Dear Sisters and Brothers in St. Francis,
PEACE to each of your hearts!
The season of the sleeping seed seems to be in turmoil since the temperatures expected for this time of year are not what they should be – one day it’s warm, the next it’s cold, the next it’s tepid, the next it’s frigid – what’s a ground … or a weeping willow … supposed to do?!
I guess there are many theories in response to this question – far more sophisticated than I can come up with – but I would say that, like Mary, the ground is just expected to be available. Available as in being open to God and His will as opposed to our own. Sounds like a lofty aspiration, until we consider that all we really need do is be available to God by being available to one another.
There are those of us who this past year have endured unbearable sorrow. Likewise, there are those among us who have enjoyed indescribable blessing and outrageous joy – such is the way of our God! In each instance we have, hopefully, been available to one another to share in those joys and enter into those sorrows because we are family.
Our Holy Father, St. Francis, reminded us, through his desire to recreate the scene of the Incarnation at Greccio, that we are ONE in our Lord. The question for each of us to consider throughout this season of anticipation is, what can we, as sisters and brothers to one another, do to rekindle the spark of the Spirit’s fire and enthusiasm within each of us and within our Fraternities so that we may open our hearts to hearing, healthing and healing one another so that together, as family, we can journey into the new year with open minds and open hearts to the direction of Him who has called us? May the Spirit of the living God grant us the grace to be available as Mary was so that we may respond to His call to rekindle the fire within us not only individually but fraternally, thereby doing what is ours to do in this time and in this place.
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How wonderful it was to gather at St. Anthony’s parish hall for our Annual Meeting last month and how grateful and thankful are we to our sisters and brothers of Spirit of St. Francis Fraternity or their gracious and generous hospitality! We are likewise grateful to our sisters Kathy Agosto, OFS, Kate Kleinert, OFS, Stephanie Wiecer, OFS, and our brother and technowizard, Lee Potts, OFS, for their outstanding presentations.
We are very much looking forward to hearing from each of you regarding how you will be able to participate with our Regional effort at the World Meeting of Families in 2015. Our sister, Kate Kleinert, OFS, is eager to set up a committee to assist with our regional participation and fundraising has already begun. Look for further information on our regional website, www.skdregion.org.
Please continue to hold us in prayer and know that we do likewise. If there is anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are here to serve you.
Peace, Advent blessings, and much love,
mattie♥
