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Pope Pius XII in
his 1956 Address to Tertiaries said: "Although the Third
Order is not a body of people who are already perfect,
it is above all a school of Christian perfection imbued
with the genuine Franciscan spirit. For it was
instituted for this purpose: to satisfy fully the
sincere desires of those who had to remain in the world
but who do not wish to be of the world. The Third Order
directs its appeal to those who burn with the desire of
striving for perfection in their own station in life."
Even though, the
good Pontiff wrote this statement 52 years ago, to date,
I believe it is still valid this day. Perhaps even more
so, as the Secular Franciscan Order now has even better
formation guidance and texts, and the whole Order of
Franciscans show greater unification of charism and
purpose.
Recently,
there has been greater emphasis on the Secular
Franciscan having a spiritual opportunity to be more
contemplative in prayer. In the "Formation program
for the Eighth Centenary of St. Elizabeth of
Hungary," Year 2, Month 10 this is discussed:
"In her
hospital work, just as in her married life,
Elizabeth’s active life also included contemplative
prayer. Our Rule (II, 8) specifically asks us to
"make prayer and contemplation the soul of all we
are and do." This means giving contemplative prayer
a greater part in our prayer life.
But what is contemplative prayer? We who follow the
active life are often told that all of our work, if
it is offered up to God, is prayer. We also have the
Mass and our daily office, the liturgical prayers of
the Church. But both of these are different from
contemplation, lifting of our hearts and minds to
God. This is a type of prayer we often find
difficult. How can we, absorbed as we are by all the
cares of family and work, and distracted by the TV,
the Internet, and the daily chatter around us, find
sufficient time to lift our souls to God?
We can take comfort from the fact that the
definitive words of Jesus in the Gospels about the
life of contemplation were addressed to a busy
housewife. Jesus has come to visit Martha and Mary.
Martha, who is an accomplished hostess, waits on
Jesus with food and drink and comfortable cushions –
these, the things we do for Jesus, represent the
active life of service to others in the world. Mary,
on the other hand, has chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet,
listening to his words, and being content in his
presence. This is contemplation.
Martha insists to Jesus that contemplative Mary is
not pulling her weight, and should get up and help
with the serving. Jesus tells Martha "you are
anxious and worried about many things," but he adds
that only one thing is truly necessary – to listen
to his words (Luke 10, 41-42). The contrast between
the two sisters has often been used in the Church to
differentiate between the active and the
contemplative life as two different vocations – the
one for the laity and those religious whose lives
are spent in service to others, and the other for
religious engaged in lives of contemplative prayer.
But Jesus is also telling Martha, who lives the
active life, that she needs more room in her life to
listen to and contemplate Him. All Christians should
combine these two things. As St. Augustine says:"No
one should be so contemplative that he does not
think of the good of his neighbor, nor so active
that he does not seek the contemplation of God" (On
the City of God, xix, 19)."
As stated above,
Rule 8 of
the Rule of Saint Francis for the SFO, refers to this
way of life. Contemplation is something you may pray for
that Our Lord give you this Grace, but the gift is only
His to make. You can be predisposed to contemplation by
finding a quiet place to pray and to repose, without
distractions, and in time, as a result of a daily
drawing back from life for the purpose of communicating
with Our Lord, you may be favored with this Grace. At
the same time, there is suffering involved in this way
of life. Satan can get very unruly for those who strive
for perfection or greater perfection, and there are
numerous examples of this, particularly in Religious
Orders. Now, why would you want to strive for perfection
when the status quo might perhaps be good enough?
The status quo
is never good enough because man is burdened by original
sin and the effects of it - concupiscence, and we are in
a constant tug-of-war discerning between good and evil.
For those already serving in an Order, be it religious
or lay in nature and affiliation, the opportunity to
excel is there. We know that the greatest command of Our
Lord is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves,
right? To see the trees for the forest as Saint Francis
does so well, and to be 100% there for all those people
you are privileged to meet along the way of this
pilgrimage of life. If we are 100% for people, then
certainly we should be there 100% for the Father. For we
are told, by Jesus, to love Our Father in heaven, and to
love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The loving of
neighbor is contingent on loving the Father, as we learn
in the "Lord's Prayer" - "...forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against
us." If we cannot forgive others, we will not be
forgiven ourselves.
The Rule of the
Secular Franciscan Order, as well as other Rules (for
other parts of the Franciscan Order) follows the same
goal. Today the world has become increasingly
materialistic and unbelieving. Franciscans are needed to
take the joy of the love of Christ to people. The
message is still of total love of God, our fellow man
who, and wherever he is, and indeed all of creation. A
simple message that calls for a simple life, and a
reassessment of our values. In this way although the
Order is 800 years old, the message is modern and for
today. There are about 15,000 professed Secular
Franciscans in the United States alone, and in 2002
there were 400,000 professed worldwide. The latest
figure stands at 430,000! It
makes the SFO an enormous order, and very much worldwide.
The entire Franciscan Order numbers 580,000 men and
women. This takes a great deal of communications and
planning to make sure that all Franciscans get the
formative messages from the top down.
"We are a body composed of some 430,000
professed, who, together with the over
150,000 male and female Franciscan
religious must accomplish in time and in
history the mission that the San Damiano
Crucifix entrusted to St. Francis.
"We will be able to fully accomplish all
this by developing, living and letting
grow within us, in every part of the
world, a deep Sense of Belonging
and a living awareness of the Grace
of Profession that has made us
Franciscan, fully realizing our
Baptismal vocation and introducing us
into the body of the Secular Franciscan
Order and of the entire Franciscan
Family. From
http://www.ciofs.org/circ/gia8en68b.htm
Introductory document to 2008 General
Chapter, SFO."
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A General Chapter is held every three years
and this year it will be in Budapest, Hungary. I have
been invited to attend since I am the webmaster of
www.ciofs.org and the
SFO General Minister and others in her Executive Council
have asked to meet me in person. The General Chapter
will take place November 15 to 22, 2008.
In the next reflection on "Seeking
Franciscan Perfection," we will be examining some
particulars of this way of life.
Fred Schaeffer,
SFO
Article #1,
11/01/2008
© 2008, Fred
Schaeffer, SFO
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