The Clay God Uses: Joachim and Ann

Pace e Bene! We are at the ancient Capuchin Franciscan friary at Camerino. This is a wonderful feast day, to thank God for all who made up the family of Jesus. Mary's parents must have been special, to raise so special a daughter. May God bless and keep you always!

In Italy

Pace e Bene! Here in the far mountains of the Marches of Ancona, in Camerino at one of the earliest Capuchin friaries. Rome was great, thought hot and sticky. I am praying for everyone. Pray for me. God bless!

Pilgrimage

Peace and Good! I am currently helping with a pilgrimage in Italy. A group of friars will visit Assisi and other Franciscan sites. I look forward to sharing more musings on my return (after Aug. 15). Pray for us. God bless.

The Clay God Uses: Benedict

Peace and Good! As he would have liked, most people know about St. Benedict through his Rule and the many monasteries who still follow it. Benedict never wanted to point to himself, but to Christ. Ironically, his humility ensured him a place in history. The same for St. Francis. I read somewhere: "There is no limit to the good you can do, if you don't care who gets the credit for it." Benedict and Francis would agree.
God bless you!

Independence and Freedom

Peace and Good!
Today in the United States what we celebrate officially is our independence from England. However, we also use this day to mark our values, especially freedom, liberty, justice for all. It’s good to reflect on these things in our relationship with God as well as with others.
In regard to God, we can never be independent. Our very existence depends on God, so being independent would mean not existing, certainly not a desirable end. Scripture tells us, too, that we may never be independent of God’s love: God is love, John says. So the Lord does not give us the gift of independence. However, He does give us the gift of freedom. We can choose freely to be what we are made to be. We can choose freely to accept joyfully the love of God. Our faith tells us that such freedom is at the basis of human life, and of human dignity.
This dignity is why, in regard to other people, we speak of independence and dependence. Here, too, there is no such thing as absolute independence from others. In life in so many ways we depend on others, they depend on us. That’s part of how God made us.
However, we do need a certain amount of independence from others, if we are to be open to choose to be what God has made us to be. Others can help us discern God’s will, but no human being can tell us absolutely who we are. To listen to God we have to have a certain independence from others.
St. Elizabeth of Portugal, a saint celebrated today, is a good example of this. She was a queen, and accepted that role. However, she interpreted that role independently, in freedom. Following the example of her great-aunt, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, she thought that a queen ought to reach out and help the poor, even to the point of serving them at table and washing their feet. People at court told her this was no way for a queen to act and that she should stop, but she was independent of their opinion, in her desire to be free to do what God called her to do.
We find this in the life of St. Francis. He was very obedient, open to listening to God’s will through the Church and his brothers. On the other hand, he was independent in seeking to live his vocation within the Church, rejecting the calls of others who told him he should abandon his project and simply fit into the established system of religious life. His genius was to balance dependence and independence. He was able to do this, I think, because he was open to learning true freedom, freedom to be loved by God and become that love in the world.
Happy Independence Day! God bless America, and every nation and people in the world!

Doubter?

Peace! I've read a few blogs today on St. Thomas. Yes, he doubted. Yes, he needed Jesus to booster his faith. But why is that the only thing we remember about him? Earlier in the Gospel of John (11:16), when the other disciples try to keep Jesus from returning to Judea because of the hostility, John tells us:

"Then Thomas (the name means 'Twin') said to his fellow disciples: "Let us go along, to die with him.'"

Brave Thomas, complete with his doubt.

Conversion is, to remember a very old song, to 'accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and forget about ol' mister in between.' Thomas, with God's help, overcame his skepticism and accepted bravely his mission to preach the Gospel and even suffer death because of it. Thank you, St. Thomas.

God bless and keep you!