thank you, God, for creating me.
Grateful and available to God introduces us to a journey that accompanies us to total “Journey into God”. “Oneness” with God brightens our every moment: good, less good, challenging, and so on. Regardless of the external challenges, the heart is at peace. St. Francis’ early life and the individuals who opened his eyes and heart to the Christ within them – beggar, knight, leper, and others – encouraged detachment, selflessness, and unconditional love beyond his greatest fear. It is the agony of Gethsemane by participation: Father if it is possible, let this chalice pass from me. However, not my will but Yours be done. (Matthew 26: 39)
Running through the streets of Assisi with his friends Francis began feeling a tension to something else, something more, Someone better. The secret affection and love he was beginning to feel for the “love of his life” confused him and took hold of his heart. The struggle and confusion, the fear and final “plunge” into the baptism of a new life created the new man, the old having passed away, a new creation (2 Corinthians: 5: 17) The tension to “live” or “die”, is the story of most sincere people. It is the challenge of the cross. The challenge of the cross directs our spiritual sights from bottom to top vertically and our horizontal awareness of what surrounds. The conjunction of the two beams is Christ. In Him we find balance in our lives. The Cross maintains everything in the perspective of eternity and accompanies us on our journey through time to eternity.
During prayer before the Byzantine Crucifix of San Damiano, St. Francis heard a voice addressed to him: Francis, go and repair my Church, which, as you can see, is falling into ruin. The message was clear enough. How was he to do this? There were still hurdles to overcome. Growing requires moving forward and leaving things of the past in the past. We break with the “way it was” and move forward to “the way it must be”. Now Francis’ vision of life was seen and decided in the light of the “voice of God” he heard. He was beginning to understand the more intimate yearnings of his heart and soul.
St. Francis knew and believed God was leading him. Nonetheless, he needed strength and decisiveness to go beyond the “line of demarcation”. We could even call it the “red line”. It placed him at odds with so many, including his loved ones. The first move in the direction of conformity is a wrestling match, not with God but within ourselves. The first big step into the “wholeness of perfection” can be painful and confusing. The cross is vivid and true, and can be frightening.
On the feast of the Apostles, Mass was being celebrated in the Portiuncula Chapel. The celebrant read the Gospel. The words struck Francis so deeply that he requested the priest explain them to him. On receiving the explanation Francis’ reply was This is what I want. This is what I desire with all my heart. The goal of his heart now empowered his desires to will with all his heart and strength to walk the walk of intimacy with God. The focus of his life would always be the Cross, sign of the sublimity and humility of God. These words expressed the condescension of compassion (St. Leo the Great) at the Incarnation, birth, ministry, Passion-Death-Resurrection, and the Eucharist. At each moment the greatest of all God’s children, loved by St. Francis and always in his heart, is present. She is there with Her “yes” to the impossible to the foot of Cross to Her “yes” to the unthinkable and horrific ingratitude, to the joy of new life at the Resurrection.
Focus on the Crucified. The love of Jesus enlightens us to see more clearly who we really are. We are impassioned to love Him more dearly, empowered to follow Him unconditionally, almost as His “other self” if that were possible. We learn to Love that continues loving (Hymn Pescador). Surrendering ourselves to the One Who surrendered Himself for us on the Cross leads to a growth in the spirit and a conversion of heart thus making Easter a true Resurrection Day.
We fail so often to surrender ourselves to God Who speaks to us in and through His Word and His Church. Love is expressed fully in the total surrender of those who surrender to each other totally and unconditionally without counting the cost. Total surrender allows us to investigate and question, without doubting. Total surrender strengthens us when we are suffering or burdened, so that we persevere in trust. Total surrender gives us courage in the face of persecution of any kind and even death, with serenity, peace and joy. There is so much that we could enumerate, but the basic truth that makes the rest meaningful is as the Apostle John states in his letter: God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4: 16). Isn’t that what conformity and mystical union is? We become, as it were, the Other.
The first followers of our Seraphic Father were known as ‘The Penitents of Assisi’. The true spirit of penance guides us during this season that seeks to help us be more conformed to Christ and the Paschal Mystery. The moment of our Baptism begins the road of conformity to Christ, gradually, through life, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Penance is a gradual liberating experience that leads us to a “re-forming” in the person of Jesus, as we strive to live the Gospel – “Live Jesus” – each day more deeply. During Lent the Church us to take more time to reflect on God’s words and inspirations, to do the necessary to reform our doubtful, questionable, or even grace-less ways we may have acquired, so that we may renew our lives becoming more like Jesus. Thus, we may re-establish a deeper relationship with God and all creation.
This is a season of joy-filled expectations. We live in the awareness of the reality of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. ‘Reconstruction’ and re-birth are for those who seriously take advantage of the spiritual opportunities available.
Lent can lead us, who seek to be conformed to Christ as best we can, to a renewal, of the ‘edifice of the Spirit’, ‘the Temple of God’ that we are ‘. We come alive’ in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus and our greater conformity to Him. Spiritually signed with the Sacred Marks of His Passion on our hearts and soul, the power of God’s loving grace allows us to truly become the “Alleluia People” we are called to be..
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 Mother St. Clare of Assisi look over each one of us, their spiritual children, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Teresa Redder, on February 1st, 2024 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 2024
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi,
May the Most high, glorious Lord, enlighten the darkness of your hearts and give you a correct faith, a certain hope, a perfect charity, sense, and knowledge, so that you may carry out His holy and true command and may the Lord grant you His peace, as we enter the Mystery of the Cross of Christ that our Father St. Francis bore in his heart and on his body.
The Universality of the Cross cannot be denied. Besides the Cross of Jesus, there is the cross each one of us has to bear. Seen in the light of Jesus’ words, the Mystery of the Cross, accepted in faith, can help us have a perspective on life that encourages us to confidently accept the challenge to change. Unless we die to ourselves, we can never hope to really live. We want to live, and live fully, but there is something that holds us back from making strides that forge ahead.
An expression often used by Jesus in the Gospels, repeated by Pope St. John Paul II innumerable times, and taken up by his successor Pope Benedict XVI is: Do not be afraid. We need to remember these words and take them to heart. Fear seems to be the universal common denominator that seeks to control the lives of so many.
The ultimate fear for most people is the fear of death. There are also the ‘minor-yet-no-less crippling’ fears: fear of uselessness, fear of failure, fear of being forgotten, fear of being a ‘no one’. These, and many others, are all valid for those who have not yet been able to believe fully and take Jesus at His word. Among these are many Catholic Christians whose faith has been reduced to mere practices that no longer help them find a deeper meaning to life. Even the wonderful gift of the Eucharist becomes for many just ‘another pious devotional tool’ rather than the Real empowering Presence of the God-among-and-within-us. How tragic it would be had there not been a way out of this devastating situation that many camouflage so well.
The Church offers us a wonderful opportunity each year to review, reflect and renew our lives: Lent. We are called to deepen our relationship with God, Who in turn strengthens and enables us to live our lives more fully. Lent is a time for us to look at ourselves and the world in a powerful light – the Light of the Cross. This is not just any cross, but the Cross of Christ. The Drama of the Cross of Jesus is the Greatest Act of Love humanity could ever imagine. This Act of Love begun in the silence of the womb of Mary was made visible with the wooden Manger/Crib at Bethlehem. St Francis of Assisi immortalized for the eyes of the faithful the event of Bethlehem at Greccio in Italy. The Franciscan Family celebrated the 800th anniversary of the Greccio Nativity scene setup by St. Francis of Assisi.
From the simplicity of Bethlehem, the “Drama of the Cross” reached its climax on the wooden Cross of Calvary. The Crib embraced the Infant for all to see in wonder and joy, and the Cross on Golgotha lifted up the Man for all to approach with adoring reverence and gratitude. The Crib offered the Infant for all to embrace; the Cross extended the arms of the Man and opened His heart for all to be embraced and enter into the Love of the Father. Do not be afraid. This loving reminder, “Do Not Be Afraid”, is repeated over 300 times in Sacred Scripture. Why be afraid, what do we fear, if He shares life with each one of us at every moment?
Since it was first hoisted into place on the Hill of the Skull, the Cross has accentuated the Sign of Contradiction first seen at Bethlehem in the Infant and then throughout Judah/Israel two thousand years ago, during the ministry of the Man. Myriads of peoples have heard of and responded to the Cross of Christ. Some have accepted and proclaimed the message. Others have rejected and sought to eliminate its impact on the world in a variety of ways. There are the open acts of physical violence that have given the Church Her holy martyrs, outstanding witnesses of uncompromising faith and love. There are the subtle allurements and enticements that seek to mislead souls from the values and principles of our faith, thus jeopardizing the very core of the person and the strength of the believing community. This is the more devious and devastating of the two. Do not be afraid. Jesus has conquered the world.
The Cross is the Truth to our questions. The Cross offers balance to our confusion. The Cross indicates the sure Way to follow. The Cross reminds us that the One Solitary Life that accepted and surrendered to the Cross in death, is the greatest image of the only Life that really matters, no matter the cost. The Universality of the Cross makes it the determining Instrument of Success and Fulfillment for all who lovingly and confidently accept the challenge to take up your cross and follow in My footsteps (cfr. Matthew 16: 24-26).
Following Greccio’s celebration, we prepare to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the reception of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi on Mount La Verna. At the mount of Greccio and the Crib of Jesus we celebrate the humility of God’s birth as a human. In this Year of the 800th anniversary of the Stigmata of St. Francis, we are transported in the spirit to the “sublimity” of God’s exaltation in His sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, and the gift imprinted on the body of our Seraphic Father. The journey of the Christian is always From the Crib to the Cross…and beyond! Jesus is born to die that we may be re-born to live. Jesus becomes mortal and shares time with humanity so that we may become immortal and co-eternal with Christ in His eternity.
What do we see and hear from the Cross? From the Cross of Jesus we see the anguish of the sick, the tears of the frustrated. We hear the laments of those struggling as they climb the winding road of their Golgotha. From the Cross of Jesus we see the nations of the ‘fourth’ world condemned to die of hunger, as a large crowd carries its insignia of concern for the fundamental rights of all human beings, but keeps silent when faced with the ultimate challenge to act. From the Cross of Jesus can be seen nations considered marginal and destined for extinction by the great powers of the world whose only concern is their own economic growth at the expense of others nations, most of whom are either patronized or considered ‘expendable’. From the heights of the Cross of Jesus, can be seen the newly-forming nations still struggling to be ‘free’, those massacred in the various hot-beds of war throughout the world. From the Cross of Christ we recognize the stranger in search of a homeland, those longing to make a difference in a troubled world, the segregated and oppressed of society. Do not be afraid, for I am with you (Isaiah 41: 10), in this sign (of the Cross) you will conquer (These are words of the vision to the Emperor Constantine at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, a battle that led to the end of the persecution of Christians and freedom for the Christian Church.)
Please don’t think that I am talking politics. Some may even comment that I should ‘stick to spiritual things’. Our Faith must be concretized. Unless we make our faith visible in our lives, we are nothing more than plastic images, not to say ‘hypocrites’. Our faith is not a Policy, it is a Person. Faith must be concretized if it is to go beyond mere ‘lip service’. Until our faith can be translated into an awareness of those ‘crucified’ around us and in the world, we are walking with our eyes closed and are in danger of falling ourselves into the very ditches we refuse to acknowledge.
It is true that every Christian must accept his/her own cross, but it is also true that each one of us must seek to unfasten those who have been hung on the cross. One cross is our challenge in life; another is the cross that is placed upon us by others. In both cases, however, the cross becomes the challenge that says: Do not be afraid. Now is the time for us to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own (Isaiah 58: 6).
We have a tendency to speak about “spirituality” and we are enthused when we hear of extraordinary mystical experiences. Nevertheless, we hesitate or even refuse to come to the aide of our brother or sister who groans under the weight of their personal cross. Even Jesus was given a Simon of Cyrene. It is Christ Who suffers in them! Not only must we seek to alleviate their burdens, but we must also begin to identify those who construct the crosses for others to bear, and attempt to eradicate their hurtful influence in the life of others. We don’t have to go far. The opportunities to be Christ to others are all around us. Open your eyes and your heart! Do not be afraid at what you see and whom you invite into your love. It might just be the Lord knocking who waits for us to Open the Door to Christ. What a tragedy if just that one time we were busy, tired, annoyed, and we failed to let Him into our “disarmed heart”. The Cross disarmed Jesus totally And we?
Faithfulness to the Cross of Jesus demands much from us. It expects us to see in the Cross the instrument of our salvation. It presumes we recognize the Cross as a sign that redemption is near. It urges us to lift our hands and not just our hearts to help make a burden bearable if we cannot eliminate it. It is the only way – the Way of the Cross – that leads us with and through Jesus, to a more complete life. Why? Because the Way of the Cross does not lead to death, but to a total commitment and surrender to the One Who Alone is the Source of New Life for ourselves and all with whom we share the journey to the Hill of Redemption. In so many areas of the world new hope begins to dawn because of those who have met Christ on the way and have heeded His words: Do not be afraid. For the Franciscan it could sound “do not be afraid to embrace the leper”, “do not be afraid to accept the Cross”, “do not be afraid to die…to yourself”
The certitude of a soul filled with a faith that lets go of itself to trust in the Lord, can be seen in the following words. The words are taken from correspondence between a spiritual director and the directee. I only know one thing for certain, that the Lord will never fall short of his promises. ‘Do not fear, I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength to suffer’, Jesus tells me continually. ‘I want your soul to be purified and tried by a daily hidden martyrdom; do not be frightened if I allow the devil to torment you, the world to disgust you and your nearest and dearest to afflict you, for nothing will prevail against those who groan beneath the Cross for love of me and whom I have taken care to protect. Beneath the Cross one learns to love and I do not grant this to everyone, but only to those souls who are dearest to me’. May the same Cross always be our bed of rest, our school of perfection, our beloved heritage. The surest sign of love is the capacity to suffer for the beloved. We must keep our eyes fixed on the noble, majestic and holy company of those who follow Jesus to Golgotha. Each one of them without exception bears the profession of the true faith on his countenance, self-denial in his heart, and the cross on his shoulders.
