Franciscan Spirit Fall 2019

May you go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly, on the path of prudent happiness. —ST. CLARE OF ASSISI

FALL 2019

F r a n c i s c a nS p i r i t

from the publisher

Dear Friends of Francis and Clare, Here at Franciscan Media, we are dedicated to sharing the love of God and reminding people they are beloved children of God. We do this in all of our offerings, whether print, digital, audio, or video.

This issue of Franciscan Spirit offers just a few of the thoughtful and inspiring writings from our authors, all wrapped in a beautiful, easyto-read package. It is our gift to you. We appreciate your interest and support.

This issue has quite a range of authors and topics: Terry Hershey encourages us to pause and pay attention to the present moment; Fr. Gary Caster takes us into the world of St. Thérèse of Lisieux; John McCarthy calls us to a deeper level of self-awareness and a sense of purpose in our work; Joe Grant challenges us to to be open to the difficult questions, while reminding us God is present constantly in the most difficult circumstances. New editions of perennial favorites from Muray Bodo, Richard Rohr, Ron Rolheiser, Ted Sri, and others round out the collection.

My hope is that these selections will lead you, our readers, to go deeper into the ocean of life. “Take and read!” said the little child to St. Augustine of Hippo, as God challenged him to ponder the Gospel.

In the carefully curated selections of Franciscan Spirit, you, too, will be challenged to enter more fully and intentionally into the present moment.

The way we communicate the Gospel is very different, but we are sharing the same message as St. Francis did so many years ago. Your support and generosity help us do that. For that, we are extremely grateful. As we move forward, we hope you will join us and follow in the footsteps of St. Francis to spread the Gospel to all.

Peace and all good,

Dan Kroger, OFM Publisher Franciscan Media P.S. Your donation is necessary for our mission to succeed. Thank you in advance for your support.

contents 2 Dancing with Manatees

An excerpt from This Is the Life: Mindfulness, Finding Grace, and the Power of the Present Moment by Terry Hershey 4 A “Shower of Rose Petals” from the Little Flower

An excerpt from The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

by Fr. Gary Caster 6 Get Ready for a Renewal Journey!

An excerpt from The Purpose Promise: How to Find Purpose and Joy in Your Work

by John McCarthy 8 Listen, Learn, Live!

An excerpt from Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace by Joe Grant 10 Obstacles on the Journey to Sainthood An excerpt from Saint Padre Pio: Man of Hope by Renzo Allegri 12 How the Mystics Reveal God’s Love An excerpt from Mystics: Twelve Who Reveal God’s Love by Murray Bodo, OFM 14 By What Authority?

An excerpt from Yes, And…: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr, OFM 16 Holiness Is for Everyone

An excerpt from Armchair Mystic: How Contemplative Prayer Can Lead You Closer to God

by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ 18 Christ at the Center of Our World

An excerpt from Crucified Love: Bonaventure’s Mysticism of the Crucified Christ

by Ilia Delio, OSF 20 Writing to Be Well: A reflection on writing Francis: the Journey and the Dream

by Murray Bodo, OFM 22 A Spirituality of Place

An excerpt from In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare by Roch Niemier, OFM 24 Rebuild My House

An excerpt from Perfect Joy: Thirty Days with Francis of Assisi by Kerry Walters 26 The Spiral Journey of Faith An excerpt from Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith by Michael Dennin 28 Ask a Franciscan by Pat McCloskey, OFM 30 Two and a Half Minutes That Can Change Your Day An excerpt from Praying the Rosary Like Never Before by Edward Sri 32 St. Francis and US Veterans by Nancy Wiechec 34 Too Busy to Bow Down by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI

Dancing with Manatees An excerpt from This Is the Life: Mindfulness, Finding Grace, and the Power of the Present Moment

by Terry Hershey

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ot that long ago, I danced with manatees.

Lord have mercy, it was good. I was in

Manasota Key, Florida, my annual May gathering with my friends of thirty-five years. We swap stories and talk about the way the world would be if we were in charge. On the intracoastal waterway, near a congregation of mangrove trees, we anchor the boat and spend an afternoon floating, buoyed in the water, a treat for those of us who are escaping winter’s chill. The sky is dyed

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hope-blue, and egrets pose graceful and elegant in the mangroves.

Manatees are curious and unafraid of humans.

They are gentle, docile, and friendly. So, without announcement, they swim near and around you, to check out the visitors to their world. One manatee swam under my feet, literally lifting me up, as if to welcome me. Oh my.

This is a first for me. I had heard stories. And yet, no mental framing prepares you. I do know this: in that moment, as my laughter echoes in the mangrove trees, as the cares of my day dissipate, I am fully awake and fully alive. My senses are grounded to this sacrament. This present moment. This gift. This clarity. This permission to savor life now goes with me into my day.

So, I wonder, why are there too many days when I miss the gift?

In letters written in 1740, Jean-Pierre de

Caussade (ordained member of the Society of Jesus) wrote about the sacrament of the present moment. We are invited to choose to live each day as a sacrament (as a gift), enabling us to see, to hear, to taste, and to touch grace—the goodness of God’s presence in our world. We need to bring this sacrament back and allow it to be front and center in our lives. I’m pretty sure that St. Francis would agree. Franciscan spirituality is an incarnational earthy spirituality. Put simply: God is close, never far away.

I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest, a long way from manatees, but that doesn’t stop me from dancing with them. Every day. If only in my mind. “Dancing with manatees” is my shibboleth, inviting me to live and savor the sacrament of the present. And I invite you to do the same.

Whenever we broach the subject of spirituality or spiritual growth or emotional well-being, our knee-jerk petition is predictable, “Please tell us how.” After all, there must be a list, right?

Which takes my mind to a story.

My son Zach is six. We are taking a break, sitting on the bench in front of Bob’s Bakery (Bob’s is Vashon Island’s morning gathering spot).

We’re having Cinnamon Twists. They are decadently yummy, and make me forget my need to be useful. The bench is made from the trunk of an old downed log, its seat now worn from years of time and use. Zach and I watch the Vashon traffic—“traffic” in a poetic license sort of way—go by. And Zach, his mouth full of half a Twist, says, “Dad, this is the life.”

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it,” Ashley Smith writes. “Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

Really, Terry, this is your list?

Do you remember the Road to Emmaus story?

After the resurrection, Jesus joins two disciples walking a pathway. They are crestfallen that, after

his death, Jesus has vanished; they are hoping for clarification about their sorrow. “Please explain,” they say to Jesus. They ask questions. And Jesus tells them stories. Except they don’t realize it is Jesus.

It was after walking, and after the “explanation,” when Jesus sits down to break bread and to eat with them that their eyes opened. And they see. After Jesus departs, they say to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us?” The gift, the clarity, the permission to see and to savor now accompanies them into their day.

Living intentionally and fully alive—from a place of groundedness, being at home in our own skin—is not a technique. Nor is it a kind of mental Rubik’s Cube to be solved. There is no list. But if we demand one, chances are, we pass this life by— the exquisite, the messy, the enchanting, the wondrous, the delightful, the untidy—on our way to some place we think we ought to be.

On our journey together in this book, we will be learning new paradigms. There is meaning— consequence, value, import—only when what we believe or practice touches this moment. Belief is all well and good. But there must be skin on it— something we touch, see, hear, taste, and smell. In other words, it’s the small daily stuff that does really matter.

So today, let us practice the sacrament of the blessed present.

Today, let us dance with manatees.

This is a book I’ve always wanted to write. I’m so glad the manatees made it possible.

This Is the Life Mindfulness, Finding Grace, and the Power of the Present Moment

by Terry Hershey

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A “Shower of Rose Petals” from the Little Flower An excerpt from The Way of Simple Love: Inspiring Words from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

by Fr. Gary Caster

I

n obedience to her superior, Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face composed her “spiritual autobiography,” while dying from tuberculosis. Throughout it she speaks candidly about her life as a child, her call to religious life, her love of family, and, of course, she speaks about the way in which she understands Christian discipleship. Less than twenty-five years after her death in 1897, her autobiography had spread throughout the world. The story of her life captivated women and men, especially French soldiers fighting in World War I. Her simple yet powerful explanation of living in relationship with God not only awakened hearts, but also brought hope to thousands of Catholics.

St. Thérèse helped people understand that sanctity was not for a limited few, but for all the baptized. Her childlike confidence and abandonment to Jesus led her to offer up to the Lord the simple duties and obligations of her religious life. She believed that nothing was too little to

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give Jesus, and nothing done out of love for him was insignificant. St. Thérèse was confident that Christ longed to lift everyone up to the height and depth and breadth of holiness.

On her deathbed, St. Thérèse promised to spend her time in heaven doing good upon the earth.

