(This article originally appeared in the TAU-USA Summer Issue #106)

A message from Jan Parker, OFS, National Minister – OFS-USA

I will never forget my 50th birthday. My daughter, aware of the significance of this 50-year mark, made a sign that she hung on my mailbox. It simply said, “It’s Jan’s Jubilee!” I still have that sign. It now hangs on a wall in my garage as an important reminder to always turn to God, where I find joy and peace beyond all I could ask or imagine.

It was not my idea that the theme of the 2022 Quinquennial Congress would be “Jubilee,” but when Br. Bob Brady, OFM, suggested it, I was thrilled.

I celebrated a personal Jubilee when I turned 50 and found it to be a life-changing year-long experience of discovering again who I am called to be and the power of God’s love and mercy. My hope, and the hope of our entire Q Committee, is that this Jubilee Quinquennial will be a life- changing experience of conversion for everyone in our national fraternity, as well as each one who attends.

The history of Jubilee goes back to the law given to the Israelites in Leviticus 25: “You will declare this fiftieth year to be sacred….You will keep this as a Jubilee….” God called his people to an economic, cultural, environmental, and communal reset, when the land and people rest, and all those who are in slavery are set free to return to their communities. Jubilee law addresses the wellbeing of the community and calls God’s people to live in ways that reflect good relationships with God, with each other, and with creation.[1] Jubilee law tells us something about God’s intention for his people.

Fast forward to Luke’s gospel, and we see Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, declaring a time of Jubilee―“the year of the Lord’s favor”―but wait, there’s something more here. Jesus closes the scroll, looks at us, and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled….” Today! Not just every 50 years, not just every seventh year, but today, and every today! The kingdom is now―JUBILEE is now. 

In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we see Jubilee’s objective: freedom and release from sin, restoration with God, a reset for all of creation. Have we realized this? Internalized it? We find a full description in 2 Corinthians 5, a passage that declares our new creation in Christ, and the call to be re- made to become that new creation. I look at this passage and rejoice in this call to conversion. God’s people―the church―are meant to be a foretaste of what God wants to do for the entire creation. Sisters and brothers, we are meant to not only live Jubilee for ourselves, but to be Jubilee for others. The love of God impels us.

God’s command for Jubilee says, “Stop. Step back. Look at what you are doing.” A Jubilee moment exposes human greed and brings to light the selfishness in society. The law didn’t have the capacity to change those things, it only showed them. But God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon you and the lawwill be written in your heart[2]. Jubilee is no longer just a law. Christ has fulfilled the law and has sent us his Spirit to implant this law in our hearts. As members of this Spirit-filled Church, to which we are bonded more closely by profession, we commit ourselves to a living discipleship that entails both generosity and sacrifice. We constantly call on the Spirit of God to empower and enable us to be a part of God’s mission to reset all areas of life, bring release and restoration―to be Jubilee.

As bearers of peace and messengers of joy and hope, we must announce the kingdom of God is now. How do we do this? By remembering “who we are”―our identity as Franciscans―and being who we are called to be. Our Quinquennial mission statement calls us to “celebrate and renew our Franciscan calling in the spirit of conversion.” At this Quinquennial moment, and every day going forward, we must live this, tending to our own daily conversion, as well as the conversion of society.

Can we bring about the changes that are needed, both in ourselves and in our world? We have spoken a lot this year about prophetic creativity. Let’s align ourselves with the creativity of God who says, “I make all things new” and dare to be creative. Let us incarnate and enact the certain hope of this new creation, and be the change we long to see.

This is my hope―that what I celebrated in my 50th year will always remain with me, and that this new focus on Jubilee will be a time for all of us to once again celebrate God’s mercy and forgiveness, know God‘s love in a new way, and to start again. To forgive others. To love all people and all creation as sister and brother. To accept our humanness. To rejoice in how God is working in our lives, and how he is working right now in this time of Jubilee. God truly is at work among us, making all things new!

I have often talked of the trajectory we are on. There is a new day ahead. New leaders will be called forth. There will be new opportunities to share God‘s love. But let’s not just look ahead. Let’s look to today―to right now for now is the acceptable time.

Many will be drawn to the Quinquennial to experience Jubilee, but here’s the good news―you don’t have to be at the Q to experience it. Jubilee joy is ours whenever and wherever we pause to acknowledge God’s presence with us. Jubilee joy is in every Franciscan heart and is palpable in every experience of fraternity―in every moment of fraternal communion. The world needs this Jubilee joy. Let’s share it!

