Yesterday was the foundation day of my community. Normally this weekend finds our community gathering as individual Provinces, but as I was not able to gather with my brothers, I have spent much of my weekend reflecting on this day, thirty-nine years ago, when our founder Richard Thomas Biernacki made his vows and began this sometimes tumultuous, sometimes holy, but always devoted community of men that band together in the service of the Lord.
Richard set a standard when he said no to the traditional forms of religious life. This standard was to be forward thinking and to look ahead to the needs and concerns of the church; to continually evaluate who we are, where we are going and to not become stagnant in our way of life. As “Flexible Friars”, we are called to continue this tradition and minister to all that God places before us.
As a community we have done quite a bit of work on what it means to be a man in life vows; how this differs from annual vows, and we have tried to answer the question of whether or not we have made life vows an objet to be obtained versus a journey to be lived. At our summer convocation his past July, it was really wonderful to listen to the thoughts, experiences and visions of the diverse brothers in the various stages of their journey within religious life.
Each one of the brothers that was a presenter to the community had a different analogy or view of what life vows was, and it was apparent through the discussions that followed, everyone recognizes the importance of this phase in our life as a religious, but articulating is somewhat difficult. As a brother that will someday (God willing and Council consenting) make my life vows, I find verbalizing what I expect life vows to be about daunting; how can I know what it will be like when I have not done it? Yet somehow I know that this is a wonderful and momentous step.
Part of me recognizes that as a journey, life vows will be a very different experience for me than it will be for a brother that has been in the community 30 years, 20 years or even 10 years. I know that the Church is a very different organization than what Richard started out with all those many years ago. I know that much of our theology has grown and evolved with our human evolution. As a community we continue to change as new men enter, and as we sadly say goodbye to those men that go on to sing in the heavenly chorus. Our community, as is life, is in a constant state of flux.
For me, being a part of this community has been liberating, joyous, heartbreaking, comforting, exasperating and wonderful. As I look toward the future I can not imagine my life without this community; they are in me and I am in them. I know that I am a better priest, a better person, and a better Christian because of these men, and I am blessed to walk this journey with them.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Fall Favorites
The walk between the hospital and nursing home the last two days have left no doubt in my mind that fall is here and I have noticed other understated changes in the flora and fauna around here; and since it seems like we have had only about five days of summer, this has me somewhat distressed.
Alaska does not have the notable colors that have people flocking to the East Coast, but the subtle changes that happen in this state are truly amazing and awe inspiring. The trees are rapidly changing from green to yellow; the cotton woods are the fastest, and their changes are like the quick changes of actors between scenes. The birch trees are a bit more reserved, they change slowly, a leaf here or there, then a branch, till slowly and quite unexpectedly the whole tree has done a change.
The most spectacular change here is the fireweed. Fireweed is one of the most resilient plants on the planet, and true to its name it is the first thing to come back after a forest fire. It has a tendency to be some what of a nuisance for those people that try to have formal flower beds, but as a wild flower it is beautiful. The bright fuchsia pink flowers grow on stalks three to four feet high and grown in huge patches around the mountain sides.
The brilliance of these flowers is overwhelming and their fall color is no less spectacular. Once the mist starts rolling around the tops of the mountains and shrouds the tree line with her cold, yet steamy presence, the fireweed begins to change. The change is rapid, overnight it goes from green to various shades of bronze, rust and red. This year was even more spectacular as the fire weed was so late in blooming that there were still spots of hot pink; providing an amazing contrast with those early notes of colorful Autumnal foliage.
The fireweed is done blooming now, and the seed pods are standing tall along side the remnants of the Queen Annes Lace, their big brown seed pods still resembling the white lacy heads that are such a part of our summer. Now their proud stance reminds us that the end of the summer is here, and that Madam Winter is on her way. Winter is my least favorite season with the cold and wet, but the change from summer to fall is truly an amazing process. There is something calming, peaceful and even prayerful about the changes that the world goes through as it prepares to rest.
I think that the reason I love fall is that is it such a strong reminder of what we need in our emotional lives, our spiritual lives and our prayer lives; to take time to gear down, to make adequate preparations for respite. It is only through those times of rest that we can allow enough time in our lives to recharge. If we keep our live in a constant state of growth and change, we will eventually wear ourselves out and be very unhealthy. We like Mother Nature need to have seasons in our life, and when we do, we have balance.
Alaska does not have the notable colors that have people flocking to the East Coast, but the subtle changes that happen in this state are truly amazing and awe inspiring. The trees are rapidly changing from green to yellow; the cotton woods are the fastest, and their changes are like the quick changes of actors between scenes. The birch trees are a bit more reserved, they change slowly, a leaf here or there, then a branch, till slowly and quite unexpectedly the whole tree has done a change.
The most spectacular change here is the fireweed. Fireweed is one of the most resilient plants on the planet, and true to its name it is the first thing to come back after a forest fire. It has a tendency to be some what of a nuisance for those people that try to have formal flower beds, but as a wild flower it is beautiful. The bright fuchsia pink flowers grow on stalks three to four feet high and grown in huge patches around the mountain sides.
The brilliance of these flowers is overwhelming and their fall color is no less spectacular. Once the mist starts rolling around the tops of the mountains and shrouds the tree line with her cold, yet steamy presence, the fireweed begins to change. The change is rapid, overnight it goes from green to various shades of bronze, rust and red. This year was even more spectacular as the fire weed was so late in blooming that there were still spots of hot pink; providing an amazing contrast with those early notes of colorful Autumnal foliage.
The fireweed is done blooming now, and the seed pods are standing tall along side the remnants of the Queen Annes Lace, their big brown seed pods still resembling the white lacy heads that are such a part of our summer. Now their proud stance reminds us that the end of the summer is here, and that Madam Winter is on her way. Winter is my least favorite season with the cold and wet, but the change from summer to fall is truly an amazing process. There is something calming, peaceful and even prayerful about the changes that the world goes through as it prepares to rest.
I think that the reason I love fall is that is it such a strong reminder of what we need in our emotional lives, our spiritual lives and our prayer lives; to take time to gear down, to make adequate preparations for respite. It is only through those times of rest that we can allow enough time in our lives to recharge. If we keep our live in a constant state of growth and change, we will eventually wear ourselves out and be very unhealthy. We like Mother Nature need to have seasons in our life, and when we do, we have balance.
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