Imagine the sky as Heaven

Imagine the rock as my pathway to heaven.

I will exhaust all means and barriers

to climb this rock to heaven!

Sister Elaine Cote, osf

Margaret Mary Foley's, OSF Final Profession - Homily by Pat Klemm, OSF

The call to love God with all of our heart, mind and soul, is a universal call that goes back to the early Hebrew Scriptures.  It is a call intended for all people, and reflects God’s plan for each of us - that we be lovers of God and of our neighbors. It is not intended to be a call only for those who consecrate their lives to God in a community of religious women or men. This call, and God’s plan for our “welfare rather than woe” applies to all those whom God has created in love.  We are all created with a future of hope –a hope that tells us that when we seek God with our whole being, we will find God.

When we seek God we are responding to the God who first desires us. Seeking God is not something we do once - it is an ongoing, life-long process of love responding to love.  Our loving God wants to be in all of our lives, no matter what state of life we have embraced.

As universal as this call is, there are some who choose a life of community and service in response to the overwhelming gift of Godself to us. I believe that this truly is a choice, not a destiny. The responsibility is ours!  We can choose to respond to God’s call in whatever way seems best for us – we not only can, but we must!  Our response is certainly influenced by those we meet along the way, by all of our life experiences, and especially by our ongoing relationship with God. 

When a woman chooses to look at religious life, she enters into a process of personal and communal discernment. This process provides time for ongoing reflection and is helped by experiences that assist in discerning how she can best answer that universal call to God.  It facilitates continual growth in self-understanding and knowledge, but it is not an incubator for perfection!  The reading from the third Order Rule exhorts us to “serve, love, adore, and honor the Lord God as best we can”, acknowledging our human frailties and foibles.  

Margaret has been in discernment for a number of years.  She has taken the necessary time to grow into the person who today is making a mature choice for a life of dedication to God and God’s poor.  This process has not always been easy, but Margaret has always remained faithful to God’s call to grow in love. She has chosen to respond to God’s call by following in the footsteps of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi. She has embraced a simple lifestyle and enjoys working with those who live in poverty.

Finally, finals! The words “final vows” are a bit of a misnomer because the vows that Margaret is taking today are not really the end of anything (except yearly evaluations!) Margaret has been living these vows for a number of years, plumbing their depths through study, reflection, her own personal experiences, and those of the committed women with whom she has lived. Her commitment today is to continue to grow in understanding of the vows and to live them in the realities that she will face all the days of her life.

Margaret’s vows are a gift to each of us, to the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, and to the entire Church. Her public commitment to God speaks clearly of the power of God in our lives. It challenges us to recommit ourselves to God in our own state of life – to live lives of love in response to the God who loves us.

And so we rejoice with Margaret today. We celebrate her commitment, and we thank her for her fidelity.  We pray for Margaret, that she may continue to be a woman of hope in a world so desperately in need of hope. We ask God’s blessing on her today and all the days of her life.

And we promise to love her and support her. We invite her to help us as a congregation move into an unknown future, aware of our blessed past - always faithful to the call to love God with our whole heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourselves.

Pat Klemm, OSF on the occasion of Margaret Mary Foley’s lifetime commitment.

Franciscan Way of Living

Broadly, the Franciscan way is to live knowing that all of creation is the place to encounter God. Concrete manifestations involve living more simply on the earth and with other people in order truly experience and savor God’s gift of life.

The things of this world are God-like just as they are and reveals God to us in their specificity. Therefore, to deepen our relationship to God we need regular, attentive contact with the world in its simple, humble state. We can forget about a search for things and people that are worthy of love or that will make us happy. The world is full of signs of God’s presence, with God telling us what we need to hear through the bits and pieces we encounter in a day. In an ongoing way we are converted to the gospel through God’s daily work inside and outside of us.

Francis’ first biographer, Thomas of Celano describes the way of Francis like this:

Who could ever express the deep affection Francis bore

for all things that belong to God?

Or who would be able to tell

of the sweet tenderness he enjoyed

while contemplating in creatures

the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator?

From this reflection

he often overflowed

with amazing, unspeakable joy

as he looked at the sun,

gazed at the moon, or observed the stars in the sky.

Article used with permission by Janine Walsh,
Communications Coordinator, Franciscan Action Network

Submitted by Marita Flynn, OSF

The Open Door

Your door is always open

no matter day or night.

