Love is in the Air?

How does a Postulant celebrate Valentine's Day?

Well I'm sure every Postulant celebrates it differently, as does every couple, single person, Friar, community and home.

Let me tell you how I celebrated the day.

My day began with prayer, where I held family and friends in prayer and gave thanks for the gift of their love. Then I went to Mass, where we celebrate the greatest love of all - the love of our God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

After Mass I helped to host a Valentine's Coffee Party for our regular Mass crowd. Fresh muffins, strawberries and chocolates. Thanks to my awesome nephews and nieces for the window clings that decorated the room nicely.

When the clean up was done I packed up and headed out with my Director. We headed out on a four hour hike around a lake and through a wooded area. Talk about God's awesome creation, talk about how God's love shines through in creation. It was a beautiful day, some rain, some cloud, some sun, and a great workout! It was awesome. We hiked, talked, listened, gave thanks and laughed. It was a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day in this year of formation.

 

 

The day ended with prayer, supper, enjoying some greetings from some very special kids and me very tired. What a blessed day.

I ask for your prayers this week in a very special way, as I will spend the week at the Novitiate House, in a workshop and checking out the next part of the journey. I'm looking forward to it.

Know of my prayers for you.

Love is...
In order to love simply, it is necessary to know how to show love. - F. Dostoyevsky

Kindness in words creates confidence; kindness in thinking creates profoundness;  kindness in feeling creates love. - L. Tzu

Love lights more fires than hate can extinguish. - E. Wheeler-Wilcox

Gold Silver & Bronze

The Winter Olympics have been something I have enjoyed since I have been 11 years old. The Calgary Winter Olympics took place in 1988 and as an 11 year old I was captivated by everything Olympics. I remember getting up early in the dark of winter to watch highlights and then watching them again when I returned home from school. There is something special about the Olympics that draws one in.  Over the years I have watched the Olympics and have been amazed and wowed over and over again. I have enjoyed Olympic parties, great conversations around the sports, I have been part of Olympic events (2010) and in fact I have even led a retreat with an Olympic theme. The good of the Olympics needs to be celebrated.

I know there are many people out there who are anti-Olympics and do not support them. Yes there is corruption within the IOC and yes there is way too much money spent on frivolous things, when that money could go to supporting the poor. We need to remember that the IOC and Olympic planners are human beings and that doesn’t make them perfect, it makes them like you and I: seekers, sinners, neighbors, Children of God; seeking to build the kingdom and let go of what leaves us in the dark.

I look to the good of the Olympics. The power of nations both large and small marching in and sitting together reminds us our cultural family. The beauty of art, cultural, history, creativity, and sport brought together showing forth God-given talents. The striving to be ones very best. The respect that is given and shown for each other, the pride in doing ones very best. The great stories of family support, of athletes reaching out to each other in times of crisis and celebrating the good in others. All these goods of the Olympics remind me of the Kingdom of God we are a part of are called to help shape and build.

May the golden moments remind us of the crown we will receive when we climb the podium to our heavenly home. May the silver moments remind us that we are on the right path. May the bronze moments remind us that we must continue to work at building the Kingdom. May all the excitement and joys, the challenges and hard-work, the disappoints and special moments truly remind us that God walks with us, trains with us, journeys with us and is with us always through this life time.

I may never wear a gold medal, but my name and all our names are golden in the heart of God. Now that is worth celebrating!

In honor of the Olympics some of my Top Lists: (none of these are in a particular order)

My Top 7 Favorite Feast Days:

1.       Epiphany  – have loved it since a child, one last hurrah and reminder of the gift of the Christ Child.

2.       St. Michael Day – pretty self-explanatory a great Saint, but I also celebrate my Grandpa’s B-day that day.

3.       Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – maybe it’s the candles, maybe it’s Simeon and Anna, maybe it’s because it’s about Tradition but I love it.

4.       St. Kateri, St. Brother Andre & Canadian Martyrs (technically these are 3 separate days but all equal to me) – some true Canadian Heroes with fascinating stories.

5.       St. Nicholas – the reminder to give and serve and share and the bonus little treats too!

6.       St. Anne & Joachim – Jesus had Grandparents – I love that! Let’s celebrate the goodness of Grandparents.

7.       St. Francis – when you are walking in this man’s footsteps he better make the top list, and I have been fascinated by him for a long time.