The sign of her continued care would be “a shower of rose petals.” As the time of her death drew near, her words possessed a marked enthusiasm at being able to continue serving the Lord. Those who are devoted to her know well that she makes good on her promise.

This “Little Flower” from Lisieux continues to captivate women and men today. St. John Paul II, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Dorothy Day, and many other well-known Catholic figures have had a deep devotion to St. Thérèse. St. John Paul II was so taken with the profundity of her thought that he declared her a Doctor of the Church. This is quite an accomplishment for a young woman who regarded herself as a little toy ball tossed aside and forgotten by Jesus.

Each of our lives matter to Jesus.

Perhaps this is why so many lives still resonate with hers. It is easy to feel insignificant and unimportant. Yet, the clear and compelling language of her story and her letters remains the perfect antidote to such feelings.

While the language she uses might be new to you, the insights she offers are as eternal as the God who loves us and longs for each of us to be

united with him, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit, for all eternity.

Confidence Leads to Love Oh! How I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love…Does not fear lead to justice? Since we see the way, let us run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus gives to us the same graces, He wills to give us His heaven gratuitously…I am sure that God would not give you the desire to be POSSESSED by Him,

by His Merciful Love if He were not reserving that favor for you…or rather He has already given it to you, since you have given yourself to Him, since you desire to be consumed by Him, and since God never gives desires that He cannot realize.

From a letter to Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart (one of Thérèse’s novices) September 1896

Sanctity Is an Aspiration of the Heart Your prose, which you call “rough and ready,” reveals to me that Jesus has placed in your heart aspirations that He gives only to souls called to the highest sanctity. Since He Himself has chosen me to be your sister, I trust He will not look upon my weakness or rather that He will use this weakness even to carry out His work, for the strong

“If two among you agree together on something which you ask from my Father, it will be granted them.” Ah! What we are asking Him is to work for His glory, to love Him and make Him loved…How would our union and our prayer not be blessed?

From a letter to Abbe Maurice Belliere (member, Missionaries of Africa) February 1897

The Luminous Trail to the Eternal Shore In the evening at that moment when the sun seems to bathe itself in the immensity of the waves, leaving a luminous trail behind, I went and sat down on the huge rock with Pauline. Then I recalled the touching story of the “Golden Trail.”

I contemplated its luminous trail for a long time.

It was to me the image of God’s grace shedding its light across the path the little white-sailed vessel had to travel. And near Pauline, I made the resolution never to wander far away from the glance of Jesus in order to travel peacefully toward the eternal shore!

Autobiography of a Soul Chapter Two The Way of Simple Love Inspiring Words from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

by Terry Hershey

God loves to show His power by making use of nothing. United in Him, our souls will be able to save many others, for this gentle Jesus has said:

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Get Ready for a Renewal Journey!

An excerpt from The Purpose Promise: How to Find Purpose and Joy in Your Work

by John McCarthy

I

hostage. I disengaged from my career path. My work had become a burden. Each day I would get up, lacking excitement to go to work, and would go through the motions to fulfill another meaningless day. I lacked purpose. I was stuck on the Treadmill of Disengagement. On a sticky Fourth of July day in Costa Rica, I was set free with a rejuvenating dream for my career and life.

I began to ask myself how I got there, retracing

n 2006 I made a retreat in Costa Rica. It changed my life. To that point in my career, I had achieved

the steps that led me to my treadmill. How had my good intentions led me to into a meaningless

success, according to the world’s standards. It

career path? What in my past led me to chasing

was not until I stopped, retreated, and examined

a mirage of success? As I questioned, the new

my life that I realized the world’s expectations of

answers were loud in my mind. My ambition to

success burdened me. I was chasing after a mirage

achieve a livelihood consistent with the standards

that carried me away from purposeful work or joy.

of success that our society manufactures was

I lacked the self-awareness necessary to obtain the

leading me down a road where I was not feeling

best career path even though I had taught others

fulfilled in my life’s purpose.

the importance of obtaining that awareness.

My American Dream was holding my best self

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I needed a new direction aligned with my unique passions and skills. Defining and finding that

direction would lead to a more purpose-filled I was burdened by my work. career. The burden in my heart lifted at the mere I found freedom when I mapped out my definithought of a renewed perspective on success. tion of true success.

My new pursuit of happiness was to help others I was lost, without the awareness and process to in their pursuits of happiness but with more find a career of purpose. lasting effect than I’d had before. By developing a I found a life of joy when I retreated and renewed simple process, I could help those the vision for my life. who were unhappy, disengaged, or You will too! unemployed unlock career and life Do you sense there is a greater purpose. The process changed my purpose designed for your life course and detailed my next career and work? Good news! You steps. I left Costa Rica and would were designed on purpose for arrive back home to jump off my a purpose; you will be guided treadmill and start a new busithrough a practical journey to gain ness. A business that would fulfill purpose, freedom and a life of joy! my purpose of helping others find The combination of being well their purpose. prepared, reliance on proven Today, we have fine-tuned a guides, and a resilient mindset process to help the unhappy, led to the renewal of my life. Your —Colossians 3:10 disengaged, or unemployed find Renewal Journey will require more abundant life. This process that same combination. Each has two cornerstones that make 45-minute retreat day will take it unique: simplicity and effectiveness. There is you on a great adventure, revealing truths that nothing earth-shattering about it. Everyone can will lead you to a new exciting destination of selfdo it, but the process requires a commitment to awareness and purpose. contemplating one’s true self and have a desire I thank you in advance for the opportunity for positive life change. We call this process the to walk with you on this adventure. It requires Renewal Journey. vulnerability, courage, trust, and character. I will The Renewal Journey is a 10-day, 45-minute per make you this promise: If you trust this simple day retreat to gain awareness of your purpose and and effective process and pour your efforts into map out a plan to obtain it through your career the details, the clarity that will come will not only search. A career of richer purpose and joy will point you to purposeful employment but also a result from your 450-minute investment in the sustained level of immeasurable joy that will radiRenewal Journey. This is the Purpose Promise. cally change your life.

You are the driving force to find the career of your dreams and experience new levels of engageThe Purpose Promise ment in all areas of your life. I was able to break How to Find Purpose and Joy free from the constraints that held me from my in Your Work ideal career purpose. You can too!

by John McCarthy I lacked meaning in my work and life.

I found purpose when I discovered who I was made to be.

Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator

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Listen, Learn, Live!

An Excerpt from Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace

by Joe Grant “O Israel, listen: The Most Holy is one; you shall love this Holy One with all heart, with all soul, with all mind, and with all strength … You shall love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

—Mark 12:29-31

S

eekers, pilgrims, disciples; all are wayfarers who find themselves stumbling along the stony path toward integrity. They are people trying to live into life’s lessons by taking hardearned insights to heart and turning them into habits. Whether they perceive it as troublesome, disturbing, inspiring or consoling, seekers embrace everyday wisdom by adopting a receptive attitude, cultivating a learning heart, and approaching life as novices; for whom each experience is welcomed anew.

This internal attitude involves claiming and re-claiming our authentic status as life-long disciples, perennial pupils; people who are always

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practicing. After all, those who wish to be guided must first admit to their own un-knowing, before they can entrust their lives to another, wiser guide. And, rather than attempting to contain or control facts, parse out details or digest information, disciples choose: to listen attentively, pause regularly, ponder quietly, question honestly; to rest in reflecting and reflect while engaging in social action, to seek guidance regularly, and to deliberately let their lives be led by a Presence greater that moves them into currents deeper. All of this might be framed as prayerful engagement or even active contemplation. Wisdom, it seems, always appears to leaven our lives with implications and practical applications, as well as significant responsibilities.

It is the depth and honesty of our questions, our hunger for wholeness, and our readiness to be guided beyond familiar and safe surroundings, that will draw the wisdom from within and around us to mark out our path.

All of us teach best what we most need to learn.

Honest learners are not looking to have their assumptions verified, to be reassured of the rightness of their own ideas, or to parade their rectitude. Authentic learners are always explorers. As far as possible, they try to move out beyond those limits; over and under the divisive barricades and confines that protect us even as they pen us in and keep us apart. In contrast, disciples approach life with a spacious, freer heart; hoping to listen, to learn and to grow by making room for new appreciations, deeper understandings, as well as worthier questions.

The scope of every life is indeed defined by the questions we choose live into, and if we are blessed to live long enough, we will inevitably end up shaped like a question mark. Since ‘quest’ is also the start of every ‘question’, it is questions not answers that are the surest guideposts for any journey of faith—which necessarily means moving into the unknowable. Always trust the

open, heartfelt question that lays bare the soul to unknowing.