Jubilee Song of Restoration

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we thought we were dreaming.

Our mouths were filled with laughter; our tongues sang for joy.

Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD had done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us! We are filled with joy!

Restore again our fortunes, LORD, like the dry stream beds of the Negeb.

Those who sow in tears, will reap with cries of joy.

Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed,

Will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.

Jubilee was a recovery of identity, especially for the poor. It is not about simply correcting economic problems, which is very important; not even just caring for the poor because they’re poor; but it is restoring identity, which is a part of their history and very important for them.

– CB Samuel

 

 

[1] See tearfund.org.au/stories/jubilee-in-the-bible Tearfund is a Chris.an agency working for a just and compassionate 1 world.

[2] Jeremiah 31:31

https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/2022/08/15/franciscan-jubilee-ministers-message-summer-2022/

“In the writings of St. Francis, such as the Volterra text (Letter to All the Faithful) which is included in The Rule of the OFS, we are reminded again and again that Franciscans are called to be penitents, to pray and fast. For these reasons this ancient tradition is important to us. St. Michael’s Lent is a period of 40 days, honoring Mary and St. Michael the Archangel. It begins on the Feast of the Assumption and ends on The Feast of the Archangels.

[H]e wished along with the most faithful Brothers . . . to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (August 15) and then prepare himself by a forty days’ fast for the Feast of St. Michael (September 29). In common with the rest of the people of the Middle Ages, Francis nourished a special devotion to this Archangel, signifer santus Michaelis, the standard-bearer of the Heavenly Host, and the one who with his trumpet was to wake the dead in their graves on the last day . . . .”

(From: St. Francis of Assisi by Jorgensen)

From Jan Parker’s Ministers Message, Contemplating the Cross and the Lent of St. Michael of August 2017:

In my experience as a Franciscan this “second Lent” has not been widely practiced, but perhaps as Brothers and Sisters of Penance we should seriously consider its merits. My own resolve to enter this Lent has deepened, and so for me a 40+ day journey starts [August 15^th].  I’m already trying to get my mind around the fact of Lent right here in the midst of Ordinary Time. I know I will be led, but it will be interesting to see just how this works out in practice. I invite you to consider this Lent, too, as a way to be united in prayer and action – but of course it is only one way among many.

Always, in the various ways that the Holy Spirit leads each of us, we remain united – one in our prayer and in our actions, one in our common Franciscan journey and one in our call to live the Gospel. For these bonds of fraternity, we are can be ever thankful! May the Cross which spoke to Francis, continue to speak to us and, in fact, be our very way of life (see Luke 9:23).

St. Maximilian Kolbe, and all holy Franciscan saints, pray for us!

Holy Mary, Mother of God, protectress of our Order and of the Americas, pray for our country, and for us, that we might bear your Son to the world!

Peace and love, (and Happy Lent!)

Your sister, Jan

Days for Franciscans to Remember

Noon August 1 –    Midnight August 2nd, The Portiuncular Indulgence

August 2 –               The Feast of Our Lady of the Angels

August 2 –               August 10 Novena to St. Clare

August 11 –              The Feast of St. Clare

August 14 –             The Feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe

August 15 –             The Assumption

August 15 To September 29 – The Lent of St. Michael

August 26 or 27 –  The Seven Joys of Mary

September 8 –        The Feast of the birthday of Our Lady

September 12 –     Holy Name of Mary

September 14 –      The Feast of the Triumph of the Cross

September 14, 1224      St. Francis receives the Stigmata

September 15 –     Our Lady of Sorrows

September 17 –     Feast of the Stigmata of Our Holy Father Francis

September 22 –    Queenship of Mary

September 29 –    The Feast of the Archangels

October 2 –           The Feast of the Angels

October 3 –           The Transitus

October 4 –           The Feast of St. Francis

Other sites for more information:

What is St. Michael’s Lent  https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/what-is-st-michaels-lent/

St. Michael’s Lent – A Period of Fasting Observed by St. Francis of Assisi https://aleteia.org/2019/08/14/st-michaels-lent-a-period-of-fasting-observed-by-st-francis-of-asissi/

https://www.secularfranciscansusa.org/2022/08/13/st-michaels-lent-august-15th-to-september-29th/