In the past year I’ve looked more and more what it is to be called to be a Secular Franciscan. I was professed into the order in April of 2002 and since then I’ve grown in fits and starts. What is it that I’m called to be? Am I to be a pious “stick in the mud?” I hope not. As a Secular Franciscan I’m called to live the Gospel and to move from “Gospel to life” and “life to the Gospel.” That’s a tall order most of the time, but that’s the ideal. I’m blessed to be a member of the Secular Franciscan Order and refer to myself as the “least of the brothers.” I’m drawn to shrines, monasteries, quiet chapels and working with people. My heart breaks when I’m confronted with injustice. Being a Franciscan is a blessing of tremendous consequence in my life.
United by their vocation as “brothers and sisters of penance” and motivated by the dynamic power of the gospel, let them conform their thoughts and deeds to those of Christ by means of that radical interior change which the gospel calls “conversion.” Human frailty makes it necessary that this conversion be carried out daily.
My life is one of conversion and each day I become a little more converted. I can live with that. A simple daily walk of conversion that has produced a radical interior change. Not perfect. Perfection is not the mark of the creator. Imperfection is a blessing bestowed by God.