A great windstorm arose, and such waves beat into the boat that it was being swamped. Meanwhile, in the stern, he lay sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up crying, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are drowning?” He awoke, rebuked the wind and called out across the waters, “Peace! Be still!”

—Mark 4:37-39 Can we be still and still be in the storms that surround us?

And how can storm-tossed people sustain hope, without a tsunami of human, moral and financial support?

Catastrophe unveils a collective reservoir of untapped resources.

Indeed, we are stronger, deeper, more caring that we imagine.

Disasters never fail to move us, or draw out the best in us.

Yet, we must also confront other, more insidious, storm-tides; fearful forces intent on driving and keeping us apart.

For who can watch another person, city, nation endure devastation,

Divisive and distracting tempests of busyness and cynical self-preoccupation pummel us daily, eroding our capacity to care.

without feeling disturbed, touched, moved to connect, and make some effort to alleviate the suffering?

Unchallenged, these influences send us spinning frenetically, beyond the reach of compassionate care.

These uniquely human aspirations; compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice; are essential expressions of our God-likeness.

Compassion cries out to be unleashed, mercy needs to be nurtured, forgiveness begs for release.

Devastations of nature and lives grace us with hard-holy questions:

These resolute reflections of our deepest nature provide generous immunity, against any force determined to pull us apart.

But why do terrible things happen?

Why do the most vulnerable suffer most grievously?

What might happen if we let our lives become entangled with theirs?

May the disturbing-consoling Spirit fold us back together to make of us all a safe haven in the face of the storm.

As tragedies compound, we strain to maintain an attentive, focused response.

Wandering and Welcome Meditations for Finding Peace

by Joe Grant

Only when the winds die and waters recede, does the long journey toward mending begin.

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Obstacles on the Journey to Sainthood An excerpt from Saint Padre Pio: Man of Hope

by Renzo Allegri

disciplinary measures imposed by the highest ecclesiastical authority and four official condemnations from the Holy Office were still hanging over him. These were extremely serious obstacles that made it nearly impossible to advance the cause for beatification. But then things changed, especially because of the intervention by Pope John Paul II, who had known Padre Pio personally

Italian journalist Renzo Allegri talks about his

and had firsthand testimony of an amazing miracle

updated biography of Saint Padre Pio.

obtained through the friar’s intercession. It was

T

John Paul II who proclaimed Padre Pio blessed on his book was first published in 1984. Padre Pio had been dead for sixteen years, and the

cause for his beatification had been officially initi-

May 2, 1999, and who elevated him to the glory of sainthood on June 16, 2002.

The text of this new edition of my book is

ated for a year. Moving it forward, however, was a

basically the same as the 1984 text. However, I

struggle.

updated the book with some chapters to include

Many people, in fact, believed that Padre Pio would never be declared a saint. Dozens of

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the events that occurred after that date: the beatification of Padre Pio; the story of the miracle

chosen by the ecclesiastical Tribunal; his canonization; and the spectacular miracle chosen for that last stage of the process. I also wanted to explore Padre Pio’s relationship with Cardinal Lercaro, a great defender of his, which is hardly ever spoken about, and the story of his friendship with Karol Wojtyla that began in 1948 and never ended.

Despite the intervening years, the original text of the 1984 book still has the intrinsic value of being based on little-known, irrefutable documents. It was the first book to defend Padre Pio openly, and it was able to be published because the Italian publishing house was secular and absolutely independent of Vatican authority, which did not at that time trust Padre Pio. His supporters among the laity founded an association called “Friends of Padre Pio,” headquartered in Geneva, and had gathered thousands of documents over the years establishing the authenticity of the Capuchin religious and demonstrating that he had always been condemned unjustly. All that material came from the secret archives of the Vatican. The group of Padre Pio’s friends consisted of rich and powerful people who, spurred on by their love for the friar and by their indignation at the injustices that he was being subjected to, had procured these documents, although not always necessarily through legal means.

Soon after Padre Pio’s death, I met the leaders of this association. I gained their trust and they made the documents from their archives available to me. I began to write articles defending Padre Pio and to do research that turned into books— about a dozen books of which this one was the first.

I looked for people who were eyewitnesses of what I had read in the “secret documents” and persuaded them to disclose what they knew publicly. I was dealing with famous people, professionals, and several celebrities. It was not easy to

refute them or to say they were making things up.

They were eyewitnesses who could demonstrate that with documents in hand. That long series of articles was very successful and did not provoke lawsuits or denials. In fact, those articles served to change public opinion about Padre Pio. Another strategy I used that proved helpful was to make a distinction between the activities of Padre Pio’s “enemies” and the Church. I never believed or said that the Church persecuted Padre Pio. I have always written that some important people in the Vatican Dicasteries did that and added that in all probability they were acting in good faith: they thought they were defending the Church this way from over-excited and fanatical people, or perhaps they were not well-informed about the facts. Avoiding direct controversies and fierce confrontations, I was able to get some attention and bring about some changes.

Today, in 2019, Padre Pio is one of the most famous saints. His popularity in the Catholic world is enormous and is always growing. Popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, and all believers venerate and love Padre Pio. He is also esteemed, revered, and respected by Protestants, the Orthodox, the Jews, and even in some Muslim circles. But people still continue to ignore the “passion” that Padre Pio lived through for his whole earthly life. To ignore the persecution as if it never existed is unjust and mistaken because the very persecution he endured—at times weeping with sorrow because of it but without ever complaining—demonstrates how great Padre Pio’s holiness was.

Saint Padre Pio Man of Hope

by Renzo Allegri

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How the Mystics Reveal God’s Love An excerpt from Mystics: Twelve Who Reveal God’s Love

by Murray Bodo, OFM

T

he word mystics has the same linguistic root as the word mystery, which denotes some-

thing secret, hidden, something that is beyond our understanding. The mystic is one who has had an experience beyond our ordinary understanding and/or experience. In the Christian tradition the mystic has been understood as someone who has received the special grace of infused contemplation of God in contrast to the acquired contemplation of the ordinary practitioner of contemplative

with humans in their own language throughout the ages. In every age down to our own, God speaks to individual men and women just as God spoke to Abraham and Moses and the prophets.

God is not dead; God continues to be involved with all of creation and to speak with human beings as intimates. What is more, in the language of the mystics, in their metaphors and images, we see revealed the intimate union we all have with God, an intimacy as close as the love expressed in the Song of Songs. We see the profound transformation that happens in people once they realize in a tangible way who God is and who God is in relation to us.

As in times past, God speaks to individuals, and they are transformed. We, in turn, are transformed by their stories when we recognize that

prayer. Contemplative prayer is a looking at God,

their stories are our stories, too. The mystics see

either directly, as does the mystic, or indirectly as

and act upon the truth about all of us. If we but

does the ordinary contemplative who “sees” God

see in faith what they see, in fact, we, too, experi-

indirectly in all of God’s works and all of God’s

ence the effects of God’s power and presence in

workings.

our lives. The mystics show us by their visions

In the mystics I see God speaking and relating

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and lives that what our faith attests and theology

teaches is indeed true: God is, and God is intimately involved with us today and always.

The mystics have been touched by God in an extraordinary way and in some cases have written extraordinarily well of the inner journey.

Every mystical text is the story of an individual’s encounter with God. In those words we can find inspiration and motivation to seek, with the same single-minded perseverance, to be open to God’s voice.

Not every mystic will appeal to everyone, but one or the other may strike a chord in the heart of someone trying to live the Gospel and know God. Something you read will speak to you, and you will say, “This is the saint for me; I believe this; I trust these words, this life.”

The mystics teach us that one who tries to know and love God sooner or later becomes aware that God is unknowable, but one can love God intimately despite God’s ultimate unknowableness.

With this awareness comes the further realization that all one’s desire to know and love God has from the beginning been God’s work and that, try as one may, two things are certain: You cannot

find God who has already found you by running away from yourself, your own problems, your own unresolved fears; and secondly, everything you leave in order to respond to God’s love is in the end redeemed, transformed and given back to you wholly new and in an unpossessive way.

The shape and dynamic of this journey to union with God has been talked about and written down for centuries. The particulars are unique to each person. God gives; we receive and respond. God removes God’s tangible presence and we feel abandoned, unloved, terrified of the utter emptiness of life without God. God remains removed, remote for as long as it takes for us to know with certainty that the emptiness we feel when God is absent proves God is present. And further, only God can make us know God has returned.

We cannot merit or force God’s hand, but God will return in subtle and unambiguous signs that confirm God has always been there, is now, and will ever be our one true love.

