With Franciscan Eyes

Holding on to Hope

“The New Year is a painting not yet painted; a path not yet stepped on; a wing not yet taken off!
Things haven’t happened as yet! Remember that you are blessed with the ability to reshape your life!”
―Mehmet Murat Ildan

This is a powerful quote comparing the New Year to a painting, a path, and a wing. As I reflected on this, it brought to mind what will happen under the guidance of the Holy Spirit during the Chapter. Hopefully, our painting will be a masterpiece, our path will become known, and our wings will allow us to fly into our future! God is good and as scary as the unknown future and reshaping our life can be, God is with us throughout our painting, path finding and taking off, all in God’s name.

Every New Year begins with the hope that it will be better than the year before and as the year goes on that hope seems to wax and wane like the moon. It does not have to happen that way. We need to remember God is with and within us This gives us the grace to let go of our concerns and let God be in charge. Our entire world needs to choose this path to put an end to war, hunger, poverty, hatred, etc. It needs to be mindful of God’s love and care for us. In 1965 there was a song that was not only appropriate back then, but for the present and future!  Remember “What the World Needs Now”? The song begins: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love… It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” Other words in the song address the Lord saying we don’t need any more mountains, or rivers, etc. but what we need is LOVE. May we be God’s instruments of love in our wounded world!

Living Advent Joy

We are fast approaching the third week of Advent which has JOY as its theme. What exactly is joy? I looked up the definition and it says, “joy is a feeling of great pleasure or happiness.” In the full definition it uses the words elation and delight to further describe joy. Digging even a little further I found that there is a Biblical meaning for joy. St. Paul understood that joy does not depend on what is happening, or what we have, or who is in our life or not in our lives. Letting go of all of that makes room for God. Joy is an attitude of the heart determined by confidence in God. Real, genuine joy is a result of having a strong and intimate relationship with Christ. To truly know Christ is to truly have joy. So, to have true joy we need to spend time with God. Thus, the more time we spend with God, the more joyful we will be! Not exactly the true joy that St. Francis talked about where he was not welcome at the monastery in the dead of winter at night. Just picturing Francis with icicles on the bottom of his habit and ice on his beard makes me shiver! He would agree that spending time with the Lord is true joy. During the remaining days of this short Advent may we take time to be with God so when Christmas comes we can experience joy in our world! It would be wonderful if instead of war, hunger, depression, poverty, homelessness, etc. our world would experience elation and delight in God and one another. What is the attitude of your HEART?

God is Our Hope

As we enter the blessed season of Advent, this quote seems appropriate. I always think of Advent as a quiet season. It is a time of reflection and stillness. In a season that can be crazy, we need to go to our inner sanctuary and be still. Of course, we can go there anytime or any season. What do we do during our stillness? We listen to our loving God to hear His voice. The first week of Advent focuses on the virtue of HOPE. One of the things everyone hopes for is peace throughout the world and here in our own country. It is heartbreaking to see all the mass shootings, the impoverished people, especially the homeless suffering from cold and hunger, as well as those who are disabled, sick, lonely, or elderly with unmet needs. These are just some issues in our own country as well as in the world. Sometimes life may seem hopeless, but it is not. God is our hope.

God sent His Son to be with us no matter how rough life may be. He is our light when all seems dark. This is when we need to go to our sanctuary to converse with God. We need to let go of things that interfere with our stillness. If it is not good for your soul, then let it go! God sent Jesus to be our light and we are to spread this light to others. When you see the Christmas lights, reflect on the strands of light. If one of them burns out, the whole strand is affected. If they are all lit, they shine and light everything around them. Think about how you are a light to whomever needs it in their life. Remember to spend time in stillness and your sanctuary so your light shines even more brightly. Let us light up the world and send HOPE to others so that our strands do not burn out!