Hello All:

Since we just completed our school year, this is only my first letter since my election as Regional Formation Director.  I think that the best way to approach this is one of encouragement, especially, if like me, you are tied to the school year calendar, and are ready to take a break from the hectic life style for vacation (life catch-up).  I thought it also would be good to share a few reflections on the mystery that we celebrated yesterday as Pentecost in which the apostles were freed from fear so that they could courageously proclaim the Good News.

As Franciscans we too are commissioned to proclaim the Gospel in our lives, but once again we need to look at the process in which the Apostles and St. Francis were prepared for proclaiming the Gospel.  In addition to being immersed in the life of the Lord “from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, and witness to the Resurrection,” (Acts 1:22), the Apostles, disciples and some women along with Mary (Jesus Mother) “devoted themselves to constant prayer (Acts 1:14) as they awaited the promise from the Father, the Holy Spirit.  Whatever, the format of the prayer, it was their openness to the working of the Lord that was breaking open the soil of their hearts, so that the seed of the Spirit could be planted.  They continued in their hearts to be formed by the Holy Spirit, so that they could be transformed into an Incarnation of the Word, and become in the Church the Body of Christ.  They were to become his voice, his heart, and his hands. 

We find this example of prayer before the ministry of preaching in the life of St. Francis as well.  In the book In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare, Roch Niemier, OFM describes how Francis spent the night in prayer in the Chapel at San Rufino before he went to preach on some Sundays in the Cathedral.  Father Roch states that Francis prepared in this way for the task of preaching so that he would become the Word he was preaching:  [Francis] “ tasted the Word; he breathed the Word; he became the embodiment of the Word so that when people saw and heard him preach, they were not simply hearing words about peace or reconciliation, mercy or love or forgiveness, but they were in the presence of a living Gospel; they were in the presence of one who made the Word incarnate in his own life.” (p. 104)

To become the living Word, is the goal first of our baptism and confirmation, the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist that we encounter daily in our lives.  It is also in the work that we do as we encounter the Christ in our brothers and sisters.  And as those who have professed the living of the Gospel life as Secular Franciscans in the spirit of St. Francis we are called to: “observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people….Secular Franciscans should devote themselves especially to careful reading of the gospel, going from gospel to life and life to the gospel.”  (Rule IV)  Hence, in order to become like the Gospel, we need to allow the Gospels to transform us so that we see reality as Jesus sees it. 

Let us also be mindful that, like the apostles who first proclaimed the marvelous deeds of God on Pentecost Sunday, our preparation and our ministry is always in the context of full communion with the Catholic Church.  This was always the intent of St. Francis in the original rule of the brothers that he presented to Pope Innocent III, and it is what our Rule of Life declares for us (VI). 

As we labor to make our vocation our own let us take time to pray deeply so that we too may be transformed by the Spirit into the Word.  The prayer of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun with a Franciscan heart, bears repeating:

Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love,

Descend within me.

Reproduce within me, as it were,

An Incarnation of the Word,

So that I may be another humanity

Wherein He renews His Mystery.

As I go back to the Midwest to visit family and friends, you will be in my heart and prayers.  Please keep me in yours, as I serve the needs of the Fraternity.

Pax et Bonum,

Mary Christine Huber, SFO

Formation Director for

St. Katherine Drexel Region