OFS Oxford

Monthly virtual (Zoom) meeting held jointly with OFS Fraternity Aarhus, Denmark

Time: 6:30 pm to 8.30 pm BST, Thursday

No. of Attendees: 7

We looked at Reflection 48 – ‘Fraternity as Community’’ from ‘Live Like Francis’ (Leonard Foley O.F.M., Jovian Weigel O.F.M.). Some extracts:

Francis as a young man treasured his relationships with his friends. They revelled together, partied together, even went to war together. When Francis discovered Lady Poverty and first heard the Lord’s call to “go and rebuild [his] Church,” he entered a period of aloneness. He left friends and family behind because he knew they could not understand his call. Indeed, at this time he did not understand it himself. Those who did not understand his need to search for meaning might hold him back, deter him from what was most important to him. During this period of his life, he meandered through the Umbrian countryside as a solitary wanderer, searching for understanding of his call from Jesus and seeking to know himself. Alone, he entered the caves of Mount Subasio to pray, perhaps to call out to God where no one else could hear his shouts of pain and confusion when the dream seemed unclear. But Francis could not remain alone for two reasons. He enjoyed being with people. And he knew that Jesus in the Gospels also frequently spent time with others, whether his chosen disciples or the crows who gathered around him. Francis became a kind of human magnet as others observed his way of life and experienced his spiritual growth. He could not have remained alone if he had wanted to. The life he had chosen was simply too attractive to others who loved the Lord.

But Francis could not remain alone for two reasons. He enjoyed being with people. And he knew that Jesus in the Gospels also frequently spent time with others, whether his chosen disciples or the crows who gathered around him. Francis became a kind of human magnet as others observed his way of life and experienced his spiritual growth. He could not have remained alone if he had wanted to. The life he had chosen was simply too attractive to others who loved the Lord.

Bernard of Quintavalle was Francis’s first follower. Bernard had what many people think of as essentials for happiness—wealth and a respected social position in the town of Assisi. But Bernard lacked the joy in life that he witnessed in the new Francis. So, Bernard invited Francis to his home for supper and a night’s rest, since Francis now had no home to call his own. As evening came, Francis feigned sleep, then spent the night in prayer. Witnessing, without Francis’s knowing, the intensity and humility of his prayer, “My God and my all!” repeated through the night and dawn hours, Bernard knew Francis to be a genuine and faithful follower of the Lord. And with daybreak, Francis had his first follower.

Neither man knew that a religious movement across centuries and around the world would result from their friendship with each other and with Jesus. They were now simply two rather than one in love with Lady Poverty and setting out to rebuild the Church of Jesus Christ. Others clamoured to be around them because they were good, they were joyful, they were men of God. The two became thousands. The unmarried men were joined by women, married men, families. If this had not happened, the Franciscan charism might have lingered a few years after Francis’s death in 1226. It might have been captured in history books. It might have become a blessed memory in Church history. Instead, the Franciscan way exists today, not in books and memories but in the lives of men, women, and children around the globe.

Those who are called to follow Francis are called to be brothers and sisters to Jesus with Francis and his other followers. This Franciscan community keeps us from becoming self-centred. It creates the place where apostolic work in the world is fostered. It gives us strength where we are weak. Gathering as a community gives us opportunities to love others with all their goodness as well as their flaws and irritating ways. And they can do the same for us. We have an intimate spiritual family within the larger spiritual family of Church where we can grow in holiness according to God’s command, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

We travel the Franciscan way together, not as individuals on private journeys. Laughter and humour lighten life’s burdens. We learn to resolve disagreements peaceably. We learn to forgive ourselves and others as we begin again and again to follow Francis and Jesus.

We discussed the benefits of being open about our needs, enabling others to exercise charity towards us. We reflected on the relationship between God the Father and God the Son in the Holy Trinity – the extravagant love exercised by God – we need others around us in fraternity in order to promulgate the love and charity that comes from God – extending also the fruit from close fraternity to others whom we encounter in our daily lives.

The meeting concluded with a closing prayer: “Most generous God, you are the giver of peace and the lover of charity. Grant to us your people true harmony with your will, and help us to overcome all temptations that could disturb our peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen”