Gaviota State Park

Peace! A blessed beautiful place to pray and let all go, into God's hands.

The Rains

Peace! So much of Sister Water visited us lately. It is good to give thanks. And pray for those who need our help.

Chapter of Mats

Peace and Good!
A blessed event with 2000 Franciscans gathered (about 1800 officially). A time of prayer and fraternal joy. And pasta. God bless!

Today You Must Rejoice in the Lord!

LAETARE SUNDAY is perhaps the most “Franciscan” day of the year. After all, Francis’ call was to a life of penitence, yet in the midst of that life he always stressed the importance of Joy (Laetitia). And this is a Sunday, on which we remember the resurrection even as we look at the Crucified One. So let us rejoice, do penance, and believe in the power of God! Amen.

Lent: What God Does

Peace and Good! It's mid-Lent, and I know I have left this blog bereft for a while. And that will continue, but if God wills soon I will be able to write again. But as Lent goes by, I think of what Francis said: Brothers, let us begin anew. For up to now we've done nothing. No, we never do anything. But Gods does a LOT. And Lent is a time to remember, recognize, and rejoice in that. God bless you all!

The End is Near!

Peace! As we come to Advent, just this thought. “The end is near” can mean different things. It can mean that the termination of things is coming, i.e., the second coming of Christ. In this regard, I think it’s safest to recall what Jesus said, “You do not know the time nor the hour.” Predicting the end of the world is tricky business, and unhelpful. Jesus will come when He decides. So we just need to listen to him, and be ready each and every day.
“The end is near” can mean something else. An “end” is also a goal. So, if we remember that Jesus is our goal (right now), then we can take comfort in the thought that the end is always near. A thought, I hope, to help Advent be a time of joy and renewed commitment for all of us.
The END is near, in our hearts and in our minds.
God bless!

Peace!

Pax et Bonum! Just to let anyone who still follows this that I have not fallen off the face of the earth. But life has been busy and I ask your prayers.
I will continue these musings as time allows and God wills!
Just a reminder: 1209 is the 800th anniversary of the first approval of the Order of Friars Minor by Pope Innocent III.
God bless!

Not Supposed to Happen

Peace and Good!
In the Gospel today all sorts of things that aren't supposed to happen do happen:
Jesus delays going to see Lazarus
"Doubting" Thomas expresses willingness to die with him
Martha is the one who goes to see Jesus and professes a deep faith
Jesus weeps...

But more than anything:

Lazarus, who has been dead four days, walks out of the tomb.

That's not supposed to happen.

But it does, because of the power of God's love and mercy.

With those who came out to console Martha and Mary, may we be led by this to believe in Him.

God bless you all!

Water from the Rock

Peace and Good!
If Jesus had told some of his disciples that he would be proclaiming the good news to a Samaritan woman, they might have told him that it would be like trying to get water from a rock! Which, of course, is what God told Moses to do. Lent is a time to marvel at what can do, what God has done and continues to do in this world. After all, if you had told the people of Assisi that young son of Pietro Bernardone was going to become a great saint, leaving behind his wealth and search for fame, they would have thought it was crazy. But God didn't.
God bless you!

Blessings for the New Year

Peace and Good! If anyone is still checking this blog, I will be active again in a few weeks. Blessings for Christmas and the new year 2008.

Montecasale: International Fraternity

Peace and Good!
My few days of retreat at Montecasale, in the heart of the mountains of Italy, were also a time to reflect on the wideness of God’s mercy and presence. Besides the Italian brothers, there was also a friar there from Nigeria, who was studying in Rome and helping out at the hermitage for the summer. What a circumstance, friars from three continents in this little place on the side of the road, joined in prayer and fraternal life and ministry.
It reminded me of the time when Francis told the first brothers not to be afraid of how small their little group was. “I see men from all over joining us, from England and France and Germany and Spain and all over the world.” It began in his own lifetime, but over the centuries has continued to be true.
It is true that there are differences of culture and language to be respected and celebrated and at times overcome, but being a friar has always been for me a reminder that God loves the whole world. And that God acts through so many different people and different circumstances. But it also reminds me that kindness and compassion and a welcoming smile are international, enduring signs of the Love of God in our midst.
God bless and keep you!

Montecasale: The Thieves and God's Mercy

Peace and Good!

