Brotherhood | Franciscans of Life

Not the Liturgical Police

I attended mass this Sunday at my favorite parish. The homilist is one of my favorite priests. His message is always very good and very orthodox. So why am I writing this blog entrance? Two important things happened. I’ll begin with the least positive and conclude with the more positive event.

Father tends to repeat himself a great deal during his homilies, which makes them very long. Something has not set well with me about these long homilies and I think I figured out what it is. They unbalance the liturgy.

One of the major concerns when in the liturgical renewal was to give a more prominent place to the Word of God. The idea of a Liturgy of the Word with three readings and a psalm was born. But the theology of the mass was not supposed to change. The mass is still the unbloody sacrifice of Calvary. The sacrifice must still occupy pride and place during the mass.

However, when your homily is three times longer than the Eucharistic Prayer, when you have the laity reading aloud from their bibles during the homily, the preacher is everywhere but at the pulpit and the style of the homily resembles a Protestant revival more than a Catholic homily, with people calling out, clapping, cheering and more, then there is a problem. The problem is that the sacrifice is virtually ignored. People attend the mass because they love Father N’s homilies. But Fathehr N’s homilies are an event unto themselves that make the Liturgy of the Eucharist pale by comparison.

Another problem enters the picture when Father N repeatedly makes certain comments. Every preacher has a pet phrase, slogan or idiomatic expression that he will throw in there with some frequency. We have to make room for the human element. A preacher is a human being who comes with his culture, his persona and his style. We can’t and shouldn’t expect them all to be cut out of the same bolt of cloth. Even identical twins have different personalities, why should all preachers have the same personality?

Having said this, it is important that the preacher beware when his homilies are attracting more attention to him than to God. This is important, because it’s very easy to upstage God, if the preacher is not careful. People can see the preacher, but they can’t see God. Expressions such as:

Never say no to Father.

I’m a priest.

I’ve been a priest for X number of years.

I’m a priest and he’s only a deacon.

When I walk down the street . . . .

Don’t let any priest tell you differently and if he does, send him to me.

Such expressions can be dangerous. They become more dangerous when the preacher does not realize that they are calling too much attention to him, making it the Liturgy of HIS word instead of the Liturgy of the Word.

Some people would say that this is a weakness of the revised order of the mass and that going back to the Tridentine form would resolve all of this. This is not true. These issues have nothing to do with the form. They are about preachers failing to execute the Liturgy of the Word as Pope Paul VI intended it to be when he revised the missal.

Preachers must also be sensitive to the possibility of using the congregation instead of proclaiming the Word of God to the faithful. If the congregation is hanging on to your every word, clapping, calling out during your homily, and cheering you on and if this is usual for your homilies, there is a danger here. The preacher is risking using the congregation to feed his ego.

The sad part here is that these are good priests and deacons. They don’t have any intention of doing harm, violating the rubrics, attracting attention, or turning the church into a revival tent. Their intention is to preach a message to the people of God. When the preacher hijacks his own homily, it’s a sad day. This can easily happen when Father or Deacon plan their homilies around the message they want to deliver and include themselves too much in the homily. They fail to factor in how to use that message to help people move from the table of the Word to the altar of sacrifice.

Human beings need help transitioning from one event to another. We also need to start looking at the mass as the prayer of the Church, not Father X’s mass that we never miss. “Because Father is a great preacher,” or this is the mass that one tries to avoid, “Because it’s Father X’s mass and I don’t like it. If that’s the only mass left, then I won’t go to any mass this Sunday.” These are not viable and acceptable reactions to a mass. However, these are real dangers when people make it Father X’s mass and Father X encourages it with his behavior and his language. For months I’ve been uncomfortable with this situation, thinking to myself that something bothered me when Father N celebrates the mass.

I did say that two things happened and that the second was very positive for me. I was angry when I arrived at home. I left the mass angry. Suddenly, one of our new aspirants tells me that he plans on visiting with me next week. I respond that I hope that I’m in a better mood and proceed to tell him how angry I was at this priest. He reminded me that I had taught him to focus on the parts of the mass, not this person or the next one. We don’t go to to mass to police the liturgy.