Mary, Mother of Mystics Francis of Assisi, The Practical Mystic Clare of Assisi, God’s Mirror Jacopone da Todi, The Madness of God Julian of Norwich, The Goodness of God Bonaventure, Lover of Christ Crucified Catherine of Siena, The Hidden Things of God John of the Cross, Prisoner of Love Thérèse of Lisieux, The Little Way Gerard Manley Hopkins, Immortal Diamond Simone Weil, The Marvelous Dimension Robert Lax, A Sort of Bliss Mystics Twelve Who Reveal God’s Love

by Murray Bodo, OFM

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By What Authority?

you together in love and to stir your minds, so

An excerpt from Yes, and…: Daily Meditations

by Richard Rohr, OFM

opment, until you really know God’s secret in

H

had the courage to say it on my own.

ow do we know what we think we know? How and why do I, Richard Rohr, say the things I say with any kind of authority or confidence? Why should you trust these writings? How do you know that these are not just my ideas or merely one, biased opinion? They are certainly expressed in my limited culture, understanding, and vocabulary. How could they not be? You have no basis for trusting these words unless I am living within and drawing from the entire force field of the Holy Spirit, which we Catholics would also call “the communion of saints.”

I am first saying a deep Yes to that force field and I am just adding an And! This is not to disagree with the mainline orthodoxy at all, but to simply add what every generation must add, “to bind

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that your understanding may come to full develwhich all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” (Colossians 2:2–3). I thank the Apostle Paul for giving me that verse. I would never have I have to risk writing, as every spiritual writer does, and I must be willing to be judged wrong by others more intelligent, wiser, and holier than I. But this is the leap that I and all others must also make in order to communicate that bit of the Great Truth of the Gospel to which we each have our own access. Paul also reassures me when he wrote that this Body of Christ is “groaning forward in one great act of giving birth” (Romans 8:22). Should we call it evolutionary Christianity?

There is no other kind if the Spirit is still active and speaking.

John the Baptist did it early on with his daring and new river ritual, and with no temple priesthood to support him. Paul did it with his

independent letters, when there was no apostolic authority to assure or reassure him. In fact, they even fought him. Jesus did it with the Judaism of his time and place. This is the only pattern available to us in the humble and willingly fallible world of faith, and yet it is how we each tentatively contribute our little part to the Great Truth of God. Only future history will know whether ours was good or bad teaching. That is how we all live in the faith of our own moment in time and must hand ourselves over to God’s always larger future, just as Jesus did in Gethsemane.

I am, of course, trusting and hoping that what is contained here is much more than a bit of truth, precisely because I have found some serious validation in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, plus a clear consistency with enough of the connecting dots of the Great Tradition: two thousand years of Jewish interpretation and two thousand years of Christian interpretation, mystics, saints, church councils, friends of God, theologians, and philosophers of the ecumenical Body of Christ.

This is the force field of the Holy Spirit, of which we continue to be a part whenever we are living, writing, and praying in loving union with God and God’s work in this world. I pray and hope that all I say and teach in these meditations comes from this place of loving union. Antagonism evokes a mirror image of the same. To paraphrase St. Joan of Arc (1412–1431), I also want to say, “If I am in your truth, God, keep me there. If I am not, God, put me there.”

A Different Kind of Knowing The essential religious experience is that you are being known through more than knowing anything in particular yourself. Yet, despite this difference, it will feel like true knowing. This new way of knowing can be called contemplation, non-dualistic thinking, or third-eye seeing. Such prayer, such seeing, takes away your anxiety about figuring it all out fully for yourself or needing to be right about your formulations. Thomas Aquinas

(1225–1274) called this “connatural knowledge”2 and John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) called it “intuitive cognition.”3 It is a more integrated knowing than mere reason alone. With this access point, God becomes more a verb than a noun, more a process than a conclusion, more an experience than a dogma, more a personal relationship than an idea. There is Someone dancing with you and you no longer need to prove to anyone that you are right, nor are you afraid of making mistakes.

Another word for that is faith.

—Adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics

Mysticism, Not Moralism God always entices you through love. You were probably taught that God would love you if and when you changed. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change, is the experience of love and acceptance itself. This is the engine of change. If the mystics say that one way, they say it a thousand ways. But, because most common religion has not been at the mystical level, you’ve been given an inferior message—that God loves you when you change (moralism). It puts it all back on you, which is the opposite of being saved.

Moralism leads you back to navel-gazing and you can never succeed at that level. You are never holy enough, pure enough, refined enough, or loving enough. Whereas, when you fall into God’s mercy, when you fall into God’s great generosity, you find, seemingly from nowhere, this capacity to change. No one is more surprised than you are.

You know it is a total gift.

Yes, And… Daily Meditations

by Richard Rohr

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Holiness Is for Everyone An excerpt from Armchair Mystic: How Contemplative Prayer Can Lead You Closer to God

by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ

M

ost Christians operate under the assumption that there are two difference types of prayer. First, there is the prayer of the everyday person. For example, rushing to class, the college kid asks God for help with the upcoming literature exam; for reasons unknown even to herself, the middle-aged attorney spends her short lunch break at Mass in the little chapel three blocks from her office; as the sun rises and his baby girl wakes, Dad prays the Morning Offering and asks God to keep his daughter strong and healthy.

And then there is the prayer of the holy people— of monks and nuns who spend their lives very close to God, spiritually lifted to a heavenly place through some sort of otherworldly prayer that bears no resemblance to the prayer of the common man and woman.

This book calls this whole mindset into question. This book assumes that holiness comes in all

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shapes, sizes and walks of life. The father gazing on his sleeping child has as much potential to be holy as the monk gazing upon the tabernacle.

There is no great divide between the prayer of the monastery and the prayer of the marketplace.

There is no fundamental difference between the frantic pre-exam prayer of the college kid and the quiet prayer of the monk contemplative.

Contemplative prayer is not about leaving this world. It is not an otherworldly experience.

Those who pray contemplative prayer accept and embrace this world and the Creator who dwells therein. Contemplative prayer is not exclusively for monks and nuns. The college kid, the father, the lawyer and all everyday people can pray contemplatively.

Armchair Mystic does not assume, however, that contemplative prayer “is so easy that anyone can do it.� Contemplative prayer is not necessarily easy. In fact, there are parts of the experience that are very difficult. But the point is that if I have the strong will and desire to pray contemplatively, I do not have to shave my head and join a monastery to do it. The armchair in my house is just as capable of being the holy ground of contemplative prayer as the monastery stall of a cloistered church.

If you are an everyday person who feels called to a deeper experience of prayer, then I encourage

Reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer 1. I pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and reverently three times.

you to read on. Perhaps you are called to begin to pray contemplatively. This book can give you a few pointers to help you get started.

I must always remember that I can no more approach God than an infant can approach its mother. When that baby sees its mother several feet away, he tries to reach her by stretching out his tiny arms toward her. But it is Mom who goes the distance and makes the connection.

In the same way, my human capacity to reach across the great divide between the finite and the infinite is eternally inadequate. But from God’s perspective, the gap doesn’t exist at all. Like a loving mother, our Mother-God is ever present.

Because of his mother’s faithfulness, the child of the loving mother soon becomes convinced that his reach is sufficient, and in a way he’s right, isn’t he? In the same way, all I need to do in order to reach God is to reach for God. I should do myself a favor and memorize this line: To reach for God is to reach God. I will have to remind myself of this whenever I feel tempted to believe that God will only come to me if I find the magic book, say the

2. I choose one phrase within the prayer to reflect on. I ask myself, “Who is God in this phrase?”

For example, in the phrase, “Give us this day our daily bread,” my answer might be “God is provider.” If so, then what does God provide?

Why does he provide it? How much does he provide? When does he provide? Or in the phrase, “Your kingdom come,” I might say, “God is king.” If so, what kind of a king is he?

What would it be like if his kingdom came? Or has it already come? And if so, how? How has it not? Why has it not?

3. I go back over the phrase, asking myself, “Who am I in this phrase?” In the daily bread phrase, I might say, “I am hungry.” If so, then what am I hungry for? Why am I hungry? How will I be fed? In the kingdom phrase, I might say, “I am God’s subject.” If so, then what does my King expect of me? What do I expect of my King?

How far will I go in service to him? How loyal am I? How loyal do I want to be? What other kings am I tempted to serve?

4. Some phrases will work better than others. I use the ones that work and skip the ones that don’t.

I take as much or little time as I want with any given phrase. If things are going really well, perhaps I will want to dedicate a whole prayer time to just one phrase that is meaningful to me.

Armchair Mystic How Contemplative Prayer Can Lead You Closer to God

by Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ

magic formula and become the perfect pray-er. I should trust that God is present to me any time I stretch out my feeble little spiritual arms.

Here’s an exercise for you to try.

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Christ at the Center of Our World An excerpt from

because God is by nature humble and self-giving.

