Tag: Franciscan

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Dan Riley, OFM

I’ve seen this video a few months ago, but tonight I came to it off a Twitter feed from St. Bonaventure University. I first met Dan Riley in the winter of 2000. I came to Mt. Irenaeus in search of I don’t know what. I had been leading a Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle and I was looking for something more. Coming to Mt. Irenaeus was a stretch as I’d been away from the active practice of my faith for almost thirty years at that point. I’d become disillusioned with the a church that didn’t seem to live up to its mission, at least in my own eyes. I’d read Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen and was an occasional visitor to Abbey of the Genesee, but I was not a regular communicant until that Sunday in February 2000. I don’t know if Dan was the celebrant that first Sunday, but I met him very soon after coming to Mt. Irenaeus and I distinctly remember that it was a homily by Dan on Holy Thursday night of 2000 that brought me back home. His manner bespeaks a man who is the epitome of what it is to be a Franciscan. Fr. Dan taught me how to be holy by being wholly myself.

This video pays tribute to Dan and the sharing of these students demonstrates that Dan’s ministry transcends generations. Recently he was honored by St. Bonaventure University with the Gaudete Award. It’s the highest award given by St. Bonaventure University. I saw him on campus on Thursday and he was as warm as ever.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCVbCn2Z4c]

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Regina Fratrum Minorum

Regina Fratrum Minorum is what is written on the lintel above the entry into this small side chapel which is adjacent to the University chapel at St. Bonaventure University. Translated literally I think it means, “Queen of the Friars Minor.” Mary held a very special place in St. Francis of Assisi’s heart and it’s depicted in this mural behind the altar in this small chapel. I used to come here and sit when I first moved to the area in 1979. I loved the quiet and peace and I always felt very secure in this chapel. Today when I was on campus at St. Bonaventure University waiting for the staff of Graduate Admissions to return from lunch I walked into the University Chapel and then here.

Today was a homecoming and an epiphany for me. Yesterday, I formally applied for admission to the University and today I met with the head of the department I will be a student in. I wanted to stop by admissions too and make sure that I was covering all the bases. With some extra time following a great lunch at Cafe La Verna I stopped by this chapel and sat where I sat so many years ago and thought how much my life had changed and how grateful I am for the direction it took and continues to take. I thought too of the Franciscan influence in my life and how these men and women in brown had so deeply influenced my life. I began my formal education at St. Pius X School in Delevan, New York in 1957. Fifty-two years later I’m in the process of application at St. Bonaventure University. How much my life has been formed by Franciscans.

Today, as I walked about the campus I discovered that I knew many people.  I met Dr. Gibbs who will be in charge of my education here. At Graduate Admissions I met Tina Dewe,  a woman whom I still owe an airplane ride. I talked to  Br. Ed Coughlan and Fr. Dan Riley.  In fact Dan Riley has more to do with me being at St. Bonaventure other than my wife and daughter than probably anyone else I know.  It was a homily on Holy Thursday night nearly ten years ago delivered by Dan that brought me home to my roots. Although the experience of a student is new, the surroundings are old and familiar. I did get to sit in St. Joseph’s Oratory for the first time in my life. I’ve passed it many times throughout the years and been intrigued but never had a chance to venture in until today.  St. Bonaventure has always held a special place in my heart. I remember sitting in study hall at Archbishop Walsh high school and looking south at the orange tile rooftops. It was here that I attended basketball camp in the summer of 1970. It was here that my wife and I came on our first date almost twenty-eight years ago. Here it was that our son Devin began to play organized basketball in  Butler Gymnasium.  Here we’ve come hundreds of times to watch the Bonnies basketball teams.  Now,  my daugher and I are students.   I stopped by the bookstore to pick up a t-shirt that says St. Bonaventure University.  I look a bit more official.

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Going home

Today I applied to St. Bonaventure University Graduate School. Though I’ve never been a Bona student before, I’ve been connected to St. Bonaventure and Franciscans most of my life. Last night I attended an informational session about graduate programs at St. Bonaventure at Hilbert College, another nearby Franciscan college. I spoke with a representative of the University who happened like me to have connections to both the University at Buffalo and State University College at Fredonia. How does a guy who almost retired a month ago apply to a graduate program in educational leadership? Daily, my thoughts are of what God’s will is and most of the time I marvel at the direction my life takes. I’m reminded of Thomas Merton’s quote about the road ahead.

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. –Thomas Merton

It’s only a step on the journey and God only knows where it will lead, but today I’ve done something very Franciscan, I’ve followed my heart.