Your words of welcome spoken

“Come in, do not take flight.”

What joy it is to be with you

in these dark, quiet hours

…the work of day completed

as gift, turned into flowers…

Bringing delight to many

whose days are always dark.

May we become for others

the open door, the spark!

Journey of the soul to God (Bonaventure)

  

 Hope    Humility    Repentance    Mercy   Love   Light    Transformation                        

PEACE     UNITY

Anne Rothmeier, OSF

There are always ways to step over obstacles.  I should see the beauty of my obstacles and the stepping stones that are there to help me overcome them.

Donna Haynes

FRANCIS AND JESUS

By Barbara Horwath,ofs, fsa Associate

 “The brothers who lived with (Francis) know that daily, constantly, talk of Jesus was on his lips…Out of the fullness of the heart his mouth spoke… He was always with Jesus:  Jesus in his heart, Jesus in his mouth, Jesus in his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, he bore Jesus always in his body.”

Whenever I read this passage by Thomas of Celano in the Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise, I stop and am in awe.  Jesus was Francis’ life and life’s work.  He preached as Jesus preached—the Kingdom of God and God’s love for everyone.  He lived as Jesus lived—poor, itinerant and with a following of men and women who wanted to join him.

More and more as time went on Francis became more and more like Jesus Christ until he became Christ.   The stigmata was the external sign of what had already existed within.

One cannot speak of Francis without Jesus, for Jesus was in Francis’ heart, mouth, ears, eyes, hands, his whole body. Awesome!

May's Reflection by Liz Schumaker

During the month of May, the month we honor Our Blessed Mother and celebrate Mother's Day, it may be a good time to reflect upon who our  TRUE MOTHER is and what our relationship with her is like.

"I just want my mother", a woman I know in her late forties uttered with a very deep sigh.   She was yearning for that close, affirming relationship you especially look for when you are going through difficult times.  Some people have had such a supportive relationship, many however have experienced only glimpses and some  never have had them.

The woman had a closeness with her mother for only a matter of months.   Her other experiences with her mother had been - - - wrenching.  When this woman was two weeks old, her mother, then 17, gave her to her own mother and walked out of her life for all but the briefest of periods.   Her mother led a hard life and in her later years began showing signs of mental illness, anger and rage.  The woman  was a target of this rage.  Despite many bad experiences, her desire for her mother was deep and real.   Please click to read more...

For more than forty years, February 24th has been a special day of grace for me, one that challenged me called me to respond.  This year was no different.  
                      

On Tuesday morning I was awakened earlier than usual, and sensed I was being given a gift.  I got out of bed with a sense of expectancy and started doing some research, hoping to get a head start on a reflection paper that was near due.  I had hardly begun when I realized that this new day was February 24th.  Today was an extraordinary day in the life of St. Francis of Assisi, and for that matter, it is a gift handed on to us and to generations yet to come.

On this day in 1208, Francis heard the Gospel of Matthew: 10: 5-16 proclaimed.  After Mass, Francis humbly asked the priest to explain the Gospel to him.  The priest explained it thoroughly, line by line.

  When Francis heard that:   

“Christ’s disciples should not possess gold or silver or money, or carry on their  journey a wallet or a sack, nor bread nor a staff, not to have shoes or two tunics, but that they should preach the kingdom of God and penance, the holy man, Francis immediately exulted in the spirit of God. “This is what I wish, this is what I seek, this is what I long to do with all my heart.” Overflowing with joy, Francis immediately set out to do what he had heard.  Francis was no deaf hearer of the Gospel, but he committed all he had heard to memory and diligently carried it out.  Francis began to preach penance, but always would begin with the greeting: “the Lord give you peace”.

Not unlike the Gospel, Francis’ life and words continue to touch hearts today. Every time I read and reflect on Francis’ conversion story and his wholehearted response, I experience anew within me the initial stirrings of my own call to follow Jesus in the spirit of St. Francis, living the Gospel life in community.   

A line from a song comes to mind:    
“I long for you, O Lord, with all my soul I thirst for you.”  

    Let me, let us begin again.  

Set aside some time to be still and quiet in God’s presence.   

 Ask for the grace to be open and receptive to God’s word.

Is there a scripture passage that reflects God’s relationship with me and one that reflects my relationship with God?  Return there often.

