Franciscans all over the world have been celebrating
in 2009 what we have called the “Grace of Our Origins.”
St. Francis of Assisi received papal approval in
1209 for this way of living the gospel. During our
800th anniversary year, Franciscans have been trying to
recapture the grace that moved powerfully within Francis.
I give thanks to
my God...
because of your
partnership for
the gospel.
—Philippians 1:3,5 |
By happy coincidence, the Franciscan friars of St. John the
Baptist Province, who sponsor St. Anthony Messenger, are
celebrating 150 years of being a permanent
presence in the United
States. Though the first friar arrived
in 1844, we became a “custody” of
the Order in 1859 and a “province”
26 years later.
SPONSORED LINKS
 Welcoming God's Grace
This year’s celebrations have helped
us recommit ourselves to working
with the amazing grace that moved
in Francis, moved the founders of
our province and moves us today.
The Franciscan charism is so rich
that no one group captures it all.
The Franciscan family is made up
of many different groups. (We joke
that one of the things that God does
not know is how many different
kinds of Franciscans there are!) We are Friars Minor, Conventuals,
Capuchins, Poor Clares, Secular Franciscans, Third
Order men and women religious. And there are many people
who are not officially Franciscan but who love Francis
and live in his spirit.
The Franciscan life is not something that one person can
do alone; it is about being in relationship,
being a brother or sister, all
because of the gospel! As St. Paul
says, we are in “partnership for the
gospel” (verse 5). At the core of the
charism, for all of us, is a sense of fraternity,
a sense of being related to
and connected with everyone and
everything. In his Canticle of the
Creatures, Francis celebrates that:
The sun is our brother; the moon is
our sister; even death is a sister!
In an early Franciscan writing,
Francis was asked to describe the
“perfect friar.” He couldn’t do it. No
one friar had all the gifts; the perfect
friar was a combination of the love
of poverty of Bernard, the simplicity of Leo, the prayer of
Rufino, the patience of Juniper and so on. It was not just one
brother alone; it takes a community, with each sharing
himself and his gifts, and sharing life together. And that
makes us very grateful people!
Serving the Lord Together
St. Paul had the same sense of connection as Francis did. And
it is something for which Paul was
immensely grateful. It isn’t simply
all about him and what he did, all by
himself.
At the beginning of the Letter to
the Philippians (1:3-11), Paul expresses
profound gratitude to God
for those with whom he shared a
“partnership for the gospel” (verse
5). Writing from prison, he prays
for his friends and co-workers.
Remembering them and all that
they shared in proclaiming the
gospel brings Paul a deep joy. He
senses that these brothers and sisters
have been “partners with [him] in
grace” (verse 7).
Thus, Paul prays that the Philippians
may learn to discern what is of
real value (verse 10), namely, that their love, that sense of
working together to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ,
may continue to grow in them.
I was recently at a meeting of friars who are the local ministers
in our various communities, and this passage was the
reading for the daily Eucharist. I had the privilege of preaching.
I acknowledged the various gifts
I had experienced during the meeting:
the courage of Robert, the vulnerability
of Jerry, the creativity of Don,
the wisdom of Nick. I was proud,
and grateful, to be partnered with
these men, for the sake of the gospel.
This is not just a Franciscan thing;
it is a gospel thing! We are all partners
in grace, partners for the gospel.
For this, we should be grateful!
This column concludes our “Year
of St. Paul” series.
Father Jeff Scheeler is the minister of St. John the
Baptist Province in Cincinnati, Ohio. |