Across from the friary at Montecasale is a hill, which had been used in the years before Francis’s time as the site of a fortress. Frederick I, called Barbarossa, had torn the fortress down about the time Francis was born, and the hill site was abandoned. It was the perfect place to watch the road, however, and after the friars had settled in the hermitage of Montecasale, a trio of thieves had decided to live on that hill and rob those passing by on that road. They were violent and much feared, but even thievery is subject to ups and downs, and even for thieves things can get desperate, so that one time they found themselves hungry, and decided to go over to the hermitage and ask the friars for alms. Good Brother Angelo received them graciously until he learned who they were; then he sent them off angrily. The thought, that thieves should steal even the alms of God’s poor!
Francis, however, did not approve. He sent Angelo, who I am sure was not all that keen, to seek out the thieves at their home and give them something to eat. And also to ask them to think about their lives. This they did, and eventually came over to the friary and became friars. The hill where they lived is still marked with three crosses.
Before they came over to the friary, however, they spent a hard night on that hill. The three had decided to give up their life of crime, but a question nagged at them: would God forgive them for all the evil that had done? Could they dare to hope for God’s mercy? Since they could not answer this question, they decided to go to the friary and ask Francis. The great miracle, I think, is that Francis was able to help them trust in God’s power and desire to forgive them. That was the heart of their conversion, as it had been a vital part of Francis’s own conversion. Repentance and conversion involve not only a reassessment of our own lives and actions, but, more importantly, an act of faith in the Divine Mercy.
That Mercy is so clear in the Gospel reading for this Sunday: Zacchaeus. I’m not sure he knew what he was looking for. He merely wanted to see Jesus. Yet, Jesus used this occasion to invite him to recognize his place as a child of Abraham, the one who had such great faith in God’s mercy and love. Believing in God’s mercy is helped when we are invited into it by others. It was in this way that Francis followed Jesus, in inviting the thieves to look at their lives, and to believe in the power of God’s forgiveness. May God help us to believe in the Divine Mercy, for ourselves and for others, especially for those who seem to us farthest from that Mercy. May God help us, one way or the other, to invite them to believe in God, who so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save us.
God bless!

This is the door where the thieves came seeking alms!

Not Like the Rest

Peace and Good!
Brother Masseo once asked Brother Francis: “Why after you? Why is it that so many people follow after you? You’re not attractive looking or well born or a gifted orator.” And Francis answered that it was because in him they saw the greatness of God’s mercy. “For if the Lord had shown so much mercy to the greatest sinner, he would be more grateful than me.”
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, from the Gospel of Luke, is this Sunday’s Gospel. A powerful meditation. We usually focus on the two persons involved, but as always, Jesus calls us first of all to focus on God, and what God does for us. For the Pharisee is not a hypocrite in what he does; his problem is that he uses it to lift himself up, and by doing so separates himself “from the rest of men.” Pharisee means 'one who separates himself,' and the reason the Pharisees did so was so that they could keep the law in its fullness. This was not bad in itself. The problem was that it tempted them to think of themselves as some how fundamentally different from ‘the others,’ especially from “pagans and sinners.” What Jesus tried to show them again and again was that they were prone to the same temptations and could sin just as much as the publicans and prostitutes. Their zeal for observance could become pride and self-righteousness. Jesus reminded the Pharisees, and us, of the need to recognize that all goodness comes from God, and that God is the Creator of all.
To separate ourselves, at least in our minds and our hearts, from “the rest of people,” is to face the same temptation as the Pharisees. We all seek ways to exalt ourselves, to ‘feel good about ourselves’ by looking down on others. Our prayer can be like that of the Pharisee, “Thank God I am not like the rest.”
Of course, it can take so many forms
“Thank You Lord that I am a conservative, not like those loony liberals.” or “that I am a liberal, not like those creepy conservatives.” It can be: “Thank You that I am an environmentalist, not like those selfish consumers.” or “that I am a responsible business person, not like those nutty tree huggers.” Or “that I am from the city, not like those hicks from the country.” Or “that I am a good country person, not like those shallow city people.” And it could go on and on. All these thoughts are ways we exalt ourselves.
Francis was tempted to do the same thing; he could have looked down on the merchants and soldiers and revelers who were his peers. He could have looked down on those who did not follow his path, who did not dedicate their lives to the Gospel. But he learned from Jesus not to look down on anyone, because he knew himself to be as much a sinner as any of them. I don’t think this was just some sort of ‘holy humility’ that saints have: it was real. He knew that what made the difference in his own life was not what he did, but what God did for him. And he knew that if he were to believe really in the love of God for him, he had to believe in the love of God for all men and women, the greatest saints and the most miserable sinners. He was not different “from the rest.” Neither are any of us.
And that God for that! Because we have to remember that Jesus came to save sinners, to call sinners, to seek the lost. So we can only be saved if we place ourselves among them, like the publican did in the parable. “O Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
God bless and keep you!

