DID YOU KNOW
The What’s and Where’s to Find
on the National Secular Franciscan Website
As suggested by Jan Parker, our National Minister, we would like to provide “DID YOU KNOW” blogs in the coming months of what this tremendous site has in store for us.
We will start with the CALENDARS pages.
THE CALENDARS
The CALENDARS contain four calendars:
- Full Calendar (All Events),
- OFS Retreats, Workshops, and Chapters
- Regional Elections and Visitations
- Franciscan Holy Days
Let’s look at with Franciscan Holy Days.
On your Computer:
From the HOME page, place your cursor over “Calendars” on the top bar.
The four calendars will be listed in the drop-down.
Click on “Franciscan Holy Days”. And this displays…
On your phone (I am just learning the “how to’s” with viewing websites on my phone and some phones are different),
But there are three small lines on top each other – in the right top somewhere (on some phones or sites they will be on the left). Tap these lines and the top bar of available pages (Home, News & Updates, Resources, Calendars, Contacts) will list on your phone.
Tap “Calendars”.
Now, you can view the calendar by the month or in a list of events.
The “VIEW AS” allows you to choose a calendar view by the month or in a list.
Now, on the monthly calendar, Scroll down to the end of the calendar.
Viewing the calendar by the month on Nov 23rd, the date bar of Nov 23rd is highlighted and the previous days are lightened,
On Nov 26th is St. Leonard of Port Maurice. Click or press the Saint, and a page will display with information on that saint.
To view other months, you can click or press, at the end of the calendar, on the previous month (October) or the next month (December).
Or … you can go back to the top of the calendar and use the “EVENTS IN” box to get to another month and even in another year.
MORE in the next “DID YOU KNOW” blog.
National Minister’s Message – TAU-USA Summer/Fall 2019
by Jan Parker, OFS
Let Us Serve the Lord with a Pure Heart and Mind
(This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2019 issue of the TAU-USA)
All of us like to get things done, and like many of you I have quite a to-do list. My list is kept on individual note cards, one task per card. I like to shuffle through the cards to prioritize what’s next and then work to get it done. There is something very satisfying about accomplishing a task collegially, creatively and joyfully, knowing you have done what is yours to do. What a great feeling to get something off our to do list!
No matter what method we use to help us get things done, there are times in life when we are stopped dead in our tracks. It may be loss, conflict or confusion, but when something big lands right in our path, we are often stopped short. We are consumed by what is before us, with little energy to do anything else. I had a profound experience of this a few years ago. I was paralyzed by a gut-wrenching quandary. My stress level was high, deadlines were upon me, and I faced a situation with seemingly no Franciscan way out. It was horrible. I kept asking myself what is the right thing to do? I went back and forth. I prayed and prayed. I consulted with friends, but I was stuck. On top of everything else, I was a new minister, and our council was preparing for its first visitation. More stress! Little did I know; it was this visitation that would change everything.
On the day of our visitation, our fraternal visitor asked to meet with each council member one-on-one. Somehow, I knew I needed to go first. I sat down to talk with her, filled with both hope and fear. I knew she was there to help me, but what could she do? She began by simply asking, “What’s going on, Jan?” and that was all it took. I could not hold back my tears. She listened with compassion as I poured out the whole story. When I was finished, she looked directly into my eyes, and said, “Jan, you must have purity of heart.” Her words cut keenly. She was right. Her wisdom at that moment was God sent.
It may seem odd to you that this answer would be so very helpful to me, but purity of heart was exactly what I needed.
Purity of heart sets us free. St. Francis calls us to this freedom, to “put aside every care and anxiety, to serve, love, honor and adore the Lord God with a clean heart and a pure mind[1].”
Purity of heart begins with prayer. We must “pray always with a pure heart[2].” I had been praying, but where was the center of my heart? Was it in God, or in myself? Purity of heart means we must clear our hearts of any ego attachments – our self-image, self-concern, self-preservation. Surrender is key. I needed to put aside the workings of my mind and let go of my obsessions – all my questions, doubts and fears. Only then would my heart be pure – and free to be open to the direction of God’s Spirit dwelling within me.
Purity of heart gives us new sight – a new way of seeing things. I was seeing things from my perspective, not as God sees them. “A pure heart sees into the depth of things. Our hearts are pure when we see earthly things from on high, that is when we see their true value[3].” What was the true value in this situation? I needed to see this clearly. Once I could see the activity of the Holy Spirit in the midst of all that was happening, I was no longer paralyzed.
Ever since that day, the words “pure of heart” jump out at me. My understanding and appreciation of being pure in heart have steadily deepened. I see it in Francis’s prayer before the crucifix, “bring light to the darkness of my heart,” and in his Later Rule, “Desire above all things (supra omnia) to have the Spirit of the Lord and its holy activity [and] to pray always with a pure heart.” Most especially I see it in our OFS Rule: “Witnessing to the good yet to come and obliged to acquire purity of heart because of the vocation they have embraced, they should set themselves free to love God and their brothers and sisters[4].”
Interestingly enough, a few weeks ago I learned that the Chinese word for “intelligence” or “bright” (慧) has a connection to purity of heart. The word consists of two pictograms: at the top is the word for broom (扫); the bottom is the word for heart (⼼). The bright person, the person of wisdom, has a heart swept clean. Blessed indeed are the pure of heart[5]!
“We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh,
but, instead, we must be simple, humble and pure.”
Francis of Assisi, Second Letter to the Faithful
[1] Francis of Assisi, Earlier Rule 22. 25-31
[2] Francis of Assisi, Later Rule 10.8
[3] Ilia Delio, Franciscan Prayer, pg 112
[4] Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order, Article 12
[5] Matthew 5:8