My Top 7 Canadian Winter Olympic Athletes I Would like to meet:

1.       Kurt Browning

2.       Alexandre Bilodeau

3.       Catriona Le May Doan

4.       Clara Hughes

5.       Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue

6.       Sandra Schmiler

7.       Scott Perras – oh wait I have – so cool to have a cousin who is an Olympic Athelete!

My Top 7 Winter Olympic Sports:

1.       Figure Skating

2.       Ski Jumping

3.       Curling

4.       Bobsled & Luge

5.       Aerial Freestyle Skiing

6.       Biathlon

7.       Short Track – Relay Speed Skating

My Top 7 Canadian Places I like to Visit or would Visit again:

1.       Home

2.       Newfoundland & Labrador

3.       Northern Canada – all 3 Territories

4.       Maritimes – all 3 provinces again

5.       St. Joseph’s Oratory

6.       Northern Saskatchewan

7.       Any place with a good deck to relax on in the summer or great fireplace and view in the winter

The Color Pages my nephews & nieces sent to me to color to celebrate! Go Canada Go!

Consecrated, Throats & Prayer: An Interesting Trio

Consecrated Life is another name for Religious Life and refers to nuns, monks, brothers, friars, sisters and priests who take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and live in community with others (like Friars do). As I mentioned last week, February 2 is the annual date set aside to celebrate those who make these vows. We celebrated in a very simple but life giving way. Besides a large group of Sisters of Saint Anne joining us for Mass, we hosted prayer and supper for a group of sisters, and an Oblate priest. We gathered together for prayer, celebrating Jesus being presented in the temple (one of my top 5 favorite feasts) and then enjoyed a fantastic lasagna meal together. It was a privileged place to be to encounter great stories, and sharing and memories and hopes as this unique but connected group sat down at table together. It helped me to appreciate again the journey I am on and gave me hope the future.

Please continue to pray for sisters, brothers, monks, and religious priests and for vocations.

Throats are often blessed on February 3 – the Feast of Saint Blasé. The prayer that is used is: ‘through the intercession of Saint Blasé may you be freed from any ailment of the throat’. I have had my throat blessed before, it is a simple blessing, where 2 unlit candles that are crossed are held across your throat as the above prayer is said. It’s an intimate blessing and today to receive this blessing from my director, who is a great man of prayer was very powerful. He didn’t rush through the blessing with anyone, in fact he entered into prayer with each person who came forward. The presence of Christ was very evident. Another powerful moment was at the end of the blessing, he went to our Friar who is 98 and blessed his throat and then he knelt before him and had him bless his throat. Wow! Another moment that Christ was so very present. It truly showed what it means to be a humble servant.

Prayer is such a gift. I have begun a new course on ‘An Interfaith Journey: Exploring Prayer and Spirituality. It has been a very interesting start and the reading is quite fascinating. It is calling me to a deeper awareness of my prayer journey and how and where I encounter Christ. I love how our minds and hearts have heightened awareness of a topic that we are surrounded by it or study. A young friar whose blog I follow had this to say this week about prayer:

‘One friar in our house often says, "Prayer must always remain a priority. Like meals, school work, exercise, and fraternity time, it needs to be set in the schedule for thirty minutes each day so as to not be neglected." This is quite obvious and makes perfect sense: if time is set out during the day, no matter what, for something like exercise, shouldn't prayer be as well. But that's not the end of it: "And in times when you're busy, those times when you're overwhelmed and can't imagine how you're going to get through it all, make it an hour." How contradictory to the way most of us normally act! And yet, how true! What is it that's going to keep us going? What is it that nourishes us? What is it that gives us meaning and reminds us why? It is relationship with God. It is prayer.

There is always time for prayer. Always. I may be too busy to do everything I could ever dream of doing, but I know for sure that I am not too busy to pray.’

I value his insight on such a gift that frames my day and calls me to be more aware. Then I found the following by the priest Austin Fleming.

‘And that started me thinking about all the things
that all of us “show up” for every week, even every day.
We all show up:
to eat and drink
to sleep
to shower
to go to work or school
to go grocery shopping
to check our email
to read
to watch television
to exercise
to pay the bills
to text, FaceBook, Google, Tweet, Instagram and Snapchat
to call family and friends
for sports and games and dance class
for meetings of all kinds
to shop and run errands
and who knows how many other things we all “show up” for
every week and every day.

When will we begin to make more time to show up for God
every week and every day:
“Showing up” so that one day we might say with Simeon,
“Lord I’ve done my living: I’m ready to go…”
“Showing up” so that one day we, like Anna,
we might give praise and thanks to God and not be slow
to share our faith with family and friends as the greatest gift of all,
the love of God.

Whether we “show up” for the Lord or not,

he never fails to show up for us.
He showed up for us when it counted the most – and cost the most:
on the Cross, in his suffering, in the sacrifice he offered there.
And whether we show up on the Lord’s Day or not,
he never fails to show up for us,
to save us a seat and set a place for us at his table,
where he shows up, again and again for us,
in the Bread and Cup of Communion.’