The Cross is our insignia, our sign of victory, our pledge of unity with the Master, our remedy for the ills of humanity, our hope for eternity, our certitude of God’s inimitable and eternal Love for us in Jesus.
When St. Francis had disrobed of his earthly clothes and was given the poor tunic to wear, the first thing he did, we are told, was trace a cross on it. He was to bear the cross as his daily garment. The cross he wore was the dignity he shared with Jesus Himself. The cross he wore on his tunic, the cross who spoke to him at San Damiano, was the cross imprinted spiritually on his heart until it was emblazoned on his body for all to see on Mount La Verna.
Mindful of the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel telling the angel to sign the elect with the sign of the “tau,” Francis made the “tau” his signature. It became the “Franciscan Cross”. Just as the “tau” is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so the Franciscans signed with the “tau” of the elect, herald the end of an age that introduces the Cross, the “new tau”, as the sign of the beginning of a new age. The sign of the cross and the body of the one who would be physically imprinted with its marks heralded a new age when hearts grown cold were once again enkindled with the fire of God’s love (loose translation of the old prayer for the Mass of the Stigmata) to proclaim a world of peace and blessings for all.
The holy season of Lent is upon us. We search for more ways to make the Cross of Jesus a more present and reflective reminder of the meaning of the Mystery of the Cross of Christ in our life, not just in our liturgical and devotional practices, but also more deeply in our own personal lives. The Cross must be a sign of encouragement as we seek ways of assisting others who are burdened with their crosses.
We envision and even invent devotional practices each Lent to “deepen our prayer life”. The desire is to celebrate more intensely the penitential spirit of Lent. There is however a practice many pray about sincerely with their lips, but not so much with the full affirmation of their hearts. Why? because The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. It may seem simplistic. Do we ever realize that what God wants is us, our hearts, our wills? God asks and waits for one thing, and we beat around the bush without getting to the heart of it all. How many have prayed and maybe still pray the famous prayer of St.Alphonsus Liguori after each station of the Cross: Grant that I may love you always, then do with me as you will. We mean the words “devotionally and sincerely”. Nevertheless, in the concrete, we hesitate to desire to be convinced and determined to accept whatever Cross God may permit. Yet, that would be the perfect prayer and devotion since it is not the one I want but the one the Father Himself is offering to me. Even Jesus prayed: Father if it is possible let this cross pass from me. (So we can feel hesitant) Yet not my will but Yours be done (Yet realizing it’s God Who wills, isn’t acceptance a “sure thing”?). Jesus understood the Father’s answer. His anguish of what awaited Him made Him sweat blood. Nonetheless, trusting in the Father’s Will, He faced the Cross with loving surrender. And we are redeemed.
The Father never asks His children to do anything beyond their strength. The greatest penitential practice for Lent is living each moment with loving surrender to the Father’s Will. Thus, we open our hearts to others, assisting them in their needs. Prayers and devotional practices are necessary to keep our hearts and minds focused. We remember our dignity as Christians and the spiritual treasury of our Catholic Faith. In a simpler and more serene manner we are enabled to advance swiftly and effectively on our Lenten journey. We need not try to figure out what to do. All we have to do is be willingly, trustingly, and cheerfully available at all times in every way to God’s Will. The Cross is always a sure thing for a Christian. When more than during Lent?
Have a blessed and spiritually fruitful beginning to Lent. Let go of your hesitancy. Go beyond yourself to others. Take up the daily challenge of your cross. Look beyond the difficulties of the moment. Trust in the One Who gave Himself for us all. Do not be afraid to deepen your relationship with God (Prayer), to distance yourself from all you allow to possess you (Penance), and to open your heart and surrender to the Christ Who suffers in others and awaits your love (Almsgiving). These three elements help make for a fruitful Lent. Have confidence and courage. Do not be afraid!
In this Year of the Stigmata of St. Francis, let us keep alive in our hearts the message God offers us through the writings of St. Paul as we celebrate the Stigmata of Christ imprinted on the body of our Seraphic Father: It is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me. Therefore let no one trouble me for I bear the brandmarks of Jesus in my body.
May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and our Seraphic Father St. Francis and our Mother St. Clare of Assisi watch over each one of you and your loved ones with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
February 2024-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Teresa Redder, on November 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
November, 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you peace!
We have been elevated to the supernatural state, redeemed and saved, and we are destined for Eternity with God, “co-eternity”. We need to consider death not as the end of everything. It is not the end. It is not ruin. It is not the fatal conclusion. It is the transition to co-eternity. If we consider ourselves to be passing through this world, if we act as though we are temporary, if we aspire to what is Up Above, if we set our lives up based on the Beyond, if we base our existence on the afterlife, then everything comes into order, everything becomes balanced, everything is oriented, everything is fed in hope. If we think of tomorrow as the next future to prepare for, then one of the most important virtues of spirituality comes into play: that of Hope. Hope, not as poetic rhetoric, not as a change of mood and also not as an evasion that allows for non-commitment, but as what it is: the second theological virtue which is infused like a seed during Baptism. These are words of Bl. Carlo Acutis, a 15 yr. old adolescent, a “millennial”, who died of leukemia in the prime of life. A theologian could not have spoken more eloquently considering life’s journey and the ultimate instant in life to Life: Death!
Pain and suffering have always been ‘problems’ for human beings. They are facts of life from whom no one can escape (cfr Canticle of the Creatures of St. Francis of Assisi). Experience helps us to think we know about suffering and pain. However, what many are convinced “beyond a doubt” regarding death and dying eclipses when the moment approaches. Death is the mystery we will understand only when we experience it. When we do experience it, we will not be able to tell anyone else about it. How we view “tomorrow” determines who or what we prepare our hearts for at that moment. Even a fifteen year old adolescent, filled with faith, hope, and love for life, can look forward to “Up Above” and “Co-Eternity” with God. What happens is that as time passes we begin to forget, or try to. Have we really tried to remember that we are created by and for God, to live with Him forever, to be a part of “co-eternity”?
Today me, tomorrow you. This is a loose translation of the Latin inscription: Hodie mihi, cras tibi. This famous saying can often be seen sculpted or painted at the entrances of many cemeteries in Europe. It is a rather stark and macabre reminder that earthly life, as chronologically long or deeply intense as it may be, will eventually have its transforming moment from time to eternity. The point of convergence of all life’s experiences – good, bad, and indifferent – will come together awaiting our call to timelessness. Death calls and eternity awaits. It is not the end of everything, as too many people feel and believe. It is the moment of the ultimate transformation of who we are into who we were created to be.
The journey of life is so wonderful because of the many challenges God offers us along the way. All is aimed at encouraging us to grow in His love and to achieve the full stature of Christ.(Ephesians 4:13) Why? Because the glory of God is man come to full stature (St. Irenaeus). It can also be very dangerous because of the many allurements and seductions that can entice us to deviate from the path marked out for us. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.(John 14: 6) If we follow His Way, listen to His Word of Truth, we can expect ultimately to share in the fullness of His Life. He Himself says: I came that they may have Life and have it in abundance.(John 10: 10)
Jesus gained that Life for us, once for all, on the Cross of Calvary. Life and the Cross! There it is again, the Paradox of the Cross! the Paradox of Christianity! We are always facing these choices, these opposites: positive-negative, good-bad, light-darkness, grace-sin, heaven-hell. We always have that responsible and awesome option placed before us. In the Old Testament, before the People of Israel entered the Promised Land, Joshua read the Law of the Covenant God made with His People and told them to choose between life and death…I for my part will serve the Lord.(Joshua 24: 15) The people responded in unison that they would serve the Lord. History tells us how fickle their and our promises and commitments can be. Perhaps this is why we have difficulty in reflecting on that most solemn moment in life when we are called to encounter the Source of all Life and see ourselves in His Light.
Our Christian Faith, and spiritual life that conditions our actions, is nourished by the Sacramental Life of the Church. Redeemed in the Blood of Christ, we are constantly challenged to come follow me. In this life of faith we speak of positive values while focusing in on what at first glance seems ‘negative’. We speak about Life, but refer to it through the Death of Jesus. We speak about Love, but recognize it through the symbol of hatred, torture, and death, The Cross. We hope in Heaven, but experience its beginnings through the challenges and pitfalls of life’s earthly journey. Our humanity, so prone to the changing attitudes of nature, has learned how to ‘see’ beyond the barriers that daily seek to impede our forward steps. It is with a faith-filled heart and a hope-filled life that we can securely live life to the fullest, seeing every moment and experience as another opportunity to Live Life and Love It.
Our Seraphic Father Saint Francis of Assisi was a unique and inspired prophet for all times. His approach to life and all creation has earned for him the title of Universal Brother and Man with a Disarmed Heart. He instilled in the hearts of his spiritual children an attitude of joy and gratitude for every facet of life. He was a man imbued with a spirit of wonder that made him rejoice even during the most challenging times of his own life. Several years before his brief life ended – he died at 44 years of age – his body began to succumb to all the effects of the penances he had imposed upon himself. He even apologized to ‘Brother Ass’, as he called his body, for treating one who was so faithful to him in such an unappreciative manner.
St. Francis of Assisi was aware his physical condition was terminal. The pains of the Stigmata of Jesus he had received two years before at La Verna caused him constant pain. He accepted this “gift” with love and gratitude. When he was informed that he was soon to pass from this life to the next, Francis asked that a new stanza be added to the Canticle of the Creatures, and that it be sung for him: Praise be You, my Lord, for Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin. Blessed are those whom death will find in Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility. Not much time was left. When he was informed that Death was imminent, he called out Welcome, Sister Death!
St. Francis saw life as the “cherished gift” it is. Determined to live it as the sign of the Father’s Love, then we must love it. Live and you’ll love it! Then even death cannot disturb our inner joy and serenity. When we wait to love it before we live it fully, life becomes an uphill climb that gets ever more burdensome. An active Faith, a trusting Hope, makes each moment an anticipated enjoyment of what awaits. We live each moment as a precious grace and know how to ‘let go’ and “let God” receive us into our “co-eternity” with Him.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit through grace in those who live in God’s Will opens the heart to see God in all things and to recognize the reality of heaven as the Father’s gift to His children. Yet, the process to achieve ‘perfection’ travels through many and varied experiences. The experiences of life teach us many things about God, ourselves, others, the world in which we live, the universe around us … and the Life that awaits us all. The decisions we make during our journey are indicators of the direction taken and road followed to achieve the ultimate goal of the “time traveler”. Yes, each of us is a “time traveler” always moving on the road from time to timelessness. Our quest for happiness finds its revelation when the moment of “co-eternal” transition happens.
Everyone wants to be happy. Fulfillment takes on various forms for people. Believers seek to be with God. They seek to be saints. The requisites for a saint “in process” are to be a human made to the image and likeness of God, and to live in God’s will. Simple, huh?! Not so! If it were, why are so many people neurotics, psychotics, discouraged, depressed, even terrified when they know “time is flying” them to their goal?
The more time you have behind you and the less you believe you have before you makes life seem to pick up speed. The truth is we are still moving at the same rate since we were born. What games people play(!) causing themselves anxiety, worry, and worse.
Death is a terrible word for most people. They avoid even saying it for fear it might ‘catch up with them’ sooner than expected. It always seems unexpected when Sister Death finally arrives to call us home. Notice how, when we hear of the death of someone, often people will ask How old were they? As though age had anything to do with it! Death is the natural conclusion of time so that someone can enter eternity. Fear of it is the result of humanity’s disobedience in Eden. The passage from time to eternity – in whatever way God would have accomplished it had not Original Sin happened – would still have occurred, but, I believe, in loving anticipation and yearning, rather than fear and sadness.
Sin causes the fear and the uncertainty of our moral strengths. To this, all I say is: Trust God’s Word! God loves you! Believe in God’s love, and love Him back by living in God’s Most Holy Will! Sincerely ask forgiveness and assistance when you trip or fall along the way.
Our millennial blessed adolescent, Carlo Acutis knew how to live and so was always serenely and joyfully ready to let go to enter “co-eternity” with God. Again he offers words for our reflection: We often talk about here, there, up, down. This way of thinking and speaking relativizes everything. Since we are immersed in the here, we relate everything in time and space which enslaves us, which conditions us. If we free ourselves from these chains, if we become accustomed to that which is Up Above, if we gain confidence with the Beyond, if we consider life to be a trampoline towards Eternity, then death becomes a transition. It becomes a door. It becomes an in-between. It loses its drama. It loses its fatality. It loses its definitiveness. Exorcise death. Spiritualize death. Sanctify death. This is the secret. Then we will not think about, and we will not speak about, and we will not measure it in absolute terms, in terms of no return, of total destruction, but we will see death in the light, in the warmth and in the victory of the Risen Christ. (Bl. Carlo Acutis)
We question, “negotiate” with, blame God for the ‘bad’ things that happen to others as well as to us. Nevertheless, the Christian is enlightened by the assurance of the Faith that proclaims Jesus lived, was sacrificed to death for all humanity, and arose to Life. St. Paul himself reminds the community of Rome: And hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly … While we were still sinners, Christ died for us … We have been justified by His blood … We even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5: 5-11) This is the great God to Whom we entrust ourselves and all those who have gone before us. With unselfish love we offer ourselves to God Who is for us, for me, for every child of His Creation. It is this God Who has given us the most excellent means to enter His loving embrace with joyful anticipation – Jesus. And Jesus establishes a perpetual means to keep that promise and pledge alive – the Eucharist.
Jesus said: I am the living bread come down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6: 51) When we gather around the Eucharist, sacrifice and sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ, we reaffirm our faith in Life. We encounter death and dying with serenity and even joy. We let go of a lifetime of false securities. We remember that We have here no lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. (Hebrews 13: 14). We speak of ourselves to be strangers and pilgrims on earth … seeking a homeland (Hebrews 11: 13). We accept everything as a gift that we may offer each moment of life as a ‘gift’ for others to share with us. We see, as did Saint Francis of Assisi, everything in creation as intimately related to us because of God and so can even call on Sister Bodily Death from whom no human can escape with the trust and acceptance of Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, where St. Francis added these words praising God in ‘Sister Bodily Death’ shortly before his own death.