God turns towards us as gift in the incarnation.

It is precisely because God is most high that he can be humbly and intimately related to us. Only God, who is absolute good, can give his goodness

Crucified Love: Bonaventure’s Mysticism of the

entirely to us without losing anything of God’s

Crucified Christ

own goodness. In this respect, God continu-

by Ilia Delio, OSF

ously calls us into relationship with him through

B

compassionate love, to be self-giving goodness as onaventure’s mysticism of the Crucified Christ is a metaphor of intimacy. It means

he is. Only in this way can Jesus’s prayer be realized, the unity of the Father and Son in the Spirit

that God is passionately involved in the world and

(Jn 17:22). This means living in and embracing the

in the suffering of the world. God does not stand

cross. When one turns toward God with all that

over the world in power; God stands “united to”

one has and all that one is, then one turns toward

the world in humility and compassionate love

the neighbor in a spirit of burning compassionate

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love. As we grow in love in union with the Crucified, we are led more deeply into the mystery of servanthood—of humanity and creation. As we “ascend” to God we “descend” to our neighbor and to the created world. The journey to God through the deepening of compassionate love in union with Christ helps us to unravel the spiral of violence—the violence within us and around us— and replaces the metaphors of power and judgment with the metaphor of love. It is this continuous movement toward union with Christ which makes Jesus Crucified “alive” as the center of the world, a center that can draw all humanity and creation into the powerful love of God, the unity of the Father and Son, the center of peace.

In the Middle Ages, the question was raised by theologians, “Would Christ have come if Adam did not sin?” It seems that Bonaventure might have answered affirmatively, although he never officially responded to this question. Yet what he sees in the mystery of the Crucified is the profound love of God in the world, the diffusive divine goodness, a love that cries out on the cross to be received, to be loved. Christ Crucified has not only reconciled us to God; he has made possible for all eternity a love relationship with God that surpasses even that which the first Adam enjoyed. Bonaventure’s Christ mysticism offers hope to a world of suffering because the future horizon of eternal happiness and peace is already realized in the mystery of the cross.

Suffering persists in the world, and in the pain God may be silent. Yet, Bonaventure reminds us that God is a mystery of opposites, silent and communicative, hidden and present; for God is not simply the Word alone but the Word united to the Father and Spirit.

Although the Father is present in the Son, the Father himself, the fountain of eternal goodness, is always hidden. From a distance, the mystery of God as one who is immanent yet transcendent is inscrutable. But when we turn toward God with

our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind, through imitation of and conformity to Christ, we discover the mystery in our own life; indeed, at the very center of our life. This mystery is the mystery of love, the love that is hidden since the beginning of the world, the love that moves the sun and the other stars, the love that draws us upward, beyond ourselves, the love that is eternal, dynamic and diffusive—that is of God and is God. Bonaventure tells us that we are invited into this love; indeed, God calls out to us, not from a distant world, but from the suffering of the cross.

When we turn our entire being to God and enter within, when we join with Christ in the suffering of the cross, we enter into the depths of this mystery of love, the mystery of the Father: Let us die and enter into this darkness. Let us silence all our cares, our desires, and our imaginings. With Christ Crucified, let us pass out of this world to the Father, so that when the Father is shown to us, we may say with Philip: “It is enough for us.”

At the same time we move, in a no less mysterious way, into the heart of the world where Christ is center. If our journey into God and our journey into the world is through the same Crucified center, that center which mediates our relation to God for all eternity then we may say that, even in this world of violence and suffering, heaven has been revealed; even here on earth, eternal life has begun.

Crucified Love Bonaventure’s Mysticism of the Crucified Christ

by Ilia Delio, OSF

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Writing to Be Well A reflection on writing Francis: The Journey and the Dream

by Murray Bodo, OFM

T

he writing of Francis: The Journey and the Dream began with Father Jeremy

Harrington, OFM, when he was editor of St. Anthony Messenger. He asked me if I would be willing to write a short life of Saint Francis whose publication would coincide with the American release of the Franco Zeffirelli film, Brother Sun, Sister Moon.

At that time I was teaching English and serving as co-spiritual director with another friar at St.

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Francis High School Seminary in Cincinnati. I was thirty-five years old and going through a difficult time of burnout, experiencing fainting spells at Mass, finding it difficult to speak in public, and in general feeling my life was unraveling. So I was hesitant to say yes to Father Jeremy’s request, not knowing how I could possibly add one more thing to my schedule of five classes a day, three hours a day of spiritual direction, and helping out on weekends at various parishes.

Father Jeremy sweetened the request by assuring me that I would be released from classes and other responsibilities from March to June, and I would then also have the three summer months to continue writing. It sounded so good that I couldn’t resist, but I needed some assurance that I wouldn’t be at the seminary where the pressure

of things to be done, even if I was released from teaching, would inevitably crowd out the writing.

So I asked if I could go away to the University of New Hampshire to write in proximity to one of my writing mentors, Donald M. Murray.

“Oh, no,” Father Jeremy said, “you’ll be living in Assisi!” Nothing could have been more of a surprise, especially in the early ’70s when going to Assisi was something extraordinary, something you might be allowed to do when you celebrated your twenty-fifth or fiftieth anniversary as a friar.

That promise of Assisi sealed the deal for me, and I asked to write a trial chapter to see if it was the kind of thing St. Anthony Messenger Press had in mind.

I vividly remember leaving the seminary on a Saturday morning, the one free morning of the week, and going to Carter’s Restaurant on Winton Road in Cincinnati with fear and trepidation because I didn’t consider myself a prose writer but a poet. Could I do something like this? But, mercifully, as I sat staring at a blank piece of paper, I looked up and saw a young couple in the booth in front of me. I could see the back of the man’s head and the woman’s face. She seemed troubled, and an image came into my mind. I wrote about what I saw, and it became the first chapter I wrote, which is now the chapter entitled, “Of Loneliness.”

Father Jeremy liked it; and before I knew it, I was on a plane crossing the Atlantic asking myself, “What were you thinking? You can hardly stand up, you’re emotionally exhausted, and now you’re audaciously thinking you can come back from Assisi with a book about Saint Francis?”

But when I arrived in Rome and started traveling by train to Assisi, something happened that made me feel that, as we moved geographically to Umbria, we were also moving chronologically

Subasio, I knew that I had arrived. Where, I wasn’t sure, but it was good.

From the very beginning of the project, the writing started happening every morning as I sat at my desk in St. Anthony Guest House. I felt day after day that someone else was writing what I was in too bad a shape to write. And yet I knew it was my pen scratching across the paper.

To make a long story short, when I finished the book five months later, I didn’t know if it was any good or not, but I knew I was well again, that I had made some kind of inner journey with Francis that had brought me to wholeness. The entire writing process had been a joy, even though I knew then about half of what I know now about the medieval world. Francis: The Journey and the Dream was written in the humility of sitting patiently at my desk every day and waiting for the words to come.

It was with Francis: The Journey and the Dream that I began to learn the craft of writing long, sustained prose which I came to see was simply writing a number of words a day. No one can write a book at one clip. It’s too daunting. But one can write two or three pages a day. Eventually, if what one is writing is actually working on the page, it becomes a book. I also learned that the process is more satisfying than the product itself is; I delighted in getting up in the morning, and after Mass and breakfast, reading what I had written the day before, then waiting to see what words would flow from the pen (I have always written the first draft of a book with a pen, usually a fountain pen).

And I came to love Assisi, a love that has endured for forty years now, as has the love of writing.

Francis The Journey and the Dream

by Murray Bodo, OFM

back in time to the Middle Ages. When the train pulled into the new town of St. Mary of the Angels below Assisi and I looked up toward the medieval hill town of Assisi spread out on the side of Mount

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A Spirituality of Place An excerpt from In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare

by Roch Niemier, OFM

I

t seems to me that in certain respects there is not a great difference between the thirteenth and the twenty-first centuries. During the lifetime of Saint Francis there was a burning hunger and desire for things of the spirit, for sound spirituality, for the experience of God. Francis was able to respond to those hungers in a way unmatched, perhaps, by anyone since, and he awakened those hungers in the hearts of others. In our time there is clear evidence of the same kind of desires in people’s hearts. They are searching for paths that open them to the realization of their spiritual yearnings.

I always have had an inner drive to share the wonderful God I have come to know with others, to let them know what a gracious gift our God is, to tell what I have experienced, what I have tasted, what I have come to know. This longing is everpresent in my spirit. Sometimes it is a roaring fire; other times it is only glowing embers. But the desire has never left me.