The fact is that I did teach him this. You never know for whom you work. I have been teaching all of our men in formation that they attend holy mass to worship God, not to pay attention to what others are saying or doing. “Just turn them off your impatience and your pride.”

Hearing these things from the aspirant helped me to realize that I was playing liturgical police rather than praying the liturgy. In his own mild way, Brother put me back in my place using my words. It’s good to have brothers to humble you whenever you need to be knocked down a peg or two.

Published in:

on October 13, 2014 at 1:57 AM Leave a Comment

Habit forming habits

The Franciscans of Life embrace the holy habit. Aware that clothes do not make the man and habits do not make the monk, there is something to be said about the way we dress. Our clothes remind us of our place in society. Remembering our place in society helps us to remember what our relationship to others should be.

When a police officer puts on a uniform, he knows that he’s a law enforcement official and that his relationship to others in the community should be one of authority, service and role model. A flight attendant knows that his place in the cabin is also one of authority, service and safety. People look to him for security, especially people like me who are afraid of flying. It’s the same for nurses, doctors, auto technicians, even employees at McDonald’s. The uniform communicates something to those who see it and it sets boundaries for those who wear it.

Before going further on the merits of the habit or uniform of the Franciscans of Life, let’s make sure that we know what it is. The aspirants wear grey slacks, a blue or white polo in honor of Our Lady or a white button down shirt, tucked inside their pants. They are to wear a Tau pin on the left wing of the collar, not a pendant. The superior can allow a pendant for other forms of dress where it would be more appropriate than a pin.

Postulants are to wear a white Havanera shirt, also known as a Guayavera. It must be solid white, in honor of the purity of the Immaculate Mother of the Lord and patroness of our family. Every brother who wears it must keep in mind that he must be a living witness to the beatitude that says, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8) and that other passage that says, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice,” (Lk 8:21).

Th MARY AND TRINITY e white garment reminds us that we must be like Mary who practiced what the Lord revealed to her with great purity of heart. There was no agenda, no selfishness, no resentment, and no search for control, profit or pleasure in Our Lady. There was only one thought, to fulfill what God had asked of her. This is true purity. It goes beyond physical chastity. One can abstain from sins of the flesh, but easily fall into other sins that are equally damning. The shirt is worn over grey slacks and finally a Tau pendant must be worn by the brother postulant. We will address the grey further down.

There are two kinds of novices. There are novices who are called to remain in the world as secular laymen. We call them secular brothers. Then there are novices who wish to consecrate their life to Christ living celibate, poor and obedient in a stable family of brothers. We call them consecrated brothers or regular brothers, because their daily life is far more regulated than that of the secular brothers. The novice wears the white Habanera, grey slacks and the Tau pendant.

If the novice is a regular brother, he will also wear the medieval habit when not wearing the shirt and slacks. The medieval habit consists of a grey tunic with a cowl, a cord and Tau cross over his heart. Because we aspire to capture the life and spirit of the early brothers who followed Francis of Assisi, the tunic is to be the dress of the working peasant of that day. It is worn over grey slacks. All of the brothers are to wear shoes, black or brown. Sport shoes are not worn with the uniforms or habits. They must wear a belt and a white under t-shirt with sleeves.

Our clothing must be simple enough to avoid all appearances of extravagance, wealth or luxury. It should be practical according to culture and climate. Subdued enough so as not to call negative attention to the brother.

There are times when other forms of dress are more appropriate. The rules remain the same. These clothes must be simple, avoid any hint of affluence and be subdued. The Tau must be worn at all times. If for some reason the pendant is not practical for the work that a brother does or for the event, the brother may opt to keep a Tau pin handy to wear in such cases. Wherever the brother goes, it should be evident that he belongs to a Franciscan brotherhood. The general rule is to wear the Franciscan uniform as often as possible, without causing discomfort to others, especially spouses and children.

We have already stated that the white is worn in honor of the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a purity of heart and action to which Christ calls us. The story behind the grey goes back to the Middle Ages. Most clothing was made of wool. Poor people did not have the means to buy expensive dyes. The wool was often worn without the benefit of dye. Therefore, it was brown, off-white, or grey depending on the color of the sheep. The early brothers made their habits out of grey wool. Brown wool was later adopted, but grey also remained. The Conventual friars adopted the custom of dying their habit black like that of the Benedictine monks. This practice lasted until the 1990s. Today, they wear grey. Because there are more brown sheep than grey, brown wool was easier to find, hence the custom of brown among many religious communities.

