By Fr. Russel Murray, O.F.M.
Where do we go from here? I am not a “doom and gloom” kind of person. I know few Franciscans who are. Still, the signs of our times are a bit ominous.
- A richly diverse nation that seems at war with itself.
- A widening wealth gap that leaves the poorest among us struggling to keep up.
- A pandemic that has exposed the uncomfortable truth that many of those whose work is essential to our health and well-being are among the most vulnerable members of our society.
The list goes on, in every country and corner of our world. Indeed, where do we go from here? One cannot help but ask the question, as well as its corollary, i.e., is there even an answer to this question?
In all honesty, I do not think there is an answer. Rather, I believe there are multiple answers, among which our Franciscan response holds pride of place. As St. Francis named it: “you are all brothers and sisters. (Admonition 6)”
When St. Francis spoke of brotherhood/sisterhood – fraternitas, in Latin – he did so with amazing reverence. For St. Francis, fraternitas had its root in God’s creative and saving love for all people and, indeed, for all creation.
It would be the rare Bonnie who is not familiar with St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures.
Be praised you, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Brother wind and sister water, brother fire and sister earth – St. Francis was not speaking in metaphors. All are creatures of our God and King; all are children of the same heavenly Father; all are brothers and sisters whose fraternitas is itself a single hymn of praise to the glory and love of God.
You and I are part of this same symphony. We are all children of God. We are all sisters and brothers to one another.
Indeed, in his Testament, St. Francis went so far as to speak of our fraternitas as the very context within which each of us comes to know what it is that God would have us do as instruments of His peace for our world and for one another.
This awareness casts the question in an entirely new light. Where do we go from here? Indeed, armed with such an awareness where can we not go from here:
- For the life of a nation whose diversity is itself a testimony to the creative will of God?
- For the welfare of rich and poor alike whom God created to be their sisters’ and brothers’ keeper?
- For the sake of justice to those sisters and brothers who, quite literally, are “keeping” our lives at a cost many of us can scarcely begin to imagine?
Of course, getting “there” will not be easy – nor should it be. The world we have made is a far cry from the one God created. There is much to do! Yet we are not bereft of hope. For God sent his Son, Jesus, to open the eyes of our hearts to recognize our lost dignity and, what is more, to restore it. It was this vision that transformed St. Francis’ life, making him an instrument of peace that helped transform his world. The same is true for us.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace, your justice, your hope of renewed fraternitas for all your children!
(Fr. Russel Murray is vice president of Mission Integration at St. Bonaventure.)
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