Reflection of a Minister Provincial - Assumption Prov.

Comm. Office note: this letter was sent to the Friars of Assumption Province (USA) - we thought to share it with the brothers for its challenging content. 05.04.1998 Dear brothers, You might remember the letter I wrote to you for the past feast of St. Francis. What I tried to express was that it was the mythified person of St. Francis that keeps us together and motivates us to work and defines the kind of relationships we wish to have among ourselves and others. The duty leaders have, indeed all sons and daughters of St. Francis, is to keep the myth alive, strong and accurate. Since I wrote that to you I've come across a rather interesting article by former Provincial Minister of the Province of St. Barbara, Joseph Chinnici. It appeared in the Cord (47.2 1997). As you know there are myths and they there are myths. A myth gives us an identity, brings us together in community and fraternity, gives us a motive to work and helps explain "Why I am on this earth at this time in history." This is what our myth of the person and life of Francis has provided for us so well. But there's still something wrong. With all our meetings and strategizing, we still aren't comfortable (secure?) with the way Franciscan life, our life, is lived today. Our freedoms, personal choices and all the others issues and policies we have adopted haven't provided us with the authentic Franciscan, religious life, we thought they would. All the reweaving we've done hasn't woven for us a garment with a comfortable fit. The "gist" of Joe's article is that maybe we need to allow the current myth of Francis to die. It has served its purpose for its time. For example, we think of St. Francis as this happy care free youth. It's the myth of Franciscan joy. But Francis was also quite angry with his brothers (e.g. when they "lost" the first rule). Sometimes his emotions were conflicted, e.g. when he dealt with Clare. He experienced episodes of melancholy, for example when he was called a madman or when he needed to reject his earthly father. We have lived with the myth that Francis was powerless, the true minor. For all his powerlessness he managed to be well connected with bishops and the Vatican. Our myth calls us to imitate his youthfulness and exuberance, a troubadour, indeed! On the other hand, it was when the brothers were fighting among themselves about who should be the General Minister of the Order and when his physical health was poorest that his life most profoundly spoke of God's love and Francis unity with Him (e.g. in the Canticle of the Creatures). The myth that we live with of Francis' absolute poverty hides the benefits Francis enjoyed from the wealth of others and from a culture that was experiencing spurts of development and the wining of freedoms, as e.g. in the area of commerce and the break down of the feudal system. Francis had some fine real estate on which to pray and relax. The issue is this: We are so concerned about keeping this myth of Francis alive that we don't allow the Spirit that enlivened Francis to enliven us. We nurture a myth of St. Francis that no longer relates to our experience and this prevents us from living with his spirit. This week we are going to solemnly remember the death and burial of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we do with Jesus this week, perhaps that is what we should do with Francis. Allow him to die and bury him. When Christ was killed, his followers had to have experienced terrible disappointment, crushing feelings of being alone and an complete hopelessness. They found out this Jesus was a human. Not much different than they. So much for the myth of the messiah! It was after that experience that the Spirit descended. We casually quote St. Francis when he said, "I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what you are to do". (2Cel 214). One would think Francis would advise his brothers as he spoke his final words to them, to imitate him. Instead Francis affirms each person's unique response to God. What will happen if we let Francis die? Perhaps we will rediscover the mystic within each of us. J. Chinnici's definition of a mystic is one who is overcome by God's love is drawn out of himself in praise, gratitude, wonder and joy. A person's life tells others how Good God is. We will remember Christ's passion, death and resurrection. Remember also what Christ's followers went through after His death and before His resurrection. For many friars in the province that is the "place" they find themselves in their religious life: between death and just before the resurrection. It is in this God-given gracefilled moment that we can mystically shout, as Francis did, God is Good because the other myth of Francis is that his humanity has experienced the same everydayness and insecurity as we are. God is showing us our part. Joe concluded his reflection with a few lines from a poem by G. M. Hopkins ( That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection). It says it all so well. Across my foundering deck shone A beacon, an eternal beam. Flesh fade, and mortal trash Fall to the residuary worm; World's wildfire, leave but ash: In a flash, at a trumpet crash, I am all at once what Christ is, Since he was what I am and This Jack [A Jack is an ordinary fellow], joke, poor potsherd, Patch [A patch is a fool], matchwood, immortal diamond Is immortal diamond. May you have a blessed Holy Week. Next Sunday may you experience the risen Christ and the sign of a rising Francis of Assisi in your life. Paul Reczek OFM Min. Prov.

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today Sunday, April 05, 1998

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