In the Eucharist we discover the source and pledge of Life. The Eucharist is our defiance of death. In the Eucharist our concerns and confusions are clarified, our discouragements and despair are dispelled, our faults are forgiven, self-centeredness becomes love that welcomes all into a disarmed heart. How much more can we say about the Eucharist, ‘heaven on earth’, that we are privileged to possess, celebrate, and ‘become’ when our hearts and souls prepare for the encounter!
The Eucharist is ‘communion’. Isn’t that what we call It – Holy Communion? Death is separation and detachment, but the Death-Resurrection of Jesus in the Eucharist re-presented at every Liturgy, binds us to Christ and one another, and fills us with the graces of God’s Love and Life. The Eucharist is Communion and Life! The Eucharist introduces us to acknowledge death as the mystery of Life it really is. The Eucharistic Lord embraces all who celebrate the Lamb Sacrificed and shared in the Paschal Mystery of the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus. Thus, Eternal Life becomes the destination of all who ‘Live Jesus’ in time, and pass through the doorway of death into a “co-eternity” of “timelessness”.
The Eucharist is ‘sacrifice’. The word ‘sacrifice’ means to ‘make sacred’. When we unite ourselves and our lives to that of Jesus, we become one with the One we offer. The more we enter the ‘sacrifice’ with Jesus, the more we are assured of a share in His everlasting Life. Thus life is not ended but transformed (Preface I for the Dead).
The Eucharist is a ‘pledge of future glory’. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist and receive the Body and Blood of Christ we share, according to our cooperation with God’s grace, in the mystery of ‘heaven on earth’. We live in mystery the Life we are called to share in the fullness of its reality. In faith, we live in hope – the pledge – of sharing in God’s eternal Love. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance (Romans 8:24).
How do we live our lives? What is our attitude to the challenges God permits that remind us of our vulnerability and mortality? Do we live in the spirit of the letter to the Hebrews that states: ‘We do not have here a permanent dwelling, but we await another? (Hebrews 13: 14) Do we take time to reflect on death as one more step, the ultimate, in getting us to God? Do we avoid even thinking of the Paschal Mystery that each one will be called to celebrate in his or her personal life? Are we joy-filled in life and encourage others to be so, even in the midst of difficulties? Remember St. Francis who wanted the Canticle sung for him at his death. Are we one of those who fall into that amusing, but true saying: ‘Everyone talks about heaven, but no one seems to be in a hurry to get there’?
St. Francis of Assisi had a tremendous love for the Eucharist and Mary. These two columns of our Faith sustained him and encouraged him in the fulfillment of God’s mission for him Go rebuild my Church for as you can see it is falling into ruin.(words of Cross of San Damiano at beginning of Francis’ conversion pilgrimage) God is “Presence” among us in the Eucharist. God is Love for us in the Cross and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God is Providence for us in the love and concern of our sisters and brothers. If we live the spirit of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi, the Poverello, life will be the wonderful experience God intended it to be for us all. Death will truly be that ‘Welcome Sister’ that leads us to the fullness of Life.
The soul will not enter into its eternal rest until it is lost forever in that vast ocean of goodness where it will know what God knows, love what He loves and will only enjoy what is a joy to him. O my Jesus, I will live and hope and silence will be my strength as long as this life lasts. (St. Pio of Pietrelcina letter September 18, 1915)
Let’s pray for the Holy Souls this month, as they await the loving call to heaven. “They were where we are, and we will be – hopefully – where they are”. The Church Militant and the Church Suffering assist each other that together one day, we may celebrate God’s Eternal Life in the Love of the Church Triumphant.
May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi watch over each one of us, their Spiritual Children, and our loved ones, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
November 2023-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Teresa Redder, on October 3rd, 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
October 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you his peace!
Two years before his death, already very sick and suffering especially from his eyes, (St. Francis) was living in a cell made of mats near San Damiano. During his stay blessed Francis could not bear the light of the sun during the day or the light of the fire at night. He constantly remained in darkness in his cell. One night, as he was thinking of all the tribulations he was enduring, he felt sorry for himself and prayed interiorly: Lord help me in my infirmities so that I may have the strength to bear them patiently (A voice spoke to him and said): be glad and joyful in the midst of your infirmities and tribulations; as of now, live in peace as if you were already sharing my kingdom. The next morning on rising, he said to his companions: I should be full of joy in my infirmities and tribulations, seek my consolations in the Lord, and give thanks to God the Father, to His Only Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, for His glory, for my consolation, and the edification of my neighbor, I wish to compose a new ‘Praises of the Lord’, for His creatures. He called these ‘Praises of the Lord’ which opened with the words: Most high all-powerful, and good Lord, the ‘Canticle of the Sun’. He often intoned this canticle and had his companions take it up; in that way he forgot the intensity of his sufferings and pains by considering the glory of the Lord. He did this until the day of his death. (Legend of Perugia, 42-43)
The Poverello of Assisi was one of the wealthiest persons to ever live. His wealth went far beyond the treasures that human beings consider desirable. The power he wielded over thousands of his day and millions over the centuries make him also one of the most influential and effective individuals to ever live. He was simple, surely not what the authoritative and commanding seek. He was poorly dressed, surely not what attracts the people of this world. He was not much to look at, surely not a figure that imposed himself by physical stature. He had a basic education for his times, surely not an intellectual ‘giant’ to dialogue with the ‘learned’ and prominent of his day. He had no bands of armed guards and militant forces, surely not what the dominant forces sought out. What he had was a ‘treasure’ that far surpasses all others: He was a man in love with God, and God’s presence in all creation. He was passionately in love with life. His spirit was contagious. Many originally considered him out of his mind. Most believed him to be eccentric. But all eventually recognized the uniqueness of a soul in love with God, life, and all people. St. Francis of Assisi is a constant reminder and image of a life in love with Life.
For centuries the Franciscan Family has praised the goodness of God for blessing the world with St. Francis of Assisi and for calling us to follow his example in living the Gospel life. The impact St. Francis continues to have on our world has continued for more than eight centuries. Since the time of St. Francis himself, the I, II, III, and Secular Franciscan Orders strive to foster a spirit of peace and goodness, and universal brotherhood. The spiritual children of our Father St. Francis and our holy Mother St. Clare have affected the universal Church, as well as societies and cultures in every corner of the world. They have influenced governments and help transform the thoughts of multitudes over the years. They have challenged people to open their hearts and minds to the world, to recognize it as the Theater of Redemption. Creation is a place to love and in which to live the Gospel Life of Jesus that all things may be restored in Christ (Ephesians 1: 10). There is an obvious question that arises, however, regarding St. Francis. One of his first followers, Brother Masseo, is recorded to have asked the question: Why after you? Why does the whole world come after you? It is an interesting and quite challenging question that certainly goes far beyond the expected response of a pious platitude.
Once Saint Francis was staying in the place of the Portiuncula with Brother Masseo of Marignano, a man of great holiness, discernment and grace in speaking of God, for which Saint Francis loved him very much. One day Saint Francis was returning from the woods and from prayer, and when he was at the edge of the woods, that same Brother Masseo, wanting to test how humble he was, went up to him and, as if joking, said, Why after you, why after you, why after you? Saint Francis responded, What do you mean? Brother Masseo said, I am saying why does the whole world come after you, and everyone seems to desire to see you and hear you? You are not a handsome man in body, you are not someone of great learning, you are not noble; so why does the whole world come after you? (Little Flowers 10)
How might we have responded to such a situation if the question were asked of us? It is an honest consideration posed by someone who gave up everything to follow St. Francis. And what about the multitudes that sought to follow Francis Bernardone either by living the Rule for friars, or by living a Rule for those in society who still wanted to be of Francis Family and Gospel life experience? Some undoubtedly would have been put off by the reason Bro. Masseo gave for asking the question had the reasons given concerned them. When ego gets in the way we suffer from nearsightedness. We see, hear, accept, and I dare say love, only ourselves, so that when others make us aware of our deficiencies or definite faults we either retreat or react. The attributes (or lack thereof) that Brother Masseo presented were rather peripheral. Nonetheless, how would any of us like to have been told rather bluntly: You are homely looking (aesthetically challenged), of an inadequate intellect (academically limited), and come from an insignificant level of society (socially modest)? How might we have responded? Masseo was thinking out loud. He had seen, believed, and followed Francis. Why?
Men and women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable – a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves. Christian faith comes to meet them, offering the concrete possibility of reaching the goal which they seek. (Pope John Paul II – Relationship Between Faith and Reason, Encyclical of September 14, 1998). Life is that period of time we have been allotted to fulfill the “Quest for the Other”. Those who persist in the active hope their quest will be successful, will ultimately come to know, love, and serve God in Himself and in each other. The Incarnate God, Jesus the Christ, invites us to follow Him and walk the journey of faith as pilgrims (in time) and strangers (in a world that is a bridge and not a fixed abode).
When people place their trust in another, there comes a moment when they want to know with certitude and concretely what their heart tells them is true, good, and necessary for personal fulfillment concerning the other. Reassurance does not so much express a doubt as much as a desire to corroborate and reconfirm a decision made with firm conviction and total commitment. Brother Masseo loved and trusted St. Francis, but he wanted to hear the answer from St. Francis himself. In the depths of his heart Brother Masseo knew God was with Francis. He believed in the man he had chosen to follow in response to Gods call.
Life-changing decisions, such as marriage, religious life, priesthood, becoming a Secular Franciscan, committing one’s self to any life that ultimately aims to transform a person from within as well as without, require prudence, trust, prayerful discernment, and courage to decide wholeheartedly. Courage urges us to take the step, and fidelity assists us to experience the value and fruitfulness of the yes with which we surrender to the call. A simple rule is Live it and you will love it. It is only in living our decision that we grow into loving it day-by-day. The questions and explanations are valuable and valid, but ultimately when I believe God is in the midst of the call and my response, I must make the decision trustingly, regardless how others encourage or discourage me by their words or actions. Remember, your vocation is yours, none others. A community, fraternity, Order is made up of many individuals who have personally responded with the same affirmative reply and share a life of mutual support, encouragement, familial love. It is a personal individual choice rooted in the conviction that expects and urges one to keep on moving forward, even if all others opt to change course.
The immediate response of St. Francis to Brother Masseo continues from the little Flowers: Hearing this, Saint Francis was overjoyed in spirit and, turning his face to heaven, stood for a long time with his mind lifted up to God. Then returning to himself, he knelt down and gave praise and thanks to God. (Little Flowers 10)
The key word is immediate response. Francis, with all of his idiosyncrasies, was centered on God. God was the focus, center, and source of all Francis desired to live and do in this life. Even a response to his brother was not made until his attitude of prayer lifted him in spirit so that it was not I who live but Christ who lives in me, as St. Paul writes to the churches. To paraphrase, It was not Francis who responded, but Christ who responded in Francis. We read in Scripture how Jesus, before He did anything of importance, would often spend the night in prayer. Before performing a miracle, Jesus would groan from the depths of his soul and gratefully acknowledge the Fathers willingness to hear His request. When we take time to enter that vertical relationship of prayer with/in God, every response we make, whether in words, actions, or both, lead us to enter the horizontal relationship with our sisters and brothers. Thus, we communicate all we know and are, with simple loving kindness and truth, in profound humility.
Then with great fervor of spirit (St. Francis) returned to Brother Masseo and said, Do you want to know why after me? You want to know why after me? You want to know why the whole world comes after me? I have this from those eyes of the Most High God, which gaze in every place on the good and the guilty. Since those most holy eyes have not seen among sinners anyone more vile, nor more incompetent, nor a greater sinner than me; to perform that marvelous work, which he intends to do, He has not found a more vile creature on the earth, and therefore He has chosen me to confound the nobility and the greatness and the strength and beauty and wisdom of the world, so that it may be known that every virtue and every good is from Him, and not from the creature, and no person may boast in His sight. But whoever boasts must boast in the Lord, to whom is every honor and glory forever. Brother Masseo was shocked at such a humble response, said with such fervor, and knew certainly that Saint Francis was truly grounded in humility. (Little Flowers 10)
- K. Chesterton offers a brief and interesting picture St. Francis: Saint Francis was a lean and lively little man; thin as a thread and vibrant as a bowstring; and in his motions like an arrow from the bow. All his life was a series of plunges and scampers; darting after the beggar, dashing naked into the woods, tossing himself into the strange ship, hurling himself into the Sultans tent and offering to hurl himself into the fire. In appearance he must have been like a thin brown skeleton autumn leaf dancing eternally before the wind; but in truth it was he that was the wind.
Why you? Why does the whole world go after you, Francis? Because like the wind: lively, vibrant, plunging into the depths, darting after the marginalized and alienated, dashing into the seclusion of prayer with nothing but his soul enamored of God, tossing himself into the strange events that God allowed to come his way, hurling himself into the midst of danger for the sake of the Name with a courage surpassing even that of the Crusaders of his time, Francis was the image of the freedom all people desire in life. Shackled, held down by no one and nothing. Francis was and still is free. He believed firmly God was with him, thus he had nothing to fear. A frail body was the vessel of a magnificent heart and soul. So great was his desire to be one with the Father-Son-Holy Spirit, that towards the end of his life he not only carried the dying of Christ in his soul but was privileged to carry the wounds of the Savior on his body for all the world to see. Why you, Francis? He might reply, Because through me the Lord has seen fit to make Himself known and seen, that others may be encouraged to trust in God, disarm their hearts to one another, and rebuild a falling world, for as we can see is falling into ruin (words of the Crucifix of San Damiano to Francis).
