Wow!

 Something that happens at St. Cletus approximately once a month is a guest speaker will be invited to give a formational talk with some time to pray.  It's called "An Evening of Prayer and Reflection."  Normally, the presentation is only given in English; however, this time, there were two nights, first in Spanish two nights ago, then last night in English.  Fr. Mario Serrano, OFM is bilingual and a very dynamic preacher.  His insights last night were very impressive on St. Francis' understanding of The Gift of Incarnation.

If you know anything about St. Francis, you probably have seen depictions of him wearing a brown-colored habit with a tonsure (a purposefully cut bald-spot -- not all Franciscans have them in the world today).  What I learned last night was that he was NOT born into poverty.  He was actually kind of spoiled as a young man.  It was after being captured in a military battle that his life began to change.  His captors knew his family was rich.  His father wouldn't pay the ransom, claiming "No son of mine who could be captured in battle is worth any amount of money."  Fortunately for the world, Francis' mother didn't feel the same as his father.  She secretly paid the ransom when news traveled to her that he was nearing death in prison.  That's pretty wild.  In fact, though, when he came out of prison, he spotted a church that had been destroyed.  He went there and had a conversion experience, as God showed him that he would be ministering to the poorest of the poor.

What is even more impressive is that with his experience of seeing money as a bad thing after seeing what it did to his father's attitude, he learned and taught his followers to only ask for monies if they were going to be given to others.  So even when it was time to educate his followers in the way for theology, he would have them ask for someone's donation to go directly to the university for "tuition" and books.  If the donations were for someone else or for a good cause...hmmm.

As we also know, God's Creation was also very important in his world view.  His love for animals that the world knows about was thinking about how there were sheep and oxen and donkeys and other humans who went to visit the newborn Savior at the manger.  "Imagine what God first smelled."  What an interesting concept.  It brought back to my own memory my time in Bethlehem 24 years ago.  We were able to visit the cave traditionally known to be the place where Jesus was born.  Of course, the story in the Bible tells us it was more of a stable, but tradition is tradition, and faith is what was needed to evoke within our souls our actually being there.  When Fr. Mario was talking about his various experiences of how he could "see" Jesus being birthed into the world, my memories flooded my being and I was there once again.  But not simply in the cave.  Rather, I was drawn back to experiences of times I saw Christ being born into our reality.

Frequently, I see Christ in those who are mourning.  I am drawn in to try and help them to find the Savior in the world when they have the most difficult time seeing him -- you see, grief can be very blinding, particularly in tragic circumstances like the death of a child or when someone commits suicide.  I wonder just how Jesus would minister at those times.  Compassionately, of course, but would he offer any words?  Think about one of those classic questions we all want to ask God when we meet him face-to-face -- whatever happened to St. Joseph?  How did he die?  Didn't Jesus have the power to save him?  Did he die young?  Did Mary experience grief over St. Joseph's death since she was conceived without Original Sin?  Wouldn't that be a logical thought?  If she could not taste death, then why grief?  Of course she did.  Otherwise, what is the statue of the Pieta all about?  Mary had to hold her own Son's dead body that had been taken down from the Cross.

Today is only the 5th of December.  This coming Sunday, December 8th, is normally the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  However, because it's a Sunday, the Church celebrates it on Monday instead.  Give thanks always to God for the wisdom He shows in creating an ultimately pure woman to bear your Son into the flesh.