Franciscan Life: Community, Joy, and Hospitality
One of my favorite memories of my life as a Franciscan friar was during my very first year of formation. It was my 21st birthday, my first birthday with friars, my first birthday without my family. After we prayed morning prayer and participated in Mass, I noticed one of the friars leaving the chapel before we were finished. The next thing I knew was that this friar was waiting outside of the chapel doors with tall champagne glasses of mimosas and they sang me Happy Birthday. I felt the love of my Franciscan community, I experienced Franciscan joy, and I understood a little more Franciscan hospitality.
Community: When I was discerning my vocation, I was drawn to the communal life of the friars. It was while attending Catholic University (where the friars staffed the Catholic Campus Ministry at the time) is when I first encountered Franciscan Community. Three friars with three very different personalities and quirks ministered to the university in their own unique and yet common Franciscan way. I knew that I wanted to live in community and ministry as they lived. But I think community is something that everyone - not just friars - needs and deserves. All of us want to feel part of something or that we belong. As a parishioner at Assumption Church and thus a member of the Franciscan Community, may you know that you matter, that you are important, and that our community needs you.
Joy: In spring of 2015, before I moved to Syracuse, I was living and ministering at a parish in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. While living there I experienced a form of Franciscan Joy that still makes me smile. Two of the friars that lived there were in their 80’s and were some of the most joyful, carefree, funny, and cheerful friars that I have ever met. I have no idea what they did during the day in their rooms, but when they were outside of their rooms and interacting with people they were so joyful that it was contagious. In today's world where the word contagious is often linked to COVID and being sick; may it be a word that you and I link to joy. As parishioners, may your interactions with the joy of the friars lead you to be joyful with those you encounter.
Hospitality: When I think of the word hospitality, I think of the words radical welcome and loving care. When I came out of the chapel on my 21st Birthday and saw a tray of mimosas, it was one of the moments I knew I was meant to be there. Not because of the mimosas per se, but because of the radical welcome and loving care of the friars. Isn’t that the example that Jesus left us, isn’t that what St. Francis lived, isn’t that what we are to do today. As parishioners, may we show radical welcome and loving care to each other and to those new to our parish. This week may each of us contact one person from the parish who has shown us Franciscan Community, Franciscan Joy, or Franciscan Hospitality and thank them.
