Author Archives: achristianpilgrim

FEAST OF SAINTS MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL, ARCHANGELS – 29 SEPTEMBER

29Sep

Jakarta, 29 September 2014
A Christian Pilgrim

FORGIVENESS IS NOT AN OCCASIONAL ACT

by achristianpilgrim

Jakarta, 27 September 2014

A Christian Pilgrim

The Friars Should Not Receive Money?

by friarcasey

For Francis, searching for money, even for the poor, was still time spent on futile things.

Every Friday morning after the office the leader of prayer reads a chapter of the Rule of St. Francis (1223) and we take fifteen minutes to meditate on its meaning in our life today. It is a great practice constantly reminding us of who we are and who we are to be as friars.

Today we read chapter four, “That the Brothers Should Not Receive Money”. In what is the most overlooked and disregarded chapter in the Rule, friars are forbidden to receive coins or money, either directly or indirectly, for any purpose other than the infirm brothers and clothing for cold places. According to Francis, the friars were not even to receive money to give to the poor. Instead, friars were to work for a living, taking in wages only what they needed to survive for that day, e.g. food, clothing, housing.

Naturally, this is something that has troubled me since the first time I read this on retreat in postulancy. What the heck do we do with this command? Clearly we’re not even trying to live this, we’re just blatantly ignoring it. If that’s the case, what else are we neglecting? It turns out, we’re also not allowed to enter the monasteries of women, appropriate houses for ourselves, and my favorite, ride horses. If all of these things are in the Rule, and we are clearly not adhering to them, how can we even say we follow the Rule at all? Is this, as some would say, “cafeteria Franciscanism?”

Without spiritualizing away the true difficulties of humility and material poverty that Francis experienced, I think true faithfulness to the Rule does not mean strict literalism. Just because the Rule says something explicitly doesn’t mean that that is exactly what we are to do. How is this not picking and choosing issues? The fact of the matter is that this document was written in a context not our own: society and Church of 1223 is nearly unrecognizable to society and church of 2014. Because of that, what was meant in 1223 is undoubtedly going to take on different meaning in a different time, place, and culture, making a literal adherence to that culturally condition expression a potentially inappropriate expression for today.

Faithfulness to the rule, thus, must not be a strict observance of the literal words but a faithfulness to the intended purpose of such actions. What was it that Francis and his brothers wanted to capture? What was it that they wanted to protect against? What is the underlying spirit that guided them to live as they did. In answering these questions, we find that the above passages are still critically important, but must take on a different expression today.

In the case of not receiving money, it must be remembered the economic context in which Francis lived and the role money had it in. Unlike today, money was not standardized and readily available. There were two types of coinage: one that the rich used, which held its value and was worth much more, and one that the poor used, which fluctuated in value and was often used as a means to cheat them out of due wages. It was an unjust system that disproportionately hurt the poor. Add that to a call to “leave everything” and follow Christ, relying solely on God’s providence with one’s eyes focused on the kingdom of heaven rather than the kingdom of fading money and power, and it’s clear why Francis forbade his brothers to take any part in this system.

With that in mind, we look to our own world. The concept of money is not a controversial topic any more. Not only is it standardized and readily available, it has completely replaced all other forms of economy. Try getting a job today and convincing the boss to pay you in loaves of bread and warm clothes. It won’t happen, and really, it can’t happen. That world has been replaced. Should we throw away the fourth chapter of the rule, then, since friars must receive money to live in this world? Absolutely not. Just because the specific expression no longer makes sense, the value still remains: we continue to live in a society that separates the rich from the poor, that acts with great injustice for the sake of money and power, and tries to distract us from what is truly important, following our Lord into the kingdom of heaven.