We no longer have to find a sheep, sheer it and weave cloth in order to make clothes. Thanks to modern technology, we can buy our clothing off the rack or have it made by a tailor. In choosing the colors for the Franciscans of Life, we went back to early Franciscan tradition. We found that Clare and Francis were practical. Not only did they try to make use of whatever wool was the cheapest, but they were also very conscientious about working conditions. Although the brothers are men of penance, this does not mean that we be unreasonable. Penance does not have to be a torture in order to please God. Francis and Clare gave us an example of dress that set them apart as poor and part of a family. The tunic and cord were the constant. Today, the Tau is the constant. When two or more brothers walk into a setting, people should be able say, ‘Here comes the Church.”

Our habit reminds us that we belong to a family of brothers. We’re never alone even in solitude. We’re part of something bigger than ourselves. We’re united to each other by prayer, penance, discipline, faith and above all love.

The habit serves as a guard against infidelity. I reminds us who we are, sons of the Church called to be faithful to the Commandments, the Gospel, Holy Mother Church, the holy rule, and to Christ’s call to live and proclaim the Gospel of Life through everything that we do, everything that we say, and everything that we don’t do or say. It also protects our purity. Whether we’re married, single or celibate, some things don’t change. Our bodies don’t know
that our hearts and minds are Catholic. Spontaneous temptations and attractions will happen. It’s part of being alive. The habit reminds us of our relationship to others. Everyone is our brother and sister, not the object of our desire or a thing to be used for our satisfaction.

The habit can help us regulate how we deal with others. It should help us remember to keep custody over our eyes and a holy distance from temptation. The habit helps us set boundaries. This is true discipline, a form of self-control and a display of emotional maturity.

There is much more to wearing a habit besides chastity and fraternity. The fact that we dress the same and that our dress does not call particular attention to us allows us a certain degree of anonymity. Yes, people may notice us and ask questions about our identity. That’s a perfect moment to speak to people about our family, its Gospel vision and its mission, thus drawing the attention from ourselves and onto what really matters, the Gospel of Life.

We can say much about the value of uniformity. Holy Mother Church reminds us that the habit is an external sign of poverty, which was so dear to Our Lord, his Blessed Mother and our holy father Francis. Poverty is the way that Christ chose to enter the world. Poverty was his condition at the time of his death, naked on a cross and buried in a borrowed tomb, because the “Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2:6-7).

Think about it brothers, the habit allows helps us to be visible as members of a family that if faithful to Christ from within the Church. We do not walk alone.

I encourage you to wear your Franciscan symbols as often as possible, but don’t let them become a matter of routine either. Think about it as you’re putting them on.

I am part of a family.

I am a brother to all men.

I am a son of the Church.

I am the voice of the voiceless.

I am a sinner.

Published in:

on October 9, 2014 at 11:19 AM Leave a Comment

Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel’s Snowball

I want to begin by expressing to the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal (CFR) the most profound condolences from the Franciscan Brothers of Life on the passing of Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR. The Franciscan family may well have another icon in heaven. Father was certainly an icon while he was still with us.

My first encounter with Father Benedict was at the retreat house on Long “Gisland” as it sounded to me when he pronounced it. It was Advent 1980. I can’t recall the exact date, but he was hosting a Christmas party. I was attached to the Province of St. Augustine, but I had a Capuchin classmate at Catholic University of America from the Province of St. Mary. He had told me all about this colorful friar whom he wanted me to meet. As Providence would have it, we had to travel to New York for something and I got to meet the man whom I would later dub “Uncle Mame”.

He was loud, excited and to my young eyes, a little off. But, since he was a psychologist, I didn’t think much of it. All of us in this field are eccentric, neurotic or both. Yes, I became a neuropsych, but not at that point. Something remained with me. Like Auntie Mame, Benedict’s energy came from a noble heart. There was nothing pretentious about it. It was very credible.

