(170) A pat on the back

A pat on the back #170

How good it feels to receive affirmation! Here I thought no one cared about my efforts with this website. But I was wrong. As one of the very last items of business, at the Annual Regional Meeting (which ended last Sunday, May 29, 2005), Carlos Calderon, SFO, who was re-elected Regional Minister, mentioned the website and my humble efforts, and a rousing applause followed by all present. Now I know that the local Franciscans use our website, in addition to Franciscans and other people all over the globe.

Most organizations these days use a "Mission Statement" to tell the world about themselves in a short declarative sentence. If there would be such a statement for this website, it might read like this: "We seek to communicate God's love for all people, regardless of background, religious affiliation, or means, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi." It is my way to evangelize, to share His love which I feel in my heart every minute of the day. St. Francis told his band of friars to go preach and use words if necessary. Well, that works when we are with someone who stands next to us, but to evangelize using the Internet, it takes some words. It doesn't take a lot of words. How many ways can I forward the notion to you that God loves you intimately, that He knew you well before you were even born, and that He will always love you. He loves you even though you might be a sinner, even a heavy sinner. But if this is the case, you know through your upbringing that to love someone back it isn't wise to insult him or her, so your love for God can only be expressed by sinning less, and ultimately, not at all. Yes, that is possible. People who tell me "we all sin" are right, but if they mean that we cannot change that, they are wrong. Change is often not radical, it comes in little steps. It may take a long time.

In this website, I seek to communicate God's love to you, not by judging you, but by meeting you where you are at. I am not better than you. I do not have the right to judge you. No one should judge you. Only God can. That doesn't mean that if you are married your spouse can't make a 'fraternal correction' (in other words, tell you what to do or what not to do) but that should not become a daily overbearing nag. Meet your spouse where he or she is at, and aim for change from that point forward. I'll bet if we as children of God, look at everything we have in common, rather than at the differences between us, we can find a rich basis on which to build community, even friendship.

However, there's no room on the home page for mission statements. Home pages are usually very short. Perhaps a screen-full or two at the most, with some links to different major parts of the website. I purposely didn't go that route. That may work for a corporation but it is too formal for us. We are "people friendly," we follow the Rule of Saint Francis for lay people. Thank God, St. Francis wrote such a Rule. We are happy to be called Franciscans, and with the friars, the Franciscan nuns and the Poor Clares, we are part of that great family. We have a common vocation, rooted in the writings of Saint Francis of Assisi. Read through our website, you'll find it rewarding and to read everything will take you, perhaps, months! There are hundreds of pages and we have some new ideas too.

As you may have figured out by now, I do not particularly care for pages that are swimming in graphics. At the very least I am a writer, but my words aren't empty words because the Holy Spirit is the writer, I just do the typing. I look and listen. It is very early in the morning, and the Mockingbird outside my bedroom is singing with all his might. This bird is praising God because God has created it to praise Him. He has created us to praise Him too, but I forget that so often. I love birds, as will seem evident in these pages. So this website is that of the Five Franciscan Martyrs Region of the Secular Franciscan Order and of Divine Mercy Fraternity in Vero Beach, but it is also a reflection of my inner feelings for a wonderful Creator who loves us so much that we can only love Him back! We seek to enact this reciprocal love through our actions. The first action on our part before we even ask others to do likewise, is to clean up our act. We do that by asking His forgiveness and sinning no more. I feel I do not have the right to ask you or tell you to sin no more unless I make the same effort to sin no more myself. But I'm not perfect. Far from it. I am a sinner, too. Once we admit our guilt to God, to Jesus Christ, and to each other, we are on the mend. Let Him work in you, and you will feel His love, too. Let Him affirm you, give you a pat on the back, and you will have opened your heart to a friend whom you can trust and share with.

Before attending the Annual Regional SFO meeting of our Region this past weekend, I had spent almost three weeks with friends in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at their 120-acre farm complete with horses, a mule, chickens, and a parade of dogs and cats. Dogs can be very protective, in fact, farm dogs are usually very protective. But Donor (so named because he has a blood type many sick dogs need) isn't a farm dog and will be staying there for a short time only. Donor is a Great Dane, Pit Bull, Boxer mix, but he's the gentlest of creatures and we were instant friends. One of the first nights I spent there, he climbed onto my bed, almost taking up the whole space. I don't particularly like to sleep with big dogs but I didn't have the energy, at the time, to tell him to go, so I let him stay. I have to admit that I easily take to animals. Perhaps they sense that I am a peaceful creature and that I do not threaten them. There are no bad animals, in fact, only those threatened and misused by uncaring people. The horses, and mule, too, allowed me to come near and showed signs of happiness around me. Then there's a little beagle called Caledonia, who is upwards of 10 years old. She lives outside now, though she and the other outside dogs have inside (in winter, heated) quarters when they should choose to go inside. The outside pen is quite large so that these three beagles that live there have some running room. I went into the part of the barn where I could invite the dogs to be with me. Caledonia remembered me from my last visit seven years ago and I hugged him as I would an old friend.

Jesus hugs us every day as old friends, each and every time we approach His Table. He invites us to participate in the Eucharist, His Body and Blood, the sharing of Himself, among us. The Holy Eucharist is the culmination of God's love for us, in so simple a form as bread and wine. Let us go to Him often, every day if possible, to receive Him, but also to return to Him the love He has for us. I must admit that I should go to daily Mass more often, but at the moment our local Church is being renovated - the roof is being repaired after the ravages of the 2004 hurricanes, and so there is only one daily Mass (in the parish hall) at 7:30 am. Somehow I cannot quite rouse myself that early in the morning.... so I'll make other arrangements.

Many people can use a pat on the back, a friendly word or two, an affirmation or sign of our respect. Most of all, Catholic priests need your encouragement. They work very hard for us. I hear some people say, often flippantly, all Father does is say Mass and then he's off... get real! That's not the way it is at all. These guys are constantly on the go. Hospital calls, meetings, consultations, hearing confessions, preparing homilies, the hundreds of telephone calls. And so it goes. Having spent 7 years in religious life among the clergy, I KNOW what their schedules are like. It's a tough life, and I recommend that you tell your parish priests once in a while how much you love all they do for you, their parishioner.

It's 6 AM, and it's time to look for some breakfast and it is time to pray. It wouldn't hurt to take a walk before the sun comes up. The day is just beginning, the possibilities are endless. Let us use our days well, to the glory and honor of God who loves us always. Amen.

Fred S. Schaeffer, SFO
May 31, 2005