Peace and Good!

Blessings. There will be more reflections soon, God willing. God bless us all.

Montecasale: Overhanging Rock

Peace and Good! Francis liked not only places with water, but places with caves or grottoes. Many of the hermitages he frequented began as simple caves where hermits and others seeking God could shelter while they prayed and fasted. Today there are often structures built around the nucleus of such caves, as at Greccio or Le Celle in Cortona. The overhanging rock (sasso spicco) at Montecasale has escaped this fate, thank the Lord. I say that, because it is one of the few places in Italy you can go and stand in a place where St. Francis stood and see pretty much what he would have seen. The sasso spicco at Montecasale is a place in the side of the mountain where a massive rock hangs out over a shelf in the hillside, cut out by water, wind, and perhaps visitors like Francis, Anthony of Padua, and Bonaventure.
To get to this spot, you have to leave the friary and walk down a trail, sometimes pretty steep. Walking there is a contemplative experience in itself, as you enter the rough forested hillside, filled in the summer with the rhythmic trill of the cicadas and the warm dust raised by your feet. You come upon the rock ledge from above, and see a long, shaded area. If you descend onto this ledge, you come to the spot where the stream coming down from the hillside pours over the rock’s edge (although, 2007 was the first year in memory in which there wasn’t enough water in the stream to flow over the rock!) Standing at that spot, you feel the firm rock beneath your feet and looming above you, and look out on the green hillsides closing the area all around. In such a place you feel at once your own smallness, and yet your place in the midst of creation.

(Here is the view from Sasso Spicco)

I would think it was in places like this that Francis started to receive the inspired thoughts that would lead later on in his life to the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures. Sun, stars, water, earth are all here, praising the Lord by being what they were made to be. And as you sit under this overhanging rock, you are led to ask the question: what am I made to be?
God bless you!

The Power of the Word of God

Peace and good!
The book of Jonah tells us of one of the most successful preaching tours ever. Jonah preached to the Ninevites, who didn't know God and didn't respect the Jewish people. Yet, in only one day, Jonah's preaching brought them to repentence and humility before God, who heard their pleas for forgiveness. And the amazing thing is, Jonah didn't want any of this to happen! He was a reluctant prophet who did not want his mission to succeed. Such is the power of God's word.
I sometimes imagine St. Francis outside the gates of Perugia. We are told he preached there. Yet, Perugia was the ancient enemy of Assisi, and Francis had spent a horrid year in disgusting conditions in a Perugian prison. I am sure that when he went to Perugia to preach, some part of him felt like Jonah: wanting to proclaim the merciful God, but hoping God wouldn't be too merciful to his enemies. Yet, he did preach to them, he overcame his natural animosity and distrust. He believed in the power of God's Word, greater than his own word.
May that Word work in us, through us, and, sometimes, despite us.
God bless!

When, O Lord?

Today's Reading from Habakkuk:
How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen!
I cry out to you, "Violence!"but you do not intervene.Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me;there is strife, and clamorous discord.
Then the LORD answered me and said:Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;if it delays, wait for it,it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.
Faith means trusting that God sees the long view, that the vision, because it is God's vision, still has time. Francis, I am sure, was tempted to ask God: "When?" He saw the violence in the world, the greed among the prelates, the dissensions among his own brothers. And God told him: "The vision still has its time...wait for it." And Francis chose to wait, to let God's vision be the one he followed. We need to make that choice, too, as hard as it is. Lord, increase our Faith!
Peace and Good!

Lazarus and the Rich Man (Dives)

Peace and Good!