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Places have their own power, one that evokes meaning, direction and spirit. When we visit them thoughtfully we can experience the presence of those who have been there before us; we can sense something of their spirit. These moments or experiences can deeply affect us spiritually. We might have tasted something of this by visiting the home of a loved one who has recently passed on, or perhaps in appreciating an experience that would appeal to someone else we know. Marriage counselors often encourage spouses to visit the childhood homes of their partners—each learns something new about the other. At times we might even have experienced a strong awareness of the divine presence. This spiritual power of place inspires a unique form of spirituality.

We use this principle to explore the places important in the lives of Saints Francis and Clare because in them we discover a modern-day spirituality that speaks well to our longings. It is amazing to visit their city, walk its streets, drink in its spirit and be absorbed by the mysticism of every place they touched in their lives. Nothing can quite compare with that experience. As we explore these places together, keep in mind the three important steps to help awaken the spiritual energy that is contained in a place.

First, make an actual visit to the place with the mind-set of a pilgrim. Be open to discovery, receptive to the movement of God’s grace; be willing to be changed and to accept a call to holiness.

Second, try to enter into the events of the place as though you were an actor in a drama. We do this at Christmas when we put up a crèche to remind us of Bethlehem, and enter into the mystery of the place by singing with the angels or worshiping the infant with the shepherds. In our Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs, we try to encourage this in a number of ways. We offer lectures to provide the historical context, but we also rely on prayer and Eucharist to help us focus our attention on the same things that Francis and Clare focused on.

Some pilgrimage leaders will dramatize Clare’s midnight departure from her home and out the Porta Moiano, one of the gates of the city, to join Francis by walking along the path she might have taken and pausing along the way to consider what might have been her thoughts, hopes and fears.

Others might ritualize Francis stripping himself before the bishop and his father at Santa Maria Maggiore, standing in that place and reciting the very words Francis spoke at the time. Sometimes we are blessed in the reenactment of Clare’s gift of healing in her dormitory at San Damiano where

she died. Or at St. John Lateran in Rome we might hear Jesus’ call to rebuild the church using stones taken from the Assisi quarry.

Third, and perhaps most important, become immersed in the place and its events by reflecting deeply on its meaning for Francis and Clare and also for yourself. Merely going through the motions might have some impact, but by choosing to allow ourselves to enter as deeply as possible into the spirituality of a place, we can release the spiritual energy that can draw us deeper into the mystery of God. This is where God touches our lives. This is where we begin to sense the presence of God and some of the hunger within begins to be filled. Allow the spirituality of the place to awaken within you a desire for the living God and experience that yearning for holiness being fulfilled in some small way.

In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare

by Roch Niemier, OFM

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Rebuild My House An excerpt from Perfect Joy: Thirty Days with Francis of Assisi

by Kerry Walters Francis quotes from John 8:47: He who is of God hears the words of God. —Letter to a General Chapter

F

rancis left the town one day to meditate outof-doors and as he was passing by the church of San Damiano which was threatening to collapse with age, he felt urged to go in and pray. There as he knelt in prayer before a painted image of the Crucified, he felt greatly comforted in spirit and his eyes were full of tears as he gazed at the cross.

Then, all of a sudden, he heard a voice coming from the cross and telling him three times, “Francis, go and repair my house. You see it is all falling down.” —Bonaventure, Life of St. Francis Few stories about Francis are as well-known as his mystical summons by the San Damiano crucifix to “repair my church.” The event most likely occurred in the fall of 1205 when Francis

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was twenty-four years old. He had abandoned his fantasies of martial glory to enlist in the service of God but hadn’t yet quite figured out what God wanted him to do.

The mysterious voice from the Byzantine crucifix gave him a sense of direction. For the next two years Francis labored to rebuild the brokendown church of San Damiano, begging stones and mortar from the amused townspeople of Assisi.

“Good people!” he cried in the town square.

“Give me stones! One stone gets you one blessing!

Two get you two blessings! Three get you three blessings!” It was the beginning of his public ministry, and it seemed quite ludicrous to nearly everyone.

The standard interpretation of the San Damiano story is that God was really telling St. Francis to rebuild the corruption-riddled Church, not poor little San Damiano chapel. But my guess is that the summons included both. All of us must begin somewhere, and even the greatest missions have small beginnings. Lugging stones and propping up the walls of an aged and tottering chapel is a good apprenticeship for strengthening the spiritual foundations of Mother Church.

Focusing too closely on the standard interpretation of San Damiano risks blinding us to an important message in the story: God’s will for us always surpasses our power of comprehension. God says, “Repair my house,” and we, because of our limited vision and timid imagination, suppose that the most God wants from us is a little hammering here, a little wallpapering there. What God really intends unfolds only with time, prayer, and discernment, and even then there remains a mysterious edge to it that’s forever beyond our ken. What mortal can fathom the divine plan? This, at least, was Francis’s experience.

There are three lessons here.

First, those of us who strain to hear God’s voice ought not to be so eager to receive unambiguous instructions that we ignore any communication that isn’t crystal clear. Given the disparity between our mortal receptors and the divine transmitter, such selectivity is foolish. Even worse, it’s arrogant, constituting as it does a demand that God behave in ways that we think proper. We need to remember that God’s voice is subtler than a black-and-white sheet of instructions from a technical manual.

Second, remain open to the multitude of possibilities embedded in any divine communication.

When God whispers in your ear, realize that you hear only the topmost layer of what God wishes to impress on you. Take time to mull the message over in order to explore its depths and to make sure that you really hear what God has to say, not what you think God ought to say. Sometimes your exploration will take you in totally unanticipated directions of service. How could Francis, kneeling before the altar in San Damiano, have possibly guessed what God had in store for him?

And third, think big when it comes to interpreting God’s voice. Thinking big doesn’t mean putting the most dramatic or earthshaking spin on the summons, but rather appreciating the fact

that whatever God is leading you to do is immeasurably important simply because it’s God’s wish. Had Francis’s only job been to repair San Damiano, that task would have been the grandest thing in his life because it was the one given him

by God. So think big. Know that God speaks to you, and that when God does, your assigned task, whatever it is, regardless of how modest it appears in the eyes of the world, takes on eternal importance.

For Reflection Do you demand crystal-clear marching orders from God before you’re willing to act? If so, are you being scrupulous—or arrogant?

Meditation The Holy Spirit writes no more Gospels except in our hearts. All we do from moment to moment is live this new Gospel of the Holy Spirit. We, if we are holy, are the paper; our sufferings and our actions are the ink. The workings of the Holy Spirit are his pen, and with it he writes a living Gospel.… Just think what an infinite number of different and worthwhile books are produced by the mixing up of twenty-six letters. We cannot understand this wonder, so how can we comprehend what God is doing in the universe? How can we read and understand so vast a book, one in which every single letter has its own special meaning and within its tiny shape, contains the most profound mysteries? We can neither see nor feel these mysteries. Only by faith can they be known. —Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonment to Divine Providence Perfect Joy Thirty Days with Francis of Assisi

by Kerry Walters

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The Spiral Journey of Faith An excerpt from Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith

by Michael Dennin

W

e have seen the rancorous effects of framing the intersection between science and faith as a debate. Such a framework nearly eliminates the possibility of productive conversation. The best way, to my mind, of spanning the chasm between science and faith is to dispense with the notion of the chasm. One step in this process is to subject our faith to a critical program like the one to which we subject scientific findings. Here, I do not mean that we should simply nuance our faith to accommodate the findings of science—although I am inclined to believe that such an exercise would result in a more robust, healthier faith. Rather, I think persons of faith can borrow some of the critical methods of science in order to facilitate such growth.

So, what would a critically engaged faith look like? What would the method and process of this faith be? I envision this process of faith takes as its point of departure the idea that, as in science, experience plays a crucial role. As the happy product of a Jesuit education, I am deeply moved by the notion of the spiral journey of faith. Faith, like scientific experimentation, is neither linear nor deterministic. On the contrary, the ideal faith journey comes back to problematic things repeatedly. But, thankfully, if life is going well, this faith journey is slowly moving forward. Many become preoccupied with the “known knowns”—to borrow an infelicitous phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense of the United States under President George W. Bush. Some focus on the truth that Jesus died on the cross once and for all,

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redeemed our sins, and the rest is done. Such a perspective is fine, but it doesn’t mean that your relationship with God, your understanding of the world, and your relationship with other people are done. And therein lies the crux of this fitful spiral journey. An active, dynamic, living faith is one that is constantly subject to refinement. A faith not thought about, not critically evaluated, and not revised as part of a journey—that is a dead faith.

But this type of growing, waxing faith requires a great deal of humility; it requires an honest recognition of the limits of our understanding. Even for Christians who believe that revelation is complete in Christ, there needs to be a recognition that our understanding of revelation is not. We must be open to areas in which we need to grow in our faith and deepen our experience of the fullness of reality. We see the same type of humility in the sciences, when they are done well. The tools are different, but a key element of science is the ability to quantify what you do not understand.

