Many Gifts, One Mission

Reflection for Pentecost Sunday by Councilor for the St. Margaret of Cortona Region of the Secular Franciscans, Tobias Harkleroad, OFS

This reflection was originally posted in our May 14 newsletter

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Image by PIRO from Pixabay

On Sunday May 19 we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost, commemorating the gathering of Jesus’ disciples and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them. Because of the various Scripture reading options provided, the liturgical celebration of Pentecost has a key characteristic of that first Pentecost: diversity of words and metaphors but one message and mission.

In Genesis 11:1-9, we hear the story of the Tower of Babel. In this familiar foundation story set between the covenant of Noah and the covenant of Abraham, humanity gets into trouble by going beyond God’s will and so a multiplicity of languages is introduced and their unity is broken down. They are scattered all over the earth. In Acts 2:1-11, Jews and Gentiles from throughout the known world were gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Shavuot, a time of pilgrimage that commemorates the ancient Israelites receiving the Torah from God. This scripture passage describes those gathered in Jerusalem as “Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs” all of whom were speaking a multiplicity of languages.

Whereas in Genesis humanity is scattered through diversity because they sought to glorify themselves, in Acts humanity is brought together as they celebrate God’s gifts to hear the one gospel regardless of their variety of languages.

Each week, we come together at mass, just as the disciples came together in the upper room and the diverse peoples of humanity came together in Jerusalem. We hear God’s word and we are offered bread. The Holy Spirit, poured out to us, makes us one body, which in turn is sent out with many gifts but one mission: to share Christ’s peace and forgiveness with the whole world.

Through God’s gifts, we become part of God’s saving plan. Even when scattered, God brings us back together. We are called to celebrate those gifts and then to go out to use those gifts to share the peace that God has desired for us from the very beginning. But, we can only hear and speak God’s word when we allow ourselves to let the Holy Spirit bring us together as one. The commemoration of Pentecost, with its diverse readings from scripture and its multiple metaphors, ultimately leads us to the good news of what is possible when we allow God to gather us together and hear Jesus say: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).

“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Let us be sent out with many gifts to renew the face of the earth!

Tobias Harkleroad, OFS

Councilor for the St. Margaret of Cortona Region of the Secular Franciscans

What is ours to do?

Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter/Ascension of the Lord by CT Franciscan Justice Circle member, Sr. Maryann Mueller, CSSF

This reflection was originally posted in our May 7 newsletter

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Image by falco from Pixabay

Jesus, whose Ascension into heaven from this earth we celebrate this week, chose to be born on this earth through Mary, so it is appropriate that we also commemorate all mothers at the same time.

In the first reading, St. Luke states that as Jesus is taken up into heaven, the angels question his followers while they are looking intently at the sky: “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” This question of the angels is a commission, a charge, a message to Jesus’ followers, both then and now, that the Ascension into heaven is the beginning of the actual work of our faith. Ascension does not signify Jesus’ absence but reveals that he is alive in our midst in a new way to support us.

The second reading from Ephesians reminds us that Jesus instructs us on what is ours to do if only we let “the eyes of our heart be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18). Jesus gave “instructions through the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1: 2) on what his followers are to do, instructions which Jesus gives to each of us through our talents and abilities, passions and dislikes, and sometimes through our Mother’s words and advice, if we only listen.  

The gospel gives us some of Jesus’ last words on earth: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel” (Mk. 16:15), while ensuring that God works with them. With this assurance that God is working in and with us, how can we not listen to our hearts and act when we see mothers mourn for the loss of their children due to gun violence, hunger, poverty, and war?  

May we honor our mothers today by asking Christ to teach us what is “ours to do” and by taking practical actions against the injustices shown towards mothers in our society regarding healthcare, childcare, food insecurity, gender violence, pay inequality and unpaid care work.

Sr. Maryann Mueller, CSSF

Member of CT Franciscan Justice Circle

God’s (Im)Partiality

Reflection for the Sixth Sunday of Easter by FAN Associate Director Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF

This reflection was originally posted in our April 30 newsletter

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In the scripture readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Peter was still learning in his early years as pope. In the passage before this week’s first reading from Acts, Peter had a vision in which, three times, he saw a cloth filled with “unclean” animals being lowered, and a voice telling him, “What God has made clean, you are not to profane.” So the next day, when the Spirit moves Peter to visit Cornelius, a Roman centurion, therefore a Gentile, Peter has learned the lesson and tells Cornelius, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality…” and welcomes all nations, all races and cultures, without partiality. This was a defining moment for the early church, and continues to be a challenge in the 21st century.