A few years later, I asked for a dispensation and left the Capuchin Order, married, fathered three children and was widowed with two surviving children. Not having the Capuchins, having lost my wife and one child, and left alone to parent two children who were still in elementary school, life became terrifying. Like all people who are afraid, I too found different routes of escape that only complicated my life rather than help.

One day, in 1997, I can’t recall if I was watching EWTN or listening to some Catholic radio station, but I clearly remember that Father Benedict was doing a live program and you could call in after the show and speak to him off the air. I wish I could recall the name of that program.

In any case, I remembered my encounter with Uncle Mame, some 17 years before. I didn’t expect him to remember me, why should he. I was one of thousands of friars in the Capuchin Order and we had met in the midst of Christmas party. There was no time to get to know each other. Nonetheless, I had listened to him that morning and I remembered that energetic brand of kindness that emulated from him. I decided to call, thinking that I would never get through, maybe hoping that I would never get through. I’m not sure which. The fact is that I did get through.

I quickly explained my situation to him and told him that I was a former Capuchin, now a widowed dad of two very young children whose life was upside down and I couldn’t find a way get it on its feet again. I remember telling him of my fears as briefly as possible, figuring that this is a telephone interview, not a face to face spiritual direction. To this day, I have no idea what he said and it does not really matter. What matters is that whatever he said got me on the right path.

I remember his voice of concern for me, as if I were the only person on the queue waiting to talk to him. His voice was strong, but soft and soothing. Whatever his words were, they didn’t seem as important as the fact that this friar truly cared about me. I felt loved and cared for in a very special way. There was nothing mystical or magical about it. My life was still difficult. But as the days went by, whatever Father Benedict said to me started to kick in, kind of like a time-released medication.

That conversation led to other conversations with other holy men and women. Father helped me to realize that more than afraid, I was hungry. I was hungry for the Church. I was hungry for my Franciscan brothers. I was hungry for the life that Saint Francis had given to his sons and daughters. I was hungry for a tangible experience of God. My short conversation with him was the little snowball that rolled down the hill and grew and grew.

Fast forward. Today, my daughter is happily married. My son has finished his education, owns his own home, and is financially and socially independent. Both are model Christians. In 2009, I returned to Franciscan life. This time, not as a Capuchin, but as one of the founders of a new Franciscan brotherhood committed to preaching the Gospel of Life and living the Gospel as the first brothers lived it. We are the Franciscan Brothers of Life or Fratres Franciscani Vitae (FFV).

Is Father Benedict responsible for this? I would say that he set that little snowball in motion that turned into a very big snowball that led to my “reconversion”. In simple words, Father Benedict was a crucial element in a process, a small yet essential pebble on my journey’s road.

When we wrote our constitutions for the Franciscans of Life, we borrowed heavily from Father Benedict’s writings on the Franciscans of the Renewal. Though our mission may be slightly different from that of the CFR, our vision and roots are the same, St. Francis of Assisi and the early brothers. An important spiritual benefactor was Father Benedict Joseph Groeschel, CFR. His courage and that of the early CFRs inspires our brothers to look back and go forward to proclaim the Gospel of Life while living it as did those first brothers.

Thank you Father Benedict. One never knows where the seeds will land. But I can assure you, my good and faithful Franciscan brother that you planted a seed in my life, which was probably the first of many that I needed in order to begin again in a new garden.

Rest in peace my Brother.

Published in:

on October 5, 2014 at 1:04 AM Comments (1)

Francis of Assisi, the Communion of Saints and His Sons

This is turning into the most amazing “St. Francis Week” that I’ve ever experienced. I know that some people may not understand this, but there is no magic or mythology here. The Communion of Saints is real and we can experience it in our lives. Maybe we can’t experience it often; but it’s there.

On Saturday, another brother and I gave a talk on the Franciscans of Life and Project Joseph, our ministry to dads in crisis pregnancies. We spoke before an audience of 350 or more people. In order to prepare, Brother and I coordinated. Before I knew it, we had fliers, a YouTube channel for the Franciscan Brothers of Life and a link to our web page, which I’m hoping that one of our brothers who is a geek can touch up, because it needs updating.

Nevertheless, during those few days leading up to the conference, Brother was also getting ready to leave town for a few days. We had to work together, work quickly, work well and pray that everything would go without a glitch. I should mention that Brother and I have never given a presentation together.