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Secular thoughts

Lately I’ve read a number of posts on Twitter and some of the more prominent blogs about secularity. Those thoughts along with some of my own have led me to speculate that it is man who has created this division. All that is created is created by a supreme being whether you call that being God, I Am, Yahweh, Allah or whatever sacred name. That which some would name as secular is in fact divine because it was created by humans who didn’t create themselves, but are instead manifestations of the infinite.

The false dichotomy of secular and sacred allows some men to regard what they call secular as lower and therefore un-holy and un-worthy. This allows men to regard each other as less than holy, to regard nature as less than holy and to exploit that which is regarded as secular. Western thought seems permeated with this argument over secular vs. sacred when in simple fact all is sacred. If we really saw all as sacred, how would that impact our decision making. Scientific or so called rational thought is just a sacred as those words written in the most sacred texts. What sets the sacred apart and and who gets to decide what is sacred? We accept what is sacred because somebody else told us it was sacred. But, is it really sacred to us. All life seems sacred to me, even rocks in the field were created. Squirrels, mice, snakes, insects, fish, people, grass are all created. In Franciscan terms they bear the imprint of the Most High.

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Eremo

Today I was back at Mt. Irenaeus after a week away. Today was the culmination of a Franciscan Sojourners retreat and though I was not a part of the retreat there were many familiar faces among those that were there for that event. Fr. Dan Riley, OFM is an eloquent homilist and today he was really tuned up. He took today’s Gospel and talked about coming away to a deserted or quiet place. He talked about eremo and its place in the Franciscan tradition of coming away to quiet places, not to hide from the world but to more fully engage it.

His homily came to me at a time when I’d been thinking about those subjects a great deal. I mentioned in our sharing time that I thought that the world is not broken,  but that we are and and that being broken is a good thing. Brokenness is a strength and something to be sought after, because it is only when we are broken and poured out that we are open to the Gospel message.  I thought to of the story of the cracked pot and how due to its defect it actually watered flowers along the path. Our brokenness is often our strength, but too often we try to deny it.

I need to celebrate and cherish my brokenness. In it lies my strength. When I am weak then I am strong. When I think I’ve got all the answers then I’m not likely to listen to what someone else has to say. I need those times of eremo to live more fully in the world. Thanks to Fr. Dan for opening up the word once again and helping us all to cherish our times of solitude.

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A blessing

Today I made my way along a number of different roads and routes to Mt. Irenaeus. I haven’t been to the Mountain in a couple of weeks. Last week I found myself in Washington, DC and at a bookstore in Dupont Circle at 11:00 AM. Today, the air was sunny and warm as I pulled off Route 1 in Friendship, New York and turned on to Hydetown Road. I drove very slowly along the the dirt road as I made my way to Mass. Lately I’ve been intentionally driving slower and especially on my way up to Holy Peace Chapel. As the liturgy started and Fr. Dan invited us to listen to the lyrics of Cyprian Consiglio as he sang “This is who you are.” Mass began and I listened to the readings and Fr. Dan’s homily and as rich as all of it was, it was the moment when Fr. Dan related the story of how all were truly welcome in this place. Dan said, that earlier this morning as he had been preparing the chapel for the Eucharist that two members of the Baha’i and Muslim faiths had been here praying and that their presence helped to consecrate this place. He explained that they were neighbors and had been here before. Dan’s complete acceptance of them and their faith tradition reminded me why I drive thirty miles to Mass most Sundays of the year. Thank God for Fr. Dan Riley and for the Franciscan Friars of Holy Peace Friary who open the word of God for us.

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Mountain Road

Today was Trinity Sunday and I really needed to hear Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM homily which included the importance of doubt in our lives. So much time is spent defining what we are and what we believe that almost no one ever gives voice to doubt although you can hear it too if only you listen. Without doubt there would be no faith. In the past nine years since I’ve come to Mt. Irenaeus and become a Secular Franciscan I’ve gone through a series of stages, the latest has been one of intense doubt. I had been thinking of chucking it all because I’m a very non-traditional Catholic and a non-traditional Franciscan too. I am connected to the church more by mysticism than by any other thread.

Today following Mass and Brunch I took a walk along the path called “The Mountain Road,” which winds from near the House of Peace to the highest point on the property and close to my favorite hermitage, La Posada. Posada is the resting place and I’ve spent several nights in its grasp in the past nine years. I’ve also spent other times like this afternoon resting there and listening. Once inside today and seated in a chair by the window, gentle tears came to my eyes and once more I was home. At one time La Posada was a place and it was on top of that low mountain in Allegany County. Today, La Posada is in my heart, it’s a gift that I carry with me, but it’s still neat to come here to this land and to walk intentionally, mindfully slow, listening for my heartbeat, my breath and all the life that surrounds me. The Trinity is about relationship and so are these woods and this path that I am on.

