About ten years ago I was serving as Pastor at Sacred Heart in Tampa. I had been in Tampa for six years and had no aspiration or desire to be elsewhere. It was the year that Pope Francis was elected. The joke in the parish office was that I was waiting for a call from Rome telling me that I have been appointed Papal Household Swim Coach.  Oddly enough, it was only a few weeks after the election when the parish telephone rang – and on the other end was a call from Rome.  It wasn’t an offer to be  swim coach, but rather it was the Minister General of the Franciscan Order worldwide asking me to consider a new job.  It was not a pastoral job, but a full time job more akin to running a business – and in a place where people wear sweaters even in summer. As a vowed Franciscan it was something I had to consider and take into prayer.

And then came the gospel for this week. Continue reading →