This is a powerful parable, and an uncomfortable one—and so, very important. An interesting point: it is the only parable of Jesus that I am aware of in which one of the characters has a name: Lazarus. Sometimes the parable is called “Dives and Lazarus,” but dives is just the Latin word for “a rich man,” so he doesn’t get a name. In the parable, the rich man apparently enjoys his wealth and ignores Lazarus completely, not even sharing crumbs from his table. The mention of the dogs licking Lazarus’ wounds is meant to emphasize this neglect: the licking of wounds by dogs was thought to help healing, so even the dogs were doing more for the poor man, Lazarus, than his rich brother.
Even in the afterworld, the rich man does not look at Lazarus as anyone to note. He does not ask Lazarus for a drink, but tells Abraham to send him to dip the tip of his finger and serve the suffering rich man. He does not ask Lazarus to go to warn his brothers, but asks Abraham to send him. For the rich man, Lazarus still does not count for anything.
Which makes me think that the great chasm Abraham speaks of that exists between them is put there not by God, but by the rich man himself. His refusal to recognize Lazarus, either in life or in death, places a chasm that cannot be crossed.
So, we create the chasm. And we cannot bridge it, or cross over it ourselves. Only one who has loved in the supreme way can do that: Jesus. This same Jesus came and comes to show us how to cross that chasm, or better, how to rid ourselves of it. “Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole strength; love your neighbor as yourself; love one another as I have loved you.”
Francis experienced the gap being closed only when he looked on a leper and did not see a horror, or an object to be avoided, but a brother, to be embraced and served and, even, loved. Such is the power of Jesus Christ and the cross and resurrection.
God bless you!

Montecasale Evenings

Peace and Good! One of the enjoyable things during my retreat at Montecasale was the time after dinner in the evening. We all moved outside onto the terrace, overlooking the town of San Sepolcro, and visited. Chatted, told stories, laughed. Since it was mostly in Italian I was not able to participate a lot, but it was an enjoyable experience. And good, not to have to talk over the TV or compete with so many other distractions. I don’t bemoan modern inventions, they have been a great blessing from God in many ways. But I think Francis would warn us to be very careful that we use the things God has given us to become more human and more the children of God we are created to be. Do all the gadgets and inventions make us more human or less? It’s not automatic, either way. We have to make a choice. Montecasale evenings reminded me of that. Thank you Lord!

The Clay God Uses: St. Francis Mary Camporosso

Peace and Good! A brief interlude from musings on Montecasale to mention today’s saint, Francis Mary of Camporosso, a Capuchin lay brother who worked many years as questor in Genoa and helped many people with his prayers and kindness. He died helping victims of a cholera epidemic. Such a death may seem insignificant and perhaps useless. Most of the people he aided during the epidemic probably died anyway. But his death has to be seen in the light of Jesus’ death. We forget that for most of the world the day of Jesus’ death was like any other. The Emperor Tiberius kept up his misrule of the Empire; the dockworkers in Ostia, Piraeus, Alexandria and else kept loading and unloading ships; the soldiers patrolling the borders of the Empire kept up with their watch and their dice games. For most of the world it was an insignificant event, this death of one member of a conquered race in a small corner of the world.

The significance, of course, was tremendous, for in that event the Love of God burst into the world in a new and amazing way. But it did not look that way at the time. Neither did the death of Francis Mary of Camporosso. But we celebrate him today because we believe that the same Love was with him in his sacrifice as was there on Calvary.

What makes our life and actions, and our death, significant? If we believe Jesus, it is only to live out his command: Love one another as I have loved you. How simple, and how hard! Yet, it is life. I am grateful to St. Francis Mary, Bl Teresa of Calcutta, St. Francis, and all the others who show us that truth again and again. And for the sacrament of the Love of the God, the Eucharist. We don’t do anything significant: take some bread and wine, say some words. But what the Love of God does with that!
(Peace to all those with connections to Naples! I know today is also the feast of St. Januarius. It is said that when Januarius (Italian Gennaro) was beheaded by pagan Romans in 305 A.D., a Neapolitan woman soaked up his blood with a sponge and preserved it in a glass phial. Every year on his feast the people wait to see if the blood will liquefy. It did again this year, and Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, archbishop of Naples, then showed the glass phial of blood to the congregation and paraded it to the crowds outside, where fireworks were lit in celebration. "It is a prodigious sign that shows the Lord's closeness and predilection for our beloved and long-suffering city," he said.)

God bless you!