FIRE-WORKS OVER THE NATION

FIREWORKS OVER DOUGLAS COUNTY, MO:

 

There were lots of fireworks around the country last weekend as our nation celebrated INDEPENDENCE DAY. That was the case also here in the Ozark region of Missouri as local communities celebrated the holiday weekend. The friars here at the Franciscan Prayer Fraternity traveled to the nearby village community of Squires, MO which was hosting a 4^th of July picnic and fireworks display all for the purpose of bringing the local community together and of raising funds to support our local volunteer fire department.

 

The photos above were taken by Fred Manning, Br. Joe's brother, who was visiting this holiday weekend.

 

Let's reflect for a few moments on another sort of 'fire-works':

 

'FIRE-WORKS' IN THE MONASTIC TRADITION:

 

In the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus says:

 

"I have come to light a fire on the earth.

How I wish the blaze were ignited." (Lk 12: 49-50)

 

Here at the Franciscan Prayer Fraternity, two of the friars have the same Trappist hermit monk as their Spiritual Director. When asked if he had a favorite story from the Desert Fathers, he said that one of his favorite stories was the following:

 

The young novice came to see Abba Joseph and said to him:

 

"Abba, as far as I can, I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?"

 

The old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven; his fingers became like ten lamps of fire, and he said to the novice:

 

"If you will, you could become all flame."

 

What would it mean to us to become all flame? How well-lit is the fire of your life?

 

William McNamara, in his book: Mystical Passion, also uses that same story above from the Desert Fathers to encourage his readers to consider finding some passion in their lives for the Paschal Mystery, around their faith in God, from the teachings of Jesus, for living as Jesus' disciples in the world today.

 

What would it look like for you to become all flame? How well is the fire burning?

 

MOVING INTO OUR FRANCISCAN TRADITION:

 

In our Franciscan tradition, one of the great spiritual writers is St. Bonaventure; St. Bonaventure wrote a treatise called: "The Soul's Journey into God". In Chapter 7.6, he writes about this same passion:

 

"But, if you wish to know how these things come about, ask for grace not instruction; for desire, not understanding; for the groaning of prayer, not diligent reading; for the Spouse, not the teacher; for God, not people; for darkness, not clarity; not for light, but for the fire that totally inflames and carries us into God by ecstatic unctions and burning affections. This fire is God, and God's furnace is in Jerusalem; and Christ enkindles it in the heat of his burning passion, which only the one truly perceives who says: 'My soul chooses hanging and my bones death' ."

 

Take some time to reflect upon this story from the Desert Fathers, upon St. Bonaventure's words, and upon Jesus' desire that the fire he lit on Calvary by his crucifixion and death would be enkindled throughout the earth. What is the famous prayer that we pray to the Holy Spirit: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the Fire of Your Love; send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created and renew the face of the earth !" ? We want to burn with the fire which is God! Those are the 'fire-works' our nation and world need to see.

 

St. Francis of Assisi desired that 'Fire of Love' to fill his life. Tradition tells us that St. Francis prayed a certain prayer for a lifetime; we find that prayer in the "3^rd Consideration on the Sacred Stigmata":

 

My Lord Jesus Christ, two graces I beg of you before I die:

the first is that in my lifetime I may feel, in my soul and in my body,

as far as possible, that sorrow which you, sweet Jesus,

endured in the hour of your most bitter passion;

the second is that I may feel in my heart, as far as possible,

that abundance of love with which you, Son of God,

were inflamed, so as willingly to endure so great a passion for us sinners."

 

Sr. Francis realized that prayer; he was such a lover of God, a lover of all God's people, esp. the little ones and the poor, and a lover of all creation. St. Francis realized that prayer by having the mark of Jesus' passion burned into his own flesh in the Sacred Stigmata. He received the two graces that he prayed for.

 

Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF, in her book, Franciscan Prayer, (published by St. Anthony Messenger Press), comments about his remarkable life:

 

"It is surprising that a small, carefree cloth merchant from a little medieval town in Umbria (Italy) could ignite a spiritual revolution. But indeed, Francis of Assisi seems to have done just that." (p. 4)

 

Few of us will be branded as Jesus and St. Francis was, but all of us can pray that prayer for ourselves. How do we make that prayer our own? What would that prayer sound like in our own words? What graces do we desire in life: to love like Jesus did?, to be on fire for God?, to be a person of passion?, to help recreate the world by allowing the Spirit to fill us with the fire of His love? What can you do to fan the 'fire of God's love' into a flame; what 'fire-works' can you ignite?