Several years ago, having just celebrated Mass, and now standing on the sidewalk in front of the church greeting and chatting with folks, a man came up to me and said, “Are you just too stupid to learn Latin – is it too hard for you?” Seems he expected the Mass to be celebrated in Latin. Continue reading
People often remark that they need to pray for patience. St. Francis recognized it is only the stressful moments that reveal if our wellspring of patience has run dry. How does one fill the well of patience? Perhaps one needs to pray not simply for the general item of patience, but for healing of the inner wound that is easily enflamed that bursts to the surface as impatience. With the grace of God, one needs to make peace within oneself in order to keep the wellspring full.
Admonition Thirteen: Patience
1 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. A servant of God cannot know how much patience and humility he has within himself as long as he is content. 2 When the times comes, however, when those who should make him content do the opposite, he has as much patience and humility as he has at the time and no more.
My dad would occasionally remind me of the following wisdom: “Everyone you meet is your better because you can learn something from them.” They were words meant to remind you to keep your own accomplishments in perspective; celebrant them in the moment, build upon them, and learn from them – but do not set up camp and remain there. I suspect St. Francis would have liked my dad’s wisdom – he certainty understood its implications for the spiritual life. God accomplished so much through St. Francis – and Francis knew it was God’s doing and little of his own. Francis remained open to the working of God in his life and discerning the Spirit of the Lord.
Admonition Twelve: Knowing the Spirit of the Lord
1 A Servant of God can be known to have the Spirit of the Lord in this way; 2 if, when he Lord performs some good through him, his flesh does not therefore exalt itself, because it is always opposed to every good. 3 Instead he regards himself the more worthless and esteems himself less than all others.
People of a certain age have children who are now adults. Their kids are establishing careers, families, and planning for the future. They are more and more becoming their own persons – and the parent-child relationship is giving way to the peer-peer relationship – at least in some part and form. Some of my friends insist on the parent-child dynamic. Continue reading
Every four years our neighbors and friends are suddenly vexed and overcome by the spirit of confusion, delusion, and irrationality. We simply cannot understand how they so abruptly lose their good common sense. Can’t they see that we hold the clear and sure vision of exactly who is deserving of our vote and that our view of the issues is the only one which a rational person would possibly hold? And of course we need to correct their faulty thinking. And of course if they won’t accept the offering of wisdom and insight, then it is their fault. Continue reading
There was once a trusting Franciscan guardian who took a young friar to live in his own lean-to down by the river. For the first week the friar was ecstatic – his prayer life blossomed and he really felt he had taken a major step on his journey to God.
At the end of the week, the young friar washed his one habit and put it out to dry. The next morning he was dismayed to find that some rats had torn his habit to shreds. So he covered himself as best he could, went to a nearby village and begged for another. A week later, after washing, the rats destroyed that habit as well. So, the young friar got a cat – and presto – rat problem solved. But he found he had to beg for milk for the cat. And all the begging was taking away from his life of prayer. So he got a cow; but of course the cow needed hay. And he needed fields to grow the hay and a barn to store the hay. And that took away from prayer time and his journey to God. So he hired people to farm and tend the animals, but then he found he was the de facto mayor/sheriff/paymaster of a small village. So he hired village administrators and a small police force. And there were town meetings – and on and on the story went. Continue reading
It is said that we do not read Scripture, but that Scripture reads us. “Indeed the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4). It is in the same way that art often reveals more about the viewer than art reveals about itself. Our response to injury shares that same revelatory attribute with Scripture and art. Continue reading
Someone once described the décor in my room in the friary as a wonderful example of “early American randomness.” Random? Really? I suspect they really meant chaos in the mathematical sense – because there is always an order present – even if it is not readily apparent. One of my friar brothers, in his life before joining the Franciscans, was a successful interior designer whose work brought beauty in to the world from the chaos of materials and ideas. His work has graced the cover of Architectural Digest several times. Another brother teaches at a noted school of medicine. Another is a cobbler, another a tailor, and another an elementary school teacher. We have lawyers, dentists, business executives, musicians, academics, writes, cooks, social workers, counselors, and even a candlestick maker. All different gifts to build up the fraternity of men, who like Francis, on our best days work to build up the Church. Continue reading
Years ago I was invited to lunch with the teaching staff at a seminary in Kenya. I walked in on the middle of a good-natured debate. On one side were the two scripture scholars – on the other side of the debate was the entire remainder of the staff. The proposition was whether studying Scripture was the shortest route to losing one’s faith. Everyone was a faithful believer and the debate was all in good fun taking the opportunity to poke fun at their friends. Continue reading
Earlier today on David Lose’s blog, he commented on something he had heard about organized religion’s distinction between the ordained and the laity – it was rather like wizards and muggles. At this point I am assuming a familiarity with the Harry Potter series of books. David Lose took the thought in one direction, my thoughts wandered a different direction. Continue reading
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