The expression Jesus used, so often repeated in the Gospel according to Matthew, But I say to you, is an emphatic reminder that some things are not negotiable. God who created us without us cannot save us without us. (St. Augustine)
We cannot just believe and not do. We can “grandstand” our Faith to be seen. We can create great slogans and wonderful programs without personally believing in anything we are doing. Faith not backed up with a life that verifies the ‘principles’ and ‘values’ preached by that Faith, is nothing more than an intellectual exercise of themes and slogans that fluctuates with the political, social, and so forth tides of the times. Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. (James 2: 17-18) The greatest “demonstration” we can offer is to live what we profess without gloss (St. Francis words to those who wanted to mitigate the words of his Rule for the friars).
Seeing himself before the awesome love and majesty of God, St. Francis recognizes his lowliness and the greatness of God, and thus can give Brother Masseo the answer he seeks. Francis acknowledges how insignificant he is before the immensity of God, and it is for this reason that God can work through him. Filled with ourselves there is no room for God; the humble soul is empty of itself and offers God all the space God wills. There can be no pride in one who recognizes at every moment the sovereignty of God and himself as nothing more than the Herald of the Great King. The herald proclaims the message of the other, not their own message. The herald must be a subject of integrity who can be trusted to communicate the message of the one who sent him, and not his own personal issues and agendas. It is here that Francis explained in his response the prayer he so often would say, Who are You (Lord). Who am I, repeating the words of St. Augustine centuries before: That I may know You (Lord), that I may know myself. There is a powerful nuance here I think should be mentioned. Many translate the words of Augustine to mean: Let me know you Lord and let me know myself. It seems like more. Augustine and even Francis would translate the phrase to mean; Let me know You, Lord, so that I may know myself. Once Francis heart lifted up, saw himself in the mystery of the One Whom he sought to know, he understood more deeply the purpose and call of his own life and could rejoice in the transforming power of grace that had worked such wonders in him and, through him, in so many others. Humility is truth. The test is not for us to show God how much we believe. The test is for us to realize how far we are willing to go to believe with our entire being. Totus Tuus (All Yours – papal motto of Pope St. John Paul II). Faith believes and gives one’s self to God unconditionally.
Francis’ challenge to the world was to follow the Gospel and not let one’s possessions possess them. His own example of this was when he stripped himself of his worldly belongings, gave them back to his father in public before the bishop and people of Assisi, and said From now on I will no longer say, My Father Peter Bernardone, but Our Father who art in heaven. He had nothing left but he possessed everything. Even when God seems to be ‘absent’ from us, in faith we sense an unexplainable presence and strength. Conviction of faith leads us through and beyond the obstacles, difficulties, and doubts. Faith is the power working and welling up within us. It is the very root of our daily life. Our life becomes an act of faith that sees the invisible and can achieve what seems the impossible. Remember the mustard seed (cfr Luke 17: 5).
Faith is not an intellectual game played with abstract facts. Faith is unconditional acceptance of a person, God, as we have come to know Him in the Person of Jesus the Christ. Faith is an affirmative response and selfless acceptance of God’s Will. Through an extended and painful journey of discovery, the faith of St. Francis of Assisi opened his eyes to see life from the perspective of eternity and God’s love. And we?!
Francis resigned his office as leader of the group of friars that had grown quite numerous in a few years. The presence of “the Brother” was always a challenging presence to the brothers. They loved him, but many desired that his Rule be softened somewhat. Francis was confronted by these friars. They compared themselves to other religious of the times and requested/demanded “concessions” or outright changes to the Rule Francis had written. The verbal battle ensued and at a point Francis with others who were present heard words from an unseen source (Francis to whom does the Order belong, you or Me?) reminding Francis that the Order was God’s. And, since it was an Order inspired by God to be instituted by Francis for those who sought to live an authentic Gospel Life, they were to follow the plan God set down through Francis, without gloss, without gloss, without gloss. Needless to say, it was a decisive moment – for the moment! Authenticity of expression in living the Rule of our Seraphic Father has been a conversation among the brothers for centuries, with the brothers presenting their idea of greater “authenticity” and “credibility” for changing times. This “conversation piece” will probably never end. It’s a “healthy tension” that still seeks to know, understand, and live authentically the mind and heart of the Universal Brother. Healthy tensions open minds and hearts to accept rather than reject. One Rule for three branches is still very much alive and challenging not only the friars but the world.
Like St. Francis, we are “Heralds of the Great King” who go into the highways and hedgerows to invite all to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the greatest Gospel witnesses we can give others as sisters and brothers in St. Francis of Assisi flows from living in the Presence of God. Jesus take over! should be our daily prayer and aspiration. Gaze upon the Lord, gaze upon His face. (words of St. Clare of Assisi to St. Agnes of Prague). The face of God recognized in our hearts and in the events of our daily lives makes everyone a gift inviting us to let God, let go, and thus let loose the graces that flow from the open heart of the Savior embraced in the other. Even the leper embraced by St. Francis destroying all Francis’ fears invites us to embrace our lepers to “let loose the power of grace”.
The Poverello truly was the wealthiest person of his times. Stripped of all worldly wealth, he could be filled with what no one could give him but One, God. Father St. Francis prayed that He might experience the depth of Jesus’ love for us so that he too could be one who sought to restore all things in Christ (Ephesians 1: 10). The joy of the journey can truly become a living “Canticle of Praise” to the Lord for every moment and encounter of life. Each step we take is a step forward surrendering ourselves unconditionally to the ever-loving providence of God, Who never leaves His children unaided.
Pope John Paul II tells us that men and women are on a journey of discovery in search for the truth and a person. Saint Francis encountered that ‘Person’, Jesus, on the Cross at San Damiano who impressed His words on Francis’ heart, until Francis met that ‘Person’ again at La Verna, Who impressed His ‘Word Incarnate’ on his body. The living image of the Crucified spoke to the world of an emptying love that accepted to be human even to death (Philippians 2: 8) that we might share in the Divine Life to truly live and for an eternity (cfr John 17: 23). The Word Incarnate spoke most powerfully and clearly the day Love was crucified. St. Francis sought and prayed to feel and live that love. St. Francis was “sealed” for all to see with the marks of the Sacred Stigmata of Christ’s loving Passion and Death. He was a sign to rekindle hearts that had grown lukewarm and cold to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All Franciscans seek to follow Francis that they too might live that Love and continue a presence and living message that so much of today’s world seems to have forgotten.
Every life has its disconcerting events and fears. Our Father Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II, and many others went through periods of spiritual darkness and dryness. Nevertheless, they continued to believe and hope in God. They were an encouragement and empowering presence for others. Faith and life walk hand-in-hand. It is our Faith that strengthens our spirit and nourishes our life. Jesus reminds us: It is the spirit that gives life. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63) Allow the Spirit of Faith to fill your minds and hearts. We accept the words of Jesus in truth. Franciscan peace, joy, and serenity are a reality that becomes ‘contagious’ when we share them with others.
Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi live every moment of life fully! The spirit of prayer that enveloped our Seraphic Father who ‘became prayer’ encourages us to trust at every moment and whatever challenging crossroad we encounter. It was how we were to go among all people: All the brothers, however, should preach by their deeds. (The Earlier Rule: Chap XVII, 3) Thus, his words to the brothers gathered around him as he prepared to enter eternity, I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do, be ever present in our hearts as well. We too are called to be messenger and message as we herald the Great King in and with our lives.
May God bless you; my Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi and holy Mother St. Clare of Assisi, look upon each one of us, their Spiritual Children, with loving care.
BLESSED TRANSITUS and HAPPY FEAST DAY
OF OUR SERAPHIC FATHER SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
October 2023-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Teresa Redder, on September 3rd, 2023 St. Katherine Drexel Regional Fraternity
Regional Spiritual Assistant
St. Francis of Assisi Friary Center
1901 Prior Road
Wilmington, Delaware 19809
tel: (302) 798-1454 fax: (302) 798-3360 website: skdsfo email: pppgusa@gmail.com
September 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you his peace!
St. Francis observed the Lent of St. Michael every year. This “lent” begins with the Assumption of our Blessed Mother and end with the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel. This devotional period of a “milder form of penance” was and still is celebrated by those who seek St. Michael’s protection and intercession for them and the Church against the evil one. St. Francis’ love and devotion for the Church and the Holy Father are well-noted in his Rule, Testament, and other writings. St. Michael, defender of the Church and God’s People against the allurements and deception of Satan and his minions, was and still is an essential intercessor for whom Francis had a particular devotion.
(The Great Lents the whole Church celebrates are Advent in preparation for the Nativity of the Savior and Lent in preparation for the Sacred Triduum of the Resurrection of the Lord. These the whole Church and also most other Christian denominations celebrate each in their specific ways. Other “lents” are devotional and not obliged by the Church)
Just two years before the Poverello was accompanied home to the Father by Sister Death, in September 1224, Francis was at prayer on Mount La Verna, a solitary mountaintop site in Tuscany. He was celebrating the lent of St. Michael. Sometime around the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14), he received the answer to an ardent prayer regarding the love of Jesus and His Passion: O Lord Jesus Christ, two graces do I ask You before I die: the first, that in my lifetime I may feel, as far as possible, both in my soul and body, that pain which You, sweet Lord, endured in the hour of Your most bitter Passion; the second, that I may feel in my heart as much as possible of that excess of love by which You, O Son of God, were inflamed to suffer so cruel a Passion for us sinners.
The documents record that a winged Seraph appeared to St. Francis and signed him with the visible marks of the wounds of Christ. St. Francis of Assisi, the Little Poor Man, the Universal Brother, had now become a living image of the Crucified Jesus. The marks gave witness to the integrity of the person who bore them. They also gave credibility to the message he had now become. When a spirit of indifference was taking over the world, (The Lord) renewed in the flesh of St. Francis the Sacred Stigmata of (His) Passion to rekindle in our hearts the fire of (His) love. (adapted Opening Prayer for the Feast of the Impression of the Stigmata). The Seraphic one received an answer to his ardent prayer in a way he had never imagined.
Together with this privileged gift from God came an awesome responsibility. He was entrusted with a mission: to rekindle the fire of Divine Love in the hearts of God’s children. To rekindle hearts that had grown cold in their sincere love for God. They were Christians and Catholics or some other form of Christian expression, even then, that had established their own “spiritual and moral opinion for life”. The attitude, though not exactly the same, can be compared with the common expression heard so often, even by “faithful” people: “Oh, I’m not religious, but I am very spiritual”. When you say you believe but do not live what you say you believe, eventually you believe only yourself. It’s a like the adage that says: The one who has him/herself as counselor has a fool for counselor. Being blind to the truth how can you lead anyone, much less yourself?
Unity and “peace” (or better truce) in many areas was determined by the politics of the moment or the tolerance of fatigue awaiting another opportunity to overwhelm the “enemy”. How many wars! How many lives destroyed! How much sorrow and destruction! All in the name of “some” God Who differentiated among His own creation instigating division rather than unity and acceptance. All in the Name of the One (Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is One! – Deuteronomy 6: 4). What blasphemy! Nothing ever seems to change!
Nature does not stand still. It is always developing. It is always going through the “growing pains” of change. So many holy souls and prophets of every time, on many sides of the spectrum of human history, were encouraging people to dialogue, accept one another. God was the common denominator, but whose God (!?). God creates and does not desire destruction and death. Nevertheless, in God’s Name (!?), the beauty of the Gospel was so marred and distorted by the very ones called to live it for the world to see in everyone the image of a loving God.. When hatred turns to love and death turns into life, then people can observe with astonishment and recognize the work of Grace, the work of God. The world of the thirteenth century was forgetting and at times losing the ardor of conviction and commitment. They needed “to see God in Christ” once again. St. Francis became the “come and see”, the “show and tell”, for God’s children to see clearly and understand unquestionably the Father’s message to all His children.
The Stigmata St. Francis bore spoke and continue to speak volumes for those willing to ‘read’ the Wounds of Jesus on the Seraphic one, in a spirit of faith. To see Francis was to see the living image of the Crucified. To see him was a challenge to change. To encounter him was to recognize God speaking through him. People were reminded of God’s limitless love. God was “pleading” with His children, calling everyone to cooperate with grace and to be the persons they – and we – were created to be. We are children of the Father, redeemed in the blood of the Son, bound together in the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those willing to understand and accept the message of the wounds and the person signed with them, knew they were ‘called to action’. The Stigmata call to action not apathy, love not loathing, conviction not complacency, determination not doubt, commitment not compromise, life not lethargy.
Like the great priest-prophet of the Old Testament, Ezekiel, St. Francis received a mission to be a living prophecy to a lethargic world suffering from spiritual dryness. Ezekiel’s prophetic words speak of numberless dry, lifeless, disjointed bones, lying on a vast field, (see Ezekiel 37: 1-14). The words Ezekiel prophesies over them at God’s command can be compared to many periods in human history, to St. Francis’ time, and even to our own, when war and its after-effects on society – violence, economic difficulties, contagious illnesses, social restlessness, immorality and amorality – take their toll on the spiritual life of God’s people. Even those of deep faith can experience a dryness and spiritual fatigue. Many just get caught up in the “mechanism” of a modern, technologically advanced, seemingly self-sufficient world that seems to be forgetting or already has forgotten its Creator. They look for understanding and direction. They seek someone who will journey with them and nourish them with God’s Word and healing grace. The compromises they have made with the world for peace and happiness, no longer hold. Once we encounter the Crucified and gaze upon His face (cfr. St. Clare’s letter to St. Agnes of Prague) how can anyone not respond with surrender?
To see St. Francis, signed with the sign of the Crucified, made Jesus come alive in the hearts of those he met and with whom he spoke. The Stigmata was a sign to all of a presence that was reassuring, encouraging, life-giving. Isaiah also spoke of the wounds of Christ centuries before His Passion and Death – Through His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53: 4-5). St. Francis of Assisi accepted to let those wounds come alive once again in his own body. Francis was a reminder and a sign of hope. He became a tangible image of the self-sacrificing love of Jesus the Redeemer. The wounds of Jesus imprinted on the body the Poverello kept the reality of that one great sacrifice vividly alive before the eyes of all.
