Dec 1, 2020
Our guest today is Franciscan Associate Rosanne Fischer. Here are two excerpts from her reflections:
“As I've come to read more and pray more with Francis and Clare...Franciscan values are simply gospel values.”
“There's so much that brings us together as a family of faith around our globe and there's so much we have to learn from each other. It's a deepening of our own faith when we step out of our comfort zone into the traditions and the song and the dance and the beauty and the thought of other cultures participation in our faith. Not even just among Catholics. Among all religions there so much to learn and grow from, and I feel that Francis and Clare grasped that as well.”
References:
Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio: The power of non-violent love; see The Deeds of Blessed Francis & His Companions XXIII, FA:ED, vol. 3, pp. 482-485 at: https://www.franciscantradition.org/francis-of-assisi-early-documents/the-prophet/the-deeds-of-blessed-francis-and-his-companions-1328-1337/2386-fa-ed-3-page-485.
Saint Francis met with Sultan al-Kamik: The Life of Saint Francis XX:57, by Thomas of Celano. FA:ED, vol. 1, p. 231. at: https://www.franciscantradition.org/francis-of-assisi-early-documents/the-saint/the-life-of-saint-francis-by-thomas-of-celano/672-fa-ed-1-page-231#ges:searchword%3Dsultan%26searchphrase%3Dall%26page%3D1.
Saint Cloud Mission Office: Bridge-building between the local diocesan church and communities of faith throughout the world. http://mission.stcdio.org/mission-office-homepage/who-we-are/.
Clare’s Well is now Wellsprings Farm: the website is: www.wellspringsfarm.org.
Saint Clare of Assisi: “Transform your entire being into the image of God through contemplation.” See quote in original context in Clare’s Third Letter to Agnes of Prague 12-16: https://www.franciscantradition.org/clare-of-assisi-early-documents/the-third-letter-to-agnes-of-prague/227-ca-ed-1-page-51#ges:searchword%3Dtransform%26searchphrase%3Dall%26page%3D1.
Catholic Social Teachings (CST): often referred to as a hidden treasure of the Catholic Church; I agree. I remained Catholic as a young adult because I learned the CST! A site with videos and resources: https://www.crs.org/resource-center/CST-101.
What was Vatican II? See five-minute video about the Council by Franciscan friar Casey Cole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyVq1hnxAqg. Sixteen documents were promulgated: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/16-documents-of-the-second-vatican-council-1509.
Caribbean and North American Council for Mission (CANACOM):
“Mission takes place where people interact with people, seeking to overcome all that separates people from one another and from God.”
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sermon - Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution: “Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet…we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers [and sisters]. Or we will perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever effects one directly affects all indirectly…. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.”
-Full text of 3-31-68 sermon at: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/remaining-awake-through-great-revolution.
Chief Seattle – words attributed to him:
“We humans have not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”