With Franciscan Eyes

Know the Joy of "God Moments"

Reflect on this "God Moment" captured in the quote and image above. It is a moment of awe, realizing that nature is the artwork of our God, and it changes every single day. Have you ever seen a sunrise or sunset that was the same? Not only has God given us the beauty of nature, but nature is constantly changing! God is truly the expert painter! How blessed we are to live in a world filled with beauty! One day we look at a plant, and soon it blooms with amazing flowers on it. Or we hear a new bird song. The poor bird has been singing its heart out, and we haven’t truly heard it until one day we actually stop, look, and listen! We walk or drive past the same place every day and notice something beautiful that has been there forever, but this time we really SEE it. Or we look up into the night sky and see the stars and planets in a new and different way that delights us. These are "God Moments"! God has blessed us with so many small miracles in nature, but we need to be like St. Francis who could put two sticks together and play a symphony! If only we would pay attention without being distracted! Listen to this song, "Open My Eyes" by Jesse Manibusan:  https://youtu.be/wI3tQLnD8yM?si=Osprd7Te4T4p8vlQ. The singer asks God to "open our eyes to see ... our ears to hear ... our hearts to love…" Let us try to appreciate God’s expert painting skills, and may we SEE the beauty of God around us today and every day!

An Invitation To Be A Tender Heart

“Heart of Jesus burning with love for us, enflame our Hearts with love for you.”

We pray this every night at Evening Praise, and it struck me the other day how we have been using the words “burning,” “love,” and “enflame” at least 365 times a year for many years in our community. Valentine’s Day will be here soon—a day that speaks so much about LOVE. As FSSH, we could be nicknamed “Franciscan Sisters of LOVE” or “Loving Hearts.” The love of our lives is the Sacred Heart whose heart is truly tender. The quote about having a tender heart speaks of this as the key to feeling the beat of all the other hearts. When you reflect on that, it is awe-inspiring. Love should emit from every fiber of our being to the community, the world, and the cosmos as our Mandatum states. When you think about Jesus’ tender heart on fire with love for us, picture Jesus tenderly holding a lamb in his arms, but replace the lamb with yourself. This is not just love but burning with love. Anything that burns is consumed by the flames. Jesus consumes us with love, and we consume Jesus lovingly in the Eucharist. We are truly blessed as we receive the Eucharist. Our hearts become enflamed with love for God and all of God’s creatures and creation. We invite you all to journey with us, whether as Sister, Associate, volunteer, friend, or neighbor. Together we can be Loving Hearts to a weary world in need of hope.

When Valentine’s Day comes, it is a good time to reflect on God hugging and blessing you with graces to go out tenderly to the community, world, and cosmos. Feel the beat of all other hearts and all that is within them. Hug them with your prayers!

Finding Strength in Life's Knots

Boy scouts can rattle off the types and manner of tying all sorts of knots. Even though we may not have their knowledge and expertise, we do have experience with knots. Think about the tangles in your hair, about thread knotting just as it is being pulled through a stitch, or the twisted mess resulting from the washing machine weaving clothes together. However, there is an altogether different category of knots in life. Consider one’s losing a position, confronting an angry individual, getting a traffic ticket, running into a brick wall of discrimination, realizing one’s mortality, moving to an undesired location, dealing with unfairness, or becoming aware of a lump in one’s body. Those knots can really tie us up!    

The question “why?” such knots appear in life is often asked. Sister Joan Chittister believes that such a question is foolish, brings no resolution, and that there are more important questions. “The fact is that it is not what happens but what I do about it, and how I deal with it, that counts. The answer to, "Why did God do this to me?" may simply be so that I could become more than I was before it happened.” Sister also said, while quoting the mystic Rumi, that, “Under every agonizing, painful, irritating, worrisome thing… is the blessing that needs to be discovered….”

Sometimes we need the binoculars of time in order to appropriately distance ourselves so that we can discern what has knocked us off our feet. We need a long view in order to see the knots clearly, to appreciate the unknown blessings we have received, and especially to remove the disguises that hid them from view in the first place.

What are some of the disguised undesired blessings that have come your way? How have you grown because of them?