 

That’s a lot to think about and I know I will be more aware that I need to ‘show up’, not just coast.

May the same be true for you.

Communication, Dialogue & Lessons

Over the past week or so I have been journeying through the challenge of what it means to be part of a religious community. I’ll be honest – it’s not all roses, it is very much like growing up with siblings. Through the challenges and questions and frustrations I have continued to grow, learn and open myself up to the blessings and realize the gifts of community.

Communication is key in any situation but sometimes it is hard to do. Pope Francis has reminded religious brothers that approaching these challenges must be done with tenderness. For “tenderness does us good. Eucharistic tenderness does not mask conflict but rather helps us to confront it like people.” It is this approach that has shaped the communication of the past week and I didn’t even know it was happening. Thank goodness God is in control. So with tenderness and honesty in conversations with my fellow Postulant Brother, my Provincial (head Friar) and my Director of Formation my heart is more at peace. These conversations needed to happen for many reasons and in the end I see again that this journey is the path for me.

Something that was brought to my attention that I don’t think about, is that no matter where you are you need to make your surroundings your home. It has been pointed out to me that I work at and put effort into this as a natural part of my daily living. I owe thanks to my parents for this, for I saw them make our house a home no matter what condition it was in or what chaos was happening. It was a home for us, for extended family, for our friends and neighbors. This is a part of who I am and for that I am so thankful.

Dialogue is also a blessing. Recently we sat down as a group of Friars and postulants to discuss the document “Wake Up the World: A Conversation with Pope Francis about Religious Life”. I think many of my Brothers thought it would be a quick half hour discussion. It turned into two hours of sharing, input, stories, concerns, dreams, cautions, realities and honesty. We discussed everything from formation, to serving the poor, to life as a Brother to what it means to be a Friar. What a blessing to sit in the group and listen and learn and ask questions and share. It helped me to appreciate even more community life, the demands and riches of religious life and the deep desire to live out the gospel in real ways.

At the end of this conversation I walked away with some key lessons I now will try to remember and implement in my journey…

We are not the Holy Spirit but we need to be open to the Holy Spirit working in us.

There are a variety of roles for each Friar to take on and contribute their gifts towards.

There is wide diversity in the ministries that we are called to serve in and how we reach out to the People of God.

Personal growth is a key part of formation and the whole journey as a religious. We must be open to always learning and growing for the people we journey with both the Brothers and the larger community challenge us to grow and inspire us.

The ‘yes’ of my baptism is constantly deepening and enriching my journey.

We cannot have tunnel vision for if we do we lose sight of all of the above and forget about the ultimate goal that all these lead to and that is Christ Jesus.

I think this is awesome stuff and so with a deepening peace and enthusiasm in my heart I journey onward in my formation as a (religious) Brother.

Did You Know?

February 2 is World Day for Consecrated Life. Pope John Paul II commissioned this day. It is designed to bring attention to those in religious life and the gifts they offer through living out their vows.

I humbly ask for your continued prayers and for your prayers for all men and women in religious life (nuns, brothers, religious priests) and those discerning the call to religious life.

Prayer for Vocations

Faithful God,

We celebrate your fidelity and love for your Church.

You bless us and call us into a covenant with you,

with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit.

Mary accepted this covenant,

offering herself as your blessed handmaid.

You entrusted her with your Son, Jesus,

and in turn she became our mother too.

Like Jesus and Mary,

bless us with a trusting spirit

that we might serve you faithfully.

Inspire men and women to dedicate their lives

to you through the consecrated life.

Help us to invite, encourage and support

men and women to serve the Church.

Blessed are we as we seek to live our lives

in holiness and integrity.

We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus

and his Blessed Mother in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen

            Source: SIVC

 

 

Gaze and Respond

Gaze

upon Christ, our Savior

who calls us to be Children of God

and to walk humbly with our God. 

Consider

the love of Christ, our Redeemer

whose love is ever present

and is free and merciful.

Contemplate

the friendship of Christ, our Brother

who daily walks with us

and comforts us with his goodness.

Imitate

Christ, the Servant-Leader

whose life we are called to reflect

and whose strength we can rely on.

Attend

to Christ, in our brothers and sisters,

who are in need, struggling or hurting,

and let them encounter hope.

Respond

to the call of Christ, the Son of God

who empowers us with many gifts

and who simply asks, ‘Will you come and follow me?’
 

Gaze, Consider, Contemplate, Imitate, Attend…Respond

 

The six words above were given to me by the Poor Clares as they shared about Saint Clare. They along with the quote below inspired the reflection above.

