July: a month with St. Francis

July, the month in which I am usually in the mountains with my community: hitting the trails, breathing in the fresh mountain air, soaking up the sun near hidden lakes, and making memories and creating stronger bonds with my sisters. July, the month in which my heart begins to long to see family and my beautiful Texas landscape knowing that the time to travel home is near.

This July - July in the year 2020 - the July when I had a flight booked for home which I waited until just a few days before to cancel hoping that the COVID-19 cases would decrease in Texas allowing safe travel and stay. The July in which, instead of fresh mountain air, I regularly breathed in the slightly less than normally polluted air of a city recently “freed” from lockdown. The July when, instead of with 24, I found myself living with an ever decreasing amount of sisters, few of which remained constant throughout. And…the July in which I found myself surrounded by St. Francis of Assisi.  

La Verna

I don’t think anyone would argue that this past month has been filled with much that was unexpected. Perhaps the tendency would be to list off only those negative unexpected things but today I want to share about some unexpected goodness, beauty, and joy that the Lord has gifted with me in these past 31 days through a well-known saint: St. Francis.

To start off well, I entered into the month of July while on my annual Spiritual Exercises. Spiritual Exercises are exactly as their name sounds: a time of intense exercise in our spiritual life. It is a time – usually 5 to 7 days – in which one dedicates the majority of their attention, energy, and focus to prayer and entering into an encounter with God. This year I was accompanied by two of my sisters, Clara and Loredana, to Monteluco of Spoleto where a Franciscan Convent of friars welcomed us, hosted us, made sure we were well fed, and led us in our 5 days of silence. As many Franciscan convents in north-central Italy, this one is on the sight of where St. Francis himself would have tread.

From the lookout - Monteluco of Spoleto

St. Francis had quite the habit of choosing peaceful and nature filled places for his prayer. The most famous Franciscan sights are up on a hill with a spectacular look out over the valley below and near a wooded area filled with many small trails leading to nooks and hidden places conducive for a moment of silent prayer. Monteluco was no exception.

In the quiet days spent in this convent, I was struck once again by the simplicity and calm that often represents the Franciscan style of living. The steady rhythm of manual labor – mostly gardening – that I witnessed by the friars and their postulants (young men in their first year of formation towards becoming Franciscan friars), reminded me of my own heart’s attraction to simplicity and action that may not be swift but is always intentional and diligent. They seemed not to be bothered by many worries and distractions during their work but present to what was, literally, “at hand”.

Another noun with which St. Francis is often associated is poverty. Those days in silence reminded me that poverty is not misery but rather living with what is merely essential and not bombarding oneself with that which is extra and superfluous. I’ve been inspired to downsize: to thank the Lord for all that He has given me through various benefactors, family, and friends, and to see what is essential for me and what is instead extra that could be essential for someone else in need.  

After these Spiritual Exercises, I returned home with a heart full of the gifts the Lord granted me and these small reflections on simplicity and poverty inspired by St. Francis and the men who follow his way of life still today.

My next Franciscan adventure occurred just a few weeks later in the form of a gita comunitaria (community trip) to La Verna – the sight where St. Francis received the stigmata. The stigmata are the wounds of the crucified Christ. St. Francis was the first to receive them and the Franciscan friar who shared with us the story of this great event considered it more than anything else a gift of love by part of God who heard and answered St. Francis’s prayer to really experience Christ’s love for him. And as Jesus Himself put it in St. John’s Gospel, what greater love is there than one who lays day His life for His friends (Jn 15:13). St. Francis was allowed this grace of experiencing the suffering behind the love of Christ for all of humanity and uniquely for him.

Gita Comunitaria to La Verna

The greatest joy I experienced at La Verna, however, was not directly linked to this episode of the receiving of the stigmata, for as much as it is important to the place. What most struck me was the experience we had of the marvels of nature. Beyond all that has already been said about Monteluco – the hill with a beautiful view down below and a wooded area with trails and nooks for prayer – which was all present at La Verna as well, my sisters and I witnessed something which can only be attributed to the hands of a loving Creator with a childlike heart who delights in the rejoicing of His children.

