(343) |
I was reading some words written by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., as follows, "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote that “being in love does not mean looking at each other, but looking together in the same direction”. Clare and Francis really didn’t spend their whole lives gazing at each other and feeling good together. They exchanged the fewest of words, probably only those reported in the sources. There was a tremendous reserve between them, so much so that at times Francis was affectionately chided by his brothers for being too harsh with Clare." (10-8-2007 talk). Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French Aviator and author of that world-famous children's book "The Little Prince," (actually, it is for all ages) that sold 80 million copies and was translated in 180 languages, is also the author of many quotations, and Father Cantalamessa uses one in the lines above. With the model of St. Francis and St. Clare to guide us along the way, Franciscans know that much can be accomplished without uttering words. "Looking in the same direction..." that's why St. Francis told us to take off two by two, to bring the good News of Jesus Christ among the people. Could it be that Saint Francis was a man of few words? It would seem so from the action of his brothers, suggesting that he was being to harsh with Clare. That is a good thing, however. Being a person of few words. Nowadays, you listen to a news broadcast of "The News," where beautiful people, speak at 500 words per minute about some subject, and what do they say? Very little. An enormous amount of time is spent saying very little. To me, a beautiful person is one of few words, someone who is direct, observant, kind, has self-assurance (but not pride), knows what they are talking about, and, knows their limitations. Fr. Raniero is one of those people. And there are a number of priests and religious who are good preachers, who do not waste too many words on trivia. The media is all about trivia. Didn't used to be that way. In the old days, just the news was reported in a relatively neutral way. Nowadays, the news has become a soap opera. That's just like all these Forums on the web. You have a problem you're trying to find a solution to, on the web, so you Google the words and out comes a malange of verbiage ... mostly in Forums that say nothing at all, because people who ask questions in a Forum do not know the answer either until such time that someone replies to them. If you are looking for an authorative answer, you have to dig a lot deeper. And I do that more than I'd like to admit, all the while gnashing my teeth at the garbage that I'm forced to read through along the way. No wonder it often takes two hours to find some plausible explanation to a problem. In his day, St. Chrysostom (347-407), Archbishop of Constantinople, was a brilliant writer and preacher, read his homilies sometime (found in the Fathers of the Church), and you will find therein much good advice. (see also: http://www.chrysostom.org/ -this is an old site, not all the links work, but many do). There are great spiritual writers, such as St. Chrysostom, in the history of the Catholic Church (Western and Eastern) who have contributed much to Catholic spirituality. Another one of those great writers is more recent: Pope John Paul II (see Vatican website). Also, see the following basic documents of the Church. Guess, I went a little off the subject, but still, the above reference information is useful. I was talking about beautiful people, and certainly Our Lord is a very beautiful person. He is the most perfected person one could find. Listen to Him, repent. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. (Gospel of John) If you are living in sin, God does not listen to you, but He knows you are here. And, somehow, He watches over you. He will reach out to you. You need but grab his hand and say: Yes, Lord, your servant is ready to follow you. That is what beautiful people do, they do not think of themselves but of others, but they know that without love in their heart, there is a great divide between them and God. My prayer for you is that you will come back to Jesus, and that is the entire purpose of this website. Fred Schaeffer, SFO |