Provincial Letter- Fall 2007

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Dear Friars,

Peace and Good Things!

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For the past couple of months I have been preoccupied by a church renovation project gone awry.� At the end of July a local furniture restorer took on the task of refinishing the pews in St. Bridget�s Church�all 1300+ linear feet of them.� Within a few days, he found it necessary to change the process he was planning to use in order to accommodate the fact that the finish on some of the pews had been compromised over the course of 50 years and his method was not going to work.� Within a few days of that, it became apparent to almost everyone else that this man had probably taken on more than he could handle.� In the end, we asked him to pack up his equipment and his crew of day workers and leave the church before he did anymore damage.� We subsequently hired a reputable and more experienced firm who assessed the damage, removed the pews, and took them to a warehouse in Eau Claire, WI where they are being refinished even as I write this. We have reason to hope that they will be delivered and installed in time for our evening liturgy on the Solemnity of St. Francis on October 4^th.

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not deal well with disarray and upheaval.� My world, in as much as I have any control over it, is usually an orderly one�a place for everything and everything in its place.� However, as the delivery date of pews draws nearer and the building that houses this community and its worship takes on a more orderly appearance, and as we draw closer to the feast of our Holy Father, I find myself becoming less pre-occupied and a bit more reflective.� For obvious reasons, the image of Francis beginning his ministry by rebuilding the small chapel of San Damiano has been at the forefront of my thoughts.

His biographers and even his own writings tell us that Francis ultimately came to recognize that he was being called to do more than restore fallen-down chapels; rather, his was the formidable call to rebuild the Church, imbuing it with new zeal for the Gospel and greater faithfulness to the life and example of Christ.� However, before he could set about this task with any integrity, Francis came to understand that he needed to begin by rebuilding himself�to engage in the painful task of standing before the Crucified One and allowing himself to become the image upon whom he gazed.� And when he gazed upon the crucifix at San Damiano what Francis saw in Christ was poverty, humility, and charity.� The poverty that Francis saw in Christ was the poverty of being a human creature.� As Paul reminds us in the great hymn of kenosis, although Jesus was God, he did not cling to that status.� Rather, he allowed himself to become powerless, dependent, helpless, and empty.� He did this to reveal God�s love and to teach us our true identity.� This choice was also the epitome of humility.� In essence, the Son of God became a servant to all and lived with a generosity of spirit and heart that allowed others to be first.� Finally, in charity�compassionate love�Jesus� outstretched arms on the cross drew in all humanity and welcomed every creature into the embrace of God�s tender love through mercy, forgiveness, and acceptance of all.� In the end, Francis did this so well that when people met him or heard him preach, they were confronted with the very presence of the crucified Christ and were moved to acts of penance, thanksgiving, and praise.� He gave flesh to the words of Paul to the Galatians:� ��it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.��

Difficult as it is, this is what each of us is called to do.� It is only through engaging in the hard work of transforming our selves and our hearts into the image of the Crucified One that we can hope to rebuild the Church, society, and the communities of which we are a part.� As we celebrate the Solemnity of our Holy Father, then, let us not be afraid to shift our gaze from him to the Crucified One and strive to become the image upon whom we gaze.� May we learn the poverty, humility, and compassionate love of Christ so that we might better reflect his love to one another and the world.

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Happy feast day and God bless you!

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Fraternally in Saint Francis,

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������������������������������������� (Very Reverend) Anthony M. Criscitelli, TOR
Minister Provincial

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