So, what does this look like? Well, it calls us to look at money in a different way than the world does. Although I get a stipend each month for my needs, I am reminded not to see it as my money that I can do with whatever I want and no one has a right to it, but rather something to use for the sake of the kingdom. Treating money as nothing more than a practical necessity, something to be shared and used for ourselves and others rather than something to be hoarded, defended, and worried about, frees us from the futile world of greed and consumerism, able to use things for the sake of people rather than what we usually do, use people for the sake of things. It calls us to often go without money, experiencing what the poor experience in this unjust system, to live as examples of people who’s joy is not dependent on material things.

Ultimately, what I’m trying to say in this post is that this process of understanding our Rule is not something reserved for friars but rather an example of the discernment all Christians must have each and every day. When we look at our sources for following Christ, are we called to live out the literal expression of the biblical text, or are we to be faithful to the intention God had through the writers? When we are able to shift from the former to the latter, to hold the text of scripture in one hand and the daily experience of this world in the other, what we’ll find is that the experiences are different but the truth remains the same. We can choose to remain in the realm of the literal, choosing the easy interpretation that does not force us to integrate the text in our lives but only gives us the option of accepting or ignoring bewildering precepts, or we can prayerfully engage the experiences of those who have gone before us as a common people, struggling through the ambiguity, to live the way Jesus would have lived had he walked the earth today.

What I say is certainly not easy, and is no easier in a faith community of diverse backgrounds and opinions. But that is our life. We do not live in a black and white world of easy answers. We live in a complex collision of worlds and realities that are all striving for meaning and all capture a bit of it, to varying degrees. It is only when we are prayerfully open to the diverse experiences our brothers and sisters that I think we will ever come close to living the way Jesus intended us to live.

A Saint in New Jersey?

• Who is Sister Miriam Teresa?Teresa Demjanovich, a 20th Century American girl, was born in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1901, the youngest of seven children of Alexander and Johanna (Suchy) Demjanovich, Ruthenian immigrants to the United States from what is now Eastern Slovakia. Teresa received Baptism, Confirmation, and her First Holy Communion in the Byzantine-Ruthenian rite of her parents.
• Where did she live out her brief life?
  After attending Bayonne public schools Teresa entered the College of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station, New Jersey. She was graduated with highest honors in 1923. Two years later, in 1925, she entered the community of Sisters of Charity at Convent Station. After profession of vows as a Sister of Charity, Teresa died in Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1927. She was 26 years of age.
• Why is she being considered for Sainthood by the Catholic Church?Because of her saintly life, her striving for perfection in her religious life, her spiritual writings, the mystical privileges accorded her by God during life and the favors received by others after her death through her intercession with God, the Sisters of Charity petitioned Rome for permission to open her Cause for Beatification and Canonization.
• What is the present status of her Cause for Beatification/Canonization?
  The first half of the beatification process is the acceptance of the Positio Super Virtutibus (Her heroic virtues and holiness). This has been approved by the theologians and ordinaries (Bishops and Cardinals). Her name was submitted to the prefect of the Congregation of Saints who then gave her name to Pope Benedict XVI.
  On May 10, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI decreed that Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, SC, was of heroic virtue and can now be called Venerable.
  The second part of the beatification process, the Positio Super Miro (a miraculous cure) can only be considered after the acceptance of the Positio Super Virtutibus.
  Our case is that of a young boy who was declared legally blind due to bilalteral macular degeneration. Through the intercession of Sister Miriam Teresa, his sight was restored. On December 17, 2013 a panel of Cardinals and Bishops agreed that the cause of the blind child has been accomplished through the intercession of Sister Miriam Teresa. On that same day, Pope Francis declared this an authentic miracle. Sister Miriam Teresa will be declared Blessed at a ceremony to be held on October 4, 2014 at Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark, NJ.
• How can I assist in bringing about her canonization?Become a member of the Sister Miriam Teresa League of Prayer and share in the Spiritual Benefits of Membership.
  Receive the Bulletins of the League.
  Make a donation to the League.
  Pray that God will guide the Church in this decision and that another miracle will occur.

For more information call 973-290-5467