The field of dry disjointed bones about which the priest-prophet Ezekiel writes is also a reminder of what we are without God. When we allow God to fulfill His work in/with/through and for us, His Living Word overshadows our lives. The brilliance of that “shadow of the Father” possesses and fills us with God’s breath of love, the “overshadowing of the Spirit of God”. We come alive more fully than before. No longer dryness and death, but freshness, fulfillment, freedom and life-giving love! God Himself intervenes by doing in-with-for us what is otherwise humanly impossible. When we feel like ‘dry bones’ – tired, discouraged, disillusioned, even despairing – that is the moment for us to hope against all hope (Romans 4: 18). God Himself brings about our spiritual ‘resurrection’ in this life. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Eucharist offer us the opportunity to participate in His Passion-Death-Resurrection, our pledge of future life and glory. Love for the cross is the distinctive sign of chosen souls. Jesus’ wounds remind us how He loved us to His death that we might live with Him in Life’s fullness.
The Seraphic Father shares in the Paschal Mystery of Christ in the Stigmata he received. Our accepting “yes” to the truth of this unheard-of event (cfr. Brother Elias letter on the death of St. Francis) opens our heart to a gradual and effective restoration, renewal, rebirth, and re-creation in each one of us. Francis becomes the ambassador leading us to a deeper awareness of Jesus in our life. As we accept and “Live Jesus” transforming grace takes over. The feeling is inexplicable but the results are obvious.
As Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi, we continue to let Jesus come alive in a world grown cold to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The ‘Good News’ that we preach with our lives is that God so loved the world He sent His only Son so that all who believe in Him might have life. He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3: 16-17). We ‘climb Calvary’ with Christ and accept ‘our own stigmata’. We bear joyfully the responsibilities and burdens that come with life. We rekindle the flame of faith in the hearts of others, and we see it grow stronger by God’s grace in ourselves.
The signing of our Seraphic Father with the Sacred Stigmata of Jesus calls us to action. It must however begin with each one of us first, before we attempt to reach out to others. Ultimately, we reach a point where everything is in perspective and even the world is put under our feet. The world once again is recognized as it always is, but not always accepted as being. The world once again is seen as the Theater of Redemption. It is no longer seen solely as a stumbling-block of distractions and seductions that destroy fervor and lead to tepidity, indifference. It no longer leads to separation from all that is good and all that is God. All that is human finds it journey to be holy. St. Francis’ Prayer asking to experience the love that Jesus had in dying for us and St. Francis’ reception of the Stigmata of Christ on La Verna both offer us help to reflect upon a simple and powerful way to strengthen and deepen our spiritual lives.
1) Imitate Love – Ask God for the ability to surrender totally in trust to God’s will. Love is total surrender to the One Who surrenders Himself for us on the Cross and to us in the Eucharist.
2) Meditate on the Sufferings and Love of Jesus – Keep the image of the Passion-Death of Jesus alive in your heart. We Franciscans are noted for our affective prayer. It touches the heart and makes the reality of what we consider more vivid and impressive.
3) Love the Cross – Do not fear the image of suffering and death. The Cross without Christ is a lie. With Christ, the Cross becomes not a sign of death but Life, not a sign of hatred but Love. Keep the image always alive in your heart and your life, especially in the midst of the heavy burdens that might come.
4) Grow in Christian Perfection – The spiritual life is not static. Once Christ and the Cross become ‘real’ and present to the heart, we must proceed forward by ‘living Jesus’ and His Gospel more intensely.
5) Climb Calvary – When we grow in our Christian life, we cannot help but desire to ‘climb Calvary’ to be one with the mystery of our redemption.
6) Embrace with Cheerful Soul Everything – Having embraced the Cross and stood with Jesus, all else becomes a gift we can easily embrace with gratitude, trust, and cheerfulness. Yes, ‘cheerfulness’. To embrace one thing is not to embrace something else. God loves a cheerful giver. When we embrace cheerfully what God’s permits, we let go of our false securities and comfort zones, and just trust because we love.
7) Be Faithful – Nothing can be taken for granted. We must be ever on the watch to remain faithful. Never become complacent thinking that everything will now happen automatically. The Spirit’s work is kept alive by faith-filled lives that never slacken, that renew the ‘process’ everyday with greater commitment and intensity.
8) Place the World Under Your Feet – Seek to live the spirit of the famous image of St. Francis embracing the Crucified with the world at his feet. Use the world as the theater of redemption it is. Make good use of all creation as the gifts that can lead us to the fullness of life. Thus, the world will not control, condition, and ultimately condemn us, but it will be as it was created to be our “source of resources” to help us on our journey to God.
The impression of the Stigmata of Jesus on Saint Francis of Assisi, celebrated this month, challenges us to remember and live the words Per Crucem ad Lucem – Through the Cross to the Light (Pope St. Paul VI). The wounds of the Passion speak of a world that challenge and often refuse and reject the Incarnate God. Jesus took on human nature that humanity might rise above what was leading it astray. Treachery, betrayal, capture, torture, and death were the ‘thanks’ He was offered by those whom he benefitted in many ways. The wounds we celebrate in Our Seraphic Father call us to be spiritually impressed with the same ‘signs’ and respond to the gift as did St. Francis.
– The nails in the hands remind us to use our hands to bless and not offend, to give not seek to receive, to embrace rather than push away, to raise up rather than put down, help rather than hinder.
– The nails in the feet remind us of the Scriptural phrase: blessed are the feet of the bearer of peace (Isaiah 52: 7). They encourage us to approach all as sisters and brothers, move towards those in need rather than remain stationary in our own comfort and security, take the first step and seek out those estranged rather than wait for the other to make a move first.
– The heart pierced reminds us that we must disarm our hearts to one another. Allow all to enter our hearts as well that we may discover the limitless and unconditional love of God through us. We enter the open heart of Jesus to encounter the open arms of God waiting to give us His warm loving embrace. It’s a “heart-to-heart experience” that cannot be duplicated nor substituted.
Let the Impression of the Sacred Wounds of Jesus on the body of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi speak profoundly to all of us. Franciscans see themselves in our Seraphic Father. He is the image we seek to follow so that through him we may be faithful in “living Jesus”. Thus, we become a Living Gospel to the world. We cannot be Gospel without being Christ. We cannot be Christ without the imprint of the Wounds on our heart and soul. We cannot bear the imprint of the wounds unless we can say: It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2: 20). When I am weak then it is that I am strong (2Corinthians 12: 10). Such a “gift” requires we offer an unconditional “yes” to God and surrender in all things to God’s Will. We become victors with the Victim, Whose Wounds our Seraphic Father bore, reminding us I have done what was mine to do, now may Christ teach you what you must do (St. Francis’ words to those surrounding his deathbed)
May God bless you; my 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 of Assisi look upon each one of us, their Spiritual Children and your loved ones, with loving care.
Happy Feast Day of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi to our entire Franciscan Family!
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
September 2023-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Teresa Redder, on August 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
August 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you his peace!
The Feast of Our Lady of the Angels is celebrated each year on August 2nd by the entire Franciscan Order. The religious family of St. Francis of Assisi joyfully commemorates the little chapel below the town of Assisi that St. Francis rebuilt out of love and respect for the Eucharist and Our Lady in Whose honor the church is dedicated to God. The chapel was given to the friars by the Benedictines of Monte Subasio. Francis, not desiring to possess anything, offered a basket of fish yearly to the monks for the use of the chapel. It is the birthplace of the Franciscan Order. Santa Maria degli Angeli (St. Mary of the Angels, also known as the Portiuncula, “the Little Portion”) is dear to and revered by all Franciscans. It is the “homestead” of the Brotherhood of the Friars Minor where they finally had a place to pray, gather, live their consecrated life, and from where, in the beginning, they were sent out as messengers of their Gospel life. It is an expression of Francis’ particular love and devotion for Mary the Mother of Jesus, Virgin made Church because Virgin-Mother of God. It is the refuge that welcomed St. Clare on Palm Sunday night in March 1212 when she left her family home, was joyfully greeted by Francis and the friars, and began a new family of consecrated Franciscan women. At the Portiuncula St. Clare began her life and ministry as foundress, mother, sister, of thousands of consecrated women down through the centuries. Here she was the confidant of Francis and the brothers as well. These are only a few of the reasons our Seraphic Father loved this place. Franciscans also revere the Portiuncula because it is also the place where our Seraphic Father passed from time to eternity the night between October 3rd and 4th in 1226.
The Poverello himself, lover of extreme poverty, made what seems an exception to the Rule when he told the friars: See to it, my sons, that you never abandon this place. If you are driven out from one side, go back in at the other. For this place is truly holy and is the dwelling place of God. Here, when we were but few, the Most High gave us increase; here He enlightened the hearts of His poor ones by the light of His wisdom; here He set wills afire with the fire of His love. Here he who prays with a devout heart will obtain what he prays for and he who offends will be punished more severely. Wherefore, my sons, consider this dwelling place of God to be worthy of all honor, and with all your heart, with the voice of joy and praise, give glory to God in this place.” (II Celano 19)
Truly Catholic, Apostolic and Holy, Francis always was One with the Church. He sought out the blessing of the Pope for all his endeavors. According to the narrative, Francis heard Mary calling him to the Portiuncula. When he arrived there, he saw Mary and Jesus. St. Francis’ burning desire to save souls was granted an indulgence by heaven itself, as long as he received the approval for such an indulgence from the Holy Father. He asked the Holy Father to grant plenary indulgences to those visiting the chapel to honor Jesus and Our Heavenly Mother. His Holiness asked Francis how many years he desired for the indulgence. Francis response to the Pope was that he desired not “years” but “souls”. The plenary indulgence of the Pardon of Assisi was granted from noon on August 1st and lasting the entire day of the feast, August 2nd. Going back to the friars, Francis was heard to say: I want to send you all to heaven!
The promise of what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and what you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16: 19) that Jesus gave to Peter after his Confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of the living God (Matthew 16: 16), encountered no hesitation of total belief in the heart of Francis. For St. Francis of Assisi as for all his spiritual children the Pope is the successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ. Thus, the Holy Father is to be revered, loved, and obeyed.
The story of the “Pardon of Assisi”, as the indulgence of the Portiuncula is called, only corroborates the more universal celebration of Mary that affects the whole of the Catholic Christian world. It speaks of a reality we must always be aware of and believe in, the Assumption of the Blessed Mother body and soul into heaven. Assumed to heaven in the fullness of her personhood (body and soul) She, Mediatrix of all Graces, intercedes for Her children in any way that facilitates their journey to the fullness of life.
The Assumption of Our Blessed Mother is celebrated and solemnized by Catholics each year by participating in the Eucharist. This celebration helps to reflect upon an essential and consoling truth about time and eternity. During August when we celebrate this crowning moment for Mary, most people are planning how to cram in the last few available weeks or days of summer vacation before getting back to the routine of daily life and work after Labor Day. The activities revolving around summer vacation and relaxation often condition us to forget that we are a “wholeness”, body and soul. There cannot be on earth, one without the other and be fully alive (St. Irenaeus) Every human being in their entirety, spirit, soul, and body, is created by our Heavenly Father, redeemed by the Incarnate Son, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and called to participate one day in the fullness of redemption.
In view of Her Divine Motherhood, Mary was conceived without sin. She was a co-redeeming presence in the name of all humanity at the foot of the Cross. And, when her life’s journey was completed, our Blessed Mother was assumed body and soul into heaven. The new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21, 1) is the “gift” God gave Mary ahead of time for being Who and How She is. In that saving grace of Mary, we are reminded that we too are called to share eternal life with God in the totality of our being. St. Augustine reminds us that the greatness of Mary is in Her faith in all God asked and revealed. Believing the impossible, She is Mother of the faithful. Though eminently greater than us, yet infinitely lesser than God, She is a unique sign of all that is promised to those who, as She, say “yes” to the Lord’s invitations and challenges. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1: 37). Trust! Oh Christian, Remember your dignity! (St. Leo the Great Christmas Sermon concerning the Incarnation). The thought of Mary’s Assumption keeps the truth of our ultimate eternal life a reality to anticipate with joy, and a life to celebrate with gratitude
The body, as well as the soul, restored in grace, is called to share the fullness of life eternal with all the holy ones. The body (human nature) is an essential element of holiness. Many do not recognize its spiritual value. They see the body solely as an object of indiscriminate pleasure. Today’s means of communication make an immense amount of material available that often misrepresents and/or degrades the human body. In various ways it presents the body as an object of hedonistic pleasure rather than presenting the entire person worthy of the respect it deserves. Every human being is a Temple of God’s Presence. Our bodies are all signs of the means our Creator took upon Himself to become intimately one with His creature. We lose sight of the fact that the body and soul cannot be separated in this life without destroying the person’s ability to continue on life’s journey in time with all the spiritual and material help that God affords us. Thus, it will not be separated in eternity.
St. Francis, was quite aware of his own humanity and its fragility and vulnerability. Yet, with all his flaws, he still could joyfully praise the God Who created all that is. Francis sang the praises of God present in all God’s attributes seen in all creation. There are two beautiful and powerful reminders of mercy and life in the Canticle of the Creatures. St. Francis praised especially those capable of willingly forgiving others with a disarmed heart (mercy), and those surrendering with serene trust their total being to “Sister Death” (life) in anticipation of the joyful encounter with the Author of life. A heart that forgives, and a soul ready to let go and take flight into God, is a person truly free!
Even the disfigured bodies of the lepers, whom Francis of Assisi feared terribly, became a source of strength for him. He was able to overcome his fear and repugnance of these suffering souls. He embraced the afflicted brother or sister. He saw beyond the infirmity and recognized a member of the family of God, his sister or brother. Their body suffered outwardly, but through loving acceptance of Francis and others, their soul could find serenity and even inner joy. When they were accepted as sister, brother, companion on the journey of life, the lives of the “walking dead” began to change. They regained their joyful awareness of being children of God, while still severely challenged in health and by many of the society they were part of. Francis and the friars helped these ostracized of their world to realize they were no less loved by God. A wholeness and integrity for one whom only a miracle could heal, was embraced as an equal, though they still bore the marks of the passion on their bodies (Galatians 6: 17). Challenges may have differed, as they do today for each one of us, but the responsibility to accept God’s way instead of “my way” is always the determining factor that makes life worth living and every moment fruitful. Love was able to bring about the transformation of the whole person.
