Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director
February 2019
Greetings to you my sisters and brothers in Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi.
All peace and good be with you! May the peace and joy of our seraphic Father be yours in ever greater abundance as we journey with Saint Francis, Saint Clare and the Franciscan family in imitating Jesus and Mary! As we prepare for our Regional Chapter of Elections this coming March, I ask you all to be praying for and seeking the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit and that those called to serve the next three years be filled with the grace and wisdom of God!
In my last edition of “Thoughts from your Regional Formation Director” we started a discussion on the wonderful Feast of Epiphany. I asked you to reflect on this incredible feast and what it meant to us as Franciscans. I also gave you some scripture passages to reflect on as I did sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and our Rule. This month, I want to continue that theme even though Epiphany is long past. Although, for those of us who see the church’s calendar as a continuation of our faith and a part of our ongoing conversion, it is not past, it is just getting ready to come around again in eleven months!
This month I would like to focus more on the idea that we, as Catholics, but especially as Franciscans are called to be “Epiphany” to the world around us. Remember, the word and concept of Epiphany is to reveal or to be revelation, to shed light into the world around us and to live the gospel so clearly that others will see Jesus in you and be attracted to that light and vocation.
I want to share with you a section of the prolog to our rule of life:
“Oh, how happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things and persevere in doing them, because “the spirit of the Lord will rest upon them” (cf. Is 11:2) and he will make “his home and dwelling among them” (cf Jn 14:23), and they are the sons of the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:45), whose works they do, and they are the spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 12:50). We are spouses, when by the Holy Spirit the faithful soul is united with our Lord Jesus Christ; we are brothers to him when we fulfill “the will of the Father who is in heaven” (Mt 12:50). We are mothers, when we carry him in our heart and body (cf. 1 Cor 6:20) through divine love and a pure and sincere conscience; we give birth to him through a holy life which must give life to others by example (cf. Mt 5:16).” 1,2
In the prologue to our rule, In the Exhortation, Francis himself said we are to “Give Birth to Him,” meaning to reveal Jesus to those around us. We further see this idea in our own rule:
“United themselves to the redemptive obedience of Jesus, who placed His will into the Father’s hands, let them faithfully fulfill the duties proper to their various circumstances of life. Let them also follow the poor and crucified Christ, witness to Him even in difficulties and persecutions.”3,4
In Rule 10, we are called to “witness to Him.” What does that word witness mean? Simply put, it means to testify. But for us it means not only in word, but in actions also.
Definition of (give) witness to: To declare belief in (a god or religion) They gave witness to their faith.5
Pope Francis once asked: “Am I a Christian giving witness to Jesus or am I a simple numerary of this sect,” unable to let the Holy Spirit “drive me forward in my Christian vocation?”6
Although his Holiness did not use the word “witness,” it is definitely the idea he is conveying. “Am I simply an official elected to a lifetime position within the church, or am I truly driven by the Holy Spirit?”
For this month, I will end with another part of our rule:
“Secular Franciscans, together with all people of good will, are called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively. Mindful that anyone “who follows Christ, the perfect man, becomes more of a man himself,” let them exercise their responsibilities competently in the Christian spirit of service.”7,8
Here, too, we are called to be a light and witness for Christ, to be epiphany, not instead of Christ, but pointing to Christ as the solution to the world’s issues.
Next month we will finish up on this topic and discuss examples of what it means to be epiphany!
Pax et Bonum
Peace and all Good
Ted Bienkowski, OFS
SKD Region Formation
1 SFO Rule (Prologue) Exhortation of Saint Francis to the Brothers and Sisters in Penance In the name of the Lord!
2 Emphasis mine
3 SFO Rule 10
4 Emphasis mine
5 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary give witness to
6 May 6 2013: Homily at Mass Tuesday in the Domus Sanctae Marthae
7 SFO Rule 14 8 Emphasis min
