We change, we grow, we learn, we thrive
By Fr. Francis Di Spigno, O.F.M.
There are moments in our life that sometimes take our breath away. There are also moments that we might not realize are significant until we look back, such as our birthdays, or the anniversaries that mark how long we are married, when we graduated from college, or, in my case, professed vows as a Franciscan friar.
This year I celebrate my 25th anniversary as a professed Franciscan friar. I’m honored to share this jubilee year with Fr. Dan Riley, O.F.M., who is celebrating 50 years of Franciscan life. I have found myself thinking, “How did that happen? It seems like it was yesterday that I entered the friars.” How it happened, as we all know, is one year at a time.
Not unlike the other patterns of our life, birthdays celebrated, anniversaries marked, and new years ushered in, the Church offers us a liturgical calendar to mark moments in our lives as people of faith.
The cycle begins with Advent to help us enter into the great mystery of the Incarnation on Dec. 25. The Christmas season, for Roman Catholics, ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord [Jan. 9, 2017]. Then after a brief snap of Ordinary time we begin Lent, which leads us to Easter, the pinnacle of our Christian life. After coming out of the dark days of winter, Easter is a time when we remember that the Light of Christ will overpower any darkness that we may encounter. The season of Easter ends on the Feast of Pentecost [June 4, 2017] with hopes renewed in the Holy Spirit of God’s promise. We revisit those ordered days of Ordinary time that led us to the close of our liturgical year with the celebration of Christ the King [Nov. 26, 2017]. The Christ who was born among us, lived among us, died among us, and rose from the dead, among us, is now the King of all creation. Then we start all over again and welcome Advent.
Perhaps one of the reasons we don’t get bored with the cycle, although it is exactly the same year after year, is because we are not the same, year after year. We change, we grow, we learn, we thrive, we begin to slow down, we enter the “autumn of our years,” as Frank Sinatra once sang. As the seasons come and go, they remain constant. We change.
This past liturgical year, Pope Francis called for an extraordinary “Jubilee Year of Mercy.” He challenged us to change: to recognize the mercy God has for us, and to be conduits of God’s mercy to one another. Pope Francis continues to call us to be aware of those who live on the margins of life, the poor, the vulnerable and the outcast, and to “confront the poverty of our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it.” 1
When closing the extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, this past Solemnity of Christ the King, Nov. 20, 2016, he also reminded us that the doors to mercy are never closed. It is always a part of our life with God and should always be a part of our life with each other.
As the darkness of winter begins to overtake the colors of the fall, we pray with St. Francis:
“Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me Lord, a correct faith, a certain hope, a perfect charity, sense and knowledge, so that I may carry out your holy and true will.”
We pray that our entire St. Bonaventure University community continues to be blessed in this year to come. We pray in thanksgiving for Dr. Andrew Roth as he leads us through this year of transition and we pray for President-elect Dr. Dennis DePerro, that God will inspire him to lead us into a special time of grace and gratitude. We pray for our nation, and our world, that we may be enlivened by the spirits of Sts. Francis and Clare and hold dearly their profound sense of respect for everyone and everything.
(Fr. Francis Di Spigno, O.F.M., is executive director of University Ministries at St. Bonaventure Friary.)
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