The whole body, the whole person, redeemed and saved is an essential reminder offered us in the celebration of the Assumption of Mary. Our Franciscan Family has always promoted and encouraged this wonderful privilege of our Blessed Mother. Among our sainted members was the great Saint Anthony of Padua who was a champion of the Assumption of Mary. A true Franciscan, he realized the effectiveness of the Incarnation of the Savior as an essential reminder for all of us in our spiritual and daily life. Who more than our Blessed Mother experienced the truth of this statement?
We Catholics honor Mary in her Assumption. We praise and thank God for raising Mary to share beforehand in the gifts of the Resurrection of her Son. Her Assumption is a reminder of the promise God made to all His children in Jesus through the Spirit. God Who creates, never annihilates anything created. Nothing is useless, especially when it fulfills its purpose. It might be transformed, but never destroyed, unless to raise it up to a greater state. Our Blessed Mother’s Assumption, ultimate privilege of the Marian trilogy – Immaculate Conception, Divine Motherhood, Assumption – is the crowning moment that awaits all of God’s children. We are called to listen to the prompting of the Spirit of God and live in the Word that challenges us to grow. The challenges in life can be the means that lead to our restoration to the original grace conferred on humanity in Eden. We reap the fruits of our collaboration or not with the One Who knows what is necessary and of what we are capable. In so doing, like Mary, the whole person shares in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21: 1).
Do we properly care both physically and spiritually for our bodies as the Temples they are of the Holy Spirit? Do we have a healthy respect for ourselves and who we are and what we are about? Do we respectfully treat one another as members of the one family of God’s children, who have promised to be sisters and brothers of the other in the Secular Franciscan Order, spiritual children of St. Francis of Assisi? Do we regulate our time wisely in such a way that even our pious practices enhance and do not detract from our God-given family, social, religious, and the like, responsibilities? Do we realize that everything has its place in God’s plan? Do we see the world as the theater of redemption? Do we realize that the world, as bad as things can seem, is not evil in itself, because it was created by God? Do we acknowledge that any evil we see is often the effect of how human beings misuse and abuse the wonderful gift with which they have been entrusted? Have we accepted the challenge to work toward the restoration of the wholeness of creation, and our own personal wholeness?
We must look to see, and hear to listen. We focus with our whole being to be able to understand how to live the Gospel life effectively. The integrity of creation and the integrity of creation’s reply to what the Creator has entrusted to all is essential to God’s love. Franciscans accept responsibility and accountability for creation and their use of this wonderful gift. This envelopes the world in general, relationships among nations and peoples, and even our own personal worlds (our bodies created in the image and likeness of God, endowed with God’s love, life, and the awesome gift of free will).
The Blessed Virgin Mary’s most glorious and crowning moment is the epitome of a life’s journey in, with, through, and to God. Mary’s Assumption tells us we are called to share in the gift of the Resurrection of Jesus. Our whole person – body and soul – is destined for eternity. Mary’s acceptance of the Father’s Will made Her the First Disciple and the Mother of the Christ, Mother of the Christian at the foot of the Cross, and thus Mother of the Church in Her journey on earth and in the fullness of life in eternity. Her acceptance of the Father’s challenge to be Mother of the Messiah introduced Her to all the other privileges we celebrate in Mary and, ultimately, Her Resurrection, ahead of time, as Queen of Heaven and all Creation. The Word was made Flesh (John 1: 14) in Her and through Her.
The Eucharist is made ‘Flesh’ through the words of the priest, as well as in each one who receives Him. In Mary’s Assumption we see the dignity and glory to which we, Her children, are called. The Eucharist is our pledge of future glory (Sacrosanctum Concilium), as it was for the Seraphic one of Assisi. The Mass we celebrate and offer with the priest will be a sun that irradiates blessings (Padre Pio of Pietrelcina) and joys on us and on all whom we encounter. May it be as one of our Capuchin Saints, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, said: The Mass is my heaven on earth. That it could be so for us all! That our bodies could become more deeply, as was the body of our Blessed Mother, Tabernacles that “house” the Lord when we receive Him in Holy Communion, and Monstrances that manifest Him to all whom we encounter when the goodness and holiness of Jesus irradiate in our lives to all! Our bodies and lives are so privileged that Jesus has chosen us as His way of profoundly touching the lives of others. We, in turn, offer them with us and with God’s help and in His Will, to achieve the “perfection” to which we are all called.
With every best wish for you for the remainder of the summer, I ask a remembrance in your prayers that I may fulfill my ministry among you as God wills. May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and our Father St. Francis of Assisi and our holy Mother St. Clare of Assisi watch over you and all your loved ones with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
August 2023-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Teresa Redder, on July 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
July 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you His peace
Everything is a grace; everything is a gift. Everything that we are, have, experience; everything that we like, dislike, enjoy or not, everything, seen with the “yes” of faith, is a grace! God’s direct or indirect gifts help us grow through life and become the saints we were created to be. All we have to do is accept the gift and use it to the best of our abilities.
Luke, the evangelist, after the story of the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple and His return with Mary and Joseph to Nazareth, writes that Jesus grew in wisdom, age, and grace before God and men (Luke 2, 52). Jesus is born, grows up, and fulfills his human and spiritual formation at a specific moment in time and in a determined place. He is the eternal God Who limits Himself to a historical and physical presence among His own creatures. Though He knows all things, our God, in the Incarnate Person of Jesus the Christ, “experiences” what He knows, as we are told in all things but sin (Hebrews 4: 15).
This is what takes place in the life of all people. It was an essential part even of the lives of the ‘officially canonized’ saints. No one is born a saint but he/she has a lifetime to become one. Saints are creatures whose human nature is not deformed by grace but elevated by it. It strengthens and perfects us day-by-day when we trust and cooperate with this divine gift. God’s Grace and graces are offered us that we might become what we were created to be; that we might recover what was lost when our First Parents decided to follow their own will rather than that of our God Father and Creator.
The saint is that person who has taken the narrow road (Matthew 7: 13-14) and allows the action of grace to transform his/her soul and thus re-creates the person in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1: 26-27). We may have heard the saying, What I am is God’s gift to me. What I become is my gift to God…and…God and I together can do the impossible. Without God I can do nothing of true worth.
If it is true that supernatural grace perfects and does not destroy nature, then it is vital that our lives be rooted in the working of grace and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Before any of us can ever hope to stand out as an example of virtue, it is necessary to become that perfect person come to full stature in Christ (Ephesians 4: 13) in the ordinary daily matters of living.
Health, culture, character, environment all contribute to the “saint becoming process”. God’s grace does not destroy a person’s right and ability to act on his/her own initiative. It does not take away free will. God would never reduce us to mere robots. Grace respects the character and the will of each and every individual. We are the ones who accept or reject the challenge to allow the love God has for us to take hold of our lives. We are the ones who decide to live in holy fear of offending God. And this ‘fear’ is not the uncontrolled anxiety of being condemned by an Eternal Just Judge. It is the enlightened and prudent ‘fear’ of gratefully knowing ourselves as God’s creation and of what we are capable in the light of our freedom as a child of God. It is a ‘fear’ of wounding the love of a compassionate and loving God Who brought us into being, died for us, and calls us to an ever more intimate relationship with Him in mystery. This ‘fear’ of ourselves and trust in Him helps us to recognize the daily miracles of grace around us, as we yearn for that time when we will see Him in the reality of the Eternal Life promised His faithful children.
An Italian psychologist, speaking of the humanity of the saints, wrote: The soul of the saints is not like the Dead Sea whose waters are never agitated by so much as a breeze, and in which there is no sign of life. The soul of the saint resembles rather the Sea of Genesareth (Sea of Galilee) that has terrible storms and can be calmed only by the hand of the Master. Saints had their ups and downs, delusions and difficulties, weaknesses and temptations. They also had their faults, like those that Saint Alphonsus Liguori speaks of when he says that he would consider himself a happy man if he could be freed from these faults a quarter of an hour before dying. These are the words of a saint known for his joyfulness even when he was being persecuted and for his understanding in patience of human weakness. Fear is a lack of faith and even more so a lack of love.
We must allow ourselves to be directed and molded by the action of God’s grace. The obstacles that we may encounter on our way or those we ourselves create must be eliminated. Through our personal commitment, the task of overcoming our own weaknesses takes shape and progresses. We begin to see how our life is slowly lifted up to greater heights, spiritually first and foremost, and then, as a wonderful effect, our very soul is lifted up naturally, intellectually, psychologically, as our mind and heart are more in harmony with God and His holy Will.
We strive to regain innocence of spirit and life. Encouragingly we remember that not all the saints were as innocent as we are told was Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Just consider some: St. Mary Magdalen (from whom seven demons were expelled), St. Mary of Egypt (whose notoriety as a woman of loose morals was proverbial in her area of the world), St. Margaret of Cortona (who was a kept woman), St. Paul (who was rather violent), St. Augustine (whose Confessions speak of numerous sins and his own prayer: “Lord, make me chaste, just not yet”, tells us a great deal.), St. Francis Borgia (about whom the philosopher Leibnitz remarked regarding the ingenious method Francis used to overcome his exaggerated love for wine).Even St. Vincent de Paul, the loving Father of Charity, seemed to have a crotchety character at times and was subject to anger. So many others could be named who during their lives, as we, were all masterpieces of the Artist in progress.
And what about all those holy men and women who did not live in the shadow of the cloister, convents, or friaries! From the very beginning of their life they too had to combat the vehemence of their passions and temperaments! We have all heard the phrase, Still waters run deep (Latin proverb). Even those placid souls who seem to be impervious to any annoyance still have the inner part of their nature that must deal and decide on the course to take at any given moment. The temptations we experience are the challenges for change that God through nature offers us. How we respond will determine who we become, and where we are headed. The examples of the lives of our sisters and brothers raised to the honor of the altar continually remind us that we all have more than just a chance at heaven. It is ours for the taking! All we have to do is Let go!, Let God! And Let Loose of all that keeps me from Him! In other words: say yes to the prompting of grace and trust.
God is a jealous God (Leviticus 24: 14-16)! God does not want other things to disrupt the loving relationship He has established between Himself and His creation. He knows we can become that new wine in new wineskins (Matthew 9: 16-17) that Jesus, our Incarnate Lord, challenges us to become. The saints we revere and honor all tell us that it is not only possible but necessary. How we accomplish this task is easier than we might imagine. Among the many ‘things’ we could do, I can think of a few that are essential:
– Abandon yourself to the working of the Holy Spirit. When God ‘calls the shots’, you can be sure success is in sight. We are called to Heaven. Our journey through life often encounters difficulties that challenge our choices. The Spirit of God speaks to our minds and hearts. Trust the Spirit of God. Seek it out through prayer, meditation and, at times, through the counsels of people of proven faith and life who can encourage you and clarify your difficulties and doubts. God works through others to bring us to Himself. No man is an island (John Donne). We need each other.
– Be committed to your own conversion. Health enthusiasts will do anything for that better looking body. They go through painful exercises, extreme fasts or diets, and often will spend good hard-earned money, sacrificing other legitimate pleasures, to achieve their goal for a better physical look or material situation. How committed are we to a better soul?!
– Be an enemy to duplicity. God knows you better than you know yourself. You are what you are before God and nothing more (St. Francis of Assisi), and I like to add ‘nothing less’, that is, ‘nothing less than a child of God called to eternal life’. We are entrusted with an awesome responsibility to make sure that our authenticity, integrity and credibility never be placed in doubt. Struggling to become saints – we are a work in progress (And what a piece of work many of us are!!!)
– Don’t hide the rough edges and cracks and flaws. They will be obvious. As the Master works on us, we show others the good that is happening and how powerfully transforming God’s grace is. ‘Duplicity’ is just another word for ‘hypocrisy’. Avoid it! Let God shine through. Once the light of God’s presence shines through us, we live in the glow of His Eternal Love.
Years before Vatican Council II and its reminder of our Universal Call to Holiness, one of our Capuchin saints, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, wrote to a spiritual daughter, Erminia Gargani (January 27, 1918): I have never ceased, nor will I cease to pray to the most sweet God that He may be pleased to accomplish His holy work in you; that is, that you may have a strong desire and intention to reach perfection in the Christian life; a desire which you must love and nurture tenderly in your heart, as the work of the Holy Spirit, and a spark of His divine fire.
We too accept the gift of our humanity with gratefulness; our difficulties, burdens, challenges, and even our sins as traveling companions on the road of life. They help us keep our feet well grounded in reality. In this reality we yearn and strive for where our heart is directed, that is Life with God in Heaven. And let us all become saints – It takes only a lifetime, and God will be with us all the way!
As our nation celebrates Independence Day on July 4th, let us always remember that our “independence” is fruitful when our “dependence” on God and His Holy Will, opens our hearts to be “interdependent” on one another as the Franciscan fraternity and family we professed to be.
May God bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph guide, guard, and protect you; and our Father St. Francis of Assisi and our holy Mother St. Clare of Assisi intercede for you and all our loved ones with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, OFM Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
July 2023-Monthly Spiritual Asst Greetings
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on June 4th, 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
June 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
In the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary
May you enter the loving embrace of the Father
Whose Holy Spirit fills us with Life and Love.
The Cross, earth’s greatest pulpit, raised our King for all to see in the glory and majesty of his infamy and humiliation. The Heart of Jesus unloved by those loved by Him must have felt such deep sorrow and pain that words cannot fathom, much less explain. His words cut deeply into the hearts of those who stood by. The words of the bystanders to the Cross were filled with anger, ridicule, blasphemy. Jesus responded with words from the Cross filled with understanding,
compassion, forgiveness, surrender, and LOVE.