Scientists make the most progress when they recognize where old experiments can be improved

upon and new experiments are needed.

Therefore, both faith and science require a comfort with doubt and uncertainty, as these are the starting points for increased knowledge. It is our belief—in either the possibility of deepening our relationship with the fullness of reality, in its most maximal articulation, or the power of the scientific enterprise to deepen our understanding of physical reality—that animates the journey of discovery through our doubts. But—and this is a crucial point—both the faith and the scientific understanding that sustained the investigation of our doubts must be allowed to be changed by the very discoveries this investigation produces.

If either a thinking, faithful person or a scientist were not comfortable in the midst of confusion, then this person would lack the confidence to proceed forward in discovery. Faith is not about certainty of facts; it is about certainty in one’s relationship with God (or the fullness of reality).

It is about exploring one’s relationship with the infinite to its fullest; it is about having faith that the journey is even possible in the face of the great unknown of the infinite; it is about dealing frankly

with the doubts while holding faithful to our core truths.

Not surprisingly, constant doubt is also a hallmark of the scientific method. To be sure, scientists will use different terms: they have an inductive criteria of examination; they engage in an intellectual exchange that is predicated on the notion of repeatability. But the uncertainty is the same. Science is quite adept at defining the terms of its uncertainty. Faith, on the other hand, often avoids uncertainty where it should be embraced.

Rumination, consideration, reflection—these are the hallmarks of a dynamic, critically engaged faith. Both faith and science are about evaluating information and moving forward.

Divine Science Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith Michael Dennin

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Ask a Franciscan by Pat McCloskey, OFM Q. If God is all-powerful and all-good, why does evil exist? I have heard the theories of human free will, responsibility, and weakness after Adam and Eve’s fall. Why is there so much unbearable injustice in the world?

The evil that we encounter all too often does not indicate a lack of due diligence on God’s part, but rather a failure on humans’ part to use their freedom in a way that acknowledges God as the ultimate source of our freedom.

A. The evidence of human suffering is undeniable.

If someone uses that fact as a reason not to believe in God, the suffering doesn’t disappear. In fact, it may be even harder to handle.

People are killed by hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, catastrophic fires, and other causes. But most people never cite these as reasons not to believe in God or not to believe in God’s overall providence. No, what they do cite are obviously human evils: murder, theft, abuse of children or vulnerable adults, and genocide that fill our daily news.

God did not have to create stars, rocks, flowers, birds, or people. God did all of that out of love, acting in perfect freedom. We never act with the same freedom, but every time we act in more genuine freedom, we are acting as people made in God’s image and likeness.

Most human suffering is caused by an abuse of human freedom. God could, of course, have created a world in which human freedom could not be abused. That would be the ultimate demonstration of micromanaging. In such a world, however, we could make no sense of authentic love or God-given freedom.

Q. For six years, I was the sole caregiver of my mom and my aunt. They died eight weeks apart. I miss them so much; they were my best friends, and we did everything together. I still grieve their deaths, especially during the holidays. I cry often, but I offer all my loneliness, sadness, and Masses for the holy souls in purgatory. When will my pain and loneliness ease? I am very active in my local parish.

A. You obviously loved them very much. I wish that I could give you a date when your pain and loneliness will ease. Grief, however, does not respect calendars. Do you remember how your mother and aunt dealt with the deaths of their parents or other relatives? Did their grief cripple them emotionally? Did it gradually become less evident?

If either your mom or your aunt could speak to you now about your grief, what do you think they would say? Would they encourage your present way of dealing with this loss? Might they suggest another way? There is a great deal of pain and suffering in the world. Grieving people sometimes practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy

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with a new dedication. This will not bring back your mom and aunt, but this option may honor them more than your current expressions of grief do.

When they were in good health, was there some type of community service in which they were especially involved? Could you continue their work or address a more recent or more urgent community need?

Does your parish have a bereavement committee? If so, perhaps you could offer shortterm support and longer-term help to others who have lost loved ones. The current Holy Year of Mercy may be the perfect time to help bury the dead and console the sorrowing.

Mary and Jesus grieved the death of St. Joseph, but in life-giving ways. May they guide you in your grief and in your service to others.

Q. I am feeling very guilty. I was driving my car and accidentally hit a man with my side mirror. I never saw him, and I don’t know if he stepped in front of me or not. The only reason I know he was hit was my side mirror flipped in, and I heard the snap. I immediately pulled over and asked the man if he was OK. He was standing there, rubbing his shoulder.

He silently nodded his head, and I gave my apologies and went on my way to catch a train to work. Had I done enough? He looked as though he was from another country. Perhaps he was here illegally and didn’t want trouble. I decided to miss my train and go back to where this happened. He was gone. There was no sign of any further upset, such as an ambulance or police car. I am, however, consumed with guilt and sorrow. Please help me ease my conscience. Do I need to go to confession?

A. Thanks for writing. Your conscience is certainly alive and well! I don’t know that you have sin to confess. I am fairly certain that, even though your actions do not constitute a sin, this incident may continue to trouble you until you

take a next step. That “step” is something that most probably will not aid this particular man directly, but will instead address this situation’s larger context.

What might that “something” be? Perhaps a contribution of time or another resource to the Red Cross, Catholic Social Services, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, or some other group trying to meet the needs of very marginalized people. Your intuition that this man may not speak English could be very accurate.

Another “something” might be to resolve to speak up the next time you hear someone making a negative, sweeping generalization about illegal immigrants. Of course, this man may be in this country legally, but it is never a waste of time or energy to speak up when an entire group of people is written off as “the enemy” or “the problem.”

I think your conscience is asking you to take a “next step,” but it has not indicated a specific next step. That’s part of how conscience works. Any one of the things that I have suggested, or something else that you identify, may be that next step.

Your sending me a letter was one next step—but probably not the last one needed to return you to greater peace about this event.

It’s good that you went back. Even so, according to your state’s law, what you did might be considered leaving the scene of an accident. Please pray for this man and then thank God that you have a conscience that does not allow you to shrug your shoulders and callously say, “That’s life.”

This experience could still have a long-term, positive influence on your life if you take an effective next step.

“Ask a Franciscan” has been a regular column in the pages of St. Anthony Messenger for almost two decades. You can learn more at StAnthonyMessenger.org.

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Two and a Half Minutes That Can Change Your Day An excerpt from Praying the Rosary Like Never Before

by Edward Sri

I

f the rosary is not a part of your regular prayer life right now, here are five key things you need to know to get started.

First, we don’t have to pray the rosary all at once. Sure, some people might sit down and quietly pray a whole rosary in one sitting. But we can also choose to divide it up, saying just a decade or two at a time at different points throughout the day: on the way to work, in between errands, in between meetings, while folding laundry or doing dishes. Many holy men and women and even popes have prayed the rosary this way and have found it manageable and fruitful for their busy lives.

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Second, we can pray it anywhere! The rosary is like a portable chapel we can keep in our pocket and pull out anytime, anyplace. Whether we have a sudden, urgent situation to present to God in prayer or we just want to fill some of our day with thoughts of God, all we need to do is pull out our beads and turn to the Lord in this prayer. Indeed, the rosary is always accessible. We might pray it in a church, in our room, in our office. Or we might pray it in the car, on the exercise machine, in the grocery store line, or while cutting the grass or going for a walk. Bringing our hearts into the rhythm of the rosary is something we can do intermittently throughout the day.

Third, we can pray the rosary in different ways, customizing it to fit the needs of the moment.

Sometimes we might focus on the words of the prayers, thinking, for example, of Gabriel’s greeting to Our Lady as we slowly say with great devotion, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” At other times, we might reflect on the mysteries of Christ’s life, prayerfully contemplating scenes such as his birth in Bethlehem, his transfiguration, or his death on the cross,

I’m giving God some space in my day and filling it with words of praise for him.

etching the Gospel on our hearts. At still other times, we might focus on the holy name of Jesus at the center of each Hail Mary, speaking his name tenderly with love as the pulse of our rosary.

Do you have two and a half minutes in your day that you can give to God? This is the beauty of the rosary. If I need a quick pause in my busy life—just a two-and-a-half-minute break—I can pull out my beads and pray a decade in order to regroup with the Lord and be nourished spiritually. That’s all a decade takes: one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory Be. I can do that easily, pausing for a moment in between emails, in the car, in my office, in between meetings, in between errands.

I don’t even have to stop some things I’m doing: I can pray a decade while cooking dinner, sweeping the floor, holding a baby, or walking to my next appointment.