Express your gratitude in: word, music, movement, art …

Eleanor Berret

                                                                             

Lent is moving along at an unstoppable pace; it will be Easter before we know it. This is a good time to stop and see if Lent is preparing us to celebrate the Triduum in a deeper and more meaningful way. Are we spending more time with our God? Are we reaching out to those who are living in poverty, on the margins, or simply alone? Are we working for the healing of our earth? Are we helping our bodies and minds to be whole and healthy?

Lent began as a forty day retreat in preparation for those about to be baptized. Have we made an effort to remember what it means to be baptized Christians, committed followers of Jesus, people who are conscious of their roles in the world as lovers and beloved of God. Are we going to be able to celebrate the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday, knowing what it means to “do this in remembrance of me”? Are we going to be able to celebrate the Passion of Jesus knowing what it means to offer ourselves for the benefit of others? Are we going to be able to sit in vigil knowing that we have helped to bring light into the darkness of our world?

Lent is a gift, an opportunity to grow and to deepen our relationship with God and with each other. Now is the time to unwrap that gift if we have simply let it sit on the shelf. Open it and relish the new life it offers us. Our God who is gracious and merciful offers us joy and peace as we prepare to celebrate our defining feast of Easter.

May the remaining days of Lent be blessing for each of us.

Sister Pat Klemm, OSF

Reflection for February 2015  - by Liz Schumacher

            This Lent we may want to reflect upon the relationship between Jesus and Peter.

            How often, when faced with a situation I believe needs a response from me have I undergone a head, heart or gut check and then proceeded headlong into something.  It winds up not working out too well, or not at all, or worse.  During these times there is confusion and at times prolonged confusion, even chaos.  It seems like what is up is down and what is down is up, like Alice 'Through the Looking Glass'.  Nothing makes sense and a completely unwelcomed situation results.  Or, at times my action, despite my great effort, does nothing to change a situation and the situation continues without relief.  I can't make what 'should happen' happen.  I am left simply baffled at what to do, which is terrible to me, as I am a doer.    

            So, in November, I was truly thankful for an awareness that came during a retreat at Graymoor in Garrison, N.Y.  It has given me comfort and renewed trust that God has things well in hand, and that all I need to do is to get out of the way.    

            The subject of the conference was St. Bonaventure's "Tree of Life" reflections, given by Fr. Rick Martignetti, OFM an Immaculate Conception friar[1].  The retreat was for Franciscan women and men in initial formation.

Please click to read further.

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[1] Fr. Rick presented from his newly published book Hidden Beauty: Reflections on Saint Bonaventure's Tree of LIfe Lignum Vitae  (Tau Publishing, LLC., Phoenix, Az 2013).

Francis, Patron Saint of Ecology

On November 29th, Franciscans throughout the world celebrated the 35th anniversary of the naming of Saint Francis as Patron of Ecology by John Paul II.  Today many believe that we stand at a critical moment of Earth’s history. The environmental questions Francis faced were different than the questions we might have today. The environment in his time did not face the same global threats as we do, but the way he approached the world and his relationship to nature steer us in the right direction.

We can point to Francis’ passionate and sensory love of all creation as God’s handiwork.  His profound appreciation of the beauty and goodness of creation filled him with even deeper love and gratitude for God, the source of such abundant blessing and diverse fullness.

We can point to Francis’ passionate and sensory love of all creation as God’s handiwork.  His profound appreciation of the beauty and goodness of creation filled him with even deeper love and gratitude for God, the source of such abundant blessing and diverse fullness.

Francis so naturally experienced God’s presence in creation that he intuited that the “natural” both points to and participates in, the “supernatural.” He sensed that the God who became flesh in Jesus Christ is still, and always will be, enfleshed in the world.  In other words, Francis’ vision of creation was both sacramental and incarnational.  Francis thus offers us a creation-affirming alternative to an approach that overemphasizes the “stain of original sin.”

Francis modeled a path of contemplative action.  His prayerful grappling with the pain of the marginalized, such as the leper, moved him to act with compassion. He thereby mediated and embodied God’s ongoing love toward the ever-present risen Christ, still “hidden” in the scorned and rejected.  Please click to read more.

Material for this article was taken from the website (http://francis35.org/english/35th-anniversary-reflection) created to provide various resources to help with the celebration of the 35^th Anniversary.

 Materials used with permission.

submitted by:  Marita Flynn, O.S.F., Franciscan Spirituality Committee