The Cross-Road of Calvary offers a challenge to all who look upon the Crucified. It indicates a needed directional change “upward” and beyond. Jesus, exhausted and weak, musters up the strength to say It is finished (John 19: 30). If we only would reflect and understand the powerful meaning and impact of these few words, how our lives might change! While the English translation is good, it is the Latin expression that so powerfully expresses the deeper significance of the words. They speak of the completion of a mission, the fulfillment of the Promise God made to our first parents, as well as of all the prophecies up to that time regarding the Messiah. Nevertheless, they also speak of the intimacy and fruitfulness of the greatest act of God’s love: consummatum est! – It is consummated! (John 19: 30) When an agreement is consummated, when a love is consummated, the total surrender of one to the other is made without reserve, and from the two a new way of being emerges, unique in its own personality, but similar to those whose agreement and love have allowed it to be. Jesus totally surrendered His Will and existence to the Father and thus also to all humanity.
We are the children of that consummated act of love that introduced humanity once again to the loving embrace of the Eternal Father. In the Blood of the Savior, and His love for us, we are re-born into a new creation and receive our status as children of God, (cfr.1 John 3: 1) in the blood of Christ. We are unique in our individual personalities but are one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through the Blood of Christ. The Easter Proclamation of Light Service chants: What good would life have been had Christ not come to us as our Redeemer! Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your Son. It is this same Incarnate Son Who completed His mission on earth by being “consumed” upon the cross. It was this consummation that brought an end to the earthly life of Jesus and began a new Life for us.
The completion of His mission from the Father was the beginning of our being sent forth as His “backup plan” as His Mystical Body in time. This awesome responsibility and trusting mandate of Jesus continues for the sisters and brothers of the Poverello of Assisi who responded with their “yes” to live the life of the Gospel. The Gospel is the “Good News” and the Good News is the person of Jesus the Christ, Son of God, Word Incarnate. He continues His life-giving ministry of presence and power through us, a compassionate presence of powerful love.
The Divine Heart of Jesus burned with love for everyone. The crown of thorns was a sign to mock Him as Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. (John 19: 19) His majesty was marked by the throne of the cross, the crown of thorns, nails for jewels, and a beaten body covered in blood for a royal robe. The image of the Crucified Savior and His pierced Heart is a constant reminder that Love is not loved. St. Francis of Assisi weeping profusely often repeated this phrase so that others might consider the Love of Christ that is so often taken for granted, or “not taken” at all.
Many great Saints have promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not some emotional expression of pious prayers intended to excite our feelings, as some seem to believe. All true prayer should be able to arouse within us a sense of the Divine Presence. Prayers help us feel good and trusting in what we believe God will respond to our needs according to His Will. However, when we speak Cor ad Cor (heart to Heart) to the Lord, the relationship deepens and we move from feeling to becoming. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a symbol for us to focus upon that reminds us of a love unequaled and always desired. Prayer keeps the loving relationship alive and, hopefully well, with the Source of all we are and are called to be.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart offers us the image that society uses to express the transparency of truth (cross my heart and hope to die – used by children), unquestionable integrity (put my whole heart and soul into it), and the depth of limitless love (I love you with all my heart). We use the heart to confirm and seal many a relationship we desire to establish with others. The heart is mentioned not just as an emotional symbol but as a verifying reality of the depth of a person’s desires and availability. The heart conditions the thoughts and actions that people often express. The following of one’s heart reveals a great deal about who a person is, or desires to be.
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, following The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), is the crowning celebration of the liturgical year. All the other liturgical celebrations originate and revolve around the great Paschal Mystery of the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus. More often than not they concern some truth of our Catholic Faith that we accept and believe as “Catholics”. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus may not be a dogma of faith, but it summarizes in this image the love of Jesus for humanity. In a sense it explains everything we believe as God’s continued act of Eternal Love. It becomes the ultimate explanation for all the events celebrated during the year by reminding us of their origin in God’s Love, their development and progression in God’s Love, and their ultimate fulfillment in God’s eternal Loving Embrace.
Reflection and meditation on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our Lord and God, Crucified Savior, Pierced Redeemer, invites all to come to the Throne on which hung the Savior of the world (cfr. Veneraton of the Cross Liturgy of Good Friday). Ascending to the right hand of the Father He bears with Him the “engraved” signs of His love for His family redeemed in His sacrificial offering on the Cross. The nail prints and open side are eternal reminders for us of the love of God Who became one of His own creatures, the condescension of compassion as St. Leo the Great refers to the Incarnation. For all eternity He bears the marks of His indelible unity with creation and the length He was willing to go as one of us to seal an unbreakable bond with the Father. In Jesus, the bond between time and eternity is made sure and we are offered the undeniable road that leads to the fullness of Life. God devised the way in Jesus, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of the solid connection that leads to Life.
The human Heart of Jesus is one with the Eternal Love of God and the two who are one call us to seek first the kingdom of God and His holy operation (Scripture and St. Francis of Assisi) Come, let us adore Him! As we do, our eyes are open to see, our minds to understand, and our hearts to receive the message of love and compassion we are called to continue. Unless we can open our hearts to envelop others in love, our love remains stale and life-less, or better, love-less. As our Mother St. Clare of Assisi wrote to a spiritual daughter St. Agnes of Prague: Gaze upon the Lord. Gaze upon His Face. Allow the image of the Crucified and His pierced Heart to enter your soul through the windows of your eyes and experience the love that emanates from that image.
The Love of Christ forgets our sins and remembers only His mercy. Jesus makes his voice more clearly audible in our hearts when we focus in prayer and gaze upon the Lord. St. Francis knew that love is recognized in the daily crosses of our lives. It is as though Jesus is saying Courage! Do not be afraid! (Mark 6: 50) I have conquered the world! (John 16: 33) The love of Jesus and the images of that Love in the Crucified and the Sacred Heart empower us to be courageous in proclaiming, faithful in living, and thus at peace in our trust in the One Whose Love can never fail. The moment of His greatest defeat, was the moment of His victory.
Franciscans of any obedience strive to embody for deeply the charism of our Seraphic Father. We are called to disarm our hearts as Jesus disarmed His Most Sacred Heart. Through His ultimate sacrifice to death we are able to rejoice in our restored nature to grace and new life. Faith in Jesus empowers us with courage rooted in an active hope that conquers hearts and the world. After the battles of life comes the serenity, peace and joy that can only be lived and not even imagined. We are consumed by love for God and love for neighbor. God is continually fixed in our mind and imprinted in our heart. We can never lose sight of Him. We feel nothing except the desire to have and want what God wants. How overpowering it is to live by the heart! It means living at every moment a death to our egos that never kills the body, but energizes and enlivens our spirit, our soul. Who will set me free from this consuming fire! (cfr Hebrews 12: 29)
St. Francis of Assisi lived in the presence of God and was consumed by God’s love. The more he lived in God, the more he was aware of the concerns and needs of his sisters and brothers. How can we speak of love of God in our hearts, when we have no love for our sisters and brothers?! Love is not always materially fruitful. In fact, some may think us foolish, others may think us exhibitionists, others may call us hypocrites. We may be ridiculed by those who cannot understand a forgiving heart. Some may think us weak because we have disarmed our heart towards those who may oppose or offend us. Others may fail to recognize us now that we have unmasked our fears and are willing to stand courageously and trustingly before one another in the Name of Jesus.
True devotion for the Love of Jesus in His Sacred Heart is found in its epitome in our love for the Hidden Prisoner in the Tabernacle. This love is a transforming antidote to all that affects us in spirit and often even in the body. Jesus, I trust in You! (Prayer of Divine Mercy) We trust in Jesus, because Jesus has shown us the depth of his trust in us, to the point of being pierced that we might be healed. Through His wounds you are healed (1 Peter 2: 24).
It is most obvious how the Poverello of Assisi lived the image of the Crucified. A few years before he died his body received the visible stigmata of the wounds of Jesus. Hearts were rekindled in their awareness and love for the Passion-Death of our Savior. It was in the wound of the heart however, seen by only a privileged few, that Francis could say I have died, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me (Galatians 2: 20). The holy heart of St. Francis, empowered by the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Whose image he was gifted to be, could now say with St. Paul: I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s sufferings, for the sake of his body, the church (Colossians 1: 24). Now he understood, the words of the Cross of San Damiano: Francis rebuild my Church for as you see it is falling in to ruin. The consuming love that filled the heart of our Seraphic Father was one with the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the spirit until the mystery became fullness of reality for eternity.
As Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi, the Crucified of La Verna, how much we still have to learn about Love! The Sacred Heart that pulsated from the womb of Mary until it was pierced by the soldier’s lance as Jesus hung upon the Cross keeps reminding us that Love is not loved. Can we ever learn to love God for God’s Love’s sake without looking for return?! When we can love without fear, though we recognize our sins and failures that never seem to leave us, then it is that we can truly say Jesus I trust in you.(Divine Mercy prayer) Redemption was sealed with the last drop of blood and water from the Sacred Heart of Jesus spilled on the cross at Golgotha by the soldier’s lance. This gift of redeeming and forgiving love is repeated whenever we celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation with sincere loving repentance. The Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus knows no limits, His love is everlasting (Psalm 136). Do not let human inconstancy, foolish fear, and senseless shame keep you from the well of Jesus’ Love that is overflowing for all to drink from the richness of His Most Sacred Heart. And may that forgiving Love lead us to the uniting and empowering Love of the Eucharist that allows us to be one with Him as He is in the Father.
May the Good Lord bless you; Our Lady and good St. Joseph, guide, guard and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father St. Francis and holy Mother St. Clare watch over you, their Spiritual Children and all your loved ones, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, OFM Cap
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on May 5th, 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
May 2023
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis of Assisi,
The Lord grant you the gifts of Easter Joy,
given on the first Easter Sunday to those gathered in the Upper Room:
The Paraclete of Divine Presence
The Pardon of Divine Mercy
The Peace of His abiding Divine Life-giving Love within and around you…and
The ever-present warmth of motherly love of our Mother Mary
Who accepted us as Her children at the foot of the Cross
Our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi tells us so much of his love for Mary and his awareness of Her place in the mystery of our salvation. His love for Her was undeniable. Francis saw the Mother of God and our Heavenly Mother always in relationship to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and, because of that, to the Church.
Holy Virgin Mary, among the women born into the world,
there is no one like you.
Daughter and servant of the most high and supreme
King and of the Father in heaven,
Mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
pray for us with Saint Michael the Archangel,
all the powers of heaven and all the saints,
at the side of your most beloved Son, our Lord and Teacher.
The Easter Season calls to mind the great truths of our Faith celebrated in this most holy period. The Incarnation of the Word in the womb of Mary is the beginning of the fulfillment of the Father’s Promise to humanity. Human nature is redeemed on Calvary, assured of salvation for those who live in the light and truth of the Resurrection of Jesus, and is raised up with Jesus and glorified in His Ascension. The last Sunday of this month celebrates the Coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and heralds the birth of the Church and its coming of age to Proclaim the Gospel to every creature. (Mark 16: 15-16). The Holy Spirit continues this action of restoration and sanctification of creation down through the ages. And Mary is an integral protagonist at every moment in this Drama of Redemption and Theater of Salvation from the beginning to the fulfillment of God’s Promises.
Our Blessed Mother Mary, the mere mention of Whose name speaks of the ‘Yes’ with which she responded to God’s offer to become His earthly Mother, is a powerful yet gentle reminder of the eminent role She fulfills in the mystery and history of our salvation. Throughout the liturgical year Our Lady is always present as the Church celebrates the mysteries of Her Son. True devotion to Mary, our Mother and Queen, whose Immaculate Heart envelops all Her children with tender loving care, always leads us to Jesus, Her Son, and to a greater love and trust in God.
With the passing of time, many ‘obvious’ remembrances are institutionalized as feasts or celebrations of some sort, so that we do not forget their significance in our journey of faith. The further away we move in time from the actual events and persons we habitually celebrate, the more they can become a mere memory of the past rather than a living experience for us today. When we celebrate God and His saving action in and for humanity, the experience and relevance are always actual and timely. There can never be a time or occasion when God is not relevant or necessary. If God does not build the house, in vain do the laborers labor. If God does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil. (Psalm 127: 1)
It is this active presence of God that demands we return to our origins to re-discover the relevance of God’s Word and the impact His Word must have on our daily life. If we could see the events of our Faith with the heart of those who had seen and walked with Jesus, before and after His Passion-Death-Resurrection, things could be drastically different. If we only allowed the events of our lives and how God manifests Himself to us to penetrate our hearts as Mary did! She kept all these things in Her heart. (Luke 2: 19) If we could only remember that we as Franciscans are called to live the Gospel, and thus reflect – keep in our hearts – upon the words of the Word and take them to ourselves, how different our response would be to the challenges of openness, compassion, understanding, patience, acceptance, detachment, transparency, obedience, Franciscan fraternity … LOVE! That little word “if” packs a wallop when it is taken seriously!
With the eyes of a Faith convinced and committed, we can experience the same zeal and enthusiasm of the first followers. We too can be excited, enthused and encouraging not only about our Catholic Faith in general, but also about our Franciscan vocation in particular, and all that envisions and expects of us who profess to be Franciscans. As a faith-filled Jewish woman, Mary knew what collaborating with God usually entails: to put it in Franciscan terms, “Perfect Joy”. The “joy” was in knowing that everything that would be asked of Her was a part of God’s Plan to restore creation to its original grace-filled beauty. The “perfect” part was accepting a central collaborative part in the process of faith-filled dependence on God’s will with a hope-filled acceptance of all that is asked, regardless of how much is totally understood or desired. Only Love, and true love, can so completely abandon oneself with serenity to the unexpected, unknown, undesired, and say “yes” with such trust, that a God could become human, without every losing anything of His Divinity, and humanity could actually share in the Life of God Himself. Wow! What more can anyone ask! All this is thanks to a young virgin who said “yes” to the impossible, because God asked Her permission and assistance!