If an urgent need comes up in the day—someone is in an accident, I’m about to begin a big project, my spouse is having a rough day, I have an important decision to make, I need to have a difficult conversation with someone, my child is taking an exam—I can say a quick decade right on the spot.

In just two and a half minutes, I can offer a special gift to God—one decade of the rosary—for that particular intention.

Fifth, even if I’m not able to give the rosary my full attention, it’s still worth praying. I might not always be able to completely unplug mentally from the concerns of the day. I might be exhausted, too tired to pray well. I might be distracted and unable to reach the heights of contemplation. But still, the words themselves are biblical and holy.

Offering God a decade or two in the midst of my daily life gives him something beautiful, even if I give it without my full, relaxed, undivided attention. I’m giving God some space in my day and filling it with words of praise for him.

Praying the Rosary Like Never Before Edward Sri

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St. Francis and US Veterans

By Nancy Wiechec A longer version of this article originally appeared in St. Anthony Messenger, November 2018

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n Assisi, there’s a statue of St. Francis like no other. There’s no tonsure, no brown robe, no birds, no halo. Many visitors and pilgrims don’t at first recognize this bronze of an armored soldier on his horse as the saint at all.

The statue depicts a turning point in the year 1204. Francis was on his way to fight in the Crusades. He was young, about 23. Two years earlier, he had fought in a battle between his hometown of Assisi and neighboring Perugia and was captured and imprisoned for a year until his father paid a hefty ransom. Afterward, Francis suffered a long illness. Scholars believe he was left hurt and broken, possibly suffering physical ailments as well as what we know today as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By joining the Crusades, Francis might have wanted to prove he was a worthy soldier, but on his ride there, he received a divine message and came to realize that his aspirations as a knight were not to be accomplished by the sword. He turned around and headed back to Assisi.

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Today, military veterans are finding a compelling and relatable figure in St. Francis. The story of the soldier who became the eminent figure for peace and humility has been especially transformative for those involved with veterans programs at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Arizona.

“I consider him my 800-year-old friend,” says Terry Araman, a combat medic in the Vietnam War and a leading advocate for veterans in Arizona. “He’s still very much alive to me.”

Desert Oasis Located in metro Phoenix on the site of a former dude ranch, the Franciscan Renewal Center has long served as a place to reflect, heal, and learn. It was established by Franciscan friars in 1951 under the name Casa de Paz y Bien (Home of Peace and Good). To many, it is simply known as the Casa (TheCasa.org), an integral part of the local community attracting members and support from the surrounding area.

One of those drawn to the center’s charisms— spiritual growth, healing, transformation, and service to others—is Dean Pedrotti, a 30-year veteran of the Phoenix fire department. Now both retired, Araman and Pedrotti are part of a small group that facilitates the Casa’s outreach ministry to veterans as well as to the families of veterans.

“I learned when I was a paramedic that one out of every four homeless men was a Vietnam War veteran,” Pedrotti says. “At about the same time, I

was a member of the Franciscan Renewal Center, and I came to realize there’s a spirituality piece to the veteran’s experience that was not being addressed.”

The Casa’s own study on the subject showed a “lack of available spiritual programs in the Valley [metropolitan Phoenix] to meet the needs of service members, veterans, and their families.”

The study said that one aspect that is typically “overlooked or conflated” in a veteran’s experience is that of moral injury.

Unknown Injury Sharyn Conway served in the Navy for nine years and was at the forward operating base in Kuwait in March 2003 when US Marines began their march toward Baghdad at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She suffered a head injury, but to this day does not know how it happened. The injury revealed no external damage, only internal bleeding. The trauma left her with memory loss and problems speaking and standing. PTSD took its toll as well. She had horrifying flashbacks, which she says have diminished with therapy.

“I’ve been suffering for a long time,” says the veteran, now a middle school educator who teaches English to sixth graders in Goodyear, Arizona.

“Those of us who have been to war, we all suffer from survivor’s guilt,” Conway says. “We suffer from doing things that our parents and others taught us were wrong. . . . Most of us have committed the unforgivable sin. . . . We know forgiveness is out there, but we feel unworthy to accept it, to receive it.”

Conway says she has never been a particularly religious person, but a few years ago, she got an unusual call. Someone offered to pay her way to Italy for a pilgrimage. “I remember thinking, This sounds like a scam.”

The call was from the Franciscan Renewal Center, where Conway once gave a presentation with her service dog. There was a donation

available to pay her way and half her husband’s way to go to Assisi with other veterans.

Like many who travel to Assisi, Conway saw that equestrian statue of St. Francis with his head hung low for the first time. “I could feel those emotions he’s expressing, those emotions of coming home and not quite fitting in. I understood that,” she recalls.

Chaplain Conrad In Assisi, Conway also found an understanding friend and confessor in Franciscan Father Conrad Targonski, the pilgrimage host, who had served 22 years as a chaplain for the Marines. Father Conrad retired from the Marine Corps Combat Center in California in 2010 and now works as a university chaplain. He leads Assisi pilgrimages for veterans and holds St. Francis retreats at the Casa and elsewhere for veterans unable to travel there.

Father Conrad was a supervisory chaplain during Operation Iraqi Freedom and served soldiers on the front lines in the “very bloody and long-standing” battles in Fallujah, Iraq.

When he looks at the statue of St. Francis on his horse, he also knows well what Francis’ “dazed look” is about. “That’s how I was when I got back from Iraq,” he says.

“When I came back, my superior asked me what I wanted to do next. I said that I wanted to be a greeter at Walmart—I wasn’t kidding. I wanted to do something to process this whole idea of war and to see people as people once again.”

An American tradition!

Published monthly by the Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province, your subscription to St. Anthony Messenger helps Franciscans to evangelize. Go to StAnthonyMessenger.org. to learn more.

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Too Busy to Bow Down An excerpt from Prayer: Our Deepest Longing

by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI

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e are not, by choice or ideology, a culture set against solitude, interiority, and prayer. Nor are we, in my opinion, more malicious, pagan, or afraid of interiority than past ages. Where we differ from the past is not so much in badness as in busyness. Most days, we don’t pray simply because we don’t quite get around to it. Perhaps the best metaphor to describe our hurried and distracted lives is that of a car wash.

When you pull up to a car wash, you are instructed to leave your motor running, to take your hands

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off the steering wheel, and to keep your foot off the brake. The idea is that the machine itself will guide you through.

For most of us, that’s just what our typical day does to us. We have smartphones and radios that stimulate us before we are fully awake. Many of us are texting friends, checking Facebook and e-mail, watching the news, or listening to music or talk radio before we even shower or eat breakfast. The drive to work follows the same pattern: Stimulated and preoccupied, we listen to the radio, talk on our cell phones, and plan the day’s agenda. We return home to television, conversation, activities, and preoccupations of all kinds.

Eventually, we go to bed, where perhaps we read or watch a bit more TV. Finally, we fall asleep.

When, in all of this, did we take time to think, to pray, to wonder, to be restful, to be grateful for life, for love, for health, for God?

Ironically, most of us crave solitude. As our lives grow more pressured, as we grow more tired, and as we begin to talk more about burnout, we fantasize about solitude. We imagine it as a peaceful, quiet place, where we are walking by a lake, watching a sunset, or smoking a pipe in a rocker by the fireplace. But even here, many times we make solitude yet another activity, something we do.

Solitude, however, is a form of awareness. It’s a way of being present and perceptive within all of life. It’s having a dimension of reflectiveness in our daily lives that brings with it a sense of gratitude, appreciation, peacefulness, enjoyment, and prayer. It’s the sense, within ordinary life, that life is precious, sacred, and enough.

How do we foster solitude? How do we get a handle on life so it doesn’t just suck us through?

How do we begin to lay a foundation for prayer in our lives? The first step is to “put out into the

deep” by remaining quietly in God’s presence in solitude, in silence, in prayer. If it is your first time doing this, set aside fifteen minutes for prayer. In time, you might be able to manage thirty minutes.

Remember: Your heart is made to rest in God. If St. Augustine is right, and he is, then you can count on your restlessness to lead you into deeper prayer—the kind of prayer that leads to profound transformation, the kind of prayer that will not leave you empty-handed.

Prayer Our Deepest Longing Ronald Rolheiser, OMI

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Where there is Love and Wisdom, there is neither Fear nor Ignorance.

Where there is Patience and Humility, there is neither Anger nor Annoyance.

Where there is Poverty and Joy, there is neither Cupidity nor Avarice.

Where there is Peace and Contemplation, there is neither Care nor Restlessness.

Where there is the Fear of God to guard the dwelling, there no enemy can enter.

Where there is Mercy and Prudence, there is neither Excess nor Harshness. —St. Francis of Assisi

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by January 31, 2020

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