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Beside the still waters


I spent the past weekend at Stella Maris Retreat Center which is located on Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles, New York. I was attending the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Secular Franciscan Order regional meeting. I’ve been at the meeting three years now and each time it has been refreshing and relaxing to gather with other members fo the Third Order Secular. The Secular Franciscan Order has been around since the beginning of Franciscan charism which is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year.

Unlike other weekends I’ve spent at Stella Maris though this particular weekend was very restful. My accommodations at the Passover House were quite lovely. I was not prepared for such lovely surroundings. I loved taking walks on the grounds and especially along the lake shore which borders the property. Sunday morning was especially peaceful and mystical as wisps of early morning fog floated just above the lake and the surface of the water was like glass. The lake was so clear that it was possible to see the bottom.

All three days were lovely and sunny, though Sunday began with a bit of overcast. I took my time driving home along Route 20 and through the communities of Seneca Falls, Waterloo, Geneva and Candandaigua. Everywhere I looked there was ample evidence of spring with blossoms bursting forth. All creation is shouting for joy.

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Happy Easter

Last night I drove over to Mt. Irenaeus in the gathering twilight. Just as I got there and opened the door of my car I could see the most beautiful array of stars.  Last night was truly beautiful.  After stopping in the House of Peace and visiting with many dear friends whom I’ve met in years gone by I made my way to the chaapel area.  There were perhaps thirty of us assembled in the crisp night air around a pile of sticks that would soon be ablaze with the fire symbolic of the risen Christ.  As the liturgy began, Fr. Dan Riley, OFM invited us to look up and behold the firmament above us and to contemplate the darkness that the light of Christ pierces. Though darkness sometimes frightens me, I felt reassured and blessed last night looking up in the middle of this assembly. It’s not really the darkness that frightens me, it is the uncertainty.  Last night surrounded by the presence of so many friends and especially the familiar Franciscan friars of this friary I felt welcomed and reassured.

As the fire was lit and the liturgy began, Fr. Dan said, “This is the Passover of the Lord,” and then as now a reassuring presence gripped me.  This is a presence that transcends doctrine and theology but picks me up and reassures me that all is well with the universe. Easter is a celebration of life.  The Easter vigil at Mt. Irenaeus has been for me a reaffirmation of that celebration and as I sat and listened to the readings in the chapel with my own little candle and heard the creation story from Genesis I was reminded how important it is to hear those stories of how we came to be, not only the stories of Genesis but the stories of each of our families and how we fit. Our lives are celebration of life and to the precise extent that we don’t celebrate our lives we miss out on the resurrection. All around me this morning I see the resurrection in the robins on our lawn, the warm sun on my back, the blue sky in the distance, the awakened earth beneath my feet. The earth is alive, it is risen, we are risen. Lets go forth and celebrate that. Let’s live that.

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Radical Mercy and Forgiveness

Today a friend called to tell that another friend had died and suddenly at that. The fellow who died was a very good friend and I’ll miss him a lot. He was a good friend. We’d spent quite a bit of time together this winter. We’re both fathers and Navy veterans and both drove PT Cruisers. I hadn’t seen Pat in about a month and only the other day I thought of sending him a text message.  Earlier this winter while we were having a lengthy discussion I told him that I loved him and I did. I’m glad I was able to say that because I’ve often found it difficult to come right out and say that to another who is not in my own family.  Today, though I was filled with sadness over Pat’s passing I was glad that those words had passed between us. Life is short, shorter than we imagine sometimes.

All of this got me to thinking about the Gospel of Jesus. I read a couple of different places that Christian churches are in decline and that we’re in a post-Christian era. I’m not always sure what these writers mean when they write words like that, but for me there is a huge difference for what passes as Christianity most places and what was written in the Gospels.  Many Christian churches have become so wrapped up in politics that they are no longer prophetic, but pathetic instead.  I believe the Gospels were mainly about radical mercy and forgiveness.  I don’t even think Jesus came to found a church, he came in fulfillment of the scriptures. To me all of that is secondary to the message and that message is about forgiveness that knows no bounds and mercy beyond compare.  I came across an article written by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM that summarizes much of what I think.

You don’t know mercy until you’ve really needed it.  As Thomas Merton once said—and I’ve quoted it often—“Mercy within mercy, within mercy.”  It’s as if we collapse into deeper nets of acceptance, deeper nets of being enclosed and finally find we’re in a net we can’t fall out of.  We are captured by grace.  Only after much mistrust and testing do we accept that we are accepted.

–Richard Rohr, OFM