The Holy Spirit that descended on the first followers is the same Holy Spirit that we receive at Baptism and Confirmation. The distinction is seen in the effects of the Spirit’s presence based on the availability of the person ‘gifted’ by the Holy Spirit. Our Faith, founded on the Passion-Death-Resurrection of Jesus, would be of no value had it not been for the empowering of the Spirit in those first followers whose availability to His prompting allowed them to be led by the Holy Spirit of God that they might lead others. We are called to lead others to know, love and serve God in the Gospel Life proclaimed by Jesus. In the Spirit, we remember, we celebrate, and we believe Jesus to be the Incarnate Son of God and Redeemer of humanity. This Faith will bring us to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus, and consequently with one another, just as it did for the first followers of Jesus. Mary, once again, is the prime exemplar; She believed the unbelievable, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, (Luke 1: 34-35) and the impossible happened! The Creator became one with His creature; divinity and humanity became one through the total surrender in Faith of Mary to the Father’s will.
The first and most excellent of all the faithful was Mary, our Blessed Mother. Faith accompanied Her into the divine plan that made Her Mother of the Christ, Mother of the Christian, Mother of the Church. The depth of Faith of the Mother of God, expressed so powerfully at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, was enhanced with the added ministry entrusted to Her by Her dying Son. He called Her to become the Mother of all the Faithful: Woman, behold Your son; Son, behold Your Mother. (John 19: 26-27) Infinitely less than Jesus and eminently greater than all humanity, Mary makes the ultimate sacrifice in offering Her Son to the Father with the same availability to the Father’s Will with which She offered Her first ‘yes’ to become the Mother of the Savior. She manifests Herself to be, in the words of our Seraphic Father St. Francis, the Virgin made Church.
The Church maintains the living presence of the Savior, most especially in the great gift of the Eucharist – the living Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Savior. This same Church continues, with Mary, to offer Her Son – our Brother, Lord, Savior, Word Incarnate, GOD – to the Father, in that one perfect Sacrifice perpetuated through the ages in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are that Church! We, like Mary, offer ourselves each day in loving response to God’s tremendous and extravagant love for us in Jesus. And we are spiritually transformed by the graces that flow to us from Jesus through Mary. We are offered the challenge and opportunity to become the living image of the One whom we consume, as He consumes us, JESUS.
Mother of the Redeemer, She excels in the example of total surrender to God’s Will. Her Faith is an active and essential element of Her very being. Faith is not just a static acceptance of some theological truth. It is living life in the light of what we have come to believe. St. Augustine tells us that faith is believing what you do not see, and seeing what you believe. Thus, ‘believing is seeing, not vice versa as we are accustomed to presume. Believing God’s Word, we see God’s almighty power and providence at work in our lives, and thus we can confidently yield to all the Father requests of us. This same Faith places Mary in a position of total trust in God and profound love for all His children, now entrusted to Her motherly care by Jesus. She stands as the Advocate for all Her children before the Majesty of the Blessed Trinity. Truly She is, as St. Francis of Assisi acknowledged: Daughter and Servant of the Most High and Supreme King and of the Father in heaven, Mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ, Spouse of the Holy Spirit. (Antiphon Office of the Passion) Her intimate relationship with the Triune God enables Her to be our most powerful Advocate in heaven.
Present in prophecy, present in history, and present in the expectations of all God’s People, Mary is a life-giving presence that speaks of the power of God working in human history. Mary is a sign of hope for a waiting world. She reverses the obstinacy of creation in Eden and accepts wholeheartedly to cooperate with all the Father asks of Her. She becomes the Mother of all the Faithful Who enter into a New Covenant with the Father in the Blood of His Son, conceived in Her by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s loving response and daily re-commitment to that response encourages us to respond to the Father and to ask that Jesus come alive in our hearts through the same Holy Spirit working within us.
Mary was the first to practice the Gospel in all its perfection before it was written. May Her example and prayers enable us and stimulate us to follow that example. We must make every effort, like many elect souls, to follow invariably this Blessed Mother, to walk close to Her since there is no other sure path leading to Jesus – the Way, the Truth and the Life – except the path followed by our Mother. We cannot afford to refuse to take this path, we who want to reach our journey’s end “successfully”. With Her, close to Jesus, we can proceed confidently through life in the midst of whatever we may encounter or must bear.
As Followers of the Poverello of Assisi, we strive to live the Faith we profess and to see in Our Heavenly Mother a sure Advocate Who pleads our cause. We open our hearts to the Spirit we have received and we listen to God Who speaks to us in the silence of our hearts. Francis encourages us to foster an ever-growing love for our Mother Who stands to intercede for us at every moment. Mary’s life was one continual ‘yes’ to God. Following Her example, let us gratefully accept sorrows, hardships, fortune, and all life offers and/or demands with the same ‘yes’ Mary offered to God. Her response to God’s invitation allowed the Eternal One to be enfleshed in Her life. During these trying times we have been experiencing, we continue to entrust ourselves to our Mother’s “almighty intercession”. May Her Son Jesus hear the plea we make through Her, and grant this world the peace, stability, and faith in God it so desperately needs to bring an end to the political, social, economic, international, religious, spiritual, moral, and more, confusion and fear that affects the whole world.
With every best wish for you during this season of new birth and new life, I pray we all live as the ‘People of the Resurrection’. In the midst of the world’s uncertainties and global threats, let us pray earnestly that God bless our earthly home with healing and freedom from the evil one and the evil that has and continues to affect all creation. May our lives be a song of praise to the God Who creates, redeems and sanctifies. He gave us Mary, His daughter, His mother, and His spouse as our intimate companion to help us come closer to one another as Her children, as She leads us ever closer to Jesus Her Son. May we confidently respond, as our Blessed Mother Mary did with a determined ‘Yes’ to all the Father asks of us, and thus become more like Jesus in Whose image Scripture tells us we are created. Let us all be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, first gift of the Resurrection, Whose descent upon the early Church gathered together with Mary in the Cenacle, we celebrate this year on the last Sunday of May. May the Holy Spirit inflame our hearts as He filled Our Mother Mary and all the first followers.
God bless and keep all of you safe; 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 us, their Spiritual Children, with loving care.
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
Posted By Kate Kleinert, on September 1st, 2018 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
September 2018
Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
The Lord give you his peace!
In September 1224, two years before death would usher him into eternity early in life, while at prayer at a solitary site on a mountaintop in Tuscany, our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi, received the answer to his prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, two graces do I ask You before I die: the first, that in my lifetime I may feel, as far as possible, both in my soul and body, that pain which You, sweet Lord, endured in the hour of Your most bitter Passion; the second, that I may feel in my heart as much as possible of that excess of love by which You, O Son of God, were inflamed to suffer so cruel a Passion for us sinners. A winged Seraph appeared to him and signed him with the visible marks of the wounds of Christ. St. Francis of Assisi, the Little Poor Man, the Universal Brother, had become a living image of the Crucified Christ. The marks gave witness to the integrity of the person who bore them and credibility to the message he had now become, so that when a spirit of indifference was taking over the world, (The Lord) renewed in the flesh of St. Francis the Sacred Stigmata of (His) Passion to rekindle in our hearts the fire of (His)love. (adapted Opening Prayer for the Feast of the Impression of the Stigmata).
St. Francis received a wonderful privilege that carried with it a great responsibility. He was entrusted with a mission: to rekindle the fire of Divine Love in the hearts of God’s children. The Stigmata he bore speak volumes for those willing to ‘read’ them in a spirit of faith. To see him was to see the living image of the Crucified. To see him was a challenge to change. To encounter him was to recognize God speaking through him reminding all of God’s limitless love and calling everyone to cooperate with grace and become the persons we were all created to be: children of the Father, redeemed in the blood of the Son, bound together in the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those willing to understand and accept the message of the wounds and the person signed with them, knew they were ‘called to action’. The Stigmata call to action not apathy, loving not loathing, conviction not complacency, determination not doubt, commitment not compromise, life not lethargy.
Like the great priest-prophet of the Old Testament, Ezekiel, St. Francis was called to be a living prophecy to a lethargic world suffering from spiritual dryness. Ezekiel’s prophetic words speak of numberless dry, lifeless, disjointed bones, lying on a vast field, (see Ezekiel 37: 1-14); they could be compared to many periods in human history, to St. Francis’ time, and even to our own, when war and its after-effects on society, violence, economic difficulties, contagious illnesses, social restlessness, immorality and amorality take their toll on the spiritual life of God’s people. Even those of deep faith can experience a dryness and spiritual fatigue. They look for understanding and direction. They seek someone who will journey with them and nourish them with God’s Word and healing grace. To see St. Francis, signed with the sign of the Crucified, made Jesus come alive in the hearts of those he met and with whom he spoke. The Stigmata he bore were a visible sign to all of a presence that was reassuring, encouraging, life-giving. Isaiah spoke of the wounds of Christ centuries before His Passion and Death – Through His wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53: 4-5). St. Francis of Assisi accepted to let those wounds come alive once again in his own body, and thus be a reminder and a sign of hope through Jesus’ self-sacrificing love in His Eucharistic Presence that re-presents His redemptive Passion-Death-Resurrection; those wounds kept the reality of that one great sacrifice vividly alive before the eyes of all.
The great scene of that field of bones in Ezekiel is also a reminder of what we are without God, and what we become once we allow His Word to enter our lives and His Spirit-breath to enter our hearts. There is a gradual and effective rebirth, a new creation, a re-creation in each one of us. God Himself intervenes by doing in-with-for us what is otherwise humanly impossible. When we feel like ‘dry bones’ – tired, discouraged, disillusioned, even despairing – that is the moment for us to hope against all hope (Romans 4: 18). God Himself will bring about our spiritual ‘resurrection’ in this life. The sign of our faith is the Resurrection of Christ and the Eucharist offers us the opportunity to participate in His Passion-Death-Resurrection, our pledge of future life and glory. Love for the cross is the distinctive sign of chosen souls. Jesus’ wounds remind us how He loved us to His death that we might live with Him.
As Spiritual Children of St. Francis of Assisi, we continue to let Jesus come alive in a world grown cold to the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The ‘Good News’ that we preach with our lives is that God so loved the world He sent His only Son so that all who believe in Him might have life … He did not come to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. When we ‘climb Calvary’ with Christ and accept to receive ‘our own stigmata’ and bear joyfully the responsibilities and burdens that come with life, we begin to rekindle the flame of faith in the hearts of others, as it grows stronger by God’s grace in ourselves.
The signing of our Seraphic Father with the Sacred Stigmata of Jesus calls us to action. It must however begin with each one of us first, then reach out to others. Ultimately we reach a point where everything is in perspective and even the world is put under our feet; it becomes the theater of salvation, rather than a stumbling-block of distractions and seductions that destroy fervor and lead to tepidity, indifference, and finally separation from all that is good and all that is God. St. Francis’ Prayer asking to experience the love that Jesus had in dying for us and the reception of the Stigmata on La Verna help us to reflect upon a simple and powerful way to strengthen and deepen our spiritual lives.
1) Imitate Love – Ask God for the ability to surrender totally in trust to God’s will. Love is total surrender to the One Who surrenders Himself for us on the Cross and to us in the Eucharist.
2) Meditate on the Sufferings and Love of Jesus – Keep the image of the Passion-Death of Jesus alive in your heart. We Franciscans are noted for our affective prayer. It touches the heart and makes the reality of what we consider more vivid and impressive.
3) Love the Cross – Do not fear the image of suffering and death. The Cross without Christ is a lie. With Christ, the Cross becomes not a sign of death but Life, not a sign of hatred but Love. Keep the image always alive in your heart and your life, especially in the midst of the heavy burdens that might come.
4) Grow in Christian Perfection – The spiritual life is not static. Once Christ and the Cross become ‘real’ and present to the heart, we must proceed forward by ‘living Jesus’ and His Gospel more intensely.
5) CLIMB CALVARY – Once we grow in our Christian life, we cannot help but desire to ‘climb Calvary’ to be one with the mystery of our redemption.
6) Embrace with Cheerful Soul Everything – Having embraced the Cross and stood with Jesus, all else becomes a gift we can easily embrace with gratitude, trust, and cheerfulness. Yes, ‘cheerfulness’. To embrace one thing is not to embrace something else. God loves a cheerful giver. When we embrace cheerfully what God’s permits, we let go of our false securities and comfort zones, and just trust.
7) Be Faithful – Nothing can be taken for granted. We must be ever on the watch to remain faithful. Never become complacent thinking that everything happens now automatically. The Spirit’s work is kept alive by faith-filled lives that never slacken, that renew the ‘process’ everyday with greater commitment and intensity.
8) Place the World Under Your Feet – Like the famous image of St. Francis embracing the Crucified with the world at his feet, now we are able to use the world as the theater of redemption it is and make use of all creation as the gifts that can lead us to the fullness of life, rather than allow the world to control, condition, and ultimately condemn us.
The impression of the Stigmata of Jesus on Saint Francis of Assisi, celebrated this month, challenges us to remember and live the words Per Crucem ad Lucem –Through the Cross to the Light. The wounds of the Passion speak of a world that refused and rejected that incarnate God, Who took on human nature that humanity might rise above what was leading it astray. Treachery, betrayal, capture, torture, and death were the ‘thanks’ offered all the blessings bestowed and received. The wounds we celebrate in Our Seraphic Father call us to be spiritually impressed with the same ‘signs’ and respond to the gift as did St. Francis.
– The nails in the hands remind us to use our hands to bless and not offend, to give not seek to receive, to embrace rather than push away, to raise up rather than put down, help rather than hinder …
– The nails in the feet remind us of the Scriptural phrase: blessed are the feet of the bearer of peace. They lead us to approach all as sisters and brothers, move towards those in need rather than remain stationary in our own comfort and security, take the first step and seek out those estranged rather than wait for the other to take the first step …
– The heart pierced reminds us that we must disarm our hearts to one another and allow all to enter our loving embrace that they too, as we, may discover the limitless and unconditional love of God through us.
Let the Impression of the Sacred Wounds of Jesus on the body of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi speak to you. May God bless you; my Our Lady guide, guard, and protect you; and may our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi look upon each one of you, his Spiritual Children, with loving care. Happy Feast Day to all!
Peace and Blessings
Fr. Francis A. Sariego, O.F.M. Cap.
Regional Spiritual Assistant
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