What transpired was incredible. We not only presented and people loved the presentation, but we enjoyed being together and working on a common project. I must state here that this brother is young enough to be my son. I mean truly. He’s actually three months older than my biological son. However, no one would have noticed the age difference were it not for our physical appearance. There was a harmony, comradery, and a sense of francis and leo mission that held
us together. It was Christ’s mission. We were not preparing thing presentation for us, but for Christ and his Church.

The next day, Brother left for NY. He had to travel to NY for research purposes. No . . . he was not researching NY. This was real science. He was going to be gone from Sunday to Tuesday. However, before he left, the other brothers texted and sent messages encouraging him and letting him know that they would be praying for his success. We don’t’ all live in the same house. In addition, some of our brothers are secular brothers, with spouses and children. They have lives outside of the Franciscans of Life. Yet, the Lord brought us together behind this young brother of ours who was leaving on what we considered an adventure that we wanted to support, because we knew that it means a great deal to him and it’s something that he enjoys doing.

Were it not for the Gospel, the Church and our Franciscan family spirit, we would never have met and maybe not even cared. When all was said and done, the project is so technical and scientific that none of us understood a word of what Brother explained. From where I’m sitting as superior, I’m seeing Christ and his apostles gathered in brotherhood after the Resurrection. Christ had fulfilled his promise, “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you” (John 14:18).

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you” (Gen 28:15).

It is the presence of Christ in the lives of sinful men that keeps bringing us back through mutual love and support.

We have brothers in formation to be secular brothers and brothers in formation who will profess the evangelical counsels and are consecrated celibate brothers. On Monday, Brother Leo, one of our celibate novices and I spent the day together. We took the time to review the changes that have to be made to our habits to make them more practical. Then I went for a doctor’s appointment and Brother went with me. He brought me lunch, which was delicious.

That night, we had formation class for the men preparing for the consecrated life. We remembered the one brother in NY. Smack in the middle of the formation class, we decided to call NY to find that our brother was about to pray the Divine Office. We put him on speaker phone and gathered round to share with him what was going on here in Florida and to find out how his mission was progressing.

This may sound small to many people, but the fact is that this is what speaks to us about Christ and his Apostles. The brotherhood of the Franciscans of Life is built upon the brotherhood between Christ and his apostles. The yearning to be together across the miles, the excitement of one brother’s success, and the desire to hear each other is very much the same as that of the Apostles after the Crucifixion when they thought they had lost it all. They sat in the upper room longing for days gone by. These men loved each other, because they had been loved by the Master. They knew what love was, because they learned to love from Love himself.

As we progress along our journey as Franciscans of Life, we enter into a profound relationship of trust, concern, support, and family. In this family, we find Christ who said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mat 18:20).

Wednesday evening came and I’m sitting at the kitchen table with two aspirants planning the Transitus for October 3^rd. I’m going to ask you to imagine this scenario. There is the superior general of a young community, but a superior general nonetheless. There is a certain degree of respect that comes with that office.

But the beautiful part of this was that we began with prayer for the grace to plan the Transitus well. We want it to be a true memorial of the life of St. Francis and a celebration of the gifts that God gave to the Church through Francis. The whole time that we’re being very serious and reverent about the parts of the ritual, who’s going to do what and when, I’m also teasing the aspirants about many things, from their antics to the weight of the brother who will play St. Francis and whom we get to carry around. Of course, the aspirants are dishing it back at me as quickly as I can dish it out to them.

During the course of the evening, I proposed a format for the Transitus, but I asked the aspirants what they thought of each proposal. They gave their input and we made some changes. Some things we could not change, because they’re part of tradition; but at least I learned from the aspirants about the importance of working with each other as brothers, allowing the Holy Spirit to move freely and guide us.

Brothers keep their superior company as he catches his breadth.

My brothers teach me much more than what I teach them and they don’t realize it.

We finally ended the evening at 1:00 AM celebrating and discussing our work, spiritual experiences and our journeys. We even shared our struggles with sin and what we do to overcome them.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because as we get ready to celebrate the feast day of our Holy Father Francis, the Communion of Saints becomes more evident. We are brought together by the love and respect that he taught us to have for each other and for all of our brothers and sisters. But Francis is not the source of that love and respect. He is not the source of that joy that we experience in all of these moments of family life. Francis is the master teacher.

