IN EXILE
By Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI
I grew up in a rural area where most everyone was either a first or second-generation immigrant. Most of us were just above the poverty line, struggling economically and struggling to speak English properly. We were also struggling to access higher education, both because a lot of my peers had to end their schooling after the eighth grade to help support the family and because the idea of university education was not yet part of most families’ ethos.

In our community there was one family for which this wasn’t true. They were comfortable economically and a number of them had gone on to higher education and were now professionals in different fields. They were a privileged family.

But they wore it well. There was no snobbishness, flaunting or superiority complex. The opposite. They used their gifts to try to help the community. One of their sons became a teacher and taught in one of the local schools, and for a number of years the family set up a curling rink every winter for the community. They were both admired and respected.

One day one of their sons was sitting with a group of young men who were sharing a beer, sharing stories and enjoying some healthy banter, when the son of this much respected family made a blatantly racist remark. There was an awkward silence. Then one of men, in a gentle voice, said this to him: “You know, it surprises me that you would say something like that. Your family is so classy. We all look up to you. This doesn’t sound like you.”

The man’s reaction was immediate and contrite: “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I say things like that. That was stupid.”

I can imagine a very different reaction had he been challenged with hard words like: “You’re a racist! How can you say something like that!”

When we challenge each other in harsh words, the effect often serves to make us more defensive and freeze us in our view. We are being scolded, rebuked, shamed, and that can work just as easily to re-entrench as to persuade. It also serves to harden the space between us rather than invite us to what’s best and highest in ourselves.

We need to invite and challenge each other to what’s best and higher inside us.
And what is best and higher inside us?

Some of our early Christian writers (the Church Fathers) suggested that each of us has a double personality and heart. In each of us, they submit, there is a big, generous, noble, altruistic heart. But, inside each of us too, there is a wounded, petty and selfish heart; and at any given time, we can be operating out of one heart or the other. We can be big-hearted and we can be petty, and this can change from one hour to the next depending on what’s meeting us in life.

Here’s an example: Imagine you wake up some morning feeling altruistic and noble of heart. At that moment, you have the mind and heart of Jesus. In that holy frame of mind, you go to work and there someone is cold and sarcastic with you. In one minute, everything can switch; you no longer have the mind and heart of Jesus, nor the mind and heart of what’s best in you. The wounded petty heart in you trumps the big heart, warmth and understanding leave you, and you now feel cold and bitter.

Now imagine this in reverse: You wake up some morning feeling paranoid, misunderstood, and nursing old wounds. At that moment you don’t have the mind and heart of Jesus, nor are you attuned to what’s better and higher in your own mind and heart. You go to work in that unholy state and there, unexpectedly, some co-worker greets you warmly and shares how much she appreciates your work and your friendship. In one minute, the noble mind in you trumps the petty mind and all that’s best and generous in you rises to the surface and you want to be a better person. You flip from bitterness to graciousness in one minute.

We live in a polarized world today where so many issues bitterly divide us and invite us not to what’s noble and best in us, but rather to what’s wounded, paranoid, and defensive. We need a new tone in our discourse, one of invitation and respect, one that recognizes what’s noble and big-hearted in the other and then challenges the other to own what’s best in him or her.

Instead of name-calling and assaulting each other with slogans, we need to say to each other: “You know, it surprises me that you would say something like that. You’re so classy! We all look up to you. This doesn’t sound like you.”

That kind of invitation can help thaw some of the coldness that for all kinds of reasons perennially besets the human heart.

(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is a professor of spirituality at Oblate School of Theology and award-winning author.)

Things Old And New
By Ruth Powers
Most Catholics are familiar with St. Francis of Assisi and brown-habited friars who belong to the order founded by him 800 years ago. In honor of the anniversary of the Transitus (death) of St. Francis in 1226, this year has been designated as the Franciscan Jubilee Year by our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV. To recognize the Jubilee Year, I want to write about some aspects of the Franciscan family that may not be well known.

The Franciscan family consists of three orders. The First Order, founded by Francis, is for men – the Friars Minor and their offshoots: the Conventual Franciscans, the Observants, and the Capuchins. The Second Order is for women and was founded by Francis together with St. Clare. They were known originally as the Poor Ladies but came to be known as the Poor Clares. This is a cloistered order that is still in existence today. The final branch of the Franciscan family tree is the Third Orders, Secular and Regular.

It is the Secular Franciscans that I will discuss today. The Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) is formed by Catholic men and women who seek to observe the Gospel by following the example of St. Francis of Assisi. It is not like other Third Orders in that it is not under the direct control of any of the other branches of the Franciscan Family. The OFS is governed by the universal law of the Church and by its own Rule, Constitutions, Ritual, and Statutes. The interpretation of the Rule and of the Constitutions is done by the Holy See directly.

