Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Peace of the Risen Lord be with you all!
As we celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord, let us joyfully keep on the path of conversion, clearly this is not the end.
Let us touch on the topic about Contemplation and how it is a means of a deeper love and seeing all things in the true relation to God as Francis and Clare.
We should spend more time building our relationship with God. Let us use Francis and Clare as a model to apply to our daily lives. Francis became like Christ but it took prayerful contemplation and action. Francis understood that the Holy Spirit was not just a source of power but also that the Holy Spirit inspires us with a love relationship of the most Holy Trinity.
Clare’s vision of contemplation begins with the mirror of the crucified Christ. She advised Agnes to see herself in the mirror each day. Clare provides a path to contemplation by daily prayer before the crucifix.
As Ilia Delio, OFS, writes in “Franciscan Prayer” The progression of prayer that leads to contemplation begins with the gaze on the crucified Christ and continues to penetrate the depths of reality until the one who gazes comes to see the heart of charity hidden in the heart of Christ. Not all of us follow the same approach to God. Through the eyes of Francis we see how he envisioned God and imitation of Jesus in relationship to God.
Article 8 of our Rule tells us, As Jesus was the true worshipper of the Father, so let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do. How does prayer lead you to the vision of contemplation? What prevents you from this vision?
Let me close with this writing of St. Bonaventure from The Major Legend of St. Francis:
Aroused by everything to divine love,
He rejoiced in all the works of the Lord’s hands
And through their delightful display
He rose into their life-giving and cause.
In beautiful things he contuited Beauty itself.
And through the footprints impressed in things
He followed the Beloved everywhere,
Out of them all making for himself a ladder
Through which he could climb up to lay hold of him.
Who is utterly desirable.
Peace and every good,
Your sister, Rosie