He has taught us how to find love, respect and joy in Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ. From him we have learned how to find Jesus through our brothers and sisters in the Church militant, the Church suffering and the Church triumphant. In one simple term, our Franciscan experience is one of an apostolic family united with its redeemer through the Communion of Saints.

This Communion of Saints allows us to experience and share with the world the love and peace that Christ and his apostles shared. The feast of St. Francis is really a celebration of the wonders that God has reserved for the pleasure of the Communion of Saints.

Published in:

on October 2, 2014 at 4:30 AM Leave a Comment

Obedience is deadly

I’ve been thinking, what can I say or write in preparation for the Solemnity of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4th) that would speak to others and would come from my heart rather than my head. Then it occurred to me to share the Lord has taught us through St. Francis. Every teaching has been a blessing.

I have to say that the most visible blessing that God has given to the world is the Franciscan family. I don’t think that anyone really knows how many sons and daughters St. Francis has. If I were to compare Francis to a biblical personality, it would be Abraham, the father of many. I think the first quality of St. Francis that I respond to is fatherhood.

This is interesting, because Francis always identified himself as our little brother. But this little brother has commanded the attention of millions of men and women around the world, not all of them Catholic. He has certainly had the obedience of thousands of men and women during the last 800 years. What makes Francis such a special man and a father figure is not that he was authoritarian or controlling. What makes him a special figure and a father is that he was respectable. Francis is credible. Credible people are respectable. He set out to live his life according to the Gospel. To everyone who came to him, he offered the Gospel. He did not impose himself on anyone. On the contrary, he was the father who guided his sons and daughters into the future.

Parents normally point to careers, education, potential spouses, hobbies, social activities and many other things that they believe will enhance the lives of their children. Francis is no different. He points to Christ and his Blessed Mother. He points to the Church. He points to prayer, penance, poverty, family, service and to the Cross.

I have often thought that Francis is like the man who has an elderly parent who may no longer be physically attractive, but he knows his parent and he knows the beauty inside. This man makes sure that his children are exposed to this grandparent, who has warts and wrinkles, is old and appears to walk a little out of step with the rest of the world. He exemplifies filial love and love that goes beyond the faults, to the heart of the other.

This is Francis relationship with the Church and his sons and daughters. In some respects, the Church can be WP_20140819_001 that grandparent that is no longer physically attractive and at times can be cranky. Just like Grandma’, she is beautiful inside and has much wisdom to pass on to us, if we open ourselves to receive it. Francis loves the Church, warts and all. He takes his sons and daughters into the heart of the Church, through example more than words. He teaches us to look beyond the surface and see the glory of the Church.

I can’t speak about Francis without speaking about family. As I said above, Francis identifies himself as everyone’s little brother. He was right to do so. You see, in a large family the youngest is usually singled out. Sometimes his older siblings will bully him and at other times they will spoil him. This certainly was the relationship that Francis had with the first generation of brothers.

Everything was not sugar and roses as some people want to make it appear. There were
brothers who worshipped the ground upon which Francis walked Brother & Tasha . There were also brothers who fought his vision of the Gospel Life tooth and nail, to the point of being mean. But like all good little brothers, Francis loved them just the same. Little brothers can often become the most forgiving persons. Francis was the brother who always forgave.

Even when his brothers were wrong, Francis maintained the clarity of mind necessary to separate between the person and the deed. I wouldn’t say that he hated the sin and loved the sinner. Francis went beyond this. He did not judge anyone to be a sinner. It would be contrary to his way of thinking to look at someone and say that he or she is a sinner whom I must love, even when he has committed a sin that I must hate. What we see in Francis’ writings and his actions is honesty. He recognized sinful deeds and he pointed them out when necessary.

His admonitions are full of sinful deeds that he notices among his brothers and sisters. poor man walking in integrity That’s why he wrote the admonitions. Why admonish those who need no admonishing? However, when one reads through the admonitions, his letters, his rules and his testament, he does not refer to a single person as a sinner, other than himself. He leaves that to God. In other words, St. Francis is a person who can teach us what belongs to God, what belongs to the Church, to the superior and to the individual. He does not cross those boundaries.