 

“Place your mind in the mirror of eternity; place your soul in the splendour of glory.

Place your heart in the icon of divine substance and transform your whole self

through contemplation into an image of God. Do this in order that you yourself

may feel what His friends feel on tasting the hidden sweetness,

which God himself has kept from the beginning for those who love Him…”

                                                                - Saint Clare to her dear friend Agnes.

 

 

Gaze, Consider, Contemplate, Imitate, Attend…Respond

to Christ today.

 

 

Postulancy: The Journey So Far

The Vocations Director has asked me to reflect upon what my Postulancy year has been like at this halfway point. I offer to you my reflections.

It all began with a question from a Postulant, “Why the heck aren’t you a Franciscan?” Not having an answer to that question I began a discernment process. This led to an application process, which led to an acceptance letter, which led to me resigning from my position, which led to packing up or giving away everything I owned, which led to me bidding farewell to family and friends, which led to me entering this Postulancy year with the Franciscans of Western Canada.

What a journey it has been so far. A new adventure in a new location with new people. From what I have come to discover the Postulancy year has looked different over the history of the order. As I continue in this year I realize how it is a year to help with transition from what life was to life in community and what life will be. My Postulancy has allowed me to let go of the demands of my former life and embrace the growth and challenges of living in community, new areas of ministry and sharing my gifts in new ways. Every day has not been easy to transition from what I knew as life to what I am coming to know as life, but through a supportive director, the community of brothers with whom I live and the prayers and support of family and friends the transition is proving to be life-giving. This year continues to provide so many blessings and opportunities that has opened me up to a greater joy and appreciation for life and the journey.

 

 

I have also realized that every Friar that has lived through a Postulancy year grows in their own way and walks into the rest of their formation with different experiences. For myself some of the greatest blessings so far of a Postulancy year here at St. Joseph Friary include a deepening prayer life, interacting with and learning from the brothers who range in age from 38-98, enjoying the benefit of larger community that joins us for daily and weekend Mass, being able to ask questions and receiving a varied and intense response from the Friars, easing my way back into taking classes, days of Recollection, meeting the Poor Clares, being given permission and encouraged to share my gifts, embracing a more healthy balance in life that I was seeking and discovering a deeper joy and peace in my life.

All this leads me to ongoing and deeper discernment, which leads to openness, which leads to trust, which leads to Christ. As I desire to know Christ my Savior even more He continues to be my guide and is directing my path to walk in the footprints of St. Francis. I am thankful for this and the journey so far.

 

St. Francis, pray for me, for us, for all discerning, for the world.

 

 

 

Hope is Here - A Reflection for the End of the Christmas Season

Sometimes the Christmas season is too short,

sometimes it is too long,

sometimes it feels just right.

Sometimes the Christmas season is joy-filled,

sometimes it is sorrowful,

sometimes it just is.

Sometimes the Christmas season is relaxed,

sometimes it is tense,

sometimes it is exhausting…

No matter Christmas has been for us, there is one thing that it is always. It is always about hope. Christmas is about hope, for if God would send his son as a baby, a child to lead his people then hope is the center of Christmas.

The gospels we hear proclaimed at Christmas, Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord express hope. The birth of the Christ Child and the hope the shepherds discovered. The magi searching and finding the Child and being filled with hope for all humankind. John the Baptist baptizing Christ and being assured that hope had indeed come.

Hope was born in that manger bed, so many years ago and hope is born time and time again because God cares about the big things, the small things and all things in our life.

Life is great – God cares.

Family is falling apart – God cares.

Loved ones ill – God cares.

People working together – God cares.

Neighbors looking out for each other – God cares.

A pray whispered – God cares.

God cares, because God is love and love is hope-filled and ever present. Remember Emmanuel – God with us. So through thick and thin, through bad and good, through joy and sorrow, through pain and freedom God is with us and that is hope in action.

God cares so much and offers us the gift of hope as his beloved son, would grow up and live and radiate hope and even when others tried to destroy that hope by killing him upon a tree, it would not die. No hope would live again and offer us life eternal. All because a child was born, hope was born, for you, for me, for all people.

 

 

As this Christmas Season draws to a close, we can’t leave the baby in the manger, we need to walk with our Saviour, and we need to walk with hope into the rest of 2014.

 

As we move into 2014 I wish to share with you words from a song that seemed to be the soundtrack for me this Christmas Season, words I seek to hear echo in my ears and journey all the year through.

Heaven and nature singing

He is our new beginning

Can you hear?

Hope is here

Joy in a baby’s birth

Heaven is flooding earth

God is here.

Hope is here!

Amen.