St Francis of Assisi – Cimbue
“When I was in sin…. I delay a little and left the world.” (Testament of St Francis 1-2)
In the previous article about this period of Francis’ life we highlighted his experiences at the abandoned San Damiano chapel – especially his prayers before the cross – and how they seemed to lead Francis from a burdened and directionless existence to the first steps on the path of conversion. In this same time period we also have the moment when Francis chose to “leave the world.” The order of the events in late 1205 and early 1206 are not clear and are the content of some debate within the Franciscan world. In other words, did Francis choose to “leave the world” and then have the San Damiano experience or vice-versa? When did his famous encounter with the leper occur with respect to these events (the topic of the next article)? Hard to say, so I will simply tell the stories as best I can. Continue reading
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Shira Ovide of the New York Times writes a daily newsletter, “On Tech.” It is mostly always interesting and in a non-geek kind of way. Yesterday’s newsletter was interesting because it followed up on something I heard the other days on the radio news – that Apple was considering investing in the electric car market. The final shape/vision of the investment was to be determined, but either way, it was surprising. Seems like a bit of a stretch at first glance. There is the old story of the railroad companies that did not understand their business was transportation, not just railroads and so missed out on automobiles/trucking, airplanes, and the like. Who knows what Apple is thinking? They view their business in ways that have been innovative and profitable. Very profitable.
t used to be that on my day off I could go to Ft. Desoto (Fla) with my beach chair and umbrella, watch the wind surfers, read a book …. Between dozing off to the sounds of the wind and surf. Thursday is still my one day off each week. Today in the Tampa Bay region temperatures will reach the high 70s. Today in Northern Virginia is it raining with a high of 36 degrees.
Earlier today I posted a great video from the folks at The Bible Project. The video is part of an on-going series on the nature of God as described in 
Today is the Feast Day of St. Scholastica, the foundress of the Benedictine Order of nuns and the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order of brothers. Together they are credited with establishing monasticism in the western world.
Between yesterday and today, our first reading covered the story of Creation from Genesis 1. It is a familiar story, a story told in children’s book, a story we have heard countless times over the years. It is a story that I think we are so familiar with that we no longer bring that same wonder and imagination when we first heard the account as children. And yet it is perhaps the fundamental account of the Power of God’s word – working toward good – working toward very good. Which is not a bad description of what we hope God’s word is creating in us: a movement from good to very good.
friarmusings 