Meditation for Sunday, October 21st, 2012

In this month of October in which we have celebrated and marked October fourth as  the Feast of Our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi, I think it would be beneficial for us to look at two other spiritual hallmarks of this month and how they may relate to our life as Secular Franciscans and members of the great Franciscan Family.

The first of these is the observance of October as the Month of the Rosary. I would like to take a moment and briefly explain the origin of this devotion, specifically the Feast our Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7^th.  This feast dates to 1571 when Pius V attributed the defeat of the Turkish fleet to prayer made by the Rosary confraternities of Rome and elsewhere holding processions for just that purpose. This defeat spared continental Europe from the invasion of the Muslim hordes.  At first this feast was observed only in Spain but was later extended to the entire church by Pope Clement XI. It is through this feast that the month of October has come to be known as the Month of the Rosary.

In the month of October both St. Francis and the Rosary, along with our Blessed Mother, are honored. This is truly fitting and proper since St. Francis held the Mother of Our Lord in great esteem. As Article 9 of the Rule states, "The Virgin Mary, humble servant of the Lord, was open to his every word and call. She was embraced by Francis with indescribable love and declared the protectress and advocate of his family. The Secular Franciscans should express their ardent love for her by imitating her complete self-giving and by praying earnestly and confidently"

And the Constitutions in Article 16.1 & 2 go on to say, “Mary is the model of fruitful and faithful love for the entire ecclesial community. Secular Franciscans and their fraternities should seek to live the experience of Francis, who made the Virgin the guide of his activity. With her, like the disciples at Pentecost, they should welcome the Spirit to create a community of love.

The role that Mary plays to us as Franciscans is really quite simple

•      Mary always leads us to her Son

•      She continuously points to Jesus

•      Indeed Mary brings us to Jesus

•      Mary never separates herself from her Son

•      Mary says “yes” to both happiness and sorrow

•      Mary trusts Our Father, although she might not understand all the mysteries of His Will.

So, it is most truly most appropriate that during  this month in which we Franciscans recall the life and ministry of our Seraphic Father, Francis that we also honor the Mother of Lord who teaches us to follow the humble way of her Son whom St. Francis strove to follow with every fiber of his being. And it is even more of a blessing that Our Lady of Rosary leads us through that most wonderful devotion to a richer and fuller understanding of the life and ministry of her Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The second hallmark of this month of October is of more recent origin.  The tradition of Respect Life Month is now in its 41^st year.

In its statement for Respect Life Month the USCCB states: The theme of this year's Respect Life Program is one often expressed by Pope Benedict XVI: "Faith opens our eyes to human life in all its grandeur and beauty." He reiterated this insight during his recent visit to Lebanon:

The effectiveness of our commitment to peace depends on our understanding of human life. If we want peace, let us defend life! This approach leads us to reject not only war and terrorism, but every assault on innocent human life, on men and women as creatures willed by God. … The grandeur and the raison d'être of each person are found in God alone. The unconditional acknowledgement of the dignity of every human being, of each one of us, and of the sacredness of human life, is linked to the responsibility which we all have before God. We must combine our efforts, then, to develop a sound vision of … the human person. Without this, it is impossible to build true peace.

St. Francis would have understood our Holy Father’s words. Brother Bonaventure said of Francis in his Major Life of St. Francis, "Francis sought occasion to love God in everything. He delighted in all the works of God's hands and from the vision of joy on earth his mind soared aloft to the life-giving source and cause of all. In everything beautiful, he saw him who is beauty itself, and he followed his Beloved everywhere by his likeness imprinted on creation; of all creation he made a ladder by which he might mount up and embrace him who is all-desirable. By the power of his extraordinary faith he tasted the Goodness which is the source of all in each and every created thing, as in so many rivulets. He seemed to perceive a divine harmony in the interplay of powers and faculties given by God to his creatures and like the prophet David he exhorted them all to praise God." Bonaventure also wrote in his Minor Life of St. Francis, "His attitude towards creation was simple and direct, as simple as the gaze of a dove; as he considered the universe, in his pure, spiritual vision, he referred every created thing to the Creator of all. He saw God in everything, and loved and praised him in all creation. By God's generosity and goodness, he possessed God in everything and everything in God. The realization that everything comes from the same source made him call all created things -- no matter how insignificant -- his brothers and sisters, because they had the same origins as he."

How could the simple, poor man of Assisi have done anything but respect human life in all of its stages from conception to natural death.  How could he have not loved each and every one of his brothers and sisters who were created in the image of his beloved God.

Francis who gladly and with profound love embraced Lady Poverty would not have understood a society that placed “creature comforts” above the life of the human creature itself, created in the likeness and image of God. A being sharing the image of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus our Lord and brother, who offered himself as a sacrifice on the cross for our salvation.

I understand that budgets and economy and education are important things. It seems to me, however, that these pale in comparison with the right to live – whether it is for an infant to be able to take his first mewling breath or a grandmother who is nearing the end of her days to take her last breath on her own terms without being rushed by unnecessary drugs, medical procedures or lack of appropriate treatment.

No, Francis I believe would find this a very odd world. A society that had gone even farther astray than the world of the twelfth century in which he walked. As a part of the great family of Franciscans spanning more than eight centuries I would ask that each of us stop and take a moment to reflect on what God may be calling us to in this month of October. 

I would suggest that each and every one of us, in this month of October – this month of Francis, our Blessed Mother, of respect for Human Life – ought to be offering our prayers, our Crowns, our Rosaries, our Novenas, our Communions, our penances, our fasting that our society may come to see and understand and believe and act on the importance of human life – all human life – from conception to natural death and that like our Seraphic Father Francis, may see in all created persons the face of the Creator.

By Brother Maximilian John, OFS (David Homan)