Retreat in Preparation for Vows

On October 18, 2012, Holy Family Franciscan Fraternity will be having our community retreat in preparation for vows in November. This is our first group to take vows and we're all very happy to be a part of this great worldwide community. We started our community through the generosity of Fr. Caspar Furnari, our community's spiritual director and our parish's pastor. He's worked tirelessly to help our community grow. At our first meeting, two years ago, we managed to attract 12 people interested in learning more about St Francis' life and spirituality. Coincidentally, the same number of followers St. Francis attracted initially. Now, we have nearly 30 members. 20 of us will be taking vows in a month's time. It's all very exciting. People, Catholic Christians and otherwise, ask me what exactly we do when we meet once a month in our church's basement. Basically, we're learning what it means to be a Franciscan. This answer inevitably generates yet another question: What's a Franciscan? A Franciscan is a follower of St Francis' model of life and spirituality. I don't intend to be coy, clever or esoteric but my succinct answer inevitably spawns yet another question: What's the difference between a Franciscan and a Christian to which I respond, "Nothing at all." A Franciscan is first and foremost a follower of Christ. When Pope Innocent III gave his blessing to start the Order of Friar Minors, he explained that if the Church didn't give its blessings to the inchoate community of dedicated men in medieval Assisi, the Church would have to admit that the high ideals of Jesus Christ were simply impossible for anyone to follow and this would surely be a blasphemy. Either the Christian life is possible, fruitful and an avenue of God's grace or Christ's message is a sham. Thus, given those two options, I've chosen the former. As Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in his 1854 letter to Mme. N. D. Fonvisin, "If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth." Of course, this is merely clever wordplay from one of the world's greatest authors. If Christ is not in the Truth and the Truth is not in Christ, then neither proposition is correct. We Franciscans are merely Christians who have elected to form a life more closely in keeping with the Beatitudes. It's a life marked by simplicity, dedication to prayer and the sacraments, study, peacefulness, forgiveness, penance and asceticism. Franciscans and non-Franciscans are all welcome to attend the vow ceremony on November 15.