In John’s letter and gospel, however, I think a case can be made that our impartial God is indeed, partial, not to one race over another but to the human race. In his letter, John writes: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us.” This phrase echoes the well known piece in John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only son.” Astounding! God is so partial to us, with our sins, crimes, flaws, mistakes, and indifference, that God loves us without measure, and invites us to love in return—love God and love each other in the way God loves us.

In the gospel, John describes Jesus going a step further, telling his disciples and us, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”  So, God loves us before we love God, and God chooses us before we choose God. Moreover, God entrusts to us the ongoing mission of Jesus, the Christ.

Even if I cannot fully grasp the enormity of such love, there are lessons to be learned in these readings.

1. Try our best to love all whom God loves, whether poor or rich, woman or man, Democrat or Republican, people of faith and no faith, regardless of race, culture, religion, gender, or status.
2. Be profoundly grateful that God loves me, loves you, warts and all, and chooses us to do our part in bringing about the Kingdom of God on Earth as in heaven.

Sr. Marie Lucey, OSF

Associate Director

Jesus: Fully God, Fully Human

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter by FAN Associate of Campaigns, Gabriela Martinez

This reflection was originally posted in our April 23 newsletter

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In the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we are reminded of the mind-blowing reality that Jesus is both fully  human and fully divine. This great mystery of faith is one which constantly baffles me. 

The apostles were evidently intimidated by this too. How is it that they, or any of us, could be worthy to meet someone who did the unthinkable and rose from the dead? But in the first reading (Acts 9:26-31), Barnabas makes every effort to get the apostles to see Jesus’ perfectly human side. He shows us how Christ, in his human presence, understands and intimately knows the struggles of a human being on Earth. Despite the fact that He was also God, Jesus was just another human being; another human being who walked, talked, and lived in community. Go up, shake His hand, meet Him, get to know Him; He has an epic story to tell!

So this fully human, fully divine Jesus from that little town in Galilee is also our friend, or at least we can get to know Him as such. In the second reading (1 Jn 3:18-24), we are told how to be good friends. Sure it’s nice to have people in your life to bounce ideas off of and talk to, but when it comes to our human reality of having our bad days, would you show up for Jesus when He was sick, depressed, or hurt? Or would you simply be a fair weather friend?

I am alluding to seeing Jesus, our friend, in every person we know. And if you can’t see Him in others, can you see Christ in yourself during your lowest moments? “Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us, is from the Spirit he gave us” (Jn 3:24). 

As we make our way toward Pentecost, we are called to act, rather than to keep humanity in cyclic suffering. Within the existing structures of our society, we are called not only to serve our neighbors (which I call “treatment”) but also the all-important work of prevention as an act of faith through peaceful advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. 

I will finish with a quote from Colin Martinez Longmore, from a presentation at the Georgetown Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life: “If the God you worship is for everything you’re for, and against everything you’re against, you’re probably worshiping yourself.” Let this be a reminder to push our God-given human intellect to ask, “What is the common good of ALL God’s holy people?” Let us push ourselves into the sometimes awkward and uncomfortable situations of being active, good- AND bad-weather friends of the world. We do this through joining with and talking to our community members as well as elected representatives, knowing that they are just as human as Christ Himself, and that He’s right there with us along the way while we act as His hands in the world.

Gabriela Martinez

FAN Associate of Campaigns

Laying Down our Lives

Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Easter by Franciscan Action Network Executive Director Michele Dunne, OFS

This reflection was originally posted in our April 16 newsletter

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What Jesus says about himself and his purpose in the passage from John’s Gospel (10:11-18) for the Fourth Sunday of Easter commands my attention: “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” I lay down my life in order to take it up again; what a statement! And it was extremely controversial at the time. The Gospel relates that Jesus’ Jewish audience was divided in their reactions, some of them saying he must be insane.

Certainly, Jesus’ statement could be understood after his death and resurrection as a simple statement of what was going to occur, and that it applied to him only. Yet I wonder if it is meant to apply to us as well. A bit later in John’s Gospel, after Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he said something strikingly similar: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit…” (John 12:24). This is generally interpreted to apply to all of us, not just to Jesus.

What does it mean for me to lay down my life…in order to take it up again? An image that comes to my mind was suggested by a Franciscan friar during a talk I heard about the meaning of profession as a Secular Franciscan. He suggested that on profession day, each of us imagine laying our body across the altar as a symbol of preparedness to make any sacrifice God would ask of us. Here is my life, God; do with it what you will. I will take it up again as a new life, not mine alone anymore but mine in you and given over to your will.

It was not easy for Jesus to lay down his life—remember the Garden of Gethsemane – even if he knew that he would take it up again. Laying down his life involved enduring public humiliation, excruciating pain, and abandonment by his friends. Yet, as Peter says in the reading from Acts of the Apostles (4:8-12), it was exactly because Jesus was rejected by the leaders of his time that he was able to become the cornerstone of the new Incarnational reality that God was building. How impossible it must have been to see that paradox at the time of the Crucifixion, and how the miracle of the Resurrection and descent of the Holy Spirit transformed Jesus’ followers. Clearly the Peter of Acts—boldly delivering the good news of Jesus despite the cost, feeling the Spirit coursing within him and calling him to continue Jesus’ healing ministry—was a transformed person. He had laid down his life and taken it up again.

There are so many ways in which I might be called to lay down my life. I might be called to lay down my life by surrendering my narrow concerns, time, comfort, and even perhaps short-term freedom to stand in solidarity with people thousands of miles away in Gaza (or Sudan, Somalia, Ukraine, Yemen…), who are being killed, maimed, and starved by the thousands. I might be called to lay down my life by making a personal sacrifice from my abundance to lighten the load that my neighbors enduring poverty are bearing. On this Earth Day 2024, perhaps I am called to lay down my life by taking off my blinders to learn about environmental injustice in my community or by taking inconvenient steps to stop consuming plastics that are choking the earth, our beautiful home. And when I have laid down my life, I will take it up again in Christ, following God’s will.

Michele Dunne, OFS

Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network

Repent to Receive God’s Joy

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Easter by Third Order Society of St. Francis Writer Gordon Kubaneck, P. Eng.

This reflection was originally posted in our April 9 newsletter

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The Third Sunday in Easter is a time of great rejoicing for Christ has risen from the dead. Hallelujah! It is spring and there is new life all around us. Hallelujah! And yet this week’s readings have a focus on sin and repentance, suffering and righteousness. For example, we read this from the book of Acts 3:17/19:

“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers…Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.”

Now clearly repentance is a gift from God and I appreciate it as the best and probably only way I can move forward when I am stuck in maladaptive behaviors. But why does the focus on the death of Christ and his rising from the dead in Peter’s words, and later the story from Luke’s Gospel, mean that we should repent? Perhaps God knows that we will be blind to his gift of joy without repentance? Luke 24:41 says that in his way: “While in their joy they were disbelieving.” Joy is a gift for believers. We cannot truly believe and have a strong faith without repentance. So, what do we moderns have to repent?

An awful lot. In Jesus’ day there was injustice and suffering. Today there is much more, of a particular kind. While we have made some progress addressing slavery and the abuse of those who are different than we are, I think we have only transferred that slavery and abuse to the non-human world. Our destruction of God’s creation is a blight which is certainly worthy of repentance.

Thus my prayer for today is that we can live in the joy made possible by Jesus rising from death. This requires repentance and then action to bring the promised joy from Jesus to ALL living beings. That means that we too must be healers like Jesus, like the Apostles, but in the way that our age demands: to heal the earth and to stop the extinction of any life that God created and loves. This is one way we can glorify God during the Easter season.

Gordon Kubaneck, P. Eng.

Third Order Society of St. Francis and Writer

Living as Community

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Easter by FAN Supporter Tobias Harkleroad, OFS

This reflection was originally posted in our April 2 newsletter

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The readings for the Second Sunday of Easter are rooted firmly in community. The first reading from Acts of the Apostles begins with the literal words: “the community of believers” (Acts 4:32). Taken together, the scripture readings invite us, as a Church, to reflect on what it means to be a group of individuals who come together in a shared belief in Jesus Christ and for us to have a relationship with Christ as a community.

