With Franciscan Eyes

Slowing Down Our Life

The American culture we live in values speed and getting things done quickly. Doing is more valuable than being, thus our hurried pace. The more we do, the faster we do it and that makes us feel harried and disconnected. I often wonder why we continue to live in this way if it makes us feel agitated and hectic. When we hurry through life we miss the simple wonders around us. Rushing through activities can diminish the quality of our work and relationships.

So how can we solve this dilemma we are in? Here are some tips that might be helpful. Relish your morning and evening rituals such as brushing your teeth and showering. Eat your meals with intentionality. Really taste what you are eating. Live each moment consciously and deliberately. You will find that brings greater pleasure and peace when you do. Stay in touch with yourself. Do some soul-searching, meditation and journaling. Take time to think and reflect, nurture yourself and savor moments with friends. Spend time with people who seem to live a simple life at a slower pace. Learn from them.  Doing things in a relaxed manner will open your mind and heart to deeper levels of awareness which will make you feel more alive. Slowing down allows you to savor your experiences and will help you to fully focus on the task at hand. Make time for stillness, silence and solitude. We don’t have to be doing something all the time.

All the above seems easy but it is not, especially when everyone around you is rushing at a frantic pace.  It takes practice and discipline. The secret is being conscious and aware. If you have that, you can catch yourself when you are rushing through life. Once you take notice, then you can do something about it. We all have only one life to live. That does not mean we have to always be in a hurry to experience everything. No, it means we want to live our life with meaning and purpose, consciously and deliberately which eventually brings peace and contentment. 

Transformation is Possible

Conversion stories always move me mainly because they give me hope. From big sinner to little stumbler, God’s mercy floods a soul, and the soul responds, sometimes with joy and sometimes with bewilderment. But often there can be some kind of movement—eventually!

Lately, I’ve been reading Wounded Shepherd by Austen Ivereigh. This is a very honest look at the pontificate of Pope Francis as it weaves the Pope’s personal life with the many decisions he has had to make to date as Pontiff. Throughout his life, Pope Francis had many “conversion” moments, and he brought these experiences to his role as Shepherd of the Church.

I am struck by how our Mandatum is reflected in this story. No doubt, Pope Francis turns to contemplation as he walks with God through the many decisions he has to make. He is a definite champion of neighborly love and emphasis on the care of the poor. His listening presence exudes being merciful, joyous and poor.

It is his surrender to ongoing transformation that most strikes me at this moment in time. This Pope calls the Church and us to a “pastoral conversion”—one that builds bridges and opens arms of mercy and inclusion. He is a leader who listens, reflects, prays, and then makes decisions that move the Church forward. He is honest in realizing that he didn’t always do things right.

One paragraph in the book seems to sum up this “ongoing transformation” of Pope Francis:

Cardinal John Henry Newman, canonized by Francis in October 2019, famously observed that “to live is to change” and that “to be perfect is to have changed often.”  What matters in the spiritual life is ultimately this openness to be changed, which requires trust—or as Christians say, “faith.”  What blocks it is the fleeing from this openness:  trusting, rather, in ideology, structures, or an idealized sense of self.  A saint is one who has moved out from those “false” selves to become what God calls her to be.”

We don’t have to wait for huge moments of transformation. Each day we are invited to surrender in numerous ways to this ongoing transformation. In fact, it is probably the smaller moments of transformation that prepare us for the “big ones”! Thank you, Pope Francis, for being humble enough to expose your own moments of conversion and transformation!

Each day we can reflect and see where the invitation to ongoing transformation was presented to us. What did I notice?  How did I respond? Did I change? Did I surrender to this invitation to ongoing transformation? 

“Led by God, let them begin a life of penance, conscious that all of us must be continuously and totally converted.”  (TOR Rule 6)