One evening as we were leaving the Shrine in darkness one of my sisters began to point out some flickering lights in the woods. Upon closer inspection, we all immediately agreed on its source: lightening bugs. All of a sudden my heart was brought back to many years ago in my backyard at home when lightening bugs (or fireflies if you prefer) were much more common in the summer evenings. I remember chasing them around and just marveling at them. After a brief pause we continued to walk towards the car smiling, laughing, and pointing out all that we saw. Then, one of my sisters, I don’t exactly remember who, brought everybody’s attention to the other side of the trail. Up until that point we had been looking up along the side of the hill to our left but she was now directing our attention down the valley to our right – and boy am I ever glad that she did that!

There to our right was a sight that I have never seen nor do I ever dream of having the joy to see again. There was not only a handful of lightening bugs sporadically flickering in and out of the wooded shrubs but a whole community worth. A city of lightening bugs, perhaps thousands, creating a spectacle that man could only dream of being able to imitate. It was somewhat similar to a Christmas lights show, or the many twinkling stars in the dark night sky, or perhaps even the lights of a far off city – and yet it was none of these and so much more!

Clara and I were the last to head to the car as we could hardly tear our eyes away of such a wondrous sight. I was immediately invited into a reflection on community life. Each lightening bug does relatively little when you think about it. Its light lasts for just a fraction of a second before going out and needing to be turned on again. So the single by itself, in comparison with the whole, really doesn’t seem all that impressive. However, the whole – in all of its beauty and glory – would literally be nothing without each and every effort, no matter how small or short lived, of each and every single lightening bug. Each one of us must do our part to make our light shine even if in just little spurts, in order to create a masterpiece of sparkling lights. And not only this. We must also do our part to help others shine their light, or rather, to help others allow the light of Christ to shine in them. In this way, others, like my sisters and me that evening, will be caught dead in their tracks before the beauty of life lived genuinely in communal love and harmony.

My final Franciscan experience of this month occurred over a weekend in which we hiked to and explored different Franciscan sights in what is often referred to as La Valle Santa Rietana (the holy valley of Rieti). The different places we visited each had a unique meaning for St. Francis: at Poggio Bustone he encountered the forgiveness of God, at the Shrine of the Forest he encountered the reality of providence, at Fonte Colombo he wrote the Franciscan Rule of Life, and at Greccio he created the first ever nativity scene.

With Clara on the trail
near Greccio.

In this weekend Clara and I accompanied a group of young people and three priests from a parish where our community does some apostolate. What I learned from St. Francis and these young people in these short 2 days was the beauty and joy of fraternity. Again I found myself in the hills overlooking beautiful fields and valleys or walking through trails in the woods but this time the difference was in the company. I was no longer alone with the silence of my Spiritual Exercises at Monteluco of Spoleto, I was not only with my sisters as I was at La Verna…no, this time I was walking side by side with perfect strangers who the Lord was giving me the great joy to discover and share with. In this experience I was reminded that the fraternal life is not based on how much a group of people have in common but rather how much love and patience each single is willing to offer to the others. The young people were very open and welcoming to me, taking an interest in me, being patient with my accent and lack of vocabulary at times and including me in moments of games and sharing. I look forward to the possibility of working more with them this coming year.

In the end, this July - July in the year of 2020 – has been for me a month with St. Francis. I would have never expected this month or perhaps even desired it but yet I feel as if all things are just as they should be and that the Lord is using even these recent difficulties of life – that the whole world is experiencing – to bring about great good and peace. Although I have caught myself a time or two daydreaming in “what-ifs” – community hikes in the mountains or playing with my 1 and a half year old nephew – I can honestly say that my heart is at peace and full of joy and gratitude. I choose to take a hint and seek to live this next month, which will also be different than all of the Augusts before it, following in the footsteps of St. Francis: in simplicity and poverty, marveling at the beauties of nature, and patiently loving the people God places in my day to day life.

St. Francis, pray for us!