The specifics of the early foundation of the order are somewhat vague, but OFS lore speaks of a married couple from the town of Poggibonzi named Luchesi and Buonadonna Modestini who had heard Francis preach and had their lives transformed around 1213. Rather than separating so that each one could enter religious life, they felt called to live out their new way of life together. Francis was moved by the Holy Spirit to write a Rule for them that would allow them to do this, and so began the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, the original name of the OFS.

This way of life was quickly embraced by married couples and single people who did not feel called to monastic life, and the order grew rapidly, receiving papal approval in 1221. The order was, and still is, open to male and female Catholic laity and clergy who are not already members of another religious order. Secular Franciscans do not take public vows as do religious who live in community. They make a public profession of promises and are consecrated to a way of life.

The motto of the Secular Franciscans is “From Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel.” This is a calling to live the Gospel of Jesus according to the model of St. Francis of Assisi to the degree possible in one’s circumstances and state of life. It is a call to live in the love of God and in communion with Christ, poor and crucified. It recognizes our brotherhood and sisterhood with all people and all creation. It calls for a life of prayer (liturgical, personal, communal) and continued conversion. It also stresses participating in the life and ministry of the Church and living as instruments of peace. In addition, the charism of the OFS is to be lived in fraternity with other members. This does not mean communal living, but rather meeting together for prayer, study and support on a regular basis.

Full disclosure: I am a Secular Franciscan. I will celebrate the 10th anniversary of my profession in September. There is only one fraternity in the Diocese of Jackson. It is in Greenwood. There are others of us scattered around the state who travel to Fraternities in other dioceses to participate (Biloxi, Baton Rouge, Mobile). Anyone who would like more information on the Secular Franciscan Order can go to secularfranciscanusa.org.

(Ruth Powers is the program coordinator for the Basilica of St. Mary in Natchez.)

Guest Column
By Sister Constance Veit, lsp
St. Jeanne Jugan is often portrayed looking quite solemn, but she was actually very joyful. She was known to exclaim, “What happiness to be a Little Sister of the Poor!” and to counsel the young Little Sisters that “making the elderly happy is what counts.”

The idea of happiness features prominently in our national conversation as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Hopefully, we have not forgotten these key words of our founding document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

As Little Sisters at the service of the elderly, we have daily experience of the right to life. In the past decade, we’ve also had extensive experience with the right to religious liberty. But what of the pursuit of happiness?

Today, many people define happiness as a good feeling, an experience of worldly pleasure or enjoyment. But Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, meant more than this. Numerous authors assert that as someone educated in ancient philosophy, Jefferson was referring to the Greek idea of eudaimonia, a state of flourishing through good character, the practice of virtue and active participation in civic life.

I recently saw an illustration of the Pursuit of Happiness that portrayed a rather comical figure chasing smiley faces with a butterfly net. This didn’t really do it for me. I see it more as an upward climb, made in the company of others, where the strong extend a hand to lift up the weak or as a circle of individuals creating a work of art together.

In 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote to his daughter, giving her advice on how to find meaning in life. He encouraged her to develop “those principles of virtue and goodness which will make you valuable to others and happy in yourselves, acquiring those talents and that degree of science which will guard you at all times against ennui, the most dangerous poison of life. A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe for felicity.”

We have recently received Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity). It will take months to plumb the depths of the Holy Father’s thought but even a superficial reading of the encyclical highlights the grandeur of humanity and the truth that human flourishing is impossible without fraternity. “History can … change when individuals truly take the dignity of everyone seriously,” Leo wrote, citing the American civil rights movement and the figure of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The pope described “‘martyrs of everyday life’ who care for, educate, accompany and comfort without fanfare, such as parents, nurses, doctors, volunteers and those who remain alongside an elderly person or an outcast.”

“For centuries, the Christian tradition has maintained that human beings are not confined by the boundaries of their own nature; rather, they are called to self-transcendence, not through an escape from reality or a contempt for their limitations, but through their fulfillment in love,” the pope wrote.

“We become fully human when we become more than human,” he wrote. “What saves humanity is not enhanced self-sufficiency but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms … A person’s future is not calculable but depends on one’s freedom – elevated by the inexhaustible grace of God – and on the relationships cultivated.”

Our Founding Fathers would have recognized their ideas concerning the “Pursuit of Happiness” in these passages of Pope Leo calling us to improve society by supporting the lives of others.

As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary, may we honor the unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by accompanying and remaining alongside the very young, the elderly, the stranger and the most vulnerable among us.

(Sister Constance Veit is the communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States and an occupational therapist.)