The first letter of John is addressed to believers who, like us, have not heard the good news directly from Jesus’ lips nor have we personally encountered the risen Christ. Our faith in Christ has come via a chain of witnesses and believers who have come before us. The epistle reminds us that love for Jesus Christ is carried out in the form of keeping Jesus’ commandments.

The gospel reading describes the community of believers who had personally heard the good news from Jesus gathered in fear behind a locked door. Jesus came to them and was in their midst despite this fact. Perhaps for emphasis to us who were not there in that locked room, the reading continues with the story of Thomas and ends with Jesus saying “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” He is speaking across time to us, those not present in the locked room. 

This is where the idea of harmony among the scripture readings is so important. While at mass we hear the words of Acts of the Apostles first, but after the epistle and gospel are proclaimed, the message from Acts becomes clearer as it vividly shows the community of believers, the early Church, living out Jesus’ commands. The community described in the reading was “of one heart and mind” and, with the Apostles, proclaimed the Resurrection as they actively shared their possessions and resources so that “there was no needy person among them.”

These readings urge us to reflect on and consider how we are living out Christ’s teachings. Are we living Christ’s peace? Are we receiving the Holy Spirit? Are we forgiving sins? Are we sharing so that there are no needy ones among us? 

This is what the quest for justice, peace, and integrity of creation is about, living as a community of believers who take Jesus’ message seriously. FAN offers us so many ways to be a dynamic community of believers who proclaim the hope of the Resurrection by working together and with others to put Jesus’ words in action in the world through political, social, and economic advocacy. FAN is about being believers who are also active citizens seeking the kind of unity and justice that the early Church was building when it worked to ensure that none of its members were in need.

As a community of believers, I pray that we will feel Christ’s peace and with one heart and one mind we will love Christ together by living out his commands to forgive and to take care of the poor and to proclaim the hope of the Resurrection, together!

Tobias Harkleroad, OFS

FAN Supporter

Continuing conversion into the vision of God

Reflection for Easter Sunday by FAN Communications Coordinator Janine Walsh

This reflection was originally posted in our March 26 newsletter

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Image by Arnie Bragg from Pixabay

In the first reading for Easter Sunday, Peter preaches on the life, work, and death of Jesus. He says, “he commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42). While every person is not given the gift of evangelization as Peter was, each of us are called to testify to how Jesus is present in our own lives. In my own life, my husband and I committed to bringing up our three girls in the church, teaching them the goodness and mercy God has shown us. I continue my personal testimony through my work at Franciscan Action Network, incorporating the gospel and teachings of St. Francis in all of the communications, connecting them to the advocacy work we do.

The Easter gospel reading is the familiar story of the apostles finding the tomb of Jesus empty. As I read through it, the mentions of Jesus’ burial clothes stood out to me. What is so important about them, I wondered? In doing some research, I read a commentary that compared the grave clothes to a cocoon that transformed Jesus’ body. This resonated with me deeply as I truly believe that to follow Jesus, we must be transformed. While that sounds daunting, I take peace from St. Francis’ teaching about continuous conversion. To transform can seem daunting, as transformation suggests a big change. However, St. Francis saw his entire life as a continuing conversion into the vision of God, which is much easier for me to accept.

Francis saw his life as a continuous conversion from sin to a life lived in gratitude for God’s love. Many described the conversion of Clare from “the good to the better.” The Franciscan life today remains one of on-going conversion in which Christ continues to invite us to be more like him and we continue to open our hearts to this invitation. There is always an unfinished quality to this conversion. In this Easter season, may we go forth striving for continuous conversion of ourselves into the vision of God, as Francis did. 

Janine Walsh

Communications Coordinator

Hearing the Voice of Jesus

Reflection for the Passion of the Lord, Palm Sunday by late FAN Board President Br. Paul Crawford, OFM, Cap., MSW (1952-2024)

This reflection was originally posted in our March 19 newsletter

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In the Passion of the Lord this Palm Sunday, it is easy to hear the people of Jerusalem as they greet the arrival of their expected king. But what was Jesus feeling? What was Jesus sensing? Was he as joyful as the crowd? Could Jesus have been wondering as He entered Jerusalem, “Do they still not understand where God is to be found?”

As we are surrounded by the crowd on Palm Sunday, what are we hearing? Are we distracted about the tight parking and seating because of the throng of faces? Were you able to get your regular seats? What is it we are thinking today? Is it something about how we are a little uncomfortable with our neighbors who need an ear to listen to them or how someone in need makes us nervous? There is a lot to think about today for us: the economy; the poor in the streets, the refugees, and the immigrants; keeping the peace throughout the world, in our society, and more importantly, in our hearts.

The scriptures tell us that throughout Jesus’s life, he often went to a quiet place to pray. Jesus would definitely take time out of his ministry to continue in relationship with his Father. This relationship empowered Jesus to hear what was really going on with the beggar by the pool or with the woman caught in adultery and about to be stoned. It gave him the compassion and encouragement to say to the righteous crowd, “Whoever among you is without sin may cast the first stone,” and to the beggar by the pool, “Do you want to be healed?”

We are in an age where communicating with one another is going through a drastic revolution.  We have Facebook, X, Instagram, and texting. We are easily distracted by the latest technology and the latest accessory that can make our life better than before. What is it that we need to let go of in order to hear the voice of Jesus Christ?

Once, as a story says, there was a sole survivor of a shipwreck who washed up on a small uninhabited island. He prayed daily for God to rescue him and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements. Then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived back to his hut to find it in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened and everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. He cried and asked, “God, how could you do this to me?” Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island, coming to rescue him. The man asked the captain and crew, “How did you know where I was?” They replied, “We saw the smoke signal.”

In our relationship with Jesus, no matter how things turn out, we have a relationship that lasts. That relationship is strengthened by taking time to pray and to help the poor, the needy, and our neighbor.

It is easy to become discouraged when we hold onto what was instead of what might be. God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember this the next time your heart is burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons God‘s grace.

Br. Paul Crawford, OFM, Cap., MSW

Br. Paul served as President of FAN until his passing in February 2024

New Life from Fallen Grains

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent by former Board Member and Convener of Virtual Franciscan Justice Circle Carolyn D. Townes, OFS

This reflection was originally posted in our March 12 newsletter.

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Image by Batatolis Panagiotis from Pixabay

In the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we hear powerful, yet brutally candid words from the Prophet Jeremiah who speaks a message from God: “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The author of the Letter to the Hebrews shares, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered….” Finally, Jesus himself shares a profound truth: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” The Lenten message here offers perspectives on suffering, sacrifice, and service. It is from suffering and sacrifice that service emerges. This is the transformative power of pain and suffering. 

Like the grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die in order to produce fruit, our experiences of pain and suffering can serve as fertile ground for positive change. This is not to diminish the very real and often unbearable nature of suffering, but rather to recognize that it can create profound shifts in both individuals and societies. Through adversity, we can develop resilience, empathy, and a deeper understanding of ourselves and others. Just as the grain of wheat produces much fruit after it dies, our efforts to alleviate suffering can yield significant results. This requires a willingness to engage with suffering rather than turn away from it, to empathize with those who are hurting and to take meaningful action to address the root causes of that suffering.

Engaging with suffering can be extremely difficult, as we live in a society that often turns away from the broken and hurting, neglecting those who are on the margins and even refusing to see those who are in desperate need. One way we can help alleviate suffering is by fostering compassion and solidarity within our own communities. By acknowledging and validating the pain of others, we create space for healing and support. This can be as simple as lending a listening ear to a friend in distress or volunteering at a local shelter or soup kitchen. Through acts of kindness and empathy, we sow the seeds of hope and solidarity that can help alleviate suffering and bring about positive change. 

The Franciscan Action Network has many opportunities to help alleviate the pain and suffering of those who are often forgotten – migrants, victims of gun violence, those suffering from the ravages of environmental injustices, just to name a few. As we wind down this Lenten season and approach Holy Week, just as we look at the suffering and sacrifice of our Lord as he enters into his passion and death, let us also look around our own communities. Where are the  suffering? Where are the broken? Where are the lost and abandoned? We know the end of the passion story. Let us do what is ours to do to create a better ending for our suffering brothers and sisters. 

Carolyn D. Townes, OFS

Former Board Member and Convener of Virtual Franciscan Justice Circle