Today, we have too many people who want to make the world right by dictating to others, including correcting the Church. There is such a thing as fraternal correction, which Francis used quite often. But let’s look at his style. Look at the admonitions. He speaks about faults that are to be avoided and how they are to be rectified if they are committed. He is a brother, not a policeman. He didn’t even police his own brothers.

A brother corrects while being very careful not to cross the line and assume authority that he does not have. A brother who is faithful to the Gospel corrects without making a judgment about the state of the other person’s soul.

I want to draw attention to an aspect of him that is rarely addressed, obedience. Francis’ poverty is well known. But very little is said about Francis’ obedience and what he taught the brothers concerning obedience.

Francis knew that Christ is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. He knew that John the Baptist is the voice who points out the Lamb of God. Each of these men had a
mission assigned to him by the Father. In both cases, the mission ended up terribly, if we measure it by human standards. Both were executed.

As tragic, as cruel and as unjust as both of these executions were, they could not be any other way, because to change the conclusion would be to thwart God’s plan for our redemption. Our loss of paradise is the product of disobedience. Recovery can only happen through obedience. Obedience goes beyond compliance. Obedience is charity. Obedience is poverty. Obedience is the greatest expression of union between the soul of man and the mind of God.

Therefore, Francis demanded that his sons and daughters obey. Above all, we are to obey God. We know when God speaks to us, because the Church confirms it for us. We can’t jump a rung on the hierarchical ladder. We seek to know the will of God in order to fulfill it. It is the Church who tells us if we’re on the right track. We can’t simply say that the will of God is X and the entire college of bishops is wrong and I’m right. It doesn’t work that way and Francis knew it. He reminds us in his Testament that the rule was of divine inspiration, not human influence. He quickly adds that he knows this because the Lord Pope confirmed it for him.

Obedience can be deadly. John lost his head. Jesus was crucified. We already mentioned this. Francis reminds us that we cannot be obedient without dying. This death is not symbolic, metaphoric or allegory. It’s very real. We die to ourselves and to many things
around us.

Francis taught us there is only one question that we need to ask. “Is this a sin?” If I’m being commanded to sin, I have a duty to disobey. However, if I’m being commanded to do something that is not a sin, even if I believe it is not the best decision made by legitimate authority, I am bound to obey. God is pleased by obedience more than by the thing that we do or not do.

Jesus said “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt 11:11)

John would obey, even though it would cost him his life. Jesus knew that his life would take the same turn. At some point, his obedience to the Father would cost him his life.

From a human perspective, these deaths were scandalous, because they were foolish. There was no just reason for these men to be executed. But from a divine perspective, these deaths were the greatest acts of love that the world has ever seen. When one obeys the Beloved, even unto death, there is no greater love, regardless how foolish the command. One is freely giving. No one is taking.

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father,” (John 10:18)

Francis teaches us what he learned from Christ, “obedience, even unto death,” without murmuring and without second thoughts, obedience given, rather than compliance demanded.

Today, there is much talk about the Church and her prudential judgments. Many excuse themselves from obedience, because the Church, the bishop, the superior or the boss is less than prudent or the command is not infallible. They’re looking in the wrong direction. Francis taught us to look out for sin. If there is no sin, we turn our complete attention and gaze to what is asked of us and we respond with love for God and for the authority that God places over us.

Despite everything that Francis said and wrote about Lady Poverty, he begins his most important piece of writing with the words, “The Rule . . . is to observe the Holy Gospel in obedience.”

Christ is the Master and Francis is his hired teacher sent to us, through the Church, by the Holy Spirit. He teaches us that obedience is an absolute requirement in order to be like Christ, even when obedience is deadly (in the eyes of the world).

Holy Father St. Francis . . .Pray for us.

Published in:

on October 1, 2014 at 12:16 AM Comments (1)

Franciscans of Life

Vita ad vitam vocat

Not the Liturgical Police

Habit forming habits

Fr. Benedict Joseph Groeschel’s Snowball

Francis of Assisi, the Communion of Saints and His Sons

Obedience is deadly

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Follow the FFV Blog!

Blogroll