Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Mary Ann Spanjers reflects in this Jubilee Year of St. Francis on ‘how death becomes life.’ This is one of a series of discernment videos grounded in Franciscan Spirituality.
How death becomes life- Jubilee Year of St Francis
Introduction
St Francis was a man for whom God is not a word, but a fire which burns. (Thadee Matura OFM wrote in “The Birth of a Movement” The only worthwhile thing, for him who had been “turned around” by a gospel conversion was to keep himself before God, to discover how to live with and for him. Thus the presence of Jesus becomes living and ceases to be solely a moral reference; And thus the Spirit, the Paraclete is able to rejoice and sing “alleluia” in the heart of the believer which has become the dwelling place of the living God with him, with the men and women of the past, the present and the future, with the reconciled and saved universe he proclaimed the eucharist, the thanksgiving of the redeemed and loved humankind.
This faith is what we celebrate during this Jubilee year of the 800th anniversary of St Francis’ death becoming life, his transitus into eternal life.
Where did this faith begin for St Francis? the same place it began for each of us–the Sacrament of Baptism. Franciscan historian Fr. Regis Armstrong OFM Capuchin and Ingrid J. Peterson, OSF; in the publication of the “Franciscan Tradition: Spirituality in History “guide us; “From their writings, it can very well be concluded that [Francis] simply wanted to live the fullness of life he received at baptism.”
Fr Regis and Sister Ingrid go on to explain that With a penetrating simplicity, the Spirit of the Lord that enters the Christian soul at baptism seems the only explanation for the universality, the all-embracing character, and the joy Francis and his tradition brought to the religious life of the church. The Spirit, the Spirit alone, was needed by the thirteenth-century saint, perhaps the most popular saint in the church’s two millennia history.
It is essential for me and all of us to recognize that we have also received the Holy Spirit at our Baptism. The grace of God is being poured into us daily; I need to discover, in a deeper way, how to live in this grace. My latest revelation on how to do this came during a time of prayer. I struggle with how to know I am doing the Father’s will, not in the big picture of my vocation as a Sister, but in the details of daily life. My newest insight/gift/revelation from the Holy Spirit is to embrace the freedom of humility. I do not need to be “right” in my interactions with my Sisters and others, I need to listen more, to accept that my opinion, is as valid as another’s, not wrong or right. I believe the humility that God is helping me discover is a gift from the Holy Spirit which I received at Baptism; The Holy Spirit is gifting me with this revelation, that my self-worth is not that I am right or wrong about something but that I have inherent dignity because I belong to the Father. This is humbling. St Francis was always desiring to live as a son of the Father, which is why he clung to Jesus. I am convinced that the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal to me how to live as the Father’s daughter. I believe that the Holy Spirit will also reveal to you how to live as one who belongs to the Father. May the Lord give you peace.
Is God calling you to become a Nun or Sister? We invite you to consider some Franciscan discernment experiences in this Year of St. Francis. Click here. Consider a discernment retreat, a dramatic theatrical performance of St. Francis